577 enfield shooting question

[tacfoley]

I guess my bullets must be too large then. I can fire two without running a patch through but the third is too tight and feels like it going to get stuck. Also I noticed that crud must be accumulating at the breech end as I marked the loading rod when the first bullet was firmly seated and all subsequent bullets were seating higher, the third by 1/2". Decided not to shot any more until I check this out.

'kay...to all of you/us who experience the 'ring of crud' about three inches up the bore. This is quite normal when shooting BP, and happens because of the wondrous tusrn of events that takes place when we squeeze that trigger.

1. The flash of ignition from the cap starts the charge burning - VERY quickly.

2. About fifty per cent of the charge turns almost instantly in gas - expanding violently - and some of the remainder carries on burning more slowly, thus contributing to the production of expansive propellant gas.

3. Because the constituents of BP contain both their own oxygen AND hydrogen, some of it turns into water - even at that pressure -

4. The rest turns into ashy crud - mixed with the water - we call it fouling.

5. That ashy crud, in the form of thick black gloop, travels up the bore as gloop, but by the time it gets around three/four inches up the bore, the heat remaining in the barrel has dried it out, leaving it like a tide-mark inside the barrel.

THAT is your ring of crud.

It can be reduced by the use of a good lubricant, but never altogether obviated.

After about 20 shots, my Musketoon needs a good clean out, others, here, experience the same state of affairs after only a few shots. To continue shooting safely and ensure that the bullet or ball is firmly down on the powder is a paramount necessity that cannot be avoided - ANY air-space twixt powder and ball/bullet and you stand the possibility of having made a pipe bomb.

@V.vbull - if you are shooting a Minié bullet, and it goes DOWN the barrel just fine, then you are NOT shooting a bullet that is too big - if it was, it simply wouldn't go down the barrel. Trust me - I've probably fired upwards of twenty thousand Minié bullets so far. Even if it is tight - in your opinion - that makes no difference. All that is needed is a bullet that is 0.001" - 0.002" smaller that the bore to be effective. Even a 'thou' bigger means that you simply can't load it in the fust place. What you DO need is a good lube in those grooves - lots of folks put the stuff in the base, too. I don't. Here in temperate UK you'll need a fairly stiff lube mix - many, including me use a 50/50 bee's wax and tallow, or simply buy Bore Butter, although it's expensive stuff here in UK.

As for E45 - I've been using it, as my posts here will testify, since the early '80s as a chamber sealer on BP revolvers, but a bullet lube for any grooved bullet like a Minié it ain't. Way too gloppy.

Hope this helps.

tac