Debate: Should we sweep from top down or bottom up? A old timer set me straight

I had this 30 year veteran in Denver tell me I was doing it all wrong by sweeping from the bottom up. He said I was missing a lot of creosote buildup near the cap and risking a fire. I switched to top down and it takes a bit longer but I feel like I'm doing a better job now. What's your take - do you start from the top or stay on the ground?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea14313d ago

Well, did he say why he thought that was better? I always swept from the ground, figured it was safer and easier. But after reading a similar argument from an old pro on another forum, I tried it his way and he was right. The top down method catches all that heavy buildup near the cap that you just miss from below. Changed my whole routine, even if it does take a little more time.

mila_reed13d ago

Respectfully, I gotta push back on that. Sweeping from the top down always felt backwards to me because you're just pushing all that gunk into the clean lower part of the barrel. If you start at the breech, you catch the crud at the top first, but then you gotta drag it through the rest of the bore anyway. With a ground up sweep, that heavy buildup near the cap gets pushed out the muzzle right away, not smeared all the way down. Maybe it takes a bit more elbow grease, but I'd rather deal with a dirty patch at the end than risk grinding grit into the whole rifling. Different strokes though, whatever works for your setup.

nora18413d ago

So you found it actually worked better too, huh? That's basically what happened with me, I was dead set against trying top down for years until someone finally explained the cap buildup thing and I gave in. It's one of those things that sounds wrong on paper but the proof is in the patch, you know?