Muzzleloader books.
- Thread starter Buster95
- Start date
I forget the name of the book written by Dutch Schultz, but I found it.to be really useful for improving accuracy.
I don't have his book but he did send me a copy of his loading system. I presume it would be good for bench rest shooting but not really applicable to shooting on a trail. As I recall it involved cleaning between shots as well as using a fairly dry lube on your patches. By dry, I mean lubing patches beforehand and letting them dry before going to the range
cheers mooncoon
Cleaning between shots can be as quick and simple as a spit patch followed by one or two dry ones. If your critter is still standing around while you reload, you probably have time to swab. And for two or three shots might not even be necessary. Find out through experience.
As for his dry patch system, pretty easy to use. Either you pre-lube or you don't. His experience, and a lot of others folks testimony to confirm, is that it gives more uniform results than greasy patches.
As for his dry patch system, pretty easy to use. Either you pre-lube or you don't. His experience, and a lot of others folks testimony to confirm, is that it gives more uniform results than greasy patches.
brnoshooter
Member
- Location
- Fort Macleod
Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle by Ned Roberts
My point is that if you are shooting a trail with 20 to 30 shots, a box of patches lubed with moose milk will give you enough accuracy. If you are hunting something like deer, one grease or oil lubed patch should be all you need and if you do need a second shot, that type of patch allows you to reload without problems. I will certainly agree that thick greasy patches result in lots of fouling
cheers mooncoon
I am usually lazy and rip off a strip of patching material, roll in up and put it in my patch box (in the possibles bag). I pour in moose milk and squish it around until the patches are soaked right through. In use I start a ball and patch then cut the rest of the roll off and back into the brass tin that I use. In the summer time when patching dries quickly or in a fort shoot where speed is important, I precut the patches and soak them as above. In dry weather because the roll of patching is exposed to the air longer, it dries out quite a bit by the end of a trail. My moose milk is about 20% water soluble oil, some Murphy's Oil soap (because everyone else seems to include it) and about 4 oz per liter of isopropyl alcohol and the rest is water. The purpose of the alcohol is to stop mould from forming in the liqued. Water soluble oil appears to be a vegetable oil and will go moldy over time.
on the few occasions when I hunted with a muzzle loader, I sprayed Fluid Film onto the patches (in the brass box). Fluid Film is like a thin grease and does not appear to evaporate
cheers mooncoon
From what I understand of his system and my experience with greased patches is that accuracy isn't as good as with his dry lube system which you appear to be using. I tried different greases including Bore Butter and Mink Oil and had the dickens of a time with accuracy. I tried both soaking in melted lube before a visit to the range and lubing as I loaded.
When I went to spit patches things got considerably more satisfying. Also, I got my hands on some LeHigh Valley while it was still in production. A couple light spritz's, basically enough to make the edges curl gave good results as well. Not a very precise way of application but it essentially gave a "dry patch".
I would have to reread Dutch's system, I don't recall that it touted fouling control as the biggest benefit to it. Barrel cleaning or fouling control is a part of it but something everybody should be concerned with for top accuracy and ease of loading no matter how you lube your patches.
When I started in MZ, I was advised to run a damp swab AFTER loading which made no sense to me but it did help with excessive fouling. Concern I had was the possibility of embers when I threw a new charge down so, I became a barrel blower. Later I went to spit followed by dry patch before loading. Fouling control and moves air through the barrel to exhaust embers. If they're not, the damp patch should extinguish them.
And it saves the controversy at the range.
When I went to spit patches things got considerably more satisfying. Also, I got my hands on some LeHigh Valley while it was still in production. A couple light spritz's, basically enough to make the edges curl gave good results as well. Not a very precise way of application but it essentially gave a "dry patch".
I would have to reread Dutch's system, I don't recall that it touted fouling control as the biggest benefit to it. Barrel cleaning or fouling control is a part of it but something everybody should be concerned with for top accuracy and ease of loading no matter how you lube your patches.
When I started in MZ, I was advised to run a damp swab AFTER loading which made no sense to me but it did help with excessive fouling. Concern I had was the possibility of embers when I threw a new charge down so, I became a barrel blower. Later I went to spit followed by dry patch before loading. Fouling control and moves air through the barrel to exhaust embers. If they're not, the damp patch should extinguish them.
And it saves the controversy at the range.
Dutch's method involved lubing the patch with a water soluable solution and letting it dry leaving some oil. It also involved trying different ratios of oil and water until you got the best combination. My method differs in that by using a fairly wet patch, the patch more or less wipes the bore clean with each loading, When I first started, I used some pink greasy stuff that soon left lots of residue. Being frugal (some might say cheap) I tried soaking the patches in melted Crisco which again fouled quite a bit. There followed a number of water based lubes similar to commercial moose milk which I subsequently more or less duplicated at home. For a 6 months or a year or so I used Vaseline Intensive Care (hand lotion) which worked all right as I remember but important not to use the kind with aloe vera added because the lubed patches not shot quickly went moldy
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
for shooting offhand on a trail or in a timed event, I want the patches to remain damp for easy loading. As they dry out, there seems to be a sort of ring of fouling builds up just ahead of the "chamber" of a muzzle loader. Dutch's method essentially wipes in away by a partial cleaning between shots. A wet or fairly damp patch does the same thing as you load while a slightly damp or dry patch does not. The problem with spit patches is that in warm weather my mouth often becomes too dry part way through the shoot. As a bit of "dry humour" I suppose one could always chew snoose :>) :>)
cheers mooncoon
Yes, that's it! He does indeed use prelubed patches. His method is to soak strips of patch material in a solution of water and water soluble cutting oil, as used in machine shops. The idea is that after soaking, the water evaporates, leaving relatively dry lubed patches. The whole objective is consistency. He also recommends taking your micrometer to the fabric shop, to get consistent, proper thickness patch material (pure cotton, or linen). I tried all of this with my Lyman Great Plains .50, and my groups shrunk by half! Well worth the time, IMHO.
