[MISSEDSHOT]

When cleaning these rifles, do you guys take the gun apart or what? I have hooked breach percussion guns so I am not familiar with anything else, please educate me.MISSEDSHOT.....

[flintman]

With hooked breech guns like T/C Hawkens it is easy to take it apart.
On flintlock longrifles that are pinned I just take the lock out,clean and oil the area around the touchole,then clean the lock good and barrel oil them good.So with them,taking the barrel out of the stock is a nono.

[mykeal]

I always remove the barrels from my percussion long guns - one is not a hooked breech so it involves a little more care and effort, but I've not had any problems.

Once upon a time, many years ago, the first time I cleaned my brand new Kentucky rifle, I was afraid to remove the barrel, so I took off the front cap, put the muzzle in a pan with about an inch and a half of hot, soapy water, attached a rubber hose to the nipple, put the other end of the hose in my mouth and proceeded to suck the water up into the barrel. And into my mouth. Really. Yes, I did. Not a pleasant experience. Hey, we were all young once...

[sundance44s]

DixieGunWorks sells a rig you take your nipple out and screw it in and it had a long hose attached to put in a bucket or jar of hot water ..working the cleaning patch will suck the soapy water through the hose into the barrel and nipple drum ... not expencive and easy to make from an old nipple and some weedeater gas hose .
I was told by my gin maker , unpinning the barrel wasn`t a good thing , he knows how often I shoot mine .

[mykeal]

Maybe the problem is that you visit your gin maker too often...:D;)

[sundance44s]

MYKEAL...now that sounds like a heck of a straw ....I think I did that once with a beer keg that we found somewhere ....I was much younger too ...lol

[arcticap]

With a hooked breech the barrel comes apart easily. Some folks take their locks out to clean every time, while others like myself rarely ever do. It depends on whether or not the lock is exposed underneath the barrel which lets powder fouling get in behind the lockplate.
Since most of my gun locks are exposed under the barrel, I place a piece of masking tape over the opening to block the fouling, which I replace after every cleaning. You have to place it carefully so that the barrel will still fit into the barrel channel. I've never had to force a barrel to fit, but if the barrel channel is tight to start, it will be an extra tight fit and may cause it to not fit at all. This will block about 99%+ of the powder fouling from entering the lock. Then I'll use a Q-tip to gently clean and lightly oil the mainspring once the tape is removed.
Sometimes removing a lock is asking for trouble, as a small part called a fly can become lost, or the lock screw can get buggered. If the lock has a lifetime warranty and is protected by tape, don't bother to remove unless necessary. I can see enough of the lock and how it operates well enough to tell that they haven't suffered any ill effects from non-removal.
Also, some folks use beeswax to fill in the crevices around the lockplate (mortice) to help keep powder fouling out of the lock. Beeswax can be used in place of the tape too by filling the opening up with it, but I prefer using masking tape.
Some guns don't have this opening at all because the lock is surrounded by the stock material.

[sundance44s]

Yep my Gin maker also makes fine long rifles too ..:D

[swoter]

I use a piece of the tubing you buy for air pumps in fishtanks. It fits over the nipple fairly tight, then drop the other end in a bucket. Ramrod and swab will draw the water up into the barrel.