Cleaning your ML

[smo]

I own several Muzzleloaders that have become “Safe Queens” , I guess you could call them over the past few years.

Most are caplocks that I seldom ever shoot anymore, after being bitten by the Flintlock Bug in 2008.

These guns were all cleaned and wiped down internally & externally using Barricade.

They are kept in a dehumidified safe and only checked periodically,

Fast forward 10 years later, they are all still perfect.

The Barricade forms a “coating” that dries on the metal, thus no oxygen , no rust.

When preparing too shoot one of my guns, I simply swab of the bore with denatured alcohol patch or two, let it evaporate for a few seconds ( or swab w/h clean dry patch if desired) Load & Shoot!

When done shooting, Clean an the Re-Apply Barricade and return too the safe.

They should be good for another 10 years!

FYI- Be careful using dry patches, as they can become stuck in the bore.

You will notice a brownish color on the first alcohol patch, No Worries, it’s only the Barricade, not rust.

This is my personal expierience over the past decade..
Others mileage may vary......

 

[RonT]

I'm a fan of Window Washing fluid, room temp. followed by Ed's Red. I do use an Alcohol patch prior to loading. No problems so far.
Cheers,
R

 

[Headhunter]

I use Windex Vinegar to break through the fouling, then, once dry, I use Hoppies #9 followed by a dry patch. Seems to be working for the last decade or so.

The only time I ever had any trouble, was when I was trying the Bore Butter route. Didn't take long to drop that gee wizz idea.

HH

 

[FlinterNick]

When you clean a rifle with a pinned barrel bo you remove it from the stock? If not how do you keep the water from getting under the barrel and causing a serious rust problem?
I am so new to this that I can't even spell BLK PWDR

I favor using flintlocks with keyed barrels or barrel bands (Springfields and charlevills); they much easier to break down and clean.

In regards to unpinning a barrel, you're generally not supposed to because consistent unpinning will weaken the wood and lug area and eventually you'll need larger pins and possibly lugs. So I would avoid unpinning. For my cross pinned rifles and muskets I usually do it rarely once a year to inspect the barrel channel and breech area. For cleaning I don't unpin unless the cleaning is very rigorous.

For protecting against water in the channel area you could always tightly seal the barrel channel with bedding material like an epoxy for a tighter fit. Brownells bedding compound works well. Y

 

[Grenadier1758]

My Derringer rifle (replica) has wedges but the tang is bolted through to the trigger plate. The 1803 Harper's Ferry also has a wedge with the tang bolted to the trigger plate. I don't remove the barrel for cleaning. I do remove the lock and plug the touch hole while I clean with damp to wet patches. The barrel is heavily waxed to prevent rust between the barrel and the stock. The epoxy bedding is also a good choice for dealing the barrel to stock interface.

 

[Newtire]

So far I haven't found anything to beat Barricade and BreakFree CLP.

I have had the best luck with barricade also. Probably others as well. Have used some stuff called "Boeshield" and machinists way oil. When I get ready to shoot, I run a couple of patches down the bore, fire off a cap up against another clean bit of a cleaning rag attached to my wiping stick. If it comes out dirty, then I know the fire came thru the flash channel. If I can, I load up a 1/2 charge with a bit of rag holding it down and shoot that off. Never have misfires after doing that as far as I can recall. As for the original question, maybe the stuff that makes the patch come out dirty has some more cleaning ability and knocks the junk loose? A lot of great ideas here on this board.

 

[RHensley]

A friend out here who also shoots ML's pretty much exclusively, has also told me to clean out all that old bore butter with brake cleaner ! I have been hesitant to give that a try at first but now I know he is not the only one to do this. Thank you! Also just FYI, I usually don't lube my patches with bore butter, but sometimes I will use pre-lubed patches which I believed are lubed with BB! But I was almost always running a cleaning patch lubed with BB after I cleaned the barrel. I will be re-thinking all of my cleaning practices...

I had this same problem. I didn't use brake cleaner I used gasoline. It took a while but I got the barrel clean and Haven't used bore butter since and want.

 

[azmntman]

Clean with warm water and drop or 2 of dawn, DRY DRY DRY then WD-40 (or just recently) barricade. NO RUST. I will say years and years ago I used bore butter and no rust. AZ has very little of that phenomenon they call humidity though?

 

[FlinterNick]

My Derringer rifle (replica) has wedges but the tang is bolted through to the trigger plate. The 1803 Harper's Ferry also has a wedge with the tang bolted to the trigger plate. I don't remove the barrel for cleaning. I do remove the lock and plug the touch hole while I clean with damp to wet patches. The barrel is heavily waxed to prevent rust between the barrel and the stock. The epoxy bedding is also a good choice for dealing the barrel to stock interface.

Is that an 1817 (common rifle) derringer rifle ?

 

[Ketchakah]

Alot of this is way too complicated.
I use my ML exclusively and have for years, cleaning is not a big deal.

In my shot bag I carry my cleaning kit. Consists of following...
1. 2 or 3 slivers of wood. Tooth picks or wood skewers work good.
2. Ball of Tow
3. Washcloth sized piece of patch cloth ( It varies in size) Kit will wrap in it.
4. Small vial of bear oil.
5. Ball puller or Patch worm dependent on rifle or smoothbore.
6. 4 or 5 feet of good solid string. Leather sewing thread or carpet thread size. loop tied on end. wrap around cloth to hold it all together in bag. ( Although not period, Kite string works well )

1. Plug vent hole with wood.
2. Heat water in your tin cup. Not boiling just hot. Pour water into Barrel. No soap.
3. Put finger over muzzle and invert FL several times to swish the water around.
4. Invert and dump water out.
5. Repeat 2-3-4 until water comes out clean
6. Soak ball of Tow in water and attach to string. Run string attached Tow up and down with wiper several times.
7. Rinse Tow and repeat 6-7 2 or 3 times. Drink water .... Uggg dont ask me how I know this.
8. Dry with more tow or cloth patching on string run down with wiper. Put used Tow in fire kit once dried.
9. Oil barrel with your choice of oil. WD-40, Hoppes, Bear grease
10. Wipe outside with same.

Never Ever had rust even after year of storage.

I had a Rifle once with a patchbox. The entire cleaning kit with exception of square of cloth ( That i put in my belt to wipe the Steel after each shot Btw) fit in the patch box.

PS tip..... Take a Candle and rub all over the outside of your barrel, work it down into any metal to wood joints. Then polish it in really well.
Outside of gun wont rust in bad weather either. Sno-Seal over entire outside works too for a modern approach.

PS PS... I bore a hole in the stock under the butt plate. In hole i place extra main spring and steel spring. greased well.

SM

 

[FlinterNick]

Alot of this is way too complicated.
I use my ML exclusively and have for years, cleaning is not a big deal.

In my shot bag I carry my cleaning kit. Consists of following...
1. 2 or 3 slivers of wood. Tooth picks or wood skewers work good.
2. Ball of Tow
3. Washcloth sized piece of patch cloth ( It varies in size) Kit will wrap in it.
4. Small vial of bear oil.
5. Ball puller or Patch worm dependent on rifle or smoothbore.
6. 4 or 5 feet of good solid string. Leather sewing thread or carpet thread size. loop tied on end. wrap around cloth to hold it all together in bag. ( Although not period, Kite string works well )

1. Plug vent hole with wood.
2. Heat water in your tin cup. Not boiling just hot. Pour water into Barrel. No soap.
3. Put finger over muzzle and invert FL several times to swish the water around.
4. Invert and dump water out.
5. Repeat 2-3-4 until water comes out clean
6. Soak ball of Tow in water and attach to string. Run string attached Tow up and down with wiper several times.
7. Rinse Tow and repeat 6-7 2 or 3 times. Drink water .... Uggg dont ask me how I know this.
8. Dry with more tow or cloth patching on string run down with wiper. Put used Tow in fire kit once dried.
9. Oil barrel with your choice of oil. WD-40, Hoppes, Bear grease
10. Wipe outside with same.

Never Ever had rust even after year of storage.

I had a Rifle once with a patchbox. The entire cleaning kit with exception of square of cloth ( That i put in my belt to wipe the Steel after each shot Btw) fit in the patch box.

PS tip..... Take a Candle and rub all over the outside of your barrel, work it down into any metal to wood joints. Then polish it in really well.
Outside of gun wont rust in bad weather either. Sno-Seal over entire outside works too for a modern approach.

PS PS... I bore a hole in the stock under the butt plate. In hole i place extra main spring and steel spring. greased well.

SM

Similar to what I do

I have a 48 poplar dowel that I jagged on the end, I use scotch bright steel wool with hot water to swab out the bore.

 

[Alaskan Woodsman]

Good advice in all of this.

And how are we cleaning the barrel channel/breech area between the touch hole and breach without water??

 

[FlinterNick]

Good advice in all of this.

And how are we cleaning the barrel channel/breech area between the touch hole and breach without water??

For a pinned stock, I just use a tooth brush and some scotch bright billow pads. If its heavy I'll unpin the barrel for a deep clean.

Some people undo the breech plug, I never do this. You should only do this is there's a compelling issue such as an object removal or repair.

 

[Archer 756]

Hot water / soap and hot water follow by G96

 

[Greenjoytj]

I feel lucky my Lyman GPR barrel can be removed so easily along with the vent liner.

Standing the barrel muzzle up in the landry tub and using a short 3’ hose from the faucet spout, I run tepid water down the barrel and have it flush out the 6mm vent hole. After an initial flush out I pump the cleaning rod with a bronze brush while holding the hose against the muzzle and rod. This loosens more fouling which get flushed on through the vent hole.
I change to a 36 cal brush to spin and pump in the patent breach area.

When the water is streaming clear from the vent the breach end gets placed in a 2 l ice cream bucket. Dawn detergent and water is added to the bucket. This time a patch on jag is used. Soapy water in drawn up suction pump style. Several jag to brush swaps are done the bucket is dumped. Close attention is paid to the colour of the water, if it dirty the bucket with soap treatment is repeated till its clean.

Dry out the bulk of the water with paper towel patches on the brush and cloth patches on the jag.
Alcohol at 99% is patched through to pick up water from the micro scratches in the bore steel, then dried again.

Hoppe’s #9 or any other modern bore cleaner is patched through again.

I made up a long dowel with a thin saw cut 2” up the end the dowel was whittled to fit the patent breach with a patch. The special rod is use for drying and applying oil in the area.

Once the inside is clean the outside is cleaned along with the lock.
Preserving oil is applied to finish.

 

[Ketchakah]

Good advice in all of this.

And how are we cleaning the barrel channel/breech area between the touch hole and breach without water??

As most of you know, I will not tell you what to do, i only relate what "I" do. I would be happy to relate what I do, but I am not completely sure of your question, though i will do my best.

As far as the inside of the breech. It is cleaned with the water and tow as the rest of the barrel. My FLs are flat bottomed on the inside. The touch hole is very short and slightly coned, so the area of fouling is cleaned by the piece of wood that i use to plug it. Actually, I never really thought about it. It just seems to always be clean. In cases of fouling, I have used a pan whisk to clean the touch hole. And really this and cleaning any dust out of the Lock mechanism is the only use for a whisk i have ever had, and i do not usually carry one. IMHO It is a worthless piece of equipment as far as cleaning the pan. My shirt or the bit of cloth i carry in my belt works much better. I will blow down the barrel and clear the touch hole routinely, and you can do that while cleaning as well. Perhaps this is the key.

(( I will not argue about blowing down barrels. I do it every shot, every time. If a venue does not permit that, i do not shoot. I will not allow anyone to tell me how to handle my FL. But that's just me. Of this, there is no discussion ))

If it is really an issue, Wrap the breech area around the touchhole with a cloth. hold your finger over the touch hole and pour in a bit of water. Then turn the touchhole up and ram down a ball of tow. The water will spray out of the hole and clean it. But this is really a mess and i have never needed to do it.

Those of you that use Caplocks or the "Patent Breach" Barrels, well.... I don't have any help there. I am sorry.

Now, if you are talking about the area of the breech on the outside of the barrel. This is easily cleaned with the damp tow or rag once the lock is removed. I just wipe it clean and re-oil or wax. If the lock fits properly and you apply a coat of wax or grease to the joint between it and the barrel, you will not get very much fouling from the pan flash to speak of. Quality of fit is so very important. And remember, I seal the wood/metal joints with wax, so no fouling gets down where i can't clean it.

I once knew a guy who's lock fit so poorly that when he would prime it and carry it any distance the Priming would trickle out. He usually had to prime and shoot right away to prevent this.
What we later found to everyone's consternation,was that the priming was NOT trickling out, but was trickling into the lock mortise. This was discovered when he fired it one day and the entire lock area exploded and blew off the side of the gun. No one was injured, but it made a very distinct impression on the mind.

 

[Alaskan Woodsman]

Archer, TJ and Shawnee; much appreciated. I too am proactive about cleaning the whole inside of my ML. My first barrel for the TC I've had since 1978 when I bought it used. The ideas of special breech area cleaning tools, smaller brushes, water syphoning that area until it runs clean make sense and then the use of alcohol to further clean it/dry it and a lubricant to seal to prevent rust, resonates with me as being a right treatment.

In addition, I try to always re-run an oiled or now one maybe in the future w/barracade or G96, patch down the barrel a couple days later to check for rust, re-coat the barrel as a further rust corrosion preventative.

Keeping a lubricated patched cleaning rod in the barrel when storing it sounds reasonable too, to help protect the breech area. Maybe a tiny bit of lubricant is further absorbed by the breech channel, patent breech area.

Since this is the initial point of combustion it follows to me that at least some powder residue could be found there. A cap lock gun will certainly have it, which is why I remove the nipple after the soapy water in a bucket treatment, to further dry and lubricate that important spot.

It matters little if you get all the crud out and then some part of the gun rusts due to water left some place in the gun. Clean AND lubricate makes the most sense to me. More discussion is always welcome.

By the way, I blew down my barrel too, but only for the last 40-years. Then at an NMLRA shoot an RSO hollered at me for doing so. After discussing my issue with his tone-of-voice I promised him I wouldn't blow down the barrel at any of his (NMLRA RSO Safety Guidelines) shoots.

It's a mystery to me how a gun could go off after it's been fired AND I can assure you, it never has for me.

At this point, I always swab between shots at shoots, this probably helps clean the breech channel, touch hole area or nipple, depending on what you're shooting, by forcing air through it when swabbing. I know many people who don't swab. At this time, with my new GM barrel, I'm looking at loading consistency with developing a new patched RB load for accuracy. I've gone back and forth for many years on swabbing and not swabbing after each shot, at this point I'm swabbing and of course, I am still having lots of fun!

Thanks again for this thread. Glen

 

[Ketchakah]

Never think that there is anything wrong with being thorough. A gun, like any tool needs maintenance, and the better cared for the more reliable it will be.
There is much difference between A modern approach and a Historical approach. But the end results are very similar. As this is usually something that we do because we enjoy it, We all have our own perspective on how we obtain that point. The main thing is to have fun at whatever level we choose.

Swabbing between shots is good too. And will allow you to do much the same as blowing. Of course takes longer if you are trying to load quickly.

Oh this is my Favorite point of stubbornness ^^ I'm a cranky old mule

Yes the blowing down the barrel thing has been hashed a zillion times. Im really not a competition shooter so it matters not to me if i shoot at an event. Those types of events are more social then anything else for me.

At one event when the same happened to me, I handed the guy a piece of paper and told him to write that down and sign it. He asked me why. I told him that he just assumed personal responsibility for my safety and should an accident happen i would hold HIM personally responsible in court. This was before all the stuff they do now. Now they make YOU sign a disclaimer to absolve them of responsibility.

I was actually just being snarkey and really could not care less, but i am told he left the event not long after that. I have taken a more relaxed attitude anymore. Its just not worth the aggravation, is easier for me to not argue.

Just for point of conversation. I blow for two reasons. One is to extinguish any embers. YES I have PERSONALLY seen charges ignite as they were dumped down the Barrel. It is why we use measures and not our horns to load. And Two, to clear the touch hole, which works very very well.

And While we are on it. Allow me to dispel another great argument.

"A Flintlock will not go off without a prime in the pan" WRONG ! With a capitol WRONG. I laugh as i push the wiper thru the 50 cal hole in the wall of my cabin.

Yeah, I've done stupid stuff too. But i will admit it and hope to pass the lesson on. The difference between a mistake and stupid, is making the same mistake twice.