Card over powder, greased felt wad, then patched ball

[heelerau]

 One of my rifles gets a bit of fouling near the breach, and maybe a ring a couple of inches  up  from where the loaded ball sits. Just wondering if any of you  had tried this load combination, and whether if altered the group by much? When I clean the rifle and the barrel is dead dry, I oil it with extra virgin olive oil from the local Italian family. I notice in my other long rifles that there is not the hard fouling from when I used to use WD40.

Cheers

Gordon

[JCKelly]

Various threads over the years suggest that there is a difference in the fouling when one uses an organic grease/oil as opposed to a petroleum derivative. One guy who understands organic chemistry (not me!) discussed the difference on a molecular level. Other non-techhie types suggest it is BS.

I'm inclined to use some organic grease and avoid the petroleum derivative.

Dillin talks about using "sweet oil", which is olive oil. Crisco has a long, long list of uses as a lubricant. You might want to stay with that Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or if it makes you feel better, get Mink Oil from Track of the Wolf, or Old Swamp Hunter from ??source listed in www.caywoodguns.com. Some guys love Bore Butter, I gave mine away, as for me it seemed to lube much like an industrial quality adhesive.

Lots of guys love WD-40. Others, including clockmakers, hate it. I'm a natural man, meself. 

[heelerau]

JC,
     thanks for the reply, I spoke with a couple of mates from Vernal who put me onto sweet oil being olive oil. In now us it in all my muzzle loading rifles with success, and much less hard fouling build up.
    I now pretty much only use my own spit as patch lube and find it fine certainly for hunting. If I was to use a greased felt wad, it would be greased with either my minie ball lube which is a mix of beeswax and unsalted beef lard or just lard.  I guess the rifle that is fouling a little may only need a lot more shots through to condition the bore.

cheers

Gordon

[Ezra]

I use bear grease or spit.  Sometimes when I forget, I use both...


Ez

[Daryl]

Many of us use WD40- BUT it is not a patch lube, it is used as a bore flush after drying the bore after cleaning, to flush out any residual moisture from the bore's pores. I then wipe down the outside with that last oiling patch.

For lubing patches, I did not have good luck with olive oil, nor did it work for me as an additive to beeswax as a bullet lube.

Bore butter, to me, is most closely related to lip balm, not a patch lube.

For hunting, I now use one of two lubes- Track's mink oil as I always have a tub of that on hand, or Dans favourite, pure Neetsfoot Oil (not compound, which is synthetic)  Either the mink oil or neetsfoot oil works for me, in every one of my guns.

You must check point of impact with the oils or a grease, if sighted for a water based lube.

When changing from one lube to another, you must 'develope' the load for accuracy - merely subbing one lube for another can leave you with poorer accuracy than you desire.

For target shooting, many of us us a winter windshield washer fluid with a bit of oil added. Shake it up and lube your precuts in a tin or plastic box. The addition of oil helps reduce the evapouration rate in hot dry climates.

Some of the oils and lubes will rot the patch material over time. Best to only lube enough for the day or week's shooting.

Oh yes - when trying a wad along with patched ball, only my .69 was not negatively effected.  I tried wads, both card and oxyoke,  in my .40 and .45- both doubled 50 yard group sizes- leaving me with 1 to 1 1/2" groups. The wads are or were not necessary with any lube I use, as this was done just as a test. Wads were mentioned here and I've used them when hunting with my big rifles to separate the lubed patch from the powder charge.  My only problem with a wad, is it may remove lube that is left in the bore by the patch. This is bad, because the lube is left there to soften fouling.  If the wad removes this film of fouling, the bore may foul excessively between shots.  I use only a thin cardboard-type wad - not a thick wad.

Doubling my group sizes to 1" or 1 1/2" sounds OK - however, if you are now getting 3" groups without wads, doubling that would turn them into 6" groups.

Testing is the only way to find out, for sure, for your rifle.