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That's interesting, Gunsports - we don't have to wipe the bore while shooting our muzzleloaders- ever. We use real black powder, GOEX or Swiss as Dan uses. There is no buildup- ever - each load cleans the previous shot so there is no buildup.

As Holland and Holland instructed in a letter to a friend, I use cold water for cleaning, then I dry and flush with WD40. There has never been any rust in the breech threads when I pulled the breeches for inspection - years after use and many thousands of shots and cleanings later. The gun is cleaned at the end of a day's shooting - that is the first time it is wiped all day.

I use Neetsfoot oil (not compound) or Track of the Wolf's "Mink Oil" for hunting lube - again, no need for wiping - ever while shooting.

Slow twists with shallow rifling and large bores can use paper ctgs. effectively for hunting as well. The excess paper bunched between the tight fitting ball and the powder effectively seals the powder gasses behind - no blowby and identical accuracy to a tightly patched round ball. In my .69, that was 1" up to 1 1/2" for 5 shot groups at 100 meters - open 3 leaf express sight with a low Purdey-type front bead.

After 10 shots with paper ctgs. the fouling was building up so a 'squib' load of 85gr. 2f is used, along with a spit lubed, denim patched ball. That load effectively cleans the bore when shot (immediately) and allows another 10 paper cts. to be shot with original accuracy.

The paper ctg. load was the same 165gr. 2F that I used with full power patched round ball loads. It develped 1,550fps with a 484gr. round ball and struck the sme poi as patched ball. The paper ctgs. were a tigth fit in the muzzle and needed the rod choked up on, to start, then went down easily. Loading then shooting & hitting at a 6" disk at 50 yards was accomplished in just 8 seconds, using a paper ctg. load.

I have never tried lubing them, but others have.

That's an intersting sounding lube. My cousin (English) use Lanolin ( I think) by itself as a case lube. I found it too difficult to remove from the brass in comparrison to other lubes I use now, but combined with other products, it might be just fine.

I've not seen the need for special ome made lubes for hunting as the straight Neetsfoot oil or Mink oil have worked fine for me and their accuracy has proven to be exemplary as well. They are also good to the steel and don't hurt the wood.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V