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As some of you good folks may remember, those pesky patent breech plugs found on all the offshore guns present an issue and concern for both fouling control and cleaning. These plugs have an ante-chamber that's smaller in diameter than the bbl's bore. Thus, normal cleaning rods can't get into the ante-chamber to swab out the fouling during shooting. Now I know, some folks can get off a dozen shots without addressing patent breech fouling control, but whether the plug needs cleaning out every other shot or every dozen shots, it needs attending. To clean out the ante-chamber requires a wet patch draped brush that's ante-chamber sized, typically a 6mm brush will do well. So ya first clean the bore, which pushes a buncha BP residue into the ante-chamber, which is already loaded with lotsa of residue since it's at the base of powder ignition. Then ya change rods or swap out the jag head for a brush head and address the breech.
I've messed around with more than a few methods of cleaning out FOULING (not a final cleaning of the bbl) from both the bore and chamber in one fell swoop. Again, cleaning out fouling is not about doing a full on bbl clean, it means to get rid of most, but not all, fouling so that the next powder charge down the tube has a much better chance of igniting by spark or cap.
The following is a special rod and method I've been working on for a few days and the testing has gone quite well with no hang ups. The gun in question is a Lyman .50 Trade gun with 28" bbl.
I took a 36" x 3/8" Home Depot oak dowel and rasp/sanded in a 3/4" x 1/4" tenon at one end. The tenon end is rounded, to best fit into the concave back end of all patent plugs. A saw blade slot was cut down the tenon and into the main body of the rod, about 3/4" past the tenon. The tenon and entire slot is treated with wicked-in water thin CYA to harden and seal the wood. Insert patch material into the slot - this will take a little testing to see what will work best for a specific gun bore. With the .50, I used 2" Arsenal compressed cotton patches. I've also used a thicker patch fitted in first, to make for a better fit of the 3/8" rod to the bore, and a thinner patch for the tenon's fit into the ante-chamber.
Again, this is not about a thorough bore/chamber cleaning, it's about getting most of the BP crud out of both the ante-chamber and bore, with two strokes - a damp patch(es) and a dry patch(es). With this .50 flinter, I can generally get off 4 or 5 shots before fouling becomes noticeable, and two swipes of the rod take care of that pronto.
The other non-tenon end is either left flat or slightly dished, and wicked in CYA to harden it. This end goes into the pipes first, so that ball ramming is done with an up and out, pushed the patched ball down, up and down back into the pipes. Easy peasy.
What if a patch comes off the rod and is stuck in the chamber or bbl?? That did happen once in over a dozen uses of the rod and it took a 6mm brush to twizzle out the stuck patch. What I will do is drill a hole into the rod's ball ramming end and self tap in a 6mm brush that I'll keep in my shooting bag.
I've messed around with more than a few methods of cleaning out FOULING (not a final cleaning of the bbl) from both the bore and chamber in one fell swoop. Again, cleaning out fouling is not about doing a full on bbl clean, it means to get rid of most, but not all, fouling so that the next powder charge down the tube has a much better chance of igniting by spark or cap.
The following is a special rod and method I've been working on for a few days and the testing has gone quite well with no hang ups. The gun in question is a Lyman .50 Trade gun with 28" bbl.
I took a 36" x 3/8" Home Depot oak dowel and rasp/sanded in a 3/4" x 1/4" tenon at one end. The tenon end is rounded, to best fit into the concave back end of all patent plugs. A saw blade slot was cut down the tenon and into the main body of the rod, about 3/4" past the tenon. The tenon and entire slot is treated with wicked-in water thin CYA to harden and seal the wood. Insert patch material into the slot - this will take a little testing to see what will work best for a specific gun bore. With the .50, I used 2" Arsenal compressed cotton patches. I've also used a thicker patch fitted in first, to make for a better fit of the 3/8" rod to the bore, and a thinner patch for the tenon's fit into the ante-chamber.
Again, this is not about a thorough bore/chamber cleaning, it's about getting most of the BP crud out of both the ante-chamber and bore, with two strokes - a damp patch(es) and a dry patch(es). With this .50 flinter, I can generally get off 4 or 5 shots before fouling becomes noticeable, and two swipes of the rod take care of that pronto.
The other non-tenon end is either left flat or slightly dished, and wicked in CYA to harden it. This end goes into the pipes first, so that ball ramming is done with an up and out, pushed the patched ball down, up and down back into the pipes. Easy peasy.
What if a patch comes off the rod and is stuck in the chamber or bbl?? That did happen once in over a dozen uses of the rod and it took a 6mm brush to twizzle out the stuck patch. What I will do is drill a hole into the rod's ball ramming end and self tap in a 6mm brush that I'll keep in my shooting bag.
