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What should I do before I put it away?

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MH WASH

32 Cal.
Joined
Sep 15, 2005
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Just back from the range. Fired three shots using RB and patch. Lubed patches with T/C Nat 1000. Do I need to do the soap and water, or can I clean with #13 then lube with 1000?
 
MH WASH said:
Just back from the range. Fired three shots using RB and patch. Lubed patches with T/C Nat 1000. Do I need to do the soap and water, or can I clean with #13 then lube with 1000?
There are a lot of ways people do this...as far as my approach is concerned, I've never, nor will I ever, put away a ML after it's been fired without a complete 100% cleaning with steaming hot soapy water, including a couple dozen strokes with a bore brush, then a hot water rinse.

I wish I could remember the name of the poster who said this a few years ago as I don't want to take credit for an idea that I didn't think of...it is such a clear easy example to remember the benefit of steaming hot soapy water when using any kind of sticky bore butter type lube to ensure a barrel is squeaky clean to the bare raw metal...here's what he said:

When you hold a breakfast plate with egg residue stuck to it, under a cold water faucet nothing happens...it just stays right there;

But if you hold that same plate under a faucet of steaming hot water, the egg residue melts, dissolves, and slides right off.

IMO, nothing beats steaming hot soapy water and a hot water rinse to clean a muzzleloader, particularly one that uses a bore butter type lube...that's been my cleaning regimen for years and I've always used bore butter as my bore lube...works perfectly for me.
 
I'll back up Roundball and give my vote to Hot soapy water followed by a bucket of hot clean water.Then Dry and lube with your lube of choice.
This question is a hot Potato and you might end up with 50 people posting 49 different ways to clean.Good luck! :v
 
I agree that hot soapy water seems to work best followed by a patch or two of black powder solvent.The hot water seems to dry the metal quickly.I also pull the nipple and carefully clean and dry the threads,followed by the application of gun oil.THen carefully wipe off the barrel,run an oily patch through the bore and run an oily rag over the external metal parts for protection.This will ensure that the gun will be in top shape the next time you go to use it.
 
To follow everyone's responses, I do the same thing,withone variation....
I oil the bore with castor oil applied to a patch, with enough to coat the bore and wipe down exterior surfaces, stored with the muzzle DOWN.

my variation, #4 of the 50!

Brett
 
Did you shoot BP or Pyrodex? It does make a bit of a difference, but but not a lot. The PyroDex guys tend to the soapy method, although there are some BP guys who do that too.

There are 3 basic cleaning camps.

1. Waterless. These people love WD40 and Dutch Schoultz is their main guru:
[url] http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/[/url]

Basically they douse with the beloved oil in a spraying rtiual and forget it until next time. Their main effort is cleaning the WD40 out for the next session. It is not really a big deal, but it is one issue.

2. The season your bore with bore butter/petroleum is evil crowd. These people often like to use hot soapy water and rinse with very hot water. (Some seem to want to shower with their guns, but that is going a bit far -- even for me) They then clean with more hot water which dries quickly. They lube with bore butter quickly to avoid getting the flash coat of rust that happens from the hot water.

3. Then there are the naturalists who want to do it like Dan'l and Davey. They often plug the breach end with a twig or toothpick; use creek water to slosh in and out and then wipe and dry with lots of patches or flaxen tow. (Some cheat and use alcohol to dry.) They generally oil with period correct oils or some reasonable facsimile of them. Bear, whale JoJoba or whatever the herbalist has on sale.

I have done all three at times so I can tweak them without a rough edge in it. (I really have not decided which I think is best, although I am a douse it in the creek guy at the moment.) All can be made to work. You just need to decide what suits you and then make it work.

Whatever you decide, follow up to check in the short, medium and long terms to see if your method is effective and you have no rust.

CS
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks, I followed everybodys advise and Gave it the S&W treatment. Hope to get it out again this weekend. Only 2 months until season opens.
 
MH WASH said:
Thanks, I followed everybodys advise and Gave it the S&W treatment. Hope to get it out again this weekend. Only 2 months until season opens.

Ima thinkin that whatever method you choose to use .. the key is to not let it sit around dirty, clean it as soon as you can get it done! :thumbsup: Thim blackpowder demons set ta work just a soon as you set it down from firin it! None of this "... ohh Ima tired, I think I'll do it tommorry ..." bidness! NOT!!! :cursing: :grin:

Davy
 
MH,
I have never done this myself, but I have
a friend that takes his percussion barrels
after a shoot to the car wash. Removes the nipple, and takes the car wash wand and shoots short burst of the hot soapy water into the barrel. Then does the same thing with just plain
hot water to rince it out. He usually has time
left on the soap cycle to wash the wheels on his
pick-up and the same with the rince cycle.
He then takes the barrels home and runs a few
dry patches and then finally treats the barrel
with some sort of home-made mixture very similar
to 'moose snot'.
snake-eyes :hmm:
 
FWIW, have to remember to clean the lock and the tang area...residue gets blown all over them and a lot of it is almost invisible...I wash all down into the cracks along the sides of the tang & wood with a toothbrush, then hose it all out with WD40 aerosol spray so no moisture remains
 
I scrub it out with a cotton patch and boiling water and a touch of Dawn. Hold the barrel with a rag so you won't get burned. Might run a brush down sometimes. Then pull the barrel out and let it set for a couple minutes barrel down. The barrel heat will remove moisture from the barrel. Then I dry patch it a couple times to make sure, it will also let you know if your barrel is clean. If you get black streaks, I then for sure brush it. Then I gob on the Natural Lube on a patch and run it down the barrel a couple times. The Natural lube melts in the barrel. Then I take the patch and run it over the outside of the barrel. I never use anything but Natural lube on the inside of my barrel. Works great.

HH
 
mh, there are many ways to clean your rifles. i discovered this one from dutch schoultz: i use a pale with about a cup of cold water, 1/2 oz pinesol 1/2 oz ballistol 1 oz hydrogen peroxide. best method of cleaning i've found. this solution can be used for in between shots too. after this i use wd40 down the bore and reapply once a week. i think all the methods listed will work. chopper
 
I've used the soap and water method since the '70's and it always worked well. In the last year or so I just use Ballistol and water for cleaning. I use the same 7/1 water/Ballistol mix that I use for patches, and spray it down the barrel. Run a patch up and down a few times and repeat. I run a patch of straight Ballistol and let it set for half an hour or so then scrub to get out any last residue. I find this gets it plenty clean without a lot of work, and I haven't had any rust issues. I oil the bore with Ballistol for guns that get used a lot. For ones that spend more time sitting in the safe than going to the range, I use CorrosionX just to be safe.

It's sure easier than the soap and water method. It also keeps SWMBO from hollering at me for making the bathroom "smell like egg fart" as she always says. Seems to me that bathrooms are made for that sort of thing, but she disagrees.
 
plink, i here ya about the smell, my wife is the same way. :haha: i clean mine outside now. that ballistol is some good stuff. no rust problems either. chopper
 
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