Number of posts : 106 Age : 71 Location : Niagara Falls, NY Registration date : 2017-02-24
Subject: patch lube ? 10/25/2017, 06:40
I seen patch lubes advertized that say you can shoot lots of rounds without wiping the barrel between shots. Do they work ? Where does the fouling go if you don't wipe between shots ? I have also read that for best accuracy you need to wipe between shots. Who is right, which way is better ? Has anyone purchased and read the Dutch Schoultz muzzle loader accuracy system, what do you think of it ?
Number of posts : 320 Age : 67 Location : Alaska Registration date : 2017-04-20
Subject: Re: patch lube ? 10/25/2017, 09:14
Every gun is different, so there's no single answer I've found that fits all rifles. But yes, if the combo of lube/patch/ball size and barrel is right, you can shoot a lot without swabbing. In my experience, I don't care if I get slightly better accuracy from always swabbing between shots. I don't want to do it on hunts with lots of shooting (small game rifles or shotgunning for upland birds or ducks). So my goal is a lube that leaves soft fouling that's pushed back down the bore between powder and patched ball (or shotgun wad), then expelled up and out of the bore on the next shot. I've never experienced "crud ring" buildups down in the breech from that combo. If the fouling is too hard, then it builds up all along the bore and greatly interferes with loading and deteriorates accuracy. But if it's being pushed down on top of the powder because it's soft, I think I'm getting pretty close to "clean bore" with each shot.
Lotta, lotta guys swabbing between shots are shooting themselves in the foot if they are using a tight jag/swabbing patch combo. That does indeed push the fouling down into the bottom of the breech, eventually clogging the flame channel and developing a crud ring with a long string of shots. That's because the tight combo is pushing all that fouling down below the powder with little chance of blowing it back up and out the bore on successive shots.
There is a good solution, but very few guys ever do it. That's to turn your jag slightly smaller so along with your swabbing patch it slips easily down the bore and PAST all that fouling. When you pull the rod back up the bore, the loose "top" of the patch binds a little and gets tight, and as you pull the rod back up you pull all that fouling along with it. I can count on one hand the guys I know who have ever turned down their jags to make that happen.
A whole lot of lubes don't result in the soft fouling I want to allow my tight patch/ball combo to "swab" the bore as it seats. Best I've found for my multiple-shot days has been some kind of grease or oil. We have no bag limit and no closed season on snowshoe hare, and on good days during population peaks it's not unusual to shoot 20 in a morning. Ptarmigan season runs August to April with a 20 bird limit, so lots of shooting (and missing!) in years of peak abundance, too.
I mostly use either bear oil, deer tallow/olive oil blend, or mink oil tallow from Track of the Wolf. Doesn't mean others won't work, rather a sign that I found what I wanted an quit looking at any others. If I was swabbing between every shot, I'd need my supply of swabbing patches on a roll like toilet paper. And I'm not going to take all the time to do it when the hunting and shooting are so good.
I seen patch lubes advertized that say you can shoot lots of rounds without wiping the barrel between shots. Do they work ? Where does the fouling go if you don't wipe between shots ? I have also read that for best accuracy you need to wipe between shots. Who is right, which way is better ? Has anyone purchased and read the Dutch Schoultz muzzle loader accuracy system, what do you think of it ?
Alcohol-water based lubes are best for range shooting because the water quickly dissolves the fouling and wipes it into the patch after each shot as you load the rifle. My Buckskinners blend patch lube is intended for such range shoots where 20-30-40+ shots are needed.
Wiping... Now that is the true question here.
Not all rifles need to be cleaned in order to shoot their best accuracy. All of my rifles hold solid at 100 yards without needing to swab. This of course depends on bore condition, patch, ball size combo, and most importantly, patch lube and how well it works.
I bought the Dutch book years ago and found it interesting, a big help for a new shooter, but many things are out dated and I no longer follow these methods as my ways work best for me.
His dry patch method does require swabbing between shots, and I am not into that one bit.
