Cleaning: Barrel won't come clean?

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XxWINxX94

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Hey all,
Recently purchased a m1842 Springfield mfg in 1853.
Shot it 3 times today, (what a thrill!) and went to go clean right after.
I started cleaning just like any other gun, patches + gun oil on a bore brush that has not too loose, but not too tight fit to the .69 caliber barrel.

The first couple patches came out black, just as I suspected.
After a few more patches, it got a little less black.
Then after about 10, it remained the same color, dark where the bristles of the brush were, and kind of dark grey where they weren't.

I used a total of 30 patches, a couple of cut up rags, and it's still coming out how I described above.
I really don't want any damage to my barrel, as this is a valueble antique to me. Is it even possible for the patches to come out a little more lighter? It seems repitition isn't working, and I'm almost out of patches.

I'm somewhat new to black powder, and I might be missing something, can anyone offer some advice?


P.S. When I got the gun, I ran 2 or 3 patches down with some oil to see what would come up. It was not bad, just a little light brown-ish color, the barrel was pretty clean.

P.S.2. I also fired a few blank caps to "clear" what heavy buildups of powder could have been left over after I shot it.
 
You need to clean it with hot water, inside and out or it will rust away to nothing! Then you dry it and oil it up good.
 
XxWINxX94 said:
Hey all,

I started cleaning just like any other gun, patches + gun oil on a bore brush
Click to expand...
Black powder guns are not like any other gun. They are messy and real black powder is corrosive. You need black powder "solvent" (basically soapy water) or... hot soapy water as junkman suggests. Scrub, rinse with hot water, dry best you can, then oil it well.
 
What Junkman said. Gun Oil and black powder fouling makes a nasty mess. Now that you have oil in the bore you'll need something that will cut that also. I'd suggest some simple green should get most of the mess out. For cleaning black powder fouling just water or ballistol and water is what you want. When it is clean dry and oil it.
 
buy some black powder solvent
Click to expand...
As others have said, plain old hot soap & water will do a better job then store bought black powder solvent.

It takes mass quantities of clean liquid to properly clean a black powder rifle, and soap & hot water is way cheaper then those little tiny bottles of BP solvent.

Just mix some dish soap or Simple Green and hot water in a mop bucket and pump it back and forth through the barrel with a tight fitting patch on your cleaning rod.
When it gets dirty, dump it down the drain and do it again with clean soap & water.

It will cut the BP fouling and flush it all out better then any solvent you can buy.

rc
 
Get this solution: Equal parts Murphy's Oil Soap, Alcohol, and Hydrogen Peroxide. Mix throughly. Makes best and easiest cleaning solution for real BP. If you use substitutes, use the manufacturers recommended method.

Note this, ALL BP substitutes and real BP are corrosive. Substitutes are actually more corrosive than the real stuff. Cleaning is critical for long term storage.
 
FWIW I use a 3' plastic tube that fits tightly to the nipple with a hollow weight at the other end. Weighted end goes into a bucket of very hot soapy water, I wet a rag wrapped brush on a solid aluminum rod then pump the soapy into the barrel through the plastic tube. Wrap the barrel in another rag as it will get hot. Change water as needed till clean. The hotter water will evaporate before causing rust. Once the barrel is clean a dry patch, or three then one or two patches with bore butter. The solution hawkeye recomends is what I use on the outside of the barrel and the lock.
 
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If you're a bachelor, fill the sink or the bath tub or whatever with soapy water as hot as possible. Take the barrel out of the stock and stick the breech end in that hot water.

Take a snug patch on your cleanin' rod and pump that up and down over and over. The water coming out of the nipple will be black but it will get better with time and lots of pumping.

You will probably have to change the water a couple of times but you'll know when it's getting clean.. Remember HOT water. Wrap a towel or something around the barrel as it should get hot.

When you're pumpin' clean water your in pretty good shape... Take out, let it cool a bit. When it is cool enough to handle, clean and oil it like you would any other gun.

IF your married, I'll deny sayin' any of this til my dyin' day.:evil:
 
If your barrel is pinned into the stock you probably won't want to remove it every time you clean it. In that case, you might wrap the parts of the rifle you don't want to get too soaked with plastic wrap or something before filling the barrel with hot soapy water and brushing it out. Repeat until the barrel seems relatively clean.

Anyone have a better method for cleaning barrels that are semi-permanently pinned to the stock?
 
Alright, my buddy is going to bring over some black-powder solvent. I will try that, and if I don't gain any ground, I will try one of the above methods with water. The oil has worked on my T/C .54 cal muzzleloader with no problem, but I think the metal is a little different than it was 157 years ago.

My barrel isn't pinned to anything either.
 
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Clean your T/C while you're at it... the oil didn't do anything to dissolve the corrosive salts. Plain hot water+dry off+oil would be better than just using oil.
 
Wrapping a cleaning patch around the bore brush will make for a tighter fitting patch, and patches can be cut over size for a snug fit from old tee shirts.
Then really saturate the patch with solvent or soapy water, swab and repeat.
One fellow has videos showing how he removes the nipple and blocks the nipple hole with a patch of leather by placing the hammer down on top of it.
Then he pours a little water right into the barrel.
Others place the barrel directly into a jug of water.
Repeat swabbing & flushing as much necessary, then dry the barrel and lubricate.

Cleaning this shotgun starts at the 6 minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wg2ber7D9Q

Cleaning this rifle starts at about the 5 minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dt3ZJDhyuA

Cleaning this rifle starts at 4:35:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38s2MXoOY4
 
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One site recommended that new Saran Wrap that sticks to itself with glue to wrap the outside of the gun with so you don't need to take the stock off all the time. If you haven't done it already, it would be a good idea to take the stock off to oil the barrel underneath, just in case. That might be the only time in your lifetime you have to, though. Lots of guys talk about taking the stock off a CW rifle and the metal is nearly shiny, even after a hundred years.

Depending on the last good cleaning the rifle has had, you might go through a couple of buckets before it runs clean using the barrel swab pump method. The hotter the better, hot water makes the barrel hot and that helps the water dry better.

The Murphy's Oil Soap/alcohol/peroxide works okay, but not as well as hot soapy water. If you use the Murphy's solution, you have to make sure you oil the bore really well because it takes out all the oil as well as all the gunk. You also have to let it sit for at least an hour. The Murphy's mix bubbles when it comes in contact with gunk. You can soak it overnight, but it loses it's effectiveness after a while, so you need to replace it with fresh; you might have to repeat the process two or three times to get the most of it out. To seal the nipple, I use a chunk of craft foam stuck between the hammer and the nipple. It seals it tight, like a gasket. When you're ready to drain the barrel, just pull the hammer back and the liquid pours out.

If you don't like the idea of taking the stock off the barrel, you can take the nipple out and use a funnel to pour boiling hot water down the bore repeatedly. I have a replica of a '52 Springfield that hadn't been cleaned properly before I bought it. I used hot soapy water and it got some gunk out. The Murphy's solution got more gunk out. I finally got up the nerve to use the boiling water and poured it into the bore and it got some serious stuff out. After I poured two or three barrels worth of water into it, the water came out clean and the barrel was scalding hot from muzzle to nipple. I ran a bore brush down it a couple of times and poured one more barrel of water down to rinse it and then took a clean patch to it. I shined a flashlight down the bore and it was clean to a mirror finish, then I ran patches through it to make sure it was dry and coated it with Ballistol (Breakfree CLP will work, they're both based on mineral oil and shouldn't react with BP or substitutes).

The first thing you do before shooting is snap a cap and swab the bore to get out the excess oil so it won't contaminate the powder in the drum. I learned that the hard way, but it was a learning experience, so I know how to fix it and know not to do it again. :)
 
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If your question relates to the topic being discussed, just ask it. If it doesn't, start a new thread. Simple.
 
A 'thread' is basically a conversation with a topic that you set (in your first post) and all the following posts are orgainzed in a linear fashion below.
 
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