dhnut1973 said:
How did soldiers keep these things firing reliably? I can’t imagine they had time to swab and bust a cap between shots?
I’ve wondered the same thing many times, there lives depended on their rifles! They no doubt had a routine down :yeah: But I’ve read where they found Battlefield guns that had been loaded several times on top of eachother, So things weren’t perfect that’s for sure. Sad to think about that!!
I am all about the best possible accuracy i can get out of my Guns, I Swab Between every shot and then point Straight down and Pop 1 Cap straight Through to “Break” the Crud loose in the Fire Channel/Patented Breech (So Each shot cost me 2 Caps) I do this for consistency, i want every shot as close as i can possibly make it to the 1 before it. I use Blue Windex with ammonia, and 91% isopropyl alcohol at about 50/50 Mix to Swab Between shots, Straight Blue Windex would be just fine, Anything to wipe the Fouling out and keep the Bore consistent.
This 32” Green Mountain 1:18 Twist barrel of mine is VERY similar to what you describe above and is what taught me to Pop the Cap straight through. I could get 3-4 Shots off and it would start to Hangfire, and continually get worse to the point of NOT FIRING. I tried EVERYTHING with it, HEAVY Steam Cleaning, 1/8” Drill bit turned by Hand Through the Side Cleanout, some of what i did helped, but stil didn’t cure it. After dumping the powder charge and TAP TAP TAP on the Stock i pulled the Nipple to see if the powder was getting there? As I suspected NOT, Just a few Grains is all i could see, So there was no doubt that it was coming from the Fire Channel being restricted from fouling and not letting the powder through. That is when i decided to try popping a Cap straight through it after i had swabbed to see if the “Concussion” From the Cap going off would break the Crud loose? It worked!! I was SHOCKED at all the Flaky Crud that came trickling out on the Ground, I dumped my powder charge in and TAP TAP TAP again, unscrewed the nipple and checked, Sure Enough the Powder was packed up good under the Nipple :yeah: Since i started the above procedure (Popping the Cap straight through) I have yet to have a Hangfire in this Barrel. None of my other barrels are like this, or at least near this bad.