Pennsylvania Game News - July 2022 - 63

disaster in as little as one year. I learned
that the hard way.
I loaned a Knight Rifle MK-85
inline muzzleloader to a friend. When
it came back from a Rocky Mountain
drop-camp elk hunt almost a year later,
the rifle didn't function. Water rusted its
internal parts.
A lot of filing, scraping, emery
paper, sharpening stones and polishing
compound on an arbor wheel saved
its life, but why put yourself through
something like that if you can avoid it?
EVICTING GREMLINS
The bore and rifling grooves are the
part of the barrel that give a patched
roundball, lead slugs like Maxi-Balls
and saboted bullets their stability. But
they get dirty.
All gunpowders, black and replica,
regardless of how clean they seem to
leave the bore after the shot, leave a
small amount of metallic salts in the
bore. They're water-attracting gremlins
hard to remove.
That demands using a good nonevaporating
grease to cut the access of
those salts to moisture-rich air.
Run a cleaning patch with light
machine oil down the bore and examine
it. If there is any sign of rust, you didn't
use the right kind of powder cleaner.
That's a matter of chemistry. Blackpowder
and Pyrodex, Triple Seven,
Smokeless and other replica powders
create different compounds and can't
be cleaned and neutralized with the
same solvents.
Blackpowder has three major components:
saltpeter, carbon and sulfur.
Most barrels, though, only burn about
50% of the powder, while leaving
behind a water-absorbing, sticky mix
JULY 2022
GUNMAKERS FAIR
Want to learn more about maintaining
your muzzleloader?
The 38th Annual Gunmakers Fair is
being held at Kempton Community Center
in Berks County Friday through Sunday,
July 29 to 31. There will be more than
100 vendors and industry representatives,
scores of seminars and the chance to
personally talk to experts in various
muzzleloading specialties from across
North America.
Author Dave Ehrig will be there if you
want to stop by and talk shop.
Directions and schedules for the
event can be found at www.facebook.
com/GunmakersFairKempton or https://
gunmakersfair.wixsite.com/gunfair.
that includes abrasive carbon.
Known as " fouling, " this acidic,
scratchy, foul-smelling slime is the
bane of muzzleloading barrel accuracy
and longevity.
It acts fast, too, absorbing moisture
and prompting rust start-up within minutes.
Pitting and erosion of the rifling
results, making reloading difficult and
accuracy an issue.
The good news is that you can evict
the gremlins in blackpowder with a
bath of plain old water, if you do it in
a timely manner.
Some of the newer blackpowder
substitutes, though, also sold as blackpowder
replica powders, require using
solvents like the Original Nitro Powder
Solvent, good old Hoppe's No. 9, to
come clean.
Check your powder manufacturer's
recommendations.
It's worth the effort.
Taking some time to learn about
your muzzleloader, and most especially
about keeping it clean, will go a long
way to better shooting, on the range
and in the field.
63
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Pennsylvania Game News - July 2022

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