I am wondering about the safety of a method of swabbing between shots at the range. I am trying to figure this all out more or less on my own so I thought I would ask here to see if I can gain some insight on the safety of a method I borrowed from the "Cap n Ball" youtube gentleman from Hungary. He was shooting a 45 cal 2 band Enfield Whitworth style rifle that I believe he was intending to compete with at a long range. After his shot, he used a funnel to load the powder followed by card wad but did not swab before that. Then he would use a spit patch to swab the rest of the barrel, followed by a dry swab if I recall correctly. Then he would seat his bullet.
I am not new to the world per se, but I am new to black powder. I have a TC Omega that I bought a 15+ years ago and even took a deer with it. My kids just weren't into hunting so it has just sat in the safe. The Omega is expensive to shoot and with a scope not all that different to the CF in a way that is any more fun for me than the CF. I found a 54 cal Hawken at a local guns shop for $200, which seemed to be a good deal and I picked it up. I used T7 with round balls 1st followed by 535 grain NE conicals. I found the Hawken a lot more fun to shoot for me personally and I probably will just sell the Omega. The crud ring from T7 was annoying me though. I decided to try real BP for the 1st time in my 54 years. Olde Eynsford 2F is what I was able to aquire. I could not find Swiss. I found the O.E. much easier to swab out than T7 between shots and velocity is actually pretty close on a vol:vol basis.
Fast forward 2 months and things get out of hand quickly. The TC Hawken now has a .45 cal Rice 1-20" twist Match Grade Barrel, a Lee Shaver Economy Soule sight and Lyman globe front Sight. I am only planning on using this at the range. The same amount of fouling in a smaller bore makes it a little tougher to swab the Olde Eynsford between shots. There is some thicker fouling (caked?) compared to the 54 cal near the breech. In fact I have a few misfires because I either got the powder wet from the damp patch (using Balistol with water) or I may have plugged up the patent breech with fouling trying to get a consistent amount of fouling throughout the bore. I tried the method I mentioned above (powder, wad, swab, bullet). That method was actually much quicker and easier and I didn't have to worry about getting fouling in the breech. I was still careful so I didn't get anything wet. The very 1st thing I noticed pouring in the next load of BP was a lot of smoke from the previous shot billowed out of my funnel. Fortunately I was alone when this happened as it gave me a bit of anxiety for a few seconds wondering what would happen next. I also noted that the thicker fouling was a bit above my wad so I wondered if that would negatively impact accuracy as more and more shots were taken or how much thick fouling could build up?
I think that this is a newbie sort of question. I have searched the internet about "properly" swabbing between shots. There I have found so many answers and contradictory hard and fast rules concerning if you should, how you should and what you should swab it with that I am more confused than ever. Finally to my question. 1. Is the method above safe to do given that an ember (if that happens) might be left in the barrel from the previous shot? Or, should I have just realized that smoke is normal because it is black powder? 2. If the method is safe to do, is it an appropriate method to use with regards to accuracy? 3. If I should go back to swabbing before the powder is added, what are some ways to ensure that I am not plugging the breech with fouling?
Thank you in advance for your insight. Hopefully that will be my last 4 paragraph post!
I am not new to the world per se, but I am new to black powder. I have a TC Omega that I bought a 15+ years ago and even took a deer with it. My kids just weren't into hunting so it has just sat in the safe. The Omega is expensive to shoot and with a scope not all that different to the CF in a way that is any more fun for me than the CF. I found a 54 cal Hawken at a local guns shop for $200, which seemed to be a good deal and I picked it up. I used T7 with round balls 1st followed by 535 grain NE conicals. I found the Hawken a lot more fun to shoot for me personally and I probably will just sell the Omega. The crud ring from T7 was annoying me though. I decided to try real BP for the 1st time in my 54 years. Olde Eynsford 2F is what I was able to aquire. I could not find Swiss. I found the O.E. much easier to swab out than T7 between shots and velocity is actually pretty close on a vol:vol basis.
Fast forward 2 months and things get out of hand quickly. The TC Hawken now has a .45 cal Rice 1-20" twist Match Grade Barrel, a Lee Shaver Economy Soule sight and Lyman globe front Sight. I am only planning on using this at the range. The same amount of fouling in a smaller bore makes it a little tougher to swab the Olde Eynsford between shots. There is some thicker fouling (caked?) compared to the 54 cal near the breech. In fact I have a few misfires because I either got the powder wet from the damp patch (using Balistol with water) or I may have plugged up the patent breech with fouling trying to get a consistent amount of fouling throughout the bore. I tried the method I mentioned above (powder, wad, swab, bullet). That method was actually much quicker and easier and I didn't have to worry about getting fouling in the breech. I was still careful so I didn't get anything wet. The very 1st thing I noticed pouring in the next load of BP was a lot of smoke from the previous shot billowed out of my funnel. Fortunately I was alone when this happened as it gave me a bit of anxiety for a few seconds wondering what would happen next. I also noted that the thicker fouling was a bit above my wad so I wondered if that would negatively impact accuracy as more and more shots were taken or how much thick fouling could build up?
I think that this is a newbie sort of question. I have searched the internet about "properly" swabbing between shots. There I have found so many answers and contradictory hard and fast rules concerning if you should, how you should and what you should swab it with that I am more confused than ever. Finally to my question. 1. Is the method above safe to do given that an ember (if that happens) might be left in the barrel from the previous shot? Or, should I have just realized that smoke is normal because it is black powder? 2. If the method is safe to do, is it an appropriate method to use with regards to accuracy? 3. If I should go back to swabbing before the powder is added, what are some ways to ensure that I am not plugging the breech with fouling?
Thank you in advance for your insight. Hopefully that will be my last 4 paragraph post!