Oiled Barrel VS Non Oiled barrel

I first did this experiment with American Pioneer Powder 2f. This is one of those powders that is inconsistent in Velocity from Shot one to shot Two. Velocity spreads of 100 to even 250 FPS between shots is pretty normal when just loading up and shooting on a dirty barrel. An extreme spread like this isn't very noticeable at 100 yards, but once you start getting out to 150-200 yards, It will be noticed greatly.

With the Substitute powders today, IMR White Hots, Pyrodex, Triple 7, American Pioneer, Jim Shockeys Gold, these powders are known to produce whats called a Crud Ring. Sugar based powders like Triple 7 is well known to produce the crud ring the worse out all the other powders.

Cooler primers like Winchester 777 - CCI Inline MZL primers - Remington Kleanbore primers help reduce this Crud ring an hopefully enable the Hunter to reload his spent muzzleloader for a quick Second shot in the field. Having to swab in the field in order to get the next shot down is just plain ridiculous when you have a wounded animal in the field. But that's another issue for different time.

My first experiment was to keep the Velocity within a reasonable spread. I decided to do a test with a Lightly oiled Barrel, take Three shots, record the data and then fully clean the rifle again, take Three more shots WITHOUT oiling and see how the Velocity spread acted.

American Pioneer Oiled Barrel VS Non Oiled barrel Walk through video:


Now i had a good number of people wanting me to do this test again, but with a different brand of powder.

I decided to try the IMR White Hots, 100gr pellet load in the CVA Accura V2 with the 245gr Hollow Point Powerbelts, Winchester W209 primers and a distance of 13 feet the muzzle to the Chronograph. I started off by lightly coating a patch with Birchwood Casey Barricade, swabbed the bore and followed up with One dry patch to mop up excess oil. Dropping Two IMR White Hot pellets down the bore for a total charge of 100 grains, Seated the 245gr Powerbelt, primed the rifle and got everything set up on the Caldwell FCX Lead Sled, i was ready to take the first shot.

Shot one registered 1,701 FPS on my RCBS Chronograph. Not to shabby! Setting the gun up on the Tipton Best Gun Vise " It truly is in my opinion!" I removed the Quick Release Breech Plug, Ran a 5/32" " My Plug is modified" drill bit through the flash channel to remove primer carbon debris, did a half pump of Birchwood Casey Muzzle Magic Foam onto the face and wiped it clean and dried it, set to the side while i started on the barrel.

Part 1 - Barrel maintenance - Preparing the bore for the next shot.
The IMR White Hots produce a much softer fouling than what Triple 7 leaves behind. Using the Muzzle Magic Foam again, i did Three full pumps in the breech end of the barrel and let it do its job for a few minutes and soften up the fouling before running a patch down to swab the bore clean. It took a total of Two patches to remove all fouling. Followed up with One dry patch " used both sides", lightly coated a dry patch with Barricade, swabbed the bore and again, One dry patch, both sides, to mop up excess oil. Reloaded and took shot # Two - Repeated cleaning process & fired shot # Three.

Shots One through Three:
1701
1695
1690 Avg Velocity of 1695.

Now that was pretty darn good!

But i still had Three more shots to fire through the chronograph, but this time, No Oil in the bore.

Non Oiled bore:
Cleaning the gun again, i decided to make sure that there was No oil remaining in the barrel.
I soaked a patch with Birchwood Casey GUN SCRUBBER to completely remove any trace of oil that may have been left behind. After each shot the gun was fully cleaned, including the breech plug, and the bore was hit with Gun Scrubber to repeat the first shot cleanness i started with.

Shots One through Three:
1660
1681
1671
Avg Velocity of 1670 with an extreme spread of 21 FPS.

Now that's not bad either, but we lost 41 FPS on the first shot of a Non oiled barrel.

Now its highly worth noting that i found the Crud Ring on a Non oiled barrel to be pretty darn hefty. It took 6 pumps on the cleaner and Three patches " using both sides" to get the crud ring out. I was lucky enough to be able to take a picture of the IMR White Hot crud ring, after running one patch " Both sides" and cleaning out the loose fouling.

Why the fouling was stuck onto the stainless steel barrel harder with a non oiled barrel is something i have not figured out yet. Looking at it up close when i noticed it, the crud was very thick and chunky with a high gloss to it. This is one thing i do want to experiment more with and see why it sticks harder. My original though was that if there was any kind of Lube in the bore, it would turn the powders fouling harder and messier. That wasn't the case today.

This crud ring if not swabbed out will catch the bullet and hold it up. Meaning if you did not mark your ramrod or range rod, you may not notice that there's a 1/4" t o 1/2" gap between the powder charge and projectile!

If you accidentally do not seat the projectile on top of the powder charge you will experience heavy recoil, with other possibilities of a Bulged barrel or worse, a ruptured barrel that could take your life or any bystanders near you. ALWAYS MARK YOUR RANGE ROD - RAM ROD! If you watched the American Pioneer Video, you will see that my range rod has a Charge height indicator already built onto it that locks into place.

So if you are at the range, shooting the Sub black powders and want to get the best accuracy, most consistent velocity, Oil the bore between shots and run a couple patches to mop out excess oil! It simply works.