Well here is what my testing has shown. Some of what I have found could cause some people to flame me, because I have seen some serious disagreements in the muzzle loader section and I do not buy into some of T/C's claims without wondering about their validity (about bore butter). Anyway, here is what I found, no flames please. If you do not have creative comments, please make none so this does not take the shape of a post in the ML Section. My ML has the 1st version of breechplug (one big deep concave) and I use Winchester Primers. Use 44 cal 240 or 300 gr Hornady bullets and 45 cal 250 gr Long Colt Hornady bullets. My gun likes the 44 cal with the green sabot the best.
Been shooting my Encore for 3 years. Used Pyrodex Pellets for 2 1/2 years. 2 pellets. I would get a small crud ring but not enough to cause a problem and would only clean the barrel every 5th shot. Accuracy was great. I used bore butter this whole time.
Switched to 777 pellets. After using about 1/4 or so of the box of pellets I started getting a terrible crud ring. The crud ring was so bad that I got a patch stuck in the bore twice after one shot and had to remove the breech plug. I gave the last ten shots of pellets left to a friend at work. The first part of the box I used bore butter, the second part I used oil.
Then bought a lb of 777, FF loose. Backed down to 80 grains. Got a crud ring about as bad as using the pellets. Used oil in the barrel.
Then bought a lb of Pyrodex Select. Never shot it enough to determine about the crud ring. The grains of that stuff is so big that it would not even flow good through my powder measure. Burnt it in the fire pit last weekend.
Then bought a lb of Pyrodex P. Shooting 80 gr., accuracy was good and the crud ring was gone the first weekend. The next weekend accuracy was still good but the crud ring was pretty bad, not as bad as with 777 but worse than Pyrodex pellets. Was using oil to lube the barrel.
Switched to lubing the barrel with bore butter. Shot P the next weekend with not crud ring at all.
Kept using bore butter but shot 777 FF the next weekend. No crud ring at all. I shot 5 shot strings between cleaning the gun and it was never hard to load. Cleaned the gun after this shooting with water but also used a petroleum based plastic solvent (this was the first time I used more than water). The next weekend I shot 777 FF and got a bad crud ring after two shots and had to clean the barrel every two shots and then it was tough to clean. Cleaned the barrel that night with water only, lubed with bore butter. Shot 777 FF the next day. Did not clean the gun until after the 5th shot with no crud ring. However, after the 6th shot the crud ring was there a little bit and I cleaned the gun every 2 shots. The ring seemed to get worse the more I shot after the 5th shot. Accuracy was great the 1st five shots, 4 holes touching with open sights at 60 yards, then seemed to open up a little. This could have been me since shooting open sights, however I also think the crud ring affects accuracy.
So where am I at? I never really bought into T/C's claims about their bore butter even though I used it for years. However the one factor that seems to eliminate or make the crud ring better in my gun is the use of bore butter and no oil or petroleum cleaner. I am not convienced of this but am going to keep testing, deer season has currently stopped all testing. I have seen a crud ring when using bore butter and sometimes not. I have always seen a crud ring when using oil. The thing that bothers me is that their are a lot of people that use oil, Breakfree CLP, petroleum cleaners and do not get a crud ring. That is why I am going to do more testing. I also tried Black Powder FFF. Do not know about the crud ring, it burnt so dirty that I had to clean the barrel every shot to easily seat the bullet, so I quit using it right away.
So there is my book. Is it bore butter, is it the temperature, is it how I hold my foot when I shoot. I know it is possible to get rid of the crud ring, I am just not sure what the variable is right now. I also swithed to the lighter bullets sometime in the crud ring era. Maybe that had something to do with it. I have not tried the heavier bullets again at this point. Swabbing the barrel after every shot will probably also help and maybe cure the rest of the problem. I have not been doing this at this point because I want to test the extremes, but will try next time I shoot. I do know that my Encore is very accurate. It will shoot groups with Pyrodex Pellets, Pyrodex P or 777 FF with 4 or 5 of the holes touching. It also shoots decent no matter what I put in it.
Sorry for the long post, but I did not want to just say this or that is the answer since I am not 100% sure right now and someone would just say that I bought in to T/C's ads. Do some similiar testing for yourself and share the results with me. Hope this helps you folks having crud ring problems.
