Salt rounds gumming up my shotgun — normal?

[ChalklineCharlie]

Been loading my own salt shells (rock salt + buffer) and they’re doing the job, but cleaning the gun afterwards is like chiseling sugar out of a candy machine.

Anyone have a trick for keeping residue down? Or is this just the price of keeping ghosts out of your face?

[YoungGuns]

Sounds to me like moisture is getting into your shells or weapon. Not much one can do except maybe keep your shells in a box of rice. And weapon maintenance is tedious but necessary. Firearms should be disassembled and cleaned after nearly every usage. If you are in a hurry, you can run a quick pass of a barrel brush between bits of usage if the buildup happens quickly. But in all reality, you are just pushing the problem back and making it a bigger problem later. Doing this too much, without a proper clean regularly, will cause your weapon to backfire and no one needs a face of salty gunpowder.