Cleaning

Eutycus said:

The water doesn't need to be boiling hot. Warm or lukewarm should do the job.

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Water is the best solvent for cleaning blackpowder…BreakFree CLP…last step in my cleaning process.

Yep, revolver is a pain.

tomm9903 said:

Yep, revolver is a pain.

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I used to shoot my revolvers all the time, but it just got so tiring cleaning the pistols.

I shoot my rifles all the time…I look at my pistols all the time

Grenadier1758 said:

The answer on whether one can wait or lightly clean a muzzle loading rifle between shooting sessions depends on the powder used. If one uses real black powder, the wait after a quick wipe with Ballistol or WD40 isn't going to start a lot of corrosive action. If you are shooting Pyrodex as the propellant, then full cleaning is required.

While sooty fouling from the synthetic black powder is considerably less than fouling from real black powder, the corrosive fouling left by the synthetic powders starts the rusting almost immediately.

Clean the synthetic powders as if you will be putting the gun into long term storage.

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I only use Swiss

Musket69 said:

It is not possible to find true black powder in my area. I reserve what I have for my flinters and use Pyrodex in my cap guns... Either type gets a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water, dried and oiled at the end of the day. Muzzle loaders take about 30 minutes and revolvers about an hour...

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Lots of companies ship BP

sturmkatze said:

Will, most of these methods work. The main part is just doing it.

As to the synthetic powders, we'll, I mostly shoot flintlocks, so I don't use those "joto" powders, as that junk doesn't work in a flinter.

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Yes T7 & Pyrodex will work if you prime the pan with BP.

I clean rifles and my pistol with room temp tap water. Even in my native Georgia I've waited until the next day to clean a very occasional fired rifle but that was rare. Still there was no rusting at all. More likely I run a damp patch followed by two dry patches before leaving the range, takes about 3 minutes. Back home I start cleaning and often swab the bore with WD40 and finish up the next day. Alcohol gets out the WD40 with one wet patch followed by two dry patches. I protect the bore with Barricade and sometimes BreakFree CLP.

Flintlock, cap and ball revolvers: cool water, minimal disassembly, dry and oil.

Ed C. said:

I will completely disassemble my pistols after each use and place all the parts in boiling water/dawn solution and using bore brushes, tooth brushes, and pipe cleaners, clean all the parts, blow dry with compressed air, and place them in the oven on warm to dry. Then run a patch with Ballistol down the barrel and cylinder, assemble and spray Ballistol on the internals and after a wipedown with Ballistol I'm done. I've never noticed the start of any rusting doing this and the clean up is very easy especially if I am using lubed wads when shooting.

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Musket69 said:

It is not possible to find true black powder in my area. I reserve what I have for my flinters and use Pyrodex in my cap guns... Either type gets a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water, dried and oiled at the end of the day. Muzzle loaders take about 30 minutes and revolvers about an hour...

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Try T7. It’s much less corrosive than Pyrodex, closer to Blackpowder in that respect.
I shoot every day or as close to daily as I can manage. I can shoot pistols and short range rifles from my patio and I do so. 15 minutes from the house I can shoot 150 yards. I have revolvers that haven’t been “cleaned“ like your suggesting in years. The actions are full up with Mobil 1 Synthetic grease and blackpowder fouling is easily removed from chambers and bore. At least as quickly as you’d clean a modern smokeless revolver. Fact is there are many times when I shoot and reload several cylinders before reloading and putting the pistol up in it’s place in a holster or drawer by the back door.

We live at 7000’ elevation in Juniper/Pinion and Big Sage so obviously it’s pretty dry here except in monsoon season (sometimes) or winter. (We’re near the Aspen, Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas.) Even in the rain and snow seasons it’s a fairly dry atmosphere but I’ve been treating guns this way for 60 years now and my dad and grandpa did something similar so it’s working out so far. And they had corrosive percussion caps to deal with. (Much more corrosive than blackpowder residue. IMO.)
One of these guns is 60 years old and has many thousands of rounds of full throttle loads through it…

#blackpowderbill said:

Yes T7 & Pyrodex will work if you prime the pan with BP.

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I guess, but why? I see no bennies

THE biggest thing with cleaning is to do it.

In 1968 Dad came home from an OGCA show with an 1861 Colt Navy. It became my job to tear it down, clean and oil it after every trip to the range. It's had worn parts and springs replaced throughout the previous half century of use, but it still looks like new.
The rule was to clean immediately after returning home. I always used warm water + dish detergent, and oiled immediately afterwards with Birchwood Casey Sheath (now called Barricade).

To me, boiling or overcleaning does at least two things. Uses up resources, time and causes extra wear. Hear me out: Decades ago, when cleaning M4s or M16s, the accepted idea was to get them spotless everytime they were shot:. Then things changed to what we called in the Rangers, get thtem "Firefight Ready"> Basically a quick wipedown inside and out, swipe out the bore, wipe down all the bolt carrier parts. It was done as it was seen that a spotless weapon was a waste of effort and caused un needed wear. Firefight ready was used as an accepted cleaning method for weapons that were frequently used and not sitting in an arms room for weeks at a time. Yes, eventually you have to clean up the carbon build up areas specific to the AR platforms

Myself, I do clean my BP guns after each day of firing, no matter how mant shots I fired. BP guns get really dirty. But I wont boil. Boiling gets the parts hot, and when they eventually cool, moisture gets released, even when oiled. Boiled parts tend to weep slightly after cooling, and associated wood and some metal parts will get part of that.

Bad Karma said:

Try T7. It’s much less corrosive than Pyrodex, closer to Blackpowder in that respect.
I shoot every day or as close to daily as I can manage. I can shoot pistols and short range rifles from my patio and I do so. 15 minutes from the house I can shoot 150 yards. I have revolvers that haven’t been “cleaned“ like your suggesting in years. The actions are full up with Mobil 1 Synthetic grease and blackpowder fouling is easily removed from chambers and bore. At least as quickly as you’d clean a modern smokeless revolver. Fact is there are many times when I shoot and reload several cylinders before reloading and putting the pistol up in it’s place in a holster or drawer by the back door.

We live at 7000’ elevation in Juniper/Pinion and Big Sage so obviously it’s pretty dry here except in monsoon season (sometimes) or winter. (We’re near the Aspen, Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas.) Even in the rain and snow seasons it’s a fairly dry atmosphere but I’ve been treating guns this way for 60 years now and my dad and grandpa did something similar so it’s working out so far. And they had corrosive percussion caps to deal with. (Much more corrosive than blackpowder residue. IMO.)
One of these guns is 60 years old and has many thousands of rounds of full throttle loads through it…
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I love these old revolvers…

A lot depends on where you live. I save real BP for my flinters and shoot Pyrodex in my cap guns. I'm a believer in same day cleaning, but some how it's usually 2 or 3 days before I get to it. I do use Ballistol soaked patches after shooting though. I live in Colorado where the humidity is usually 10 to 30% in summer. Nothing rusts unless it's raining.

Musket69 said:

It is not possible to find true black powder in my area. I reserve what I have for my flinters and use Pyrodex in my cap guns... Either type gets a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water, dried and oiled at the end of the day. Muzzle loaders take about 30 minutes and revolvers about an hour...

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If I took that long to clean my BP guns I would rarely shoot them because the cleanup was such a hassle.
10 minutes for long guns and 20 for revolvers.
No hot water. Little or no soap.
Ballistol ( diluted with water ) sometimes use 70% Isopropyl alcohol before the Ballistol.
Sometimes a little Hoppe’s #9.

Rock Home Isle said:

I love these old revolvers…

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Me too! Some guy on this board accused me of not caring for these guns and of just using them until they rust so badly they need to be replaced. Man, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just that, for this area and the climate conditions I’m faced with, maintenance is much easier than many folks make it. I don’t know too much about the more humid climes, when I lived in those places I wasn’t able to devote much time to bp shooting so maybe this regimen wouldn’t work as well there. But my educated guess is that it probably would.

I cleaned my flintlock smooth bore once in December after a morning of squirrel hunting. I fired several shots that morning. The temperature was 24 degrees F. I chipped ice to get a bucket of water from the rain barrel. The water in my cleaning bucket keep icing over while I was cleaning, but the gun came out cleaner that day than it ever has since.

Banjoman said:

I cleaned my flintlock smooth bore once in December after a morning of squirrel hunting. I fired several shots that morning. The temperature was 24 degrees F. I chipped ice to get a bucket of water from the rain barrel. The water in my cleaning bucket keep icing over while I was cleaning, but the gun came out cleaner that day than it ever has since.

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Water actually works pretty well.
So does 100% cotton tee shirt material cut into patches soaked with saliva.
Follow up with a good oil if done shooting for the day.

smoothshooter said:

Water actually works pretty well.
So does 100% cotton tee shirt material cut into patches soaked with saliva.
Follow up with a good oil if done shooting for the day.

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There are two grades of Saliva, “Mom Saliva” and “Not Mom Sliva”

Mom Saliva can clean anything…I’ve seen, I’ve experienced it…It’s not fiction, it is a fact. Now if we could just bottle it, we’d make a fortune…