ORIGINAL: fenrick
Ok... I've seen and heard a bunch about Bore Butter. Any thoughts about that?
When I have finally shot it and am ready for the season to begin, how do you go about it. I worked with a game warden for a couple years, and he told me that he'll load it up, besides the primer, and thenlet it sit in the garage the night before, that way it get's seasoned to the weather? What's your thought aboutthat?
The Gander Mountain down here is moving so they're trying to get rid of all their inventory, so all black powder supplies are discounted. It's a great time to buy them, and I'm sure they will be marked down even more.
My thoughts on bore butter.. it makes a good conical and patch lube. There is no need to season the barrel. A quality gun oil will protect the barrel between seasons just fine. Leave the bore butter out of the barrel.
There are two thoughts on what to do when season comes.. If the barrel shoots better on a fowled bore then a clean bore. Some times on a clean bore the first shot will be a few inches off of where the rest of the fowled bore shots will hit. So you have to decide if you want to hunt on a clean bore or a fowled bore. I load mine the morning of my hunt, depending on what rifle I use. Some I hunt on a clean barrel and some on a fowled bore. I do know where mine will shoot on a clean bore after numerous trips to the range. I also know where they will hit in relation to a fowled bore.
What your friend is talking about is leaving the rifle loaded after hunting. If you were to bring the rifle inside from the Wisconsin Winter, the barrel might form condensation and that could effect the powder charge. Leaving it unprimed and in a room where the temperatures stay the same is a way to leave the rifle loaded and have a higher probability of it going off the next day. I personally shoot mine off each night and then clean the rifle.
I've done the rifle in the shed trick and discovered that the next day the rifle still did not fire. Have you noticed in the winter how humid it is in the garage and sheds around here? All of that has to be taken into consideration. For instance in my back wood room it is common to see moisture all over the back door glassin the morning, the frost on the door knob, so what is in your barrel? That is why I shoot mine off at the end of the day. If you like a fowled bore, then swab the barrel with the windex and dry the bore, a light coat of oil, and then load as normal the next day. The total break down is a matter of choice on your part.
A lot of this you will find is trial and error. That is one of the things that make a muzzleloader so appealing to me. They are not like a center fire. As for a Gander Mountain, if the stuff is on sale, then this is the time to buy. They even discount the rifles sometimes.. Where I live, we have no Gander Mountain.