Steam Cleaner WARNING!!

I will try and explain this as briefly as possible, As many of you on here know i was having a HECK of a time with my cold clean bore shot back in the summer, I recently started working with my .50 Cal Green Mountain LRH preparing for my upcoming hunt, i knew i had to Conquer the cold clean bore shot or there was ABSOLUTELY no reason to even think about hunting with ANY of my Muzzleloaders (and i have quite few of them!) Everytime i went out and shot my cold clean bore was a total DISASTER? If any of you remember there were times out when i could not hit a 3ft by 3ft Square the first shot?! I tried popping caps off which did help some but stil not great, i tried Graphite Lock eeze to simulate a fouled bor, that also helped a bit but was stil not great, I could not figure out what the heck was causing the EXTREME cold clean bore problem i was having? And this was not in just 1 rifle, this was EVERY rifle i own!! The only thing i was doing differently is using a little handheld steam cleaner thru the breech end, this gets about 8-10" of the barrel HOT, BURN YA HOT! It cleans the Snail/Patented breech/powder chamber back to shiny brand new inside. I finally came to the conclusion that this was likely my problem? I started out with my Stainless .50 Cal and sure enough my cold clean bore was AWOL, Then the rifle settled in and shot AWESOME as usual, when i got home i skipped the steam cleaner on the barrel, i went back to my bucket of water cleaning routine for the barrel, the only parts i steam cleaned were the Nipple, Hammer, and lock, I loaded up the next morning and shot again, the cold clean bore was REALLY close this time! I repeated my cleaning procedure WITHOUT using the steam cleaner on the barrel, i headed out again the next morning, this cold clean bore was ABSOLUTELY dead center bullseye! So i went from not being able to hit a 3ft square, back to being dead center with all of my shots!

Folks the steam cleaner is an AWESOME little tool for DEEP cleaning, they clean better than anything out there, but i can tell you from first hand experience that it will DESTROY your cold clean bore shot! From now on i will be using my steam cleaner for my parts, Nipples, Locks, Hammers, etc. But i will definitely NOT be using it for my barrels anymore. If you are bench rest shooting and can afford to 'burn' the first shot none of this is a big deal, after i burned my first shot my following shots were always spot on. I am now working on getting my 45 Green Mountain LRH back in business, this morning was its first shoot without the barrel being steam cleaned, my shot was high and left about 1 foot. I will clean it again the ole fashion way in a bucket of water and hopefully get the chance to try again tomorrow, if it does like my 50 Cal did it will take about 3 sessions to get straightened back out.

Any of you that frequent the Castboolit forum feel free to share this information there, back when i was a member there i started a thread on cleaning with a steam cleaner and i know several guys jumped on the wagon and got little hand held steam cleaners like mine, This was obviously before i knew what i know now. This could save someone a missed animal, or worse case Scenario a wounded animal.

Again the steam cleaner works AMAZING at cleaning heavy gunk, i dont feel anything cleans as well as HOT steam, the steam cleaner definitely has a place in my cleaning routine, but its parts ONLY such as the locks, hammers, nipples, etc. I will no longer be using it in my barrels

Remember this is the target that i could not hit after steam cleaning and shooting the cold clean bore, and this was only 50 yards! This Target measures 3ft by 3ft square and i could not get the clean bore shot ANYWHERE on this entire target

Dire Warnings from Idaho - is there something in the water out there? Kidding as idahoron had a Warning last year, that ended up being complete other issue.
I have no explanation to what you have experienced as I've never experienced anything close to what you state with my Steamer and any of my percussion LR rifles, which most all target shooting starts at 200 yds - my first shot might not be in the X, but it's real close. I'd have no hesitation taking one out hunting having never fired a fouling shot - I did it last fall with my original Alex Henry percussion double.
I did get my Steamer back out a few weeks ago on my 12 bore inline because I fear a collection of powder residue at the bore corner at the breech - since I don't pump/clean my inlines like we do percussions.
Just last week, here are the first 3 shots at 50 with the 12 bore. 1st & 2nd shot were nearly same hole a few days after using my Steamer.


wish I could be of some assistance....

52Bore said:

Dire Warnings from Idaho - is there something in the water out there? Kidding as idahoron had a Warning last year, that ended up being complete other issue.
I have no explanation to what you have experienced as I've never experienced anything close to what you state with my Steamer and any of my percussion LR rifles, which most all target shooting starts at 200 yds - my first shot might not be in the X, but it's real close. I'd have no hesitation taking one out hunting having never fired a fouling shot - I did it last fall with my original Alex Henry percussion double.
I did get my Steamer back out a few weeks ago on my 12 bore inline because I fear a collection of powder residue at the bore corner at the breech - since I don't pump/clean my inlines like we do percussions.
Just last week, here are the first 3 shots at 50 with the 12 bore. 1st & 2nd shot were nearly same hole a few days after using my Steamer.
12b 940 50 target.jpg

wish I could be of some assistance....

Click to expand...

That is good that it works well for you!! I am just stating facts about the problems i have had and heeding a warning to others to make sure and test the cold clean bore shot and make sure all is good? instead of taking it for granted that it will be there, had i of done that and hunted with ANY of my rifles it likely would have been a total miss, or worse yet a wounded animal.

I am not giving up on my steam cleaner by any means, i will continue to use it on my locks, hammers, and nipples, But I definitely will NOT be using it through my barrels anymore

Another thing that just now crossed my mind is I don't remember trying the cold clean bore shot with my new tight fitting Grease Groove bullets? I have done a TON of testing over the summer and its easy to lose track! I'm pretty sure my cold clean bore problems were coming from my sized Paper Patched bullets after steam cleaning? I'll have to look at notes and see. Steam cleaning thru the Snail and Patented breech/Powder chamber might not effect the tighter fitting grease groove bullets, patched round ball, and sabots? I am pretty sure my problems were with my sized and patched bullets? Again i will have to dig through my notes, and group pictures

Ok, just did some digging/investigating, The MAJOR cold bore shot issues WERE definitely with my sized Paper Patched bullets after i had steam cleaned through the Snail. I thought i had cured it by popping caps off and fouling the bore with just the caps, while i did have some successes with the caps it was a hit and miss deal, i also tried the Lock eeze moistened patch to simulate a fouled bore, again i had some success but it stil wasn't great. I wish i had taken better notes, but from what i can dig up through my pictures my new full bore Greased conicals were no where near as effected by using the steam cleaner through the snail, The cold clean bore shots were very close to my group, i was popping caps off first before shooting them as well. The cold clean bore TOTAL TARGET MISSES were with my Paper Patched and sized bullets.

My best advice if you are using a steam cleaner through the snail and getting that first 8-10" of barrel at the breech end HOT by doing so, is to test and make sure the cold bore shot is right? In a hunting rifle Don't just take for granted that it will be there, test it and make SURE its there!

Looking back When this problem first happened i confided in Idahoron in hopes that he would have the answer? But Ron had never had this happen with any of his rifles, that REALLY had me stumped? Ron and i spent a LOT of time discussing this issue i was having, Even though Ron and i shoot different bullets, size differently, and use different powder, Our group shooting success is VERY similar, i have turned out MANY sub 1" groups with my .45, .50, and .54 LRH barrels at 50 yards, With 1-2" Groups being very common for me at 100 yards with my peep sight setups. So For me to COMPLETELY miss a 3ft by 3ft Target at 50 yards something was BAD BAD wrong!!

The 1 thing that popped up between Me and Ron's many visits over this was me using my steam cleaner through the breech end of the barrel when i clean, Ron has never done this with his rifles, AND like stated above, Ron has never had the Cold Clean Bore problems i was having. If anyone that shoots sized (slip fit) paper patched bullets, has a steam cleaner, and doubts what i am saying, PLEASE TRY THIS! You will see EXACTLY what i am talking about. It will shock you how bad the first shot is (cold clean bore shot) Unless all of my rifles are flukes?

That is weird about the steam clean. I own 14 ML'er rifles (10 side hammer percussion and 4 inlines), some shoot bullets and some PRB. They all shoot the first clean barrel shot with the fouled barrel shots. I read about people having this problem and I've never experienced it. I only shoot real black, #11 caps, PRB's, or bore size grease groove bullets, maybe the reason??? I don't know. The only trick I employ with a bullet rifle is the clean barrel hunting load gets a .001"-.002" over bore size bullet. This allows enough engraving to keep it on the powder charge and also keeps the velocity closer to the second shot over the fouling. Follow up shots are loaded with an exact bore size bullet. Since I cast my own projectiles I can custom size them to the individual rifle's bore.

Lewis
Thanks for posting your findings.