It is unfortunate but as great a powder as Triple Seven is, some rifles get a crud ring. Mine do. When you swab and reach that crud ring...SLOW DOWN! Take very small stabs at that crud with that damp patch until you can scrub your way through it. Then work that area over real good. This way you patch will not get stuck.

When I pull that first damp patch out of a Triple Seven barrel, I flip it over and do the same swab routine again. The second time is much easier. Then a dry one or two.

Lots of people claim that if you can shoot a couple shots without swabbing, that you get better accuracy. Well that is not true with all powders.

BlackHorn 209 I believe shot better the more I shot the powder. And it was a great powder. No crud ring. But you had to use solvent to clean it. And where I live, there is none, anyway. Even the sporting good stores never heard of it. I mean, don't they keep up on what's on the market and what is selling. Even Gander Mountain did not know about it.

Take APP for example. You can shoot and shoot and the accuracy stays about the same. Sometimes you get a crud ring near the muzzle. A white hard crust can form there and I then just scrub the first couple inches of the barrel.

Pyrodex RS does produce a crud ring of sorts, but it is much softer then Triple Seven. And normally you can shoot a second shot with out swabbing. This is handy of course in the field should a fast second shot be needed, but I find I can do the same with Triple Seven most of the time. It just might be a little off of the first hit. But if its a follow up shot, then it is more of a coup de grāce then a more accurate first shot.

Pinnacle was one powder that I really loved. No crud ring. I could shoot and shoot. Same accuracy as the first shot. Easy to clean. Just a nice powder. Then they stopped making it or it is near impossible to find.

Strange as it might sound, Goex Black Powder I find, I can shoot up to three shots easy, with excellent accuracy, before I have to swab a barrel. Granted the fouling in the barrel is there, but again, it is soft and easy to remove. This is one of my favorite powders. It is very cost effective, and if a powder is going to go off, this is the powder that will fire in all kinds of weather and conditions. Just a great powder IMO. Also the myth of cleaning a rifle after shooting black powder.. I find them no harder to clean. But yes, if you shoot, you do need to clean the barrel.

So it is all a matter of choice. If you get great accuracy with Triple Seven, then you have to put up with the crud ring. It is a cost effective powder, powerful, and easy to clean at the end of the day. I like the powder. The crud ring is just part of the game to me.