Jim may be a curmudgeon but he is also one of the most experienced blackpowder cartridge shooters you are ever going to meet.
I have spent a couple of seasons shooting blackpowder cartridges at pheasant in South Dakota and at ducks in Utah (w/ bismuth).
Briefly I was using lubed wads but it was just a PITA for no perceived gain. I have shot a bunch of blackpowder skeet (but nowhere near as much as Jim) over a field that had grass as dry as parchment. After as many as 100 rounds with every wad landing in this dry tinder there was never so much as a wisp of smoke or fire.
I have taken a small spray bottle of water with me in the field a couple of times in South Dakota when the birds were really flying. Did it make much of difference to squirt some water down the barrels while stopped for taking pictures,etc.? Probably not, but it didn't hurt anything. The bottle is easy to carry in your vest.
Last edited by Utah Shotgunner; 10/24/07 09:27 AM.
