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cleaning a 50 cal thompson renegade project

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USSDETROIT

Pilgrim
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I was given this rifle and am not sure where to start.....if at all :shake: looking down the barrel I see some rust at the muzzle and black/grey dust stuff further down. Disconcerting that this rifle barrel is not open on both sides, yes I am VERY new to this. I guess 1st off I am looking for a cleaning kit that will not get stuck in the barrel? and a good solvent etc recommendation please?. I am also looking for instructions on cleaning the barrel. What a shame that this rifle externally looks in good shape but it apparently was neglected by the former knuckle head owner. In this case my fiance's ex husband :(
 
You really don't need a expensive cleaning kit. A good rod, brushes and the right size jag. Read up here on brushes. You don't want to get a brush stuck in the bore. The brown you see may or may not be rust. Some lubes will turn brown after they have been in the barrel awhile. Do a good cleaning and go from there.
 
Even if it is some light surface rust, it may clean up real well and probably not effect accuracy. You run into a problem if the rust is so bad the lands of the rifling are deeply pitted along with pits in the grooves. Even then the rifle might shoot pretty well, but will be much harder to clean.
 
Invest in a good range rod. You can use it to clean the barrel and load at the range. Get a couple of brushes and I use Ballistol to clean the barrel and gun.
 
Welcome to the forum. :)

As you are new to muzzleloading you will see some terms that might be new to you.

Jag is one of them, often not used by people who are familiar with modern guns.

It is basically a grooved brass plug that screws onto the end of a cleaning rod.
It comes in various sizes described by caliber.

To use it, a clean wet, damp, dry or oily patch is placed on it for swabbing the bore.

You can do 90+% of all of the cleaning you will ever need to do if you have one of these.

Here's a link to a good place to buy them.
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/580/1

As for the rod, while a range rod is great, a steel cleaning rod made for modern guns will also work if you can find one long enough to run the jag all the way down to the face of the breech plug.
Be sure to get a rod with a #10-32 thread in it.
The #8-32 threaded rods are not stout enough to last.

You can use any cleaning patch made for a modern .45 caliber gun. It is large enough for your .50 caliber barrel.

For normal cleaning on a muzzleloader a little plain water with a touch of dish washing soap is all you will need.

To clean your guns barrel, any cleaning fluid will work.

If you use soap and water, don't forget to dry the bore with clean patches and then run a oily patch down it. Your worst enemy is rust so lightly oiling the bore is very important.

Have fun and keep us informed about your guns progress. Also, remember, you can ask any question you want to ask here on the forum.

We've got LOTS of answers to help you. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
First thing to do is run a ramrod down the barrel to see if it was left loaded. If it's loaded the ramrod will stick out quite a bit.

Certainly not a $70 cleaning kit. I clean with soapy water, which does fine, then swab dry and use some WD 40 to displace remaining water. But there are other methods that work just fine. I'm in the No Brush camp myself.
 
Two things to get early on is screw attachment for when you have to pull a ball if you don’t have one. Sooner or later you will dry ball. Also jag designed to retrieve a patch. I have used a small caliber bore brush for that, but have also had that fail.
 
If you decide to use a bore brush MAKE SURE you get the kind that is a single twisted wire threaded through the screw-in portion.

A cut length of brush just press-swaged onto an aluminum threaded fitting can pull apart in the bore. Then you are well and truly boned.

Renegades have a TIGHT breech plug. There are tricks to get it back out but better to never have to try.
 
I see you had already posed with your cleaning question. :thumbsup:

Lots of good advice on this here forum!

Since you posted on the flintlock section, I'm assuming its a flintlock. You will need Real Black powder to shoot it No if ands or buts. There are ways to "make" Subtitutes like pyrodex and such "work" but you still need a dose of real Black in the barrel and you need to prime with real black too!

Good Luck!!
 
For cleaning the barrel i use windex. Some may not agree with me, but it really works well. I found that you don,t need a lot.
Remember to plug the touch hole. I use a toothpick.
This keeps the liquid from spilling out of the barrel.
You are about to enter a fantastic journey !!!
 
azmntman said:
Gene L said:
First thing to do is run a ramrod down the barrel to see if it was left loaded. If it's loaded the ramrod will stick out quite a bit.
Gene L said:
We forget to mention this way too often :thumbsup:

You also need to be aware of the fact that T/C rifles use a patent breech method and the ramrod will stop where the ends of the threaded breech meet the barrel. When the rod is inserted into the barrel, hold the rod where it exits the muzzle. Compare that length to where the rod tip is in relation to the breech. The rod will actually stop about 5/8" in front of the end of the barrel. If you use a lightly oiled patch you will hear air rush out of the touch hole as you insert the ramrod. If there is a load, you will feel a spring like resistance.
 
No one has mentioned that you take the barrel out of the stock to clean a Renegade. Pull your ramrod out, push out that metal wedge pin in the forestock and lift your barrel out.

You will need a nipple wrench to take your nipple out if it is a percussion gun. Clean the nipple separately with a pipe cleaner, put a little oil on the threads before you screw it back in.

Dunk the breech end in a bucket of water, some add soap. With the proper sized cleaning jag on your ramrod pump water in and out of the barrel through the nipple hole while it is under water until the water coming out in the bucket looks clean.

Take the barrel out of the bucket and start running dry, clean patches down the bore with force to force the air and water out of the breech.

After your patches start coming out mostly dry you can squirt some WD40 in the bore and force it out the nipple hole to displace any remaining water.

I use denatured alcohol instead of WD40 to absorb the water.

If you have an air compressor the air nozzle is real handy to blow any remaining water out of your barrel, rear sight and out from under the under rib that holds the ramrod.

When You have everything dried out an oily rag down the bore on you cleaning jag will protect the bore.

Don't use Rem Oil as it doesn't provide much rust protection.

I like Barricade because it seals the metal from the air.

Put your nipple back in and store you gun muzzle down on a paper towel for a few days to let any oil caught in the breech run out the bore.

Run a oiled patch down the bore a week or so later to see if you have any rust developing.

Pop two caps before you load the gun to burn any oil out of the breech. I put ramrod down the bore with a dry cleaning patch when I pop caps so it will absorb any moisture and not send it down the bore to get into the powder when you load the gun.
 
I hate it when the edit feature expires and I proof read after the fact and see an omission I should have added.

Of course you need a cleaning patch on your jag when you start pumping water through your barrel.

One more thought; If your barrel is badly rusted beyond use you can send it off to Bobby Hoyt and have it rebored and rifled to a higher caliber. It will comeback better than new, this will cost you around $140

We should be able to edit a post forever as we all come up with new information or better ways to express a thought.
 
And on TC .50's the rifling is so shallow that you can have Mr. Hoyt make it a .52.

Then you can shoot round ball or paper patched fifty cal rifle molds for when bigfeet surround your cabin or the brontosaurs get in your corn patch.
:shocked2:
 
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