Boiling water!

Boiling hot water is a good way to get the grease in the bore soft and runny enough for whatever fouling lay beneath to be carried away. That's probably why the advocation is for hot water rather than cold.

Would using boiling piss be more period correct?

I've used boiling water in sub freezing temperatures when hunting. You really need the heat then.

TNGhost said:

While I have boiled water to clean a barrel bore, I have never used boiling water to clean a barrel bore. The second it comes off the stove, burner, fire, etc. it stops boiling, and becomes simply hot water.

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Flinty Scot said:

re: pissing down the bore
I recently read a quote from a letter , a French military order, warning the officers to keep the men from using piss to clean their rifle bores.

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" All skill is in vane when the Angel pisses in the flintlock of your musket " 1730 German infantry manual.
I am a user warm water ( if I can hold my hand in it ) and dish soap , to clean all my barrels , modern and
Black Powder . Dry well and oil, punch the bore for three days after cleaning. Good to go until next time.
As TNGhost said there are a thousand ways to clean a gun barrel, all will work. It is also true what Tanglefoot
Said about pee being a field expedient . But have used it only to cool down a hot barrel, and yes it do stink.
So everyone keep on keeping on ,if it works. That's what I like about the forum , there is a wealth of
Information here. Glad I found it.
GUNNYR

I Was taught at a very young age not to piss on a hot stove. Have also heard of Buffalo hunters using that technique on hot barrels. I've never shot that many Buffalo at 1 time . lol. Mark

So here's a guy using water but not hot water (well it may be, he is in the desert in AZ) cleaning his musket. Ostensibly, according to him in a period correct manner other than he substitutes Ballistol for "whale oil" as a protectant.

Cleaning your muzzle-loader is a lot like skinning a cat... There's more than one way to do it!

Ned Roberts had a nice chapter on cleaning in his book, The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle. He was taught to use boiling water as the traditional way of cleaning, but a little later in the chapter he described the use of commercial solvents as an alternative. My dad taught me the boiling water method, which I always used in the past, but over the past few years I have modified it somewhat, and combined it with the use of black powder solvent. Once the gun is cleaned, I think the use of a proper surface protectant is critical. I prefer LSA, which is (Oh my God!) petroleum based, and I am happy with it. LSA does not evaporate, which is an important consideration. If the surface coating of oil or whatever evaporates, the bare metal is exposed to the air, which allows oxidation in the form of rust. LSA used to be widely available at gun shows and surplus stores, in the ubiquitous little green squeeze bottles, but it has gotten harder to find. I bought three quarts of it from Sarco a few years ago, and this will probably last my lifetime.

I still clean with hot water. I fill the reservoir in Mr. Coffee with water and just don't put any coffee grounds in the basket. Mr. Coffee then provides me with a quantity of clean, hot water in a pot that has a handle and pouring spout. This works well for me.

Blackpowder gun barrels have been likened to cast iron cookware, in that they work best when properly seasoned with some sort of oil or grease. There are some folks who believe the seasoning can be "washed out" with hot and/or soapy water, and they advise using only cool or tepid water for this reason. I think there may be something to this, and I use detergent sparingly, if at all. However, I do like really hot water, because it dries quickly.

There are various blackpowder solvents on the market, and innumerable recipes for home-brewed elixers. The use of urine was discussed in some of the posts above. For my contribution, I can do no better than to quote Frank Mayer, an old-time buffalo hunter and author of The Buffalo Harvest. While Mr. Mayer was shooting primarily Sharps breech loaders, his propellant was still black powder, and his comments on gun cleaningare relevant to this discussion:

"We had some wild and wooly ideas about how to clean our rifle barrels, I remember. We first drenched them with cold water, succeeded by a dosage of urine, which was well shaken up and allowed to circumnavigate the bore. I suppose the slight ammonical content of this homely but efficient solvent did the trick. We followed this with a thorough drenching with hot water, and wiped the bore dry and finished it off with a rag saturated with graphited tallow. If not cleaned before firing, the rifle shot a few inches higher for the first shot. We generally wiped out clean before firing: cartridges were too expensive to take any chances." (pp.41-42)

Why urine? I will submit a few reasons:

1. It contains ammonia, which, as Mr. Mayer suggested, is a very good solvent and bore cleaner. I believe ammonia is still a component of some modern bore cleaners, such as Shooter's Choice. On the down side, ammonia alone can be corrosive if left on ferrous metal for very long, and I have heard it can "creep" into threaded parts. As was suggested, urine also contains corrosive salts, and mine sometimes has traces of beer. However, Mr. Mayer pointed out that the urine was rinsed with a "thorough drenching" of hot water, which took care of the corrosive elements.

2. It is warm. See TNGhost's post (#25) regarding the advantages of warm water, as compared to cold water, as a solvent.

3. I comes in (or out of) a very convenient dispenser... at least for us gentlemen.

Gun Tramp said:

For pete's sake will someone please try the urine cleaning method and post a report? Nothing but talk, talk, talk so far.

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After reading The Buffalo Harvest, I had to try the "homely but efficient solvent" Mr. Mayer recommended. This was after a trip to the range with my 20 gauge flintlock "Carolina Smoothbore," built by Jackie Brown. This gun has a 42" barrel. I am short, by today's standards, which puts my solvent dispenser relatively closer to the ground. I solved this particular problem with a stepladder and a funnel. I am not recommending that you try this... I'm simply relating what I did, and I will not be responsible for injuries sustained by anyone trying this at home. If you come off that ladder and break a hip or arm or whack your head, you'll end up in an Emergency Department trying to explain what happened to a twenty-five year old female second-year medical student who speaks English as a second language. You'll soon become an urban legend in your hospital. Anyway...

I removed the gun's lock and plugged the touchhole with a toothpick, inserted the funnel in the muzzle, and climbed the ladder high enough that I could hold the barrel vertically while aiming my solvent dispenser into the funnel. A trickle works better than a gush, which is a good thing for us old guys. I put in a goodly amount of solvent, climbed back down, and removed the funnel. This next part may make some of you uncomfortable, but I then put my thumb over the muzzle and tipped the gun back and forth a few times to slosh the solvent around. I then dumped it out onto the ground, and followed up with a bristle brush, hot water from Mr. Coffee, dry patches, and oiled patches.

This procedure worked pretty well, in that the gun came out clean and I sustained no injuries, but I can't say it really worked any better than more conventional methods.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

If this is not acceptable please delete and accept my apologies.
On peeing down a barrel. I worked for 20 yrs on horseback guarding inmate work squads. I carried a rifle and sidearm, occasionally a shotgun instead of a rifle. Those unmentionables had terribly corroded barrels. When I questioned that I was told the old officers would open the action and pee into it and down the barrel from the saddle. You can’t be on the ground armed near convicts.
I wouldn’t digest cleaning with pee!..lol

‘Digest ‘should have been ‘suggest’

And with that, I think this thread has about run it's course so I'm closing it.