ORIGINAL: cayugad

While swabbing the barrel is a good way to work up an accurate load since technically you want to keep all contributing factors to accuracy about the same.. your correct. When I work my final hunting load I like the idea that I can load a second shot without swabbing. When I have my load worked up, I will often then shoot as many shots as I can without swabbing, just to see how the rifle reacts.

Although consider this.. if you place your first shot correctly, and then take the time to swab the barrel properly and reload, this should give the animal a chance to react to the hit, go some distance or lay down. I have yet to need a second shot on an animal with a muzzleloader. So swabbing for the second shot is not all that far fetched.

With those No Excuse Conicals, if your shooting a good powder charge under them and then putting that large chunk of lead in the right place, I would worry more about where I left my knife then whether I need to swab the barrel. The destructive power of large conicals is impressive to say the least.