To flush or not to flush...

[riverrat43]

Put this in the "for what it's worth" column.

After shooting my flintlock late Lancaster for a couple of years, and cleaning with TC13 solvent, water and dry patches, I started having problems with cleaning it after shooting. As long as the patch I ran down the barrel was wet, everthing was OK. As soon as I ran a dry one down and it touched the breech face, it stuck. I'm talking, put the end of the wiping stick in a vice, stuck.

I did everything I could think of to do to solve the problem short of pulling the plug and examining the barrel from that end, and I was about to do that very thing.( I was sure I had some sort of "ring of crud" or worse yet, rust, in front of the breech.) I used scrapers, modified scrapers, steel wool, green scrubbies, Blue Wonder..you name it. Still was getting a stuck rod about every 6 out of 10 strokes with a dry patch. Changed jags, went to a thinner patch..tried it all.

Then, I thought about how I used to clean my TC Hawken. I used to take it out of the stock, put the breech in a bucket of water and flush it. I don't want to remove the barrel on my longrifle, so I ordered one of those Flint Flushers with the weighted hose and waited for it to come. It arrived yesterday.

I put the flusher on and began to clean. I didn't get as much suction as I thought I should have and was getting a bit disappointed in the performance of the tool. Then, I got a stuck rod. Had to go to the vice to get it out. Another patch and a few more strokes, still less suction than I thought I should have, and another stuck rod. Back to the vice. Started again and after about 3 strokes the rod was stuck again. This time when I got it out, I noticed what appeared to be a piece of pillow ticking about the size of a pencil eraser stuck on the very end of the patch. Went back to the barrel and began flushing again. Now I see strands of pillow ticking coming out of the tube and into the water. Suction increased dramatically and the water started getting dirty. (I started with what I was sure was a very clean barrel since I had cleaned it the day before and re-wiped that morning.) After a few more strokes resulting in clean as could be patches, I switched to dry patches. No more stuck rods and the patches were coming out white. Here's the kicker:

About 6 months ago I got lazy and decided to use up my supply of pre-cut cotton patches. I stopped using ticking. That was 6 months ago. Now, I go to the range about every two to three weeks and shoot 50 or so times. I haven't used pillow ticking in all that time. How did that piece of ticking lodge in the barrel and stay? Where do you reckon it was hiding?

I wouldn't have found the problem, short of pulling the breech plug, if I hadn't decided to use the flushing tool. This has me convinced that there is no substitute for water being forced thru the vent and onto the breechface for cleaning. Just wiping with water or cleaning solution didn't get the job done in my case and beieve me, I'm anal about cleaning and used to use a great many patches to dry etc., in order to be sure my barrel was clean. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Birddog6]

I think the patch was stuck in the breech against the breech face or on the opposite side of the vent/nipple hole.

Why you had all the stuck patch troubles, I have no idea. However, I have cleaned guns with a flushing system for over 20 years & long before they were mass produced...... I put the rifle Upside Down in a cleaning cradle so no water goes under the barrel if I do have some seepage (on non-removable vents). Sometimes I have to play with the "C" clamp a lil top get it just right, but I have always managed to get it to work. On the percussions I remove the nipple & have a fitting I made from a nipple & it has a faucet washer over it & it doesn't leak. On removable vents I have a fitting made from a vent liner & it also has a faucet washer on it & it doen't leak at all either.

As for the T/C cleaner, it is good, so is Birchwood Casey 77 ? cleaner & some others. However, after trying them I find there is no sense me buying cleaner when I can use water & a squirt of dishwasher liquid soap or a once of non-aerosol Ballistol & do it just as clean & just as quickly. Now I am speaking of using BP, not sub. powders....... I don't shoot subs so I cannot comment on such or the cleaning of them.

One thing I may do differently than some do, when I am done shooting & about to leave the range, I take a fouling scraper & I scrape the fouling off the breech face, then I lavishly swab the bore with a Ballistol soaked patch or two & leave it there til I clean the rifle.... I feel this helps cut the fouling loose & makes it clean easier & faster. It takes me about 15-20 min. from start to finish to thuroughly clean a longrifle from start to finish, about the same as time it takes me to clean a modern rifle, I take my time & insure it is CLean & Dry, then well oiled when done..

:thumbsup:

 

[riverrat43]

Keith.. I agree that the patch must have been stuck where you said. If it was on the vent side, I would surely have had ignition problems. I've never used ticking to clean with, only to shoot. Now I'm wondering how that part of the ticking patch didn't make it out of the barrel along with the ball. Curious situation. For me, from now on it's flushing, water and ballistol.

 

[Griz]

I clean with TC #13 also, for many years and have had no problem. At one time I did have a stuck rod problem and after some investigating, I found out that the touch hole liner was just a tad to long and that was what was catching my rod and would not let it come out. Just a thought.

 

[riverrat43]

Thought about that as well as maybe the threaded portion of the breech might have been made a tad deeper than the plug. (Don Getz suggested that on another board). Then I thought that I've been shooting and cleaning this rifle for two years without a problem until recently so I figured something had happened recently to cause the problem. Glad I thought of flushing..it will be my way of cleaning from here on out.

 

[CrackStock]

The only thing that I can figure is that you might have a touchhole liner that protrudes into the bore. These often grab abd hold patches.

Try using a breachface scraper and see if this catches on the back of the touchhole liner. Compare when a jag on a rod stops inside the bore with where it stops when you use just the bare rod. Work with this and see if you can "feel" the problem. Also see how it matches up outside the see barrel. Does it get all of the way to the breachface?

As to cleaning, you might try just removing the lock; plugging the vent/nipple; filling with your favorite cleaning solvent; (I use cool water) letting that stand for a few minutes and then removing the plug as you push a patched jag down the bore.

CS

 

[AZ-Robert]

I put the rifle Upside Down in a cleaning cradle so no water goes under the barrel if I do have some seepage (on non-removable vents).

Pretty neat setup there!