Wait or clean as is?

[JohannesKepler]

Ok so some of you probably know what happened with my gun yesterday. If not, quick recap, charge wouldn't go off cause I'm pretty sure the powder is water logged, and my ball puller still isn't here though it should arrive within the next week.

So my question is, should I go ahead and clean the gun as best as I can with the ball and powder in there? Or wait until the puller gets here? I hate to leave it uncleaned, I know that's about the worst thing to do, but I don't know how I can clean it and dry it well enough with a charge plugging the breech. When I got home there was already some small patches of rust I guess just from the few hours it took between. They don't seem to be growing though.

 

[mooman76]

Was it fired? If not, I would clean the lock area where the powder flashed. If it had been fired, clean it the best you can, dry it and runs some WD40 down the bore. It helps get rid of excess moisture.

 

[JohannesKepler]

Was it fired? If not, I would clean the lock area where the powder flashed. If it had been fired, clean it the best you can, dry it and runs some WD40 down the bore. It helps get rid of excess moisture.

It was fired yeah. Ok yeah I'll do that and hope for the best. As soon as the puller gets here I'll be pulling and thoroughly cleaning it asap.

 

[Kansas Kid]

Can you get to an air compressor and blow gun with rubber tip? That will usually blow the charge out.

 

[Col. Batguano]

The sulfur from the powder residue will combine with water vapor and free O2 in the air to get the rust going. Clean it as best you can for now from the ball forward, and dry it as best you can. Putting alcohol down the bore on swabs and then drying will help displace the water as well as helping dislodge the powder residue. You'll have some rust behind the ball where you couldn't clean, but for the most part that part of the bore doesn't engage the ball anyway, so the net effect on further accuracy will be minimal.

 

[Sidney Smith]

How about welding a course threaded screw to the end of a piece of 3/8 steel rod, to make an impromptu ball puller? Run a small bushing over the rod to keep things centered.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Johannes got the ball out. It was shot out. The musket is cleaned.

Huzzah to Johannes.

 

[hanshi]

That (similar problem) happened to me years ago. I ended up removing the plug after finally getting the prb out and found rust. Fortunately it was only in the breech and all is now well with the barrel.