I've got streaks/crud/? in the barrel in several places. They seem to be mostly in the angle where the lands and grooves meet and are mostly about 6 inches from the muzzle.

The gun is a Traditions Pa. Pellet Flintlock. I was shooting both Hornady XTP's and cast SWC in Harvester sabots over loose Pyrodex with 4F black in the pan. I shot and cleaned a lot this fall and can't recall seeing the streaks then. I didn't fire it during the late Pa. flintlock season. I unloaded by unscrewing the breechplug and driving the bullet out the back.

I've cleaned with hot soapy water, Shooters Choice, and left it soak all afternoon with Birchwood Casey foaming cleaner in it. The streaks still remain.

Plastic fouling? What do I clean with for that? Or something else in there? Thanks,

Dale

M-Pro7 has a copper remover and it has done wonders on the nastiest of nasty. Its worth a shot. You swab the bore with it, let it soak 10 minutes and run a clean patch through. Repeating the process until you achieve the results you are seeking. M-Pro7 has great products, you can find them on amazon.

Sounds like plastic fouling. 25-50 passed with Remington 40x bore cleaner does wonders!

The only Shooters-Choice cleaner I see on their website is Quick Scrub III. Sounds pretty weak.

They have others like MC #7 Extra Strength for rifles and MLs. Another for shotguns.

Which one do you have and does it say on the label that it removes carbon, lead, copper and plastic?

One last question....... are you using a bore brush?

Pretty hard to get copper fouling with sabots.

Is that all you shoot? Any conicals?

You replied to me.... by mistake?

I've only shot saboted stuff, no conicals. I had the bullets on hand for reloading the 44 Mag, getting sabots seemed like the easiest way to get started and keep inventory simple.

I've probably made a dozen passes with a 12 gauge bore brush. The bottle of Shooters Choice (Super Formula MC#7) says "Removes lead, copper, powder fouling in rifles pistols and removes plastic shotgun wad fouling".

No mention of muzzleloaders, so it probably doesn't work on them

This is my first go around with a muzzleloader in over over 30 years and I only shot patched balls back then. Guess maybe I need more elbow grease.

Dale

Pull out a sabot and see what acetone (finger nail polish remover) does to it. Some plastics are quite vulnerable, while others are not.

No, I would have quoted you if I was.

More importantly I wonder why it's there in the first place with plastic? Almost sounds to me you might need to polish the bore to get rid of any rough spots. You can do this with multitude of products including steel wool and a jag or polishing compounds. Remember your just polishing not cutting!

After each cleaning I always coat my barrel in a rust preventative to seal the metal pours. I use T/C 17 lube (each to their own)...but I'm not happy with it right now. Then next time I take it out I dry swab the fire a primer to burn any oils that might be present.

I will not purchase / use a rust preventative, only a rust inhibitor. One absorbs and moves moisture. The other doesn't.

All bore butter users beware of drying your barrels real well, before applying it. If any moisture still exists in the barrel grooves, bore butter will run right over it and trap it in your barrel, creating rust.