Red droplets

[No Powder]

Several years ago I was reloading my flint lock for my next shot .Just before dumping my powder down the barrel, I noticed several small red drops on the inside of my barrel . Not being the sharpest tack in the pack, I asked one of the other shooters if he could explain. He said when you find the optimum load for your rifle, the barrel will bleed like that. He had me scratching my head. I notice this phenomenon often, and always when shooting my favorite load in whatever rifle I'm using. Yesterday I was experimenting with Scheutzen  powder , and noticed the drops again. Once again I had decided this load was my favorite load  for this rifle. Is the explanation I received correct, or is some other explanation? Inquiring minds want to know.

[The Miner '49er]

No Po - that was your rifle crying blood because you skipped a beat and shot a 9, rather than an X or a 10! You shouldn't let your rifle down like that. 

[RobD]

Tom, are you joking?  You sure you ain't bleeding somewhere?

[cwgrizz]

I'd heard the same thing years ago about the bleeding barrel, but never saw it in person or knew of anyone personally that had it happen.  Just had heard it around the campfires of the internet.

[The Miner '49er]

I hope I don't run afoul of the moderators, but on another ML forum, that I won't identify, the same question was posed a day or two ago. Several knowledgeable people said it's produced by the burning of Sulphur when atmospheric moisture is optimal for its creation. Sometimes it is seen in the pan, other times near the muzzle. I've never seen it; I'm too busy remembering to complete the sequence of powder, patch, ball, cap.

[Bigsmoke]

I remember seeing happen occasionally years ago.  Like when GOEX was made in Moosic, PA, ago.
Who, what or why, I dunno.   But happen it did.
John (Bigsmoke)

[No Powder]

I knew there was a reason I carry a few Band Aids in my belt bag. But they are for me,not the gun. Whoever heard of putting Band Aids on a smokepole.
Well then , I guess that info concerning optimum load is not true.

[LongWalker]

I've only seen this in the bore or pan a few times.  It seems to be a combination of the optimum load of the right powder, under the right conditions (maybe the right temp/humidity).  I've not seen it in a heavily-fouled bore or with certain powders. 

Funny thing is I've seen it more-often with certain loads in my trapdoors . . . which sorta makes me wonder if pressure or bore diameter are additional variables?

I have noticed "red berries" on fired patches a few timess, but maybe that happens more-often than we suspect--how often do you grab fired patches right after you shoot?

[RobD]

In about 70 years of messing with smokepoles I've never seen or heard of such a thing as red droplets/residue/whatever associated with muzzleloaders.  But clearly there is such a thing.  Be interesting to find the actual cause.

[KDubs]

Funny this came up.
 I'm at the David Thompson rendezvous days in eureka Montana.
 Shooting today I noticed not drops but small streaks of rusty red in the grooves near the muzzle.
 Favorite load of 75gr 2f. Hit 20 outta 22.
  Never noticed this before and now I'm reading about it. Hmmm
Kevin

[No Powder]

I can't make my believe everything about humidity, atmospheric conditions having to be just right for this to happen. I believe if I were talking to a young person interested in smokepoles, and he asked about those red dots in the barrel, I would have to tell him he was doing something right. I think I probably could show you those drops every time I go shooting.

[No Powder]

Kevin, you can't beat red residue in the barrel and 20out of 22. Fine job buddy.

[Hank in WV]

Don't know why it happens, but I've had it quite a number of times.

[Ohio Joe]

I've seen it a few times, and that was only with Goex Powder (which I use 99% of the time). I've not seen it happen (that I can recall) with other black powders I've use over the the years, such as (Elephant and Meteor),,, so my uneducated guess is that it has something to do with the products used in the "making" process. (Maybe the wood)? It's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over. Humidity might also play a part in it?

[Uncle Russ]

I’ve been shooting these things since Christ was just a corporal, and I haven’t ever seen it, or heard of anything like this, until right now!
I suspect the new wisdom nowadays is just “shoot ‘em till they bleed” and your rifle is good to go….
I’m thinking that blood must be coming from something other than that riffle barrel, but that’s just me.

Russ.