doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com plastic fouling

I shoot a flintlock - never have shot a in line myself, so I'm not sure what the people having trouble were shooting. The muzzleloaders at my club will allow in lines to be used at their monthly matches, but they can't win any awards. Guess they'd like to see everyone shoot a hammergun.

The best plastic solvent I have ever tried is diesel or kerosene mixed 3/1 with acetone. The acetone does the work and the kero/diesel slows down evaporation.

I had a gun I'd been shooting a steady diet of Winchester AA's through. One day I went to a SXS event and shot a box of BP loads through it and all that plastic residue flacked off in my barrels, a real mess! I used a cleaning rod, wire brush wrapped in steel wool (I used steel wool a bit harsher than 0000) and spun it with my power drill and it cleaned all the crap out of my bores.

I have a tube (34 x 4) that has a mixture of ATF and acetone in it. I put my skeet tubes in it before a match and let them soak for at least a day or more if possible. It is hard to believe the stuff that come out when you run a brush through them but they are CLEAN. The tube is in a stand and must have a tight lid of something acetone doesn't attack. Do not, put a barrel with white plastic beads in it.

bill

I have been shooting black powder loads for years and the times where I've had plastic fouling occurred only when I used a plastic hull. The plastic comes from the heat of the powder melting the hull and does leave a lot of it in the bores. Cowboy action shooters can push out a snake of plastic when cleaning after an event. I've done this myself on occasion. When I load for a nice vintage gun I use paper hulls. Federal once fired or new Cheddite hulls for the 12 ga. I laid in 2 flats of RST 16ga paper loads just to have the paper hulls on hand to reload. Check with them and see if and when they will have them in stock. With black powder, a thick nitro card followed with a lubed fiber or lubed felt wad stack and a thin over shot card and a plastic shotcup, I have never experienced plastic build up. Guns clean up easily and the tubes are clean with no plastic residue. I am sure the plastic fouling is coming from the hulls rather than the shotcups. On a clay's course I do "cheat" a bit and after 4 stations I shoot a pair of smokeless loads just to clean out the fouling in the tubes and carry on. 50 + shells with black powder is just a bit much without any cleaning and the fouling would be very heavy. 16 and burning out the crap works very well and would probably keep the gun shooting all day long. Last time out I used Cheddite primed new paper hulls with 90 grains of old GOEX 1 fg. nitro card, 2 lubed felt wads, overshot card, plastic shot cup, 1oz #7.5, overshot card and a roll crimp. Crushed birds and cleaned up without any problems.

Eric,
I have used only plastic hulls in my 16 and 12 gauges when shooting black and they have never given me plastic problems until I added the plastic shot cups.

Paper shells for 16 gauges are probably out there somewhere but the most common thing I see on websites for just about any components is "out of stock". Seems like powder and wads are as hard to find as .22 shells these days. that said I have a small handful of paper shells that I've been saving for something. Perhpas now is the time.

I've been one of those black powder Cowboy shooters.
The easiest way to get the plastic out is to shoot a few squirts of Windex down the bores to fully wet the fouling. Wait 5 or 10 minutes and wad up 1/2 paper towel for each barrel. Shove the paper towels through with a rod, repeat if necessary then clean and lube just like you would after shooting smokeless.

Bob

I've got maybe 1% of the plastic left after many brushings and soakings. I couldn't find a tornado brush but I did find some #3 steel wool, which I wrapped around a 16 gauge brush that had first been wrapped with a paper towel (to keep the wool out of the bristles. I should have it all out shortly.

I've used windex for bp fouling in rifles, but I've never battled plastic like this.

I'm probably being stupid but I am going to try this again with the plastic shotcups but this time, I'm soaking the fiber wads in bullet lube. I think it will give a much better seal and save the cups from melting. It's the working hypothesis anyway. Next Wednesday, we will know.

Brent

Bob,,
I forgot to mention but if you substitute a "wet wipe" on a brush it will work as well as the windex and w/o the shredding of the paper towels. What ever is in the wetwipe is pretty tough so it won't tear.
Brent

I did not pick up that you were using dry fiber wads. I have always used them lubed. You are probably right that the dry wads did not provide a good seal allowing the hot gas to bypass and melt the shotcup. Using lubed fiber or felt, I've not experienced that problem.