Muzzleloading smoothbore question

[Brutus]

Let's say one has a smoothbore muzzleloading shotgun.
Does one use a cloth or linen dry patch or a pre-lubed or a wet patch for a snug fit over you pure lead single RB??

Any ideas on this guys?

 

[stevejones]

Well....you should use a patch made from pillow ticking. This can be found at your local fabric shop. You will need to find material that will give you a reasonably tight fit but not be so tight that it requires excessive force to get the ball seated on top of the powder charge. The patch needs to be lubricated. There are a lot of ways to do this...spit or saliva being one of them. I have used Becel light margarine, crisco, and commercial grease type lubricants and they are ok if you are not doing a lot of shooting when the weather is warm and dry. You can make up a good patch lube/bore cleaner from windshield washer fluid that has antifreeze (alcohol) in it. Add some water soluble cutting oil (enough to make it milky) and then add a tablespoon of Murphy's oil soap. The result is an excellent patch lube that will allow you to shoot alll day without cleaning and will do a top notch job of cleaning your gun after.

Cheers. Steve.

 

[Brutus]

Thanks steve. I found other internet sources that mentioned several very similar mixtures and all of them,with the murphy's oil soap somewhere in there too.
So as an amateur to this, I guess if one uses/used dry patches only for the RB, one would possibly be looking at a tougher cleaning job with your smoothbore, at day's end?

wondering.....

 

[nessy357]

If ypu used dry patches it would become increasingly difficult to load.I use Steve's recipe for patch lube, it's,"slicker than deer guts on a doorknob " I also use clean the bore in all my muzzleloaders.
heers nessy.

 

[tbrwlf]

In the old days they used spit

Guys I shot with regularly still do

 

[Brutus]

Thanks fellas!

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Spit works fine. I keep em in my mouth while loading, ready to go. Tried various mixtures before but...so much simpler and it works.

 

[tiriaq]

Spit or prepared lube can depend on how long the gun is going to be loaded before firing.

 

[jmax857]

I use thommspon centre bore butter. Works great.

 

[vagrantviking]

Be careful with some of the pre-made greases and lubes in dry conditions. I've personally seen them start a number of grass fires on windy days.

WAY WAY too much of the wrong kind of excitement for a gun range.

 

[BCRider]

It wasn't a smoothbore but I had great luck for two days in a row with using "moose milk" made from about 6 to 7 parts water to one part Ballistol. I just wet the patch "ruffle" left from the ball starter with a little bottle of the stuff. Shot around 30 to 35 rounds per day. The loading was easy the whole time.