Hi Robert, I read your report with great intrest. I also use a 50/50 mix of olive oil and water when at the range. I put my mixture in a TC # 13 bore cleaner plastic squirt bottle and use it wet when shooting at the range. I have never had any kind of problem. I always shake the bottle before each use because the oil and water will seperate. When shooting at a match I can shoot an entire relay without swabing the bore between shots. Now, once loaded it only stays loaded for about a minute before I shoot.

In your situation, you are letting the patch material dry several hours before using it. It is just hard for me to imagine your powder becoming fowled all the way down to your breech when you are probably talking about a column of powder about 2.5" in height.

Could there be any other variables in your powder , the humidity or anything else you can think of that might have an effect on your rifle?

When I load my rifle for hunting I do not use this mixture because my rifle may stay loaded for a couple of weeks at a time. When loading for the hunt I use pure bear lard for patch lube.