Just think of it as firelapping.   

Bruce,
A great many PP target and hunting rounds had a lube cookie sandwiched between two card discs beneath the bullet that provided a lube coating the barrel so the next bullet fired did have some lubrication. I've taken a good number of original PP cartridges apart over the years both Military and hunting going right back to the Boxer type round that was not drawn brass, but made of rolled brass foil attached to an iron disc base by a hollow rivet that was also the primer pocket. Virtually every one had a lube cookie.

Harry

Somebody on the forum here managed to score the last of that kind of paper from a papermaker, and sold some of it here.  

I count myself blessed that I bought a quire.  It is kept in an underground vault guarded by six starving Rottweilers.....don't get any ideas.   

Seth Cole 8 lb paper has no sizing and works very well for paper patching.

As far as barrel wear goes, this comes up like clockwork on the Shiloh forum every year .  It's a non-issue with modern barrels.  Perhaps there was a problem with older barrels, but certainly not with modern stuff like you'll find on a Shiloh for instance.

Chris.

some greases have a clay base, and they are lubricants.
re grease wads, yes it was common for certain applications.
hunting ammo was one such use.
the brits used them in express rifle ammo, as well as match rifle ammo, which they shot dirty.
American target ammo, particularly long range, fixed or breech seated, used no grease wads, and was wiped between shots.
more m.l. and b.l. barrels would have been ruined by rods than bullets.
keep safe,
bruce,

Schuetzenmiester, could it be that the muzzleloaders wore out the barrel by using the rod 10,000 times? Seems to me that could get to a barrel even if one were pretty careful. Dragging the gunk in and out and then seating the new shot=lots of miles up and down.

calledflyer wrote on Apr 19^th, 2016 at 4:44pm:



I suppose it could be either ramrods or heat erosion.  I never got any particulars, just to expect my barrel to shoot about 10,000 rounds before the accuracy dropped off. 

All the originals I have checked, not a lot, would lose a snugly fit patch in the chamber area that was pushed down the bore.  I always supposed that to be heat erosion and gas cutting blowing past the bullet before it bumped up to seal the bore. 

I have a .54 flinter with a GM barrel with about 7500 rounds through it.  It was shooting just fine with no sign of erosion in the chamber area. It will probably stay that way.  I can't see irons to shoot accurately.  I won't know now if the accuracy did go south