Idaholewis

I will try and explain this as briefly as possible, As many of you on Modernmuzzleloader know i was having a HECK of a time with my cold clean bore shot back in the summer, I recently started working with my .50 Cal Green Mountain LRH preparing for my upcoming hunt, i knew i had to Conquer the cold clean bore shot or there was ABSOLUTELY no reason to even think about hunting with ANY of my Muzzleloaders (and i have quite few of them!) Everytime i went out and shot my cold clean bore was a total DISASTER? If any of you remember there were times out when i could not hit a 3ft by 3ft Square the first shot?! I tried popping caps off which did help some but stil not great, i tried Graphite Lock eeze to simulate a fouled bore, that also helped a bit but was stil not great, I could not figure out what the heck was causing the EXTREME cold clean bore problem i was having? And this was not in just 1 rifle, this was EVERY rifle i own!! The only thing i was doing differently is using a little handheld steam cleaner thru the breech end, this gets about 8-10" of the barrel HOT, BURN YA HOT! It cleans the Snail/Patented breech/powder chamber back to shiny brand new inside. I finally came to the conclusion that this was likely my problem? I started out with my Stainless .50 Cal and sure enough my cold clean bore was AWOL, Then the rifle settled in and shot AWESOME as usual, when i got home i skipped the steam cleaner on the barrel, i went back to my bucket of water cleaning routine for the barrel, the only parts i steam cleaned were the Nipple, Hammer, and lock, I loaded up the next morning and shot again, the cold clean bore was REALLY close this time! I repeated my cleaning procedure WITHOUT using the steam cleaner on the barrel, i headed out again the next morning, this cold clean bore was ABSOLUTELY dead center bullseye! So i went from not being able to hit a 3ft square, back to being dead center with all of my shots!

Folks the steam cleaner is an AWESOME little tool for DEEP cleaning, they clean better than anything out there, but i can tell you from first hand experience that it will DESTROY your cold clean bore shot, which for a hunter is obviously the most crucial shot you will take! From now on i will be using my steam cleaner for my parts, Nipples, Locks, Hammers, etc. But i will definitely NOT be using it in my barrels anymore. If you are bench rest shooting and can afford to 'burn' the first shot none of this is a big deal, after i burned my first shot my following shots were always spot on. I am now working on getting my 45 Green Mountain LRH back in business, this morning was its first shoot without the barrel being steam cleaned, my shot was high and left about 1 foot. I will clean it again the ole fashion way in a bucket of water and hopefully get the chance to try again tomorrow, if it does like my 50 Cal did it will take about 3 sessions to get straightened back out.

Idaholewis

Any of you that frequent the Castboolit forum feel free to share this information there, back when i was a member there i started a thread on cleaning with a steam cleaner and i know several guys jumped on the wagon and got little hand held steam cleaners like mine, This was obviously before i knew what i know now. This could save someone a missed animal, or worse case Scenario a wounded animal.

Again the steam cleaner works AMAZING at cleaning heavy gunk, i dont feel anything cleans as well as HOT steam, the steam cleaner definitely has a place in my cleaning routine, but its parts ONLY such as the locks, hammers, nipples, etc. I will no longer be using it in my barrels

idahoron

I just posted a piece about it just a bit ago.