Touch hole crust/fouling?

[Marvin S]

Shooting my 50 cal flint pistol and 50 cal flint rifle last weekend and the rifle always has some touch hole fouling/blockage after firing. The pistol never seems to have much of any fouling. Both are flat faced plugs with white lighting liners. Using the same 2f powder and lube in both 60gr in rifle and 25gr in pistol. Any ideas why it is? I know I’m digging pretty deep here but maybe one or the other is telling me something.

[WKevinD]

Try fffg and a tighter patch ball combo in the rifle.

Kevin

[Marvin S]

I’ve done lots of shooting with the rifle and have used mostly 3f with .495 ball and .020 ish patch with the same results.

[smylee grouch]

Do you think the main charge or prime is fouling the vent? Might try a different lube or tighter combo.

[Marvin S]

I assume main charge. I’m using hand sanitizer for lube so I’m pretty sure it completely burns off.

[Rich]

I doubt it would be the lube for the main charge because the patched ball would be about a half inch in front of the vent. The only way to get the patch lube into the touch hole would be to swab the barrel after shooting and before reloading. I use a spit patch and before I start shooting I make sure there is no oil in the barrel. I run a dry patch down until it comes out clean. I've had the same thing happen as you described. I think it is probably weather related. The fouling from burning black powder absorbs moisture and can cake up.   

[Mike Brooks]

The hard crusties have been a problem for me this year. We're have low humidity this summer which we never had before.

I have never heard of hand sanitizer for lube before. I think I'd use something else that is proven.

[Marvin S]

The hand sanitizer/ alcohol has worked wonders for me accuracy wise. I use a wet ball patch and run it down with a damp patch on a cleaning jag. Gets bore wiped the same every time without pushing fouling in the chamber area. I call it the Friendship wipe, as that’s where I learned it on the silhouette range.

I have some rifles that shoot patterns with slick greasy or oily lubes, particularly my bench rest rifle and a .40 cal colerain A weight that I was ready to re barrel.

It’s probably just a fact of life from burning more powder in the long gun vs the pistol. I clear the touch hole after every shot with a 1/16” wire. The pistol is always open and clear so that got me to wondering.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

How are you removing the fouling you push down the barrel in front of the patched jag?  I submit that you are blocking the vent with this fouling.
I never clean until I get home from the range.  And when I pour in my next powder charge and ram a patched ball, I can see new powder at the vent through the hole.  Ignition is instantaneous and there is no build up of fouling at the breech or in the bore.
How do you know the thickness of your patches?  Patches sold commercially that say they are .020" thick, are not, for example.

[dadybear1]

COULD IT BE YOU USE ALMOST TWICE THE POWDER IN A RIFLE THAN A PISTOL?  SO MORE PRESSURE DURING IGNITION HELPS SCRUB THE FLASH HOLE????JUST CURIOUS

[Marvin S]

How are you removing the fouling you push down the barrel in front of the patched jag?  I submit that you are blocking the vent with this fouling.
I never clean until I get home from the range.  And when I pour in my next powder charge and ram a patched ball, I can see new powder at the vent through the hole.  Ignition is instantaneous and there is no build up of fouling at the breech or in the bore.
How do you know the thickness of your patches?  Patches sold commercially that say they are .020" thick, are not, for example.

Patched jag is used to seat the patched ball that is already in the bore so it’s not much different than what the shoot all day people say they are doing except I swab basically after the gun is loaded.

I measure thickness with dail calipers and micrometers.Its not like I’m have reliability issues or slow lock times. I have fresh powder at the touch hole also. It’s just mainly the crust that forms in the hole on the long guns while the pistol basically has none.

[Marvin S]

COULD IT BE YOU USE ALMOST TWICE THE POWDER IN A RIFLE THAN A PISTOL?  SO MORE PRESSURE DURING IGNITION HELPS SCRUB THE FLASH HOLE????JUST CURIOUS

You got it backwards.

[dadybear1]

MY BAD THNKS

[smylee grouch]

How big is the hole inn the vent? As the come new I think they are smaller than 1/16 and a lot of people open them up to 1/16 and some to .070

[Marvin S]

Both about .064

[Waksupi]

How are you removing the fouling you push down the barrel in front of the patched jag?  I submit that you are blocking the vent with this fouling.
I never clean until I get home from the range.  And when I pour in my next powder charge and ram a patched ball, I can see new powder at the vent through the hole.  Ignition is instantaneous and there is no build up of fouling at the breech or in the bore.
How do you know the thickness of your patches?  Patches sold commercially that say they are .020" thick, are not, for example.

I agree with pushing fouling to the breech plug. Get a breech scraper. On my fowler, I have to scrape the breech plug every ten shots or so to maintain peak accuracy.

[Daryl]

I had problems at one time with a blocked vent on my .40  but only when using 2F powder.
 It never happened with 3F. I assumed it was due to the space between the the frizzen's sealing face and the side of the barrel. After 10 to 20 shots, a piece of fouling would fall into the pan and block the vent, until it was removed with a vent pick.
Pricking the vent often, eliminated the flash-in-the-pans.