[Glen]

I generally clean my cap and ball revolver with hot soapy water and a good water rinse. After a quick dry with patches, I use WD-40. I understand that WD-40 is "wetter" than water and gets under the water on metal and actually flushes or rinses it off the metal.

For convenience, like on a camping trip, I thought I might skip the hot soapy water part and switch to Hoppes No. 9 Plus. Or, I heard you can clean black powder firearms with Windex with Vinegar.

The Hoppes is kind of thick and messy and the Windex probably has water in it. In either case, it seems like a good idea to hose these products off with
WD-40, but then being a worry wort, I had the idea that I might create some kind of chemical reaction that could cause trouble somehow.

Anyone have any thoughts about any of this? Should I just have a couple of beers and not worry about something so unlikely?

[Dave Markowitz]

Have a couple of beers. ;)

Windex is mostly water. Whether you use soapy water, Windex, Hoppe's No.9 or one of the multitude of commercial BP solvents, you do not need to be concerned with getting the gun bone dry like it just came out of an oven.

I try not to leave WD-40 on my guns on a regular basis, because once it dries it leaves behind a sticky varnish which will need to be removed eventually. However, if you clean your gun with a water based solvent, dry it with patches, and then give it a WD-40 coating until you get home, you will not harm your gun.

You can also wipe off the WD-40 after you're finished cleaning, then re-oil with a better gun oil.

[JCT]

I use hoppes #9 on the BP revolvers, it does take away the fouling really well. I also soak the nipples in it before I clean them with a dremel brush.
Remington oil is great for these guns, after everything is clean and dry, I oil everything up really well. I oil the bore but then run a dry patch through.
I've also made a habit out of putting a little beeswax/oil on the threads of the nipples before re-assembly, which help to make the nipples easy to remove next time. I use the same lube liberally on the base pin too, it stays soft and slick as long as I want to shoot.

[arcticap]

I never considered Hoppes #9 Plus to be thick or messy. It's about as thin as water and when the bottle is shaken to mix, it even briefly foams up.
Is it possible that your bottle partially evaporated which caused it to thicken up?

[DWARREN123]

Ballistol, mix 9 parts water with 1 part Ballistol to intially clean then patch dry then use Ballistol full strength. Ballistol came from the time of corrosive powders/primers. I use it exclusively for mil-surp guns that fire ammo with corrosive primer compounds.
Many firearms dealers and places like MidwayUSA carry it.

[scrat]

Warm soap and Water. If it was good in 1800 im sure it will be good in 2008

[sundance44s]

When I don`t have warm or hot water around I start cleaning with cold water followed by a few patches of windex ..then WD40 patch to check the moisture .

[sharps59]

rusty duck

[stevekl]

I clean with soapy water, rinse with clean water, and then coat in ballistol-water mix (I just eyeball it, but it's pretty diluted. Like 5 parts water, 1 part ballistol) and I've never had problems.

[Omnivore]

I don't know about most people here, but I use very hot water with very little soap. Never have corrosion issues. The steel is clean and hot when it comes out of the water, then I swab it out and wipe it down, and it's dry. Do one part at a time and dry it off as it comes out of the water. A little rub of olive oil and the entire gun, less wood, goes into the oven, completely disassembled, for around 20 minutes at ~150F to be sure all moisture is driven out. Then a good grease-down with TC Bore Butter inside and out (some use shortening or mutton tallow) while it's still hot. So far I've never been able to get "too much" of said grease in the internals. It is the grease that allows easy cleaning after you fire the gun.

Check out the sticky; "Black Powder Essentials" in this section.

Most will tell you not to use WD40 or most other petro distillates on a BP gun, as they can react with the BP fouling to form a hard, crusty tar-like gunk that is difficult to remove, and it can tie up the action prematurely.

I repeat; I think the soap is often overdone. IMO, you don't want to completely remove all traces of grease and oil from the steel-- that's the "seasoning" you often hear about and you want some portion of it to stay put. For decades I've treated my cast iron frying pan, and my 100+ year-old iron cider press, the same way, and never had rust issues. My opinion. Others will vary.

For long-term storage, there's a different protocol, and that was covered here just a few days ago, IIRC.

[davecampperry]

WD40 no longer has DMSO as an ingredient, and it will turn to varnish in time. I use Ballistol and Clenzoil, as these are both great on wood or steel. Most people who have problems with 'petroleum gunking' use way too much.

[Glen]

Thanks all for your responses. I really appreciate the information!

[Glen]

Thank you for your responses.

Very much appreciated!