Patched roundball range day

[Formidilosus]

Definitely weird then. I didn't mean to raise a fuss, but just making an inquiry on there he'll most likely respond and probably get you fixed up.

Oh no, I appreciate it. I’m kind of just curious how bad it will get before Bree responds and/or ships it.

 

[Taco John]

I like the .54 because its a little bigger.

After reading too many books about the western fur trade I learned that the avg caliber used by the mtn men was .53

Basically the evolved compromise between the size of ammo, and the quantity of ammo that was practical to carry.

Big enough for buffalo, and enraged natives, but small enough to get the most shots out of a pound of lead.


If it was good enough for them to trust their lives, and livelihoods to, then thats good enough for me.

 

[mtnbound]

Positive it's swiss. It's the only real BP that leaves sticky fouling at the breech. I'll take to get lot #s when I get home. It's definitely not as clean as folks like to say it is.

That's weird in my experience. Goex is dirty as hell, that's why I stopped using it. Swiss has been significantly cleaner.

 

[mtnbound]

I like the .54 because its a little bigger.

After reading too many books about the western fur trade I learned that the avg caliber used by the mtn men was .53

Basically the evolved compromise between the size of ammo, and the quantity of ammo that was practical to carry.

Big enough for buffalo, and enraged natives, but small enough to get the most shots out of a pound of lead.


If it was good enough for them to trust their lives, and livelihoods to, then thats good enough for me.

My favorite is the 54, but I also love shooting my 58.

 

[mtnbound]

Are you positive you were not shooting schuetzen? Made by same folks but blue packaging instead of red.

How much swiss have you shot? Any idea of lot #/production dates? Were the seals on the cans unbroken when you got them?

This sounds very odd to me. Everyone I shoot with prefers swiss for being cleaner and more consistent. Even the guys I compete with who at one time were advertising/promoting goex and getting it for free would fill empty cans with swiss and shoot it in competitions.

I agree; for me, Swiss is cleaner than Goex by a long way.

 

[87TT]

I still have a few lbs. of this stuff.

 

[Formidilosus]

Some more “lying” about patches….


After shooting the other day, I spit patch swabbed the bore a few runs. Then it say in the truck util tonight. Between 40-50 shots from the last cleaning.




Boiling water, dipped the swab, dabbed the bore- and it came out looking about like it started. Put a patch on, boiling water and this is the first patch-



Swabbed agin with boiling water, then poured boiling water down the bore. Then dry patched it.

All the patches but one. The last patch had just a hint of gray on it.




So far, cleaning BP out of this gun is turning out to be a much Ado about nothing.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Maybe you have fairy dust, or maybe you have an extremely smooth bore with a great finish (not what I experienced with traditions). But I think it's more likely that because you're using water and no type of solvent (soap, moose milk, bore butter), your actually just leaving a bunch of stuff in the bore. What I've found is that each of those gets the bore cleaner than the others, and clean with just one is not clean with all 3.

I strongly suspect that if I ran my cleaning protocol on your barrel after you cleaned it, a whole bunch of gunk would come out. If you're single patching only and those never ever get stuck when when dry, then I would about guarantee that it's not as clean as you're currently thinking.

 

[FrontierGander]

Wet patching I see. I thought the original patches were swabbing patches. Completely different scenario. All your fouling is getting pushed to the breech.

 

[Formidilosus]

Maybe you have fairy dust, or maybe you have an extremely smooth bore with a great finish (not what I experienced with traditions). But I think it's more likely that because you're using water and no type of solvent (soap, moose milk, bore butter), your actually just leaving a bunch of stuff in the bore. What I've found is that each of those gets the bore cleaner than the others, and clean with just one is not clean with all 3.

I strongly suspect that if I ran my cleaning protocol on your barrel after you cleaned it, a whole bunch of gunk would come out. If you're single patching only and those never ever get stuck when when dry, then I would about guarantee that it's not as clean as you're currently thinking.

Could be. I forgot that I did use a bristle and that didn’t really produce anything.
This barrel is completely unlike the other MZ barrel was. That was a nasty thing.

 

[2Stamp]

View attachment 1004050

I still have a few lbs. of this stuff.

Now THAT stuff is the dirtiest I've ever used. I hated it so much I dumped what I had left in the garden.

 

[HighUintas]

Apparently toilet paper BP is even cleaner than swiss. I'm going to have to get back to making some again sometime soon

 

[BBob]

Apparently toilet paper TP is even cleaner than swiss. I'm going to have to get back to making some again sometime soon

Just curious, approximately how many rolls per pound of powder?

 

[HighUintas]

Just curious, approximately how many rolls per pound of powder?

I don't remember but I think you can get at least a pound from a roll. The bulk of the weight in a pound of BP is KNO3. Ratio is usually in the neighborhood of 75/15/10, charcoal being 15%. Last I made charcoal from wood I think my yield was about 35%. So a single roll being 8oz (total guess) you'd get 2.8oz charcoal. Enough for 1+ pound BP.

It's certainly a satisfying and fun project to make your own, but you've got to do a lot of study before to ensure you're safe and don't do something stupid like use steel balls for the mill.... Anything that could cause spark. Generally have to keep all sparking materials out of the process and ensure there is no dust accumulation anywhere. It's also a huge time suck if you go through the process of corning. I think the next time I make some, I'll skip the corning and just screen it with a binder since I don't have a BPCR anymore to worry about fitting BP in the case. Screening cuts out some of the safety issues associated with corning.

Edit: my TP roll weight guess was off. About 4-4.5oz for a roll. So you'd probably need 2 rolls for a pound. Either way, it's wayyyu cheaper than buying swiss at the new $60/lb rate.

 

[87TT]

Now THAT stuff is the dirtiest I've ever used. I hated it so much I dumped what I had left in the garden.

It was given to me and given the current prices, I think I’ll just shoot it up. I was also given a bunch of Goex and Swiss but I’ll save that for hunting or serious shooting.