What do these dirty patches mean?

[Hal]

It's working.......

[Maillemaker]

So...cleaning after last weekend's skirmish and seeing the same type of results on the patches after cleaning 2 smoothbores. They seem clean in the sink, but the dry patches come out filthy. I do more Ballistol patches then the Chore Boy, and then more Ballistol patches that are again dirty.

Now this is anecdotal, and probably meaningless, but I felt like I was getting my good-old accuracy with my Enfield on Saturday during individuals. Good enough for 1st place 50 yard, 100 yard, and Musket Agg.

Sunday I couldn't hit squat again. But, I was pretty tired.

I'm thinking it takes much more aggressive cleaning than I have been doing over the years.

Steve

[daloy]

Were you ever able to solve this problem?

[Maillemaker]

Not really.

I also noticed last weekend at a skirmish that on the musket pigeon board I went like 1 for 10. Shot a group so close all around it it looked like I was trying to cut it out of the cardboard.

Went back to the bench and cleaned with brass brush.

Did awesome the rest of the courses of fire.

Now, I also told myself to "trust the sights" after the first relay, instead of second guessing where I was hitting.



Did the scrubbing help? Or was it all a mind game?

Ah, the mysteries of black powder.

I am thinking that leading is more of an issue than I used to think possible for guns in our velocity range.

Steve

[Muley Gil]

Ah Steve, you were suffering from "poltergeist pigeon" syndrome. When you fire, the pigeons on the board shift slightly, then go back to their original position. I've suffered from "PP" all of my skirmishing career, so don't feel alone in this.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Maillemaker]

Darn moving pigeons!

Steve

[daloy]

thanks for the reply

[Hal]

I'm convinced that some pigeons and tiles are just defective and will not break.

[DaveCVG]

We all should thank Mr. Plakis for sharing his hot water versus cold water experience ... cold wins. And here's why. (1) The combustion product in our barrels are basically Potassium Sulfide (K2S). (2) When you clean the barrel with cold water, you wash-out the Potassium Sulfide. (3) When you attempt to clean with hot water, you cause a chemical reaction ... Potassium Sulfide + Hot Water yields Potassium Hydroxide (a solid, KOH) + Potassium Sulfate (a solid, KSH). I cleaned my first barrel in 1973 using cold water advice from several CVG members, and it always worked.

Hot water is better for "ionic dissolution" ... you know, putting table salt in water yields Sodium Ions (Na+) and Chlorine Ions (Cl-) ... and hot water is faster-working than cold water in such reactions. But, bore cleaning in hot water is not "ionic" ... it is a "chemical process" that creates two new (and dirty) compounds.

Oh ... to finish, super-tiny metal flaws do not trap dirt one day and pucker-out dirt the next.

Respectfully/ Good and Safe Shooting at the National'
DaveCVG