How do you clean your rifled barrel?

[Slip6]

Yes I flush the barrel before I shoot with alcohol or brake clean, yes I use Fluid Film.. I absolutely love that stuff. I owned a house that had a block wall basement for 17 years, needless to say the humidity level was sometimes high in the whole entire house. My unmentionables were put in a large safe with a golden rod and were never affected. My muzzleloaders were displayed and I would get some rust if wasn’t careful. I tried everything from barricade to wd-40 to 3 in 1 oil, nothing worked. Then I came across a thread here about Fluid Film and it worked perfectly. I have since moved out of that house and my new house has no basement,but still use the FF. That’s been my experience…

When you say flush, do you pour brake or alcohol down the bbl or just run a saturated patch down the bbl?

 

[S.Kenton]

When you say flush, do you pour brake or alcohol down the bbl or just run a saturated patch down the bbl?

Yes pretty much, I spray or pour. I don’t use mass quantities, but just enough to clean out the nipple and flame channel. Then I’ll pop a few caps off, or if it’s a flintlock I’ll make sure it’s dry by running a few dry patches, maybe flash the pan and then load.

 

[sturmkatze]

Bore butter... You mean bullet lube that makes barrels orange if you use it for protection? I'll continue with balistol. Water or turkey tracks to clean.

This ain't rocket science, do what works for YOU. Soon we'll see all the concoctions really coming out; with leaves picked at 6am in the winter with Moser-milk, vodka and unicorn sperm.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

WD stands for water displacing. It is good at that. I use it to help dry after soap and water. I do not believe WD40 was developed as a lubricant/protectant and do not use it for those purposes. Once clean and dry, Ballistol or the oil of your choice.

It was originally designed for "electrical" connections, to displace moisture.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Bore butter... You mean bullet lube that makes barrels orange if you use it for protection? I'll continue with balistol. Water or turkey tracks to clean.

This ain't rocket science, do what works for YOU. Soon we'll see all the concoctions really coming out; with leaves picked at 6am in the winter with Moser-milk, vodka and unicorn sperm.

In 25 years my barrel has never turned orange.

 

[Walkingeagle]

This ain't rocket science, do what works for YOU. Soon we'll see all the concoctions really coming out; with leaves picked at 6am in the winter with Moser-milk, vodka and unicorn sperm.

Sounds like a Tom Sawyer story, “ stump water, stump water” while turning around at midnight under a full moon. Lmao.
Walk

 

[Muley Gil]

When I received my first muzzleloaders in 1969, I used BlackSolve and oil. It seemed like I always had hard, black carbon to remove when cleaning. Since changing to Ballistol and Bore Butter over 15 years ago, my clean-up has less carbon and is easier, using less patches.

I have stored muzzleloaders, lubed with Bore Butter, for several years, muzzle down in the safe, and have never had rust.

 

[SOLANCO]

Our old armorer's mantra: If it slides grease it. If it rotates oil it.

That said, after cleaning I like to wipe a gun down with a little Ballistol. Seems to repel dust. Doesn't get fingerprints when I want to fondle it.

 

[sturmkatze]

In 25 years my barrel has never turned orange.

You do what you want. I was not impressed and did not like that stuff. Balistol works for me.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

You do what you want. I was not impressed and did not like that stuff. Balistol works for me.

That's totally ok with me. As I said previously, there have been lots methods laid out here and I don't think any of them are wrong. Simply sharing my personal experience, nothing more. It doesn't diminish your methods nor was it an attempt at it.

 

[Mad L]

As above. Veteran of cleaning smoothbores (warm water and soap, Ballistol, Hoppes, jag, patches) but now have a .54 cal rifled kit inbound.
How do you ensure there is no corrosive powder residue left in the rifling?

With the smoothbore, even after the warm water and soap flush, the first couple patches invariably have black on them that quickly cleans up but I can imagine residue remaining in the lands and grooves. .54 jag ain’t gonna do it? .50 cal (so it doesn’t get stuck) bore brush? Some other magic trick?

I live in an apartment so No yard and No garden hose available.
So, I rely on 'cleaner fluids' mostly.
First, I try to fire my last few rounds using Shenandoah Valley lube/cleaner. Then swab it down with a soaked patch of Shenandoah before leaving the range.
Next, once home I fill a small Tupperware tube of room temp water (I stopped using soap). But I begin with a couple patches of bore cleaner (don't matter which one).
Follow this with a few patches of water, run either a nylon brush or Tow down the barrel followed by a coue dry patches.
Then I run as many patches wet with Butch's Bore Cleaner as needed, followed by dry patch, followed by alchohol patch, followed by dry patches, then Oil and DONE.
Now on my two with a vent liner, I pull those and get into the breach area with Q-Tips (usually takes 4 or 5).

As for patches, I find cotton flannel to do far better and quicker the cut up T-shirts like I used to use, $10 at JoAnn's gets me about $60+ of store bought patches.

In the end I use on average 10-15 patches, 4-5 Q-tips - no fuss, no mess, all done on the kitchen table.
Oh, and I use....Balistol often when cleaning (not for storage) but never Bore Butter (don't own none, don't need none).

 

[flntlokr]

I clean the exterior around the breech, pull the nipple (or vent liner, insert an adaptor with a couple of feet of tubing attached which goes into a bottle partially full of warm soapy water. I put a wet, tight patch on a jag, and push that down to the bottom of the barrel, and run a bit of water down the side of th rod so that when I pull it up, it doesn't let a big bubble of air get past. Then I pump it a bunch of times, pulling the jag right up to the top for several of those. Then I change the water and patch and do the same to rinse. Remove the adaptor and hose, run a couple of patches to dry it (and blow some air through if you have it), oil it up with whatever you like; and done! no messes, and if you are careful, nothing left to dry. Takes about 10 minutes. Store muzzle down; it's amazing how much oil you find when you next take it out.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I clean the exterior around the breech, pull the nipple (or vent liner, insert an adaptor with a couple of feet of tubing attached which goes into a bottle partially full of warm soapy water. I put a wet, tight patch on a jag, and push that down to the bottom of the barrel, and run a bit of water down the side of th rod so that when I pull it up, it doesn't let a big bubble of air get past. Then I pump it a bunch of times, pulling the jag right up to the top for several of those. Then I change the water and patch and do the same to rinse. Remove the adaptor and hose, run a couple of patches to dry it (and blow some air through if you have it), oil it up with whatever you like; and done! no messes, and if you are careful, nothing left to dry. Takes about 10 minutes. Store muzzle down; it's amazing how much oil you find when you next take it out.

The vent liner cleaning adapter is available from Track. I cannot recommend it enough for flint guns that have pinned barrels.