Extreme Fouling

In a word ... or more, J&B Bore Cleaning Compound :thumbsup: !

J&B Bore Cleaner is good stuff, but I suspect that this barrel will be far too gone for it to do much good. It all depends on how long the barrel has been left in this condition, and how humid was the area where the barrel was stored. It certainly will clean up the bore, so that all the bad pits can be located, however.

I like to put a 3 inch square cleaning patch(or two) on the front of a bore brush, and then heavily coat it with Bore Cleaner. Fix the brush to a rod, and put the other end of the rod in a hand drill. Go at it. The Bristles of the bore brush will hold onto the cleaning patch so that you can go back and forth with the polishing brush, and not worry about losing the Cleaning patches.

You have to change the patch several times, with new bore Cleaner on each patch, but it will smooth a bore, and put a good shine to it.

It is a VERY fine abrasive polishing compound, so its a waste of the stuff to use it on a badly rusted bore, until you have honed the metal down the point where this polishing medium can make a different. Otherwise, you find your self polishing TOOL marks, in the bore, rather than finishing the bore itself. :shocked2: :nono: :surrender: :thumbsup:

If you are going to resurrect a bore, take your time, and go through the grits, from coarse to very fine, so that you end up with a polished bore. The smoother the bore, the less residue "sticks" to it.

If you grease the bore AFTER the load is seated, I find that there is very little residue that sticks to the bore, and its easily cleaned out by running a lightly dampened Cleaning patch down the barrel and back out again. On humid days, run a second and sometimes a third DRY cleaning patch to dry the bore before putting the next load of powder down the barrel. Examine the dry patch when it comes out of the muzzle. If its very greasy looking, run another patch down the barrel. That patches will tell you when you need to ADD to your loading procedure, and, conversely, when you don't have to change the procedure when shooting in arid conditions.(ie. Low humidity, or very cold, below freezing temperatures.) :hatsoff:

Britsmoothy said:

Is it one of them non shooters for re enactment only? !

Brits.

Click to expand...

It is now. :wink: :v

I have seen some guns advertised for re enactment only and something about a constriction part way down the bore to prevent/limit loading.

Brits

To close the loop on this topic: the bore is now free and clear. I used boiling water with a little bit of dish soap added. After plugging the touch hole, I poured the water down the barrel and let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then poured the water out. Brushes didn't have much effect on the fouling, but a .69 scraper (the kind used to scrape the face of the breech plug) sure did. After threading the scraper onto the rammer, I'd push the scraper against the crud to loosen it and some of the fouling would break free. I'd then fill the barrel with hot water again let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes, pour it out, use the scraper, etc. It took about 3 hours of repeating this procedure over a couple of days, but all the fouling came out. I discovered, too, that a good bore light with fresh batteries was very handy. The bore light showed me that the fouling was about 18 inches from the breech, was on only one side of the barrel, and didn't completely encircle the bore. Once I got through that and worked my way down to the breech, there were other patches of fouling which weren't hard to clear at all. As for the actual bore, I was surprised at how good it looks. I think a good thorough cleaning and some oil will do the trick. The musket's owner and I will be at the Ft. Frederick Market Fair next month where he'll buy all the cleaning jags, pumps, worms, scrapers, and pieces/parts he'll need to keep this from happening.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Glad to hear it all came out in the wash so to speak! :grin:

You did threaten him with a severe beating if he ever lets his smokepole get that dirty again didn't you?

BTW, I will be at Ft. Frederick as well. There is a live shooting competition there. Targets are paper and also a post shoot. Come on down and join in the fun.

Many Klatch

mistake...

Thanks for starting this thread.
I just got a Pedersoli Bess that was used as a loaner for a reenactment unit and whoever cleaned it last... didn't.
So I cleaned it yesterday as best I could. The bore was dark but seemed smooth enough - and I don't have a bore light. But after shooting several round balls from it today, I noticed a ring in the bore. There is no bulge on the outside so I'm thinking that my problem is fouling. It left a .715 ball roll right past when I tried it for fit yesterday and my "cartridges" also loaded easily today, but I definitely notice the tightness now about a foot behind the muzzle with patches soaked with hot soapy water.
But I'm thinking maybe I need not panic... I'll try cleaning some more and see if i can't get this stuff to come out.

damn reenactors!!!!! tell him to stop looking for the documentation that his waistcoat button is period correct and clean his damn musket!!!king louie will take back that charleville if he does not respect it!!! :grin: it does amaze me that some fellow reenactors will fire 20-30 rounds through their weapon and not clean it. every battle (no matter hhow many rounds i shoot)they get cleaned...

With a Bess, you don't really need a bore light. Just take one of the mini-mag-lite style flashlights, one that takes a AAA battery, and drop it down the bore, light up. You've said that a .715 ball rolls past, so I wouldn't worry about getting the light stuck.

Alternatively, leave the light just inside the muzzle, shining down, and peer past it. Not as easy, but you can see the whole way down.