cayugad

Here is my method. Others have different ways and I am NOT saying mine is the best way or the only way. I hunt in snow, rain, humidity, and just cold nasty weather. So I like to be sure the rifle will fire.

Take the gun off the rack and set the hammer to half cock. Drop the ramrod down the barrel and make sure it all but disappears. This tells me it is not loaded. Then to double check, I cover the muzzle with my mouth, blow down the barrel and listen for air to pass through the breech, nipple, vent holes, etc.. this tells me the rifle is unloaded. And the nipple is clear.

Now I take a patch and add isopropyl alcohol on the patch. Not to saturate the patch, just to dampen it. I then swab the bore of the rifle with that alcohol patch. This will remove dust, grunge, dirt, and especially the oil for putting it up. Swab both sides of the patch. Check that patch! Is there rust or brown on it? The brown can be dirt. But if there is rust that is something I will address after I shoot it.

Now knowing the rifle is empty and the oil has been patched out of the bore, I send down a dry patch. I again do this to make sure any dirt the alcohol patch missed is removed, also to make sure I have all the alcohol out of the bore. I want a dry clean bore before I go hunting. If you check that patch you might actually find some moisture on it. Its alcohol. So we are going to remove that right now.

Push a second dry clean white patch to the bottom of the breech. If it is a cap lock, put a cap on the nipple and fire the cap. Now pull the patch. Check the patch for moisture which there should be none, and of course a large burn mark. If the burn mark does not look large or cover the end of the jag size .. push an new clean patch down the bore and repeat the popping of another cap. Pull that patch and check for burn marks. What we want to see is.. are the caps pushing fire, through the nipple, then through the bolster or depending on the make of the rifle, the drum, into the breech area where the main powder charge will be. The burn mark on the patch tells us this. So check the second patch for a good black burn mark. Lets say.. it has a pretty good burn mark. So with an empty barrel, put a third cap on the nipple. Hold the muzzle at something on the floor ... perhaps an old patch. Pop that cap and see if the item on the floor.. leaf, dirty, old patch, what ever.. moves. This tells me the nipple is clear, the bolster/drum is clear, and that things are moving through the rifle and the bore is dry.

Here is the point where you have to know whether you like to hunt on a fouled bore or a clean bore. Some rifles I hunt with need to be fouled. Others not. Lets say for sake of argument you like a fouled bore. This is where you would dump twenty grains of the powder you intend to hunt with, down the bore. Then take a clean patch and push that down the bore onto the powder charge. This is called a squib load. Go outside, cap the rifle and fire that into the air. Its normally a harmless charge but could hurt living things at close range. So don't aim at anything living. Although if your in the city, you might want to wait until you are in a place where doing this will not get you arrested.

Once the barrel is fouled. We now know from the squib load that the rifle WILL fire. So dump your normal powder charge down the bore and your projectile. You have a loaded rifle now. All you need do is cap it.

If you hunt on a clean barrel.. bypass the squib load thing. Just load the rifle.

As mentioned.. take your nipple wrench with you. This is a time when many remove the nipple. Be careful not to drop and loose it. Take a spare. Now drizzle a little powder into the nipple port and replace the nipple. You are almost 100% certain this rifle will fire, when you cap it and need to shoot it.. IF YOU KEEP IT DRY THE REST OF THE DAY.

Now you can go hunting, knowing you have a fresh charge, and a primed rifle that will fire. I once fell into a creek with my Renegade, loaded just like this. Poured the water out of the barrel and fired the rifle off. No problem. You need to do this fast though, before the powder can soak any water. Like.. rifle up out of the water, dump the water hold the barrel down... find a stump.. fire the rifle.

Lets now say your in the wood and have fired the rifle at something and want to reload. Many rifles can be loaded again without swabbing. But for the sake of argument lets say it was a clean miss.. you had buck fever .. too bad.

This is a good time to swab the bore. I take some alcohol wipes you purchase at the wal mart. They're paper. But they are impregnated with alcohol. I then lay that alcohol patch on top of the muzzle, and then a dry single layer patch. Or you can carry a small bottle of alcohol with you and not bother with the alcohol patches. Just some alcohol and patches.. This will allow you to swab the bore of the rifle clean and to wipe the nipple off. You then run a dry patch after the wet patch. Some times if I am concerned the patch was too wet.. put a cap on the empty rifle and aim at a leaf or snow. Fire it and see if the barrel is passing the flame. Then load. You might want to add powder under the nipple for your next shot but really.. that rifle will normally fire just fine.

At the end of the day, if you shot a squib load, fire off the rifle and clean it. If you loaded on a clean barrel you have to decide how well you can trust that rifle over night for not killing the charge. I shoot mine off, clean the rifle, and do it all over again in the morning.

I hope this helped