Cleaning black powder

[Noz]

[email protected] has the right of it. water is the effective ingredient in all of the many cleaning mixtures.
I take my cowboy revolvers(1860 Army Piettas) to the utility sink. I run water over them for a half a minute or so.
Remove barrel and pull a 45 cal bore snake thru it.

Remove cylinder and mop each chamber and the arbor hole with a 12 ga barrel mop, wet.

Wipe off arbor and recoil shield.

Clean residue off of hammer.

Blow excess water off with a compressor.

Spray entire gun with a mixture of Ballistol and water, making sure that the bolt hole, trigger hole and area around the hammer get a good spray. I lube the arbor with Bore Butter or bullet lube. Spray the barrel and reassemble the gun.

I do not remove nipples for each shoot but I check them to insure they are finger tight only.

I keep a rag nearby to wipe the bore butter and ballistol off of my hands. I use this rag to wipoe the externals of the gun down before I return it to the case in preperation for the next shoot.

Takes a lot longer to type it than it does to do it.

 

[fishblade2]

thanks for the breakdown NOZ. I recently shot my black powder revolver and took it completely apart and clean all of it with a water/ballistol mixture and use tons of elbow grease. A couple days later I look at my gun after I had covered it will balistol before finishing it up and I had rust all over the gun. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. I am looking into the water cleaning method you guys are talking about and then using alcohol to evaporate the water followed by pure ballistol for the gun but this seems to me like it would rust the gun even more..

 

[Foto Joe]

It kinda sounds like maybe too much water and not enough Ballistol. I mix mine 1:1 and have never had a problem, although other folks dilute theirs with a LOT more water. Ballistol is cheap but I guess water is free.

If you're not mixing your Moose Milk 1:1 maybe try it and see if it works for you. Everybody has their own formula/method, find out works for you and you'll have your own "pet" method for cleaning.

 

[Hammerdown77]

Try equal parts Murphy's Oil Soap, isopropyl alchohol (70%), and hydrogen peroxide. Cleans better than plain water, IMO, and dries faster due to the alcohol. Dry it off or let it dry, then use straight Ballistol to finish, or use EEZOX. EEZOX is probably the best rust preventer out there, and it is safe to use with black powder because it is a synthetic and doesn't burn at BP temps.

 

[alsaqr]

Many years ago i started using Mike Venturino's technique for cleaning blackpowder guns. Mike was the blackpowder editor for Shooting Times magazine. My blackpowder guns are cleaned using Windex with vinegar, now called Multi-Purpose Windex. Windex with vinegar contains about three percent vinegar. It destroys the residue left by black powder, 777, Pyrodex, Goex Pinnacle and App. The acid in the vinegar softens that residue and makes it easy to remove. Sometimes you can see the crud fizz.

For cleaning the outside surfaces i spray it on, wipe the crud off and give the metal surfaces a coat of oil. It works very well for cleaning up cap and ball revolvers.

At the range my muzzleloaders are swabbed between shots using Windex with vinegar followed by two dry patches. The bores of my centerfire black powder guns and muzzleloaders are cleaned using Windex with vinegar followed by dry patches, followed by a patch wet with Hoppes, followed by dry patches, followed by an oily patch.

i have a large collection of valuable antique Winchester rifles, most of them have been cleaned using Windex with vinegar. There has never been any problem with rust or anything else.