Just tried Windex as a patch lube...good stuff

[Scout]

I read about some of you folks getting 10-20 plus shots , no wiping. I never had that happen and was darn determined I was gonna find out the "secret".
After reading all the stuff that I could about the pros and cons of this and that I tried some windex.
Prior to that I also ran a few patches thru my barrel with water based valve grinding compound as it had a few rough spots and some minor rust that was hard to remove. After that and a good cleaning I took her to the range.

I was just hitting my first hour at the range and had shot 10 rounds with NO CLEANING and it was still ready for more ! I was amazed, first time it ever happened to me!
Getz 42" barrel, .395 ball, .018 pillow ticking pushed by 60 grains of Goex 3F.
I'm no Boone or Crockett but I kept all of them in a coffe saucer size group offhand at 30 yards. My biggest thrill was the lack of cleaning during the shoot. I had more fun in that hour than just about about any other time I have shot BP.

A big $#@* eatin grin has now takin up residence on the ole scouts mug !

[david50]

i use it for cleaning,usualy only four or five patches and i'm done.

[Scout]

My next "experiment" is the Hoppes#9 Plus I will have early next week. I have heard lots of good stuff about this so now I can see for myself. I will post my results.

Oh yeah, have some Ballistol coming too, same reason.

Skip

[cahil_2]

I use LeHigh Valley and shoot an entire woods walk without wiping.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

cahil_2,  Have you found a current source for Lehigh Valley??

[Daryl]

I've been testing Shenendoah Lube and find it virtually identical to LHV. Note, in the rifles I've used it, I have to up the powder charge to maintain accuracy, same was with LHV.   This is due to it's slipperyness, which gives the same results as a 'slick' barrel -  in thoery.

[Kermit]

Daryl, I know cleanliness is next to godliness, but what about "slipperyness?"

Back when I started in this endeavor, once in a while someone's rifle would start misbehaving, and the gunsmith in our club would declare it was "shooting slick," and he could fix that. He finally divulged his secret: plug the vent/nipple and pee into the barrel. Fill 'er up. I don't recall the duration of urine exposure, but he claimed it was an olde tyme remedy for a "slick barrel."

I hesitate to ask, but is this a reality or to be filed under "mythos?" I await the truthiness.

[Dogshirt]

Call the "Myth Busters".

[Daryl]

Roger is experiencing exactly that with his 60,000+++ round .45 barrel - and has been, now and then since I joined this forum, years ago - around 45,000 rounds at that time, if I remember correctly (IIRC).

The condition is valid, I'm sure. If you want to maintain that original powder charge, the cure is valid as well - you 'roughen' the barrel or use more powder - either - or.  Running a heavy emery, say 120 grit down and up the bore a few times will do a better and more consistant job than the urine soak, I'm sure. The emery is what I'd do, but - I like the added powder myself - accuracy is incredible with it and so is the 'new' trajectory. It's a great thing to not have to think about raising the front sight in the notch for the 100yard gongs, as the ball drops only about 2" at that range from the 60 yard zero.  I like that, but in my .40 and .45, it takes 65 and 75gr. 3F to do it - along with the LHV or the stuff I'm using now, Shenedoah lube. 2,200fps+ has a wondeful effect to trajectory of a round ball, compared to 1,500fps.

Running the emery down and up the bore, has it running with the rifling. Peeing into the bore will cause roughness, which is the desired outcome in a random manner - THAT I don't want.  That roughenss is pits, however small, it's still pits and they are random, all over.  

I want the 'gripping' or resisting to the patched ball for even powder burning thus improved internal ballistics to come from the sides of the lands and bottom of the grooves. I want the tops of the lands remain polished - or with longitudinal marks (from the emery) only.  I don't want pits, but maybe that's just me.

[cahil_2]

Dr. Boone, No I have some bottles left over and some shenandoah valley also.  They both smell and feel the same to me.  Also, same results with both.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Thanks cahil-2, I got some Shenandoah as well and it seemed the same but?  I really did like the LHV though.

[volatpluvia]

You can shoot all day andclean too with plain rubbing alcohol which is 30% water. add a little oil soap if you want it to be a little oily.  I cleaned between relays just to make it a bit less cleaning atthe end of the day.
volatpluvia

[Daryl]

For those who shooting without wiping, something thing you can do at the end of the day's shooting to reduce cleaning time and energy, is to dump in about 20gr. or 30gr. of 3F (or 2F) in your .45 or .50 rifle. Load a VERY wet patched round ball, seated firmly on the powder which will leave only 1/4" to 3/8" of the breech end of the barrel having the day's shooting's fouling as the rest of the bore has only that fouling left by the 20gr. or 30gr. charge.

The water, if using the flush method is barely if at all discoloured from perfectly clear.

[hanshi]

I can think of a dozen better ways to roughen a bore than peeing in it.  That's disrespecting the gun.  I wouldn't do anything to my gun I wouldn't do to a friend - browning, stock finishing, hole boring, etc, excluded.

[Dogshirt]

I can think of a dozen better ways to roughen a bore than peeing in it.  That's disrespecting the gun.  I wouldn't do anything to my gun I wouldn't do to a friend - browning, stock finishing, hole boring, etc, excluded.

Hey! A guy's got to pee SOMEWHERE! Better your rifle than mine!

[Canute Rex]

What volatpluvia said - rubbing alcohol with about 20% neatsfoot oil. Shake it up like salad dressing. Cheap and effective and it stays liquid in the cold.

[Maven]

This is also worth brewing:

D. Taylor Sapergia’s Patch Lube

I like shooting the smooth bored  PA fowler.  I use the heavier charge (85 grs. FFg) because it shoots where I want at all ranges out to 109 yds. (our farthest target on the trail).  You are good to go with the .595 and .600 balls, and I like your choice of patch material.  I usually use saliva - lots of it - in the summer, but in the winter, I switch too a lube with methyl hydrate to keep it from freezing. 

I use precut patches ~1 1/8" soaked with the following mixture: I fill an Appleton's rum bottle, having consumed the great rum, with winter strength windshield washer antifreeze, to within a couple inches of the top.  I then add a couple ounces of Murphy Oil soap, and a couple ounces of Neatsfoot Oil.  Olive or Canola oil is just as good.  This stuff does not blend into a combined liquid, and requires shaking just before you use it.  I fill a Sucrets tin with the precut patches I'm going to shoot that day, shake the bottle, and pour it over the patches.  When they have absorbed as much as they will, pour the extra back into the bottle, and then squeeze out the patches in the tin a little to remove the overflow as well.  But I leave them very wet.  With these soaked patches, you should be able to shoot all day and never have to wipe the bore.  And loading is not hard with a wooden rod.

[Dogshirt]

Something I've started doing when I lube in the tin is wet the patches with your choice
of lube, as stated above. Then I lift them out, put dry patches under them, replace them and put
dry ones on top. They will absorb the excess and even out quite nicely.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I don't do that Dogshirt, because the dry patches suck up too much of the liquid, thereby drying out the other patches.  I want my patches dripping wet - not moist.

[Dogshirt]

I roll my smokes, I don't want it all over my fingers, form oil is bad enough.

[Daryl]

Taylor makes a good point.
 
We - just about all of us up here shoot wet patches, not merely damp.  If you pulled a stack of 15 patches out of the tin and squeezed them between finger and thumb, you'd get a number of drips of lube run out of them.

[bob in the woods]

If you don't want lube on your fingers....here is what works for a fellow out our way. Precut patch [dry]
ball and patch given a wack with the short starter to about 1/2 in below the muzzle. He then uses an eye dropper and squirts in a good shot of his lube . The patch sucks it up...there is plenty !  Then ram the works home. Shot the whole match that way . I never saw him clean. 

[jamesthomas]

 I went to the range Monday shot maybe 15 times took my brother with me. He shoots a .36 and I shot  my .50.  Just used spit with a .490 rb with .24 pillow tickin' patch 65 grns 3fff KIK did'nt clean, last shot loaded like the first. Could have shot more but the family had a shopping trip planned.

[Scout]

Just finished up casting some roundball gettin ready for tommorow. I'm headin out to the range in the mornin to shoot my flint. I will be using Hoppes #9 Plus for the first time.
It's gonna be in the low 30s tonite so it should be a nice day for it .

I will post later on how the Hoppes worked for me.