Shiloh Rifle Forums

I've heard folks talking about taking a shot or 2 to foul there barrel before hunting or shooting a target. Does anyone ever just shoot a couple cases with primer only to do this fouling? It seems muzzle loaders do this all the time to pre foul there barrels before hunting.

Muzzleloaders sometimes shoot a cap or two to ensure that the flash channel is clear, not to foul the barrel.

I shoot an old Thompson Center Eew Eng lander 50 cal. muzzleloader. When I get the rifle out of the gun safe I pop a few caps ( OUTSIDE) with the barrel pointed in a safe direction, to get any oil out of the fire channel. I use it only for deer hunting and all my shots are under 50 yards.

My 45-70 BPCR rifle shoots differently clean than when I'm trying to hit the 15th steel animal target. With that 45-70, the more fouling the less accurate we are.

My wife shoots a 40-65 and it takes a few shots on the sighter for it to settle down and group good. When that 40-65 gets dirty it starts walking the groups to the right .

I shoot pyrodex in our BPCR rifles. In hot, humid weather the fouling isn't noticeable. In hot DRY weather I know I'll need more breath on the blow tube.

I think most of my rifles, even my 22 rifles, react differently to fouling.

MSalyards,

I think "fouling" is the wrong term for what you are referring to. I shoot LR BPCR in 45-70. I wipe twice between shots, so I would not be trying to "foul" the barrel when I use the first two or three shots to normalize the barrel condition, before I make fine adjustments
to my sight setting.

Some shooters refer to this process as the rifle is "settling down". I look at this process as a few shots to settle me down and get the barrel ready so as to "go to work" on the target.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

Mike T you seem the closest to what I am asking. I shoot ML quit a bit and most all the other Ml shooters I know pop a few caps not only to clear oil from the fire channel but to "season " the barrel to prevent or calm down flyers. I guess not to really foul the barrel so to speak.

Glen Ring wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 6:50 am I shoot an old Thompson Center Eew Eng lander 50 cal. muzzleloader. When I get the rifle out of the gun safe I pop a few caps ( OUTSIDE) with the barrel pointed in a safe direction, to get any oil out of the fire channel. I use it only for deer hunting and all my shots are under 50 yards.

My 45-70 BPCR rifle shoots differently clean than when I'm trying to hit the 15th steel animal target. With that 45-70, the more fouling the less accurate we are.

My wife shoots a 40-65 and it takes a few shots on the sighter for it to settle down and group good. When that 40-65 gets dirty it starts walking the groups to the right .

I shoot pyrodex in our BPCR rifles. In hot, humid weather the fouling isn't noticeable. In hot DRY weather I know I'll need more breath on the blow tube.

I think most of my rifles, even my 22 rifles, react differently to fouling.

Glenn,
There is something else going on with the accuracy and your rifle starts loosing accuracy or walking groups right or which ever way.
Below is a target, one of 4, I set up at 185 or 200 yards when I got the Shiloh Rough rider rebarreled by Shiloh with a heavy 1.3" X 35" round untapped barrel I asked to leave in the white. It's a .44-2.6 straight chambered with my reamer. This chamber is tight and I used a matching reamer I had made for a sizing die that I made for this rifle.
When I formed the cases I took 100 rounds that I loaded specially for shooting dirty to cut down on time to form the cases to fit the chamber.
I loaded these rounds like I would my hunting loads for back up shots if I need them. I shot these 100 rounds with out wiping of using a blow tube with only a long slow blow through the muzzle and breach when I felt the round starting to need more pressure loading it and it was seldom I had to do that and it was a good thing because the barrel was getting pretty hot halve way through
That target has 1" rings and only a few bullets wandered out (maybe 4-5 with 100 shot) out of that 4" hole.
Shooting dirty with out wiping you can get accuracy when properly loading the cartridges with proper bullets.

Firing a shot or two to get to the right barrel condition makes sense sometimes depending on what you couldn't wipe out of the bore before shooting. Some matches don't allow "foulers" and other types go straight into shooting limited sighters before record shots. I'd get a routine together that doesn't rely on foulers. I usually clean the bore well before shooting to get any residual oil out of the bore. Sometimes I use a damp (water based cleaning solution) patch or two followed by a couple of dry patches. All patches are snug to tight in the bore. Before shooting, I'll run a damp (moose milk) patch through the bore, dry the chamber, and fire. The second shot will often come down a minute or less and then stay steady through the string. I wipe between shots regardless of what kind of match I'm shooting.

It's a lot easier to manage the bore condition on a BPCR than a muzzle loader.

Bryan

Kurt, I'm glad you posted that target. A properly built rifle with properly loaded ammunition will shoot accurately without wiping or leading if it is managed correctly. My rifles put the first shot with the rest of them, and I have said so in the past, but no one wants to believe it and everybody wants to argue about it. Hunting in Africa demands that the first shot be a good one, and you can't walk around with a rifle with dry, hard fouling in the barrel and expect the first shot to be on the money. A flyer or poor shot in that environment can cost you a hefty trophy fee for a wounded and lost animal, or worse, get you or someone else maimed or killed.

These rifles work, and work incredibly well when you know how to use them. Sadly, most guys are stuck in a rut, and seem to want to stay there. Shoot straight, rdnck.

There's accuracy and then there's accuracy. Depends a lot on what your goals are when you bet behind the rifle.

Bryan

I am still waiting for Bill to show up at a major match and shoot the whole course without wiping or blowing, using just paper patches of course, and win it all. Yep.

I totally agree with comments about accuracy....like a bud of mine who was a bass fisherman and said that he caught huge bass all the time...until he saw a picture of me with a 7 pound bass...and he couldn't believe they grew that big. There's accuracy..and then there is ACCURACY.

Bryan--Think back a few years to when you and I both shot in the Wyoming 1000 yard championship that Kenny Wasserburger put on at his dad's ranch. If I remember correctly, I won the aggregate and set a range record at 600 yards that Kenny said still stands, the last time I talked to him. I have always shot dirty without wiping in matches. FWIW, my kit is considerably more accurate now than it was then. Shoot straight, rdnck.

Bryan--Think back a few years to when you and I both shot in the Wyoming 1000 yard championship that Kenny Wasserburger put on at his dad's ranch. If I remember correctly, I won the aggregate and set a range record at 600 yards that Kenny said still stands, the last time I talked to him. I have always shot dirty without wiping in matches. FWIW, my kit is considerably more accurate now than it was then. Shoot straight, rdnck.

Bill, I've seen your scores in the record books. 'nuff said...

Yup, accuracy is accuracy, no doubt about it and it don't take a match shooter to shoot very well. I shot with Bill a couple times at the Shiloh range and I never seen him wipe between shots and do well. I know that he and his wife shot the nationals because I seen the Gold metals in a glass case at the Quigley match when he was a rep for Goex.
Here is a target that really impresses me. Not many match winners can duplicate this shooting. I know that I'm far from from how he can shoot the sharps.
I seen this again yesterday at a small relaxed 300/600 paper match at Wisconsin Rapids where I did poorly and it's getting worse.
Here is what impresses me for accuracy. I wish I could just put all 5 on that plate at that range.
Here is a close up of that group.