Sharp Shooter

How often do I need to swab the barrel between shots? I live in Colorado at about 5,000' elevation. I plan to use Pyrodex. I shoot a traditional percussion cap 54cal. What do you do when you swab your barrel? What do you use? I am very new to the sport and have yet to shoot it.

lonewolf5347

I swab my barrel between shots with a damp water patch out of a spray bottle,flip it again and then followed with a dry patch.I use no solvents at all.
I also before loading the main charge snap 3 caps followed with a few dry patches to clean the barrel.
I would recommend never run a dry patch after a shooting a round out of a barrel, a dry patch will pick up the crud and the patch and jag will not come out that easy,I also drill and tap the other end of the ramrod incase a little effort is needed to add a t handle for more pulling power

liquidorange

if you get a super jag the patch will come out dry or wet. i will put a patch in my mouth a second or 2 and then swab every 2 or 3 shots. i have gone 10 shots or more with out cleaning. it all depends.

cayugad

Since your shooting a Traditional Rifle you will find the need to swab the bore much less then if you were shooting a fast twist and loading sabots. patch and ball are much more forgiving then plastic and lead.

When I swab my traditional rifles I use91% (almost pure) isopropyl alcohol as my swabbing solution. I do not include any windshield washer fluid, especially in winter. I get less hangfires and misfires by doing that.Never push adry patch into a fowled barrel. It is the fastest way I know of to loose a patch and in some cases even stick a ramrod or loose the end off the ramrod..

I take a patch and dampen it. Then starting at the muzzle with the patch on a cleaning jag, start working downward in very short strokes. About 3-4 inches at a time and no more.If you feel the barrel trying to grab and hold the ramrod do not go further. Bring it back up to the clean part and work in even shorter strokes down. When you finally reach the breech you will find the most fowling. You might actually have to scrub here with the patch.

When you bring that patch up (since you use pyrodex) it will be black and filthy. Some times I will run a second damp patch if I feel the barrel is still dirty. After the damp patches, with the fowling removed, work a dry patch down the barrel. Again, use the short strokes to avoid loosing the patch or ramrod. I like to run two dry patches.

If you have any doubts about how much fowling you pushed around, pop a couple #11 caps through the nipple before loading. This will make sure the nipple and fire channel is clear.. You do not always have to do that, only if you feel something might be wet down there..

If you use bore butter, they claim you do not have to swab. I am testing a bore butter barrel and found I can get about 20 shots or more, before I need to swab.

khuengo

Cayugad, could you explain why using bore butter helps cleaning the barrel. There is always residue in the barrel after each shot, right ?. Does using bore butter help smoothen out the barrel then all residue will be gone with bullet when you shoot?

Sharp Shooter

I planned on using bore butter. What do you do with the bore butter? Also, do those patches that say they clean on the way down when loading help? I wonder what those people in civil war did when they wereshooting real black powder and did not have time to clean?[&:]

khuengo

that is why they all died now!!!

cayugad

The way they sell bore butter is constant use of it helps to season a barrel. If you ever seasoned a cast iron fry pan what is the one thing you notice? Food does not stick to it. Well it is the same with a rifle barrel so it is claimed. As you load and shoot, because you use bore butter and the barrel is seasoned, a lot of the fowling is also blown out the barrel when you shoot, so you can shoot more with less fowling.

I use bore butter in one rifle barrel. I used to be a bore butter user, and then had some bad experiences with it. Since then I have went and tried a .54 caliber Renegade barrel with only bore butter to protect it. I am following the instructions of some hard core bore butter users.. So far the rifle has been behaving. When I used to use it, it also behaved then suddenly the accuracy went terrible. Perhaps the new way I am using it will make a difference. Time will tell.

With the bore butter, you use it as a patch lube. Also when your done shooting you clean the rifle and use bore butter to protect it. Sabotloader and Roundball and the two to check with reference how to use bore butter..

As for during the Civil War.. the rifles did fowl out. But remember, most of the projectiles like the Minnie are a very slip fit projectile. They loaded very easy. They just kept shooting until the rifle would no longer fire. I would guess they then grabbed a different rifle. If you look at battle death numbers during the battles I tend to think there might have been spare rifles around real fast. Also many of the rifles used a musket cap. This was more fire into the chamber. What they used, when they cleaned the rifle barrels might surprise you.. everything from coffee, water, and even urine.

khuengo

thank Cayugad, your explanation is great, as always. It makes me think of using bore butter to protect the barrel of my Yugo SKS. As you know, the inside barrel of Yugo SKS is not chromed, do you recommend me to use T/C bore butter to protect the rust?
Another thing, how do i use it? Just spread it to the patch and go through barrel like cleaning jag?

cayugad

I personally am not a bore butter fan. I use it to lube conicals and now that I make my own lube not even for that...

The way they told me to use the bore butter is after I scrub the barrel back to bare metal almost... I then pour boiling water down the barrel to get it really hot, and I mean hot! Then I run a wet alcohol patch down it to drive the moisture out of the barrel. Then a dry patch or two down the barrel to make sure there is no moisture. then I take some bore butter and start packing it around the outside muzzle of the barrel so it begins to melt. Then I smear it down the bore with patches. After I am sure I have the entire inside of the barrel covered. After the barrel is cooled, I take dry patches and try to patch out the excess bore butter.

As the barrel is cooled the metal will suck the bore butter into the pores and this is supposed to season and protect the barrel from rust.