Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant

[RobD]

Smaller bores have lesser inside surface area to spread out about the same volume of black powder residue.  That can mean "more" fouling will be addressed in a .40 than a .54 or larger.  Maybe.  All guns are at least fairly unique.

If the BP residue inside any bbl is either mostly removed and/or kept soft in a consistent manner, loading is easier and accuracy doesn't suffer.  In fact, accuracy will be purty darned good, almost as if the bbl was fully cleaned between shots.

To not employ wiping fouling control between shots, that'd depend on the gun and the load.  A loose loaded ball that has a well lubed GatoFeo thick patch usually works best for me.  However, to keep the bp residue soft will require blowing down the barrel so that moist breath meets the residue.

I parallel the above with BPCR fouling control.  I load and shoot .45-70 black powder, paper patched slicks (non lube grooved bullets).  The difference between blow tubing and bbl wiping is night and day, for me, with regards to consistent accuracy at 200 to 800 yards - consistent wiping is by far the best.  Even better if the wiping is done with a combination brush and wad (a "bore gopher"), where most of the residue is pushed out the muzzle from the breech end.

With regards to addressing trad muzzys and fouling control, there are many, Many considerations.  We all need to experiment and see what the gun likes best.

One consideration, particularly with a new gun, or gun that hasn't had hundreds of rounds fired through it, is to "lap" the bbl with steel wool, as recommend by gunsmith Lee Shaver.  This will clean up the chatter marks and any burrs left by the rifling cutters.  Put an oiled patch over a jag, put a single layer of 0000 steel wool over the patch, and force push it all down and out the bore a buncha times.  This may require using a smaller jag in order to get the right fit, where the rod will need bopping with a mallet to get it down past the muzzle and into the chamber.  I just chuck the brass jag in a drill and file off increments and test out the fit along the way.  I've done this on a number of muzzy bbls and it's made a significant difference with the offshore bbls.