Tallinar
Member
Hey folks. Sorry if this is a can of worms that has been discussed elsewhere, and beaten into the ground excessively. Feel free to just direct me to another link if necessary.
My dad used to shoot quite a bit of competitive muzzleloading rifle, and won a number of matches as a junior back in his day. During his teenage years, he had pieced together a custom .54 Hawken, which remains his favorite rifle to this day.
The only problem is, it's become sort of a safe queen for the last decade or so - along with his other old percussion rifles. I'm fixing to remedy this.
In my youth, I had never been really interested in muzzleloader shooting - simply because I was turned off by the notion of cleaning between shots. This seemed slow and tedious to me, which was far less appealing to me than the bolt rifles Dad had around when I was a kid. Now that I'm older and a bit more seasoned in the shooting arts - with a better knowledge and appreciation for all the goes into accuracy - I'd like to at least dabble in blackpowder muzzleloading a bit.
When it comes to cleaning the bore between shots; I've read that many people simply lick/spit on a patch, and run it down the bore once. Others use some sort of solvent. Beyond the cleaning patch between shots, I also understand that some folks might use solvent/lubricant on their ball patch, and some might again lick/spit on the patch. I've heard of folks shooting matches and doing quite well using either method.
Now I've been reading a bit about blackpowder lead ball rifle shooting in general, and it's unique characteristics as far as how accuracy sort of seems to depend on having some level of bore fouling present. Given that my experience to date has been exclusively in smokeless cartridge shooting, my head is a bit of a spin. The concept of using my spit in my guns is extremely foreign to me.
So now my question. To those who are veterans of the blackpowder muzzleloading rifle world: Is it REALLY worth it to bang my head against a wall trying to decide on a bore solvent to use to clean between patches - as well as a lubricant to use on my ball patch? Or can I expect to experience reasonable accuracy using only a lick of my own saliva?
If spit is to be considered unacceptable, what methods have you tinkered with? What method have you settled on, personally? If anyone could share their personal experiences, as well as direct me to some online literate, I would be most appreciative.
Thanks folks!
My dad used to shoot quite a bit of competitive muzzleloading rifle, and won a number of matches as a junior back in his day. During his teenage years, he had pieced together a custom .54 Hawken, which remains his favorite rifle to this day.
The only problem is, it's become sort of a safe queen for the last decade or so - along with his other old percussion rifles. I'm fixing to remedy this.
In my youth, I had never been really interested in muzzleloader shooting - simply because I was turned off by the notion of cleaning between shots. This seemed slow and tedious to me, which was far less appealing to me than the bolt rifles Dad had around when I was a kid. Now that I'm older and a bit more seasoned in the shooting arts - with a better knowledge and appreciation for all the goes into accuracy - I'd like to at least dabble in blackpowder muzzleloading a bit.
When it comes to cleaning the bore between shots; I've read that many people simply lick/spit on a patch, and run it down the bore once. Others use some sort of solvent. Beyond the cleaning patch between shots, I also understand that some folks might use solvent/lubricant on their ball patch, and some might again lick/spit on the patch. I've heard of folks shooting matches and doing quite well using either method.
Now I've been reading a bit about blackpowder lead ball rifle shooting in general, and it's unique characteristics as far as how accuracy sort of seems to depend on having some level of bore fouling present. Given that my experience to date has been exclusively in smokeless cartridge shooting, my head is a bit of a spin. The concept of using my spit in my guns is extremely foreign to me.
So now my question. To those who are veterans of the blackpowder muzzleloading rifle world: Is it REALLY worth it to bang my head against a wall trying to decide on a bore solvent to use to clean between patches - as well as a lubricant to use on my ball patch? Or can I expect to experience reasonable accuracy using only a lick of my own saliva?
If spit is to be considered unacceptable, what methods have you tinkered with? What method have you settled on, personally? If anyone could share their personal experiences, as well as direct me to some online literate, I would be most appreciative.
Thanks folks!