Catching up from 30 years past

[spottedpony]

After not having activly kept up with whats happening in bp trends for quite a few years, & recently rekindling my interest in getting the old smokepole out again (i drifted away about the time pyrodex came out on the market sad to say) i'm in awe of many of the developments & new products on the market. sooooooooooo its time to do some catching up on things.
Anyway, after much reading online, & seeing many new trends have appeared (not to mention many new products) its time to get my feet wet again.
One big change i see from way back when is cleaning of the traditional bp firearms. in my day (easy on me guys LOL) it was pretty much soap and water followed by a good drying out & lube to protect from rust, now however i'm reading about so many cleaning methods, from more traditional bp solvent, to any combination of alcohol, windex, water & not to mention a few other things. ive even seen things such as carb cleaner & brake cleaner mentioned.

Now, to the crux of my post, what does everyone use & how well does it work?

 

[Phillip Allen]

dish soap...it's easy and gets it clean...after pumping a bit at the sink with the soapy water while the tea kettle is heating...I take it to the bath tub and with the help of a twisted towell for a handle, I pour a kettle of boiling water through then dry outside and inside and set aside to cool down while I clean small lparts if needed...oil it and reassemble...couldn't be easier.

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Well for nice long rifles with the barrel pinned to the stock ..now days we are useing weedeater fuel line slipped over the nipple and the other end in a gal. jug of hot soapy water ..same ole cleaning patch on a jag will suck the soapy water out of the jug through the nipple ..and clean the bore . finish up with hot clean water in the jug ... dry patches ..then oil patches ...your done .
take yer nipples with ya to the local hardware store and find the weedeater fuel line that best fits ....use a gal milk jug and drill a hole in the top to run the fuel line through down to the bottom .
I use this method on my Hawken rifle too these days .....too lazy to remove the barrel wedge and take the thing apart ....no sence in wearing the wedge out ...lol or me . and don`t bring the invention into the wife`s kitchen ..!!
( except fer the hot water of course )

 

[Ed Gallop]

I too recently returned to black powder when rekindled by my adult son's interest. I miss the heavy smoke and smell of the old black powder but I've found a lot of improvements in things such as lube inserts for revolvers instead of greasing the cylinders to prevent crossfires (and much more). I was told I don't have to use the bath tub or buckets to clean my guns any longer but should be aware that some cleaners will damage the gun stock oil finish. I cleaned with a cleaner (Thompson I think) but to be honest, I think soap and water was faster (not to mention less expensive). It took a lot of passing a cleaning patch down the barrel with a cleaner but, with soapy water in a bucket, I just run the rod in and out, pushing and drawing water back and forth after removing the nipple. Then I patch dry, run a thin layer of lube, and dry it out again. That was faster for me. Maybe I'll learn something from your post's response that is easier. Ed.

 

[Plink]

There are all kinds of solvents out there now. I hear they all clean fouling pretty well. One thing they don't do is rinse out the salts though. Using solvent alone is the best way I know of to push fouling into the corners and recesses. Solvent is great for barrels that you can clean from one end to the other like revolvers (or those accursed modern things), but it's not so good for closed breeches.

The good ol' soapy water method is about the only thing that actually rinses fouling and salts out. Doesn't matter if you use dishsoap, Simple Green, Windex, or Ballistol in the water (like I do), as long as you have plenty of solution swirling around, and going in and out. It's also one of the easiest cleaning methods, especially with the new "flush kits" that let you run a tube from your vent or nipple hole into a bucket.

 

[ccyooper]

It sounds like Spotted Pony and I started muzzle loading about the same time. We didn't have the internet back then with all of it's new info. Spotted Pony, just clean 'em out the same way you did back then. Soap and water. I use hot water some guys say cold...funny how over the years my battery has grown from 1 rifle to 10 fire arms...I love em all...Welcome back to the sport...

 

[4v50 Gary]

I still like hot, soapy water. Why spend extra money?

 

[parmamoon]

Catching up from 30 years past

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After not having activly kept up with whats happening in bp trends for quite a few years, & recently rekindling my interest in getting the old smokepole out again

Drop a bore light down that barrel that has been sitting for 30 years.
Just DON'T tell us what you see, we wouldn't want to put the solvent companies out of buisness.




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