Cleaning Cap& ball Revolvers Tips??

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Jason Mack

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hi im after some cleaning tips when it comes to black powder/pirodex ,I use a solution in the water i use ,any advice in what kind of oil and if to remove the niples every time? and storage after ie how much oil ?
 
I use plain water to clean, then dry thoroughly with cloth patches, followed by alcohol soaked patches to remove any remaining water, then dry patches. Rust protection is Birchwood Casey Barricade, although Ballistol (full strength) worked very well for me for years; one soaked patch down the bore and chambers, plus an overall wipe down.

All screw threads, including nipples, get Gorilla Grease by Thompson Center (just because it smells good - there are many good anti-seize compounds).
 
Usually after I dry my revolver I can find an orange crusty powder on some of the parts which I imagine is some powder residue (Pyrodex) I hasn't yet scrubbed off. Anybody else seen this?
 
Windex Multi Surface. Previously known as Windex with vinegar. Very fast. Very effective. I use Ballistol or BC Barricade (formerly Sheath) for protection and Ballistol or Break Free for lockwork lubrication.
 
Usually after I dry my revolver I can find an orange crusty powder...

As arcticap correctly diagnosed -- you've got rust.

I've found Pyrodex to be very corrosive, requiring diligent and thorough cleaning to prevent the rust you've discovered. Complete disassembly, assuming a revolver here, followed by a thorough scrubbing of each part in hot, soapy water is essential. Next the bore should be dried with clean patches and all other parts wiped down with a cotton cloth. Next, all components should be blasted with compressed air followed by a liberal dousing with WD-40 followed by more compressed air, paying particular attention to threaded holes and screws. Lastly, wipe everything down with your favorite lubricant and then wrap the gun in that special paper that resists corrosion and store the gun in a dry place. It's a pain in the butt to clean black powder guns properly, but that's part of the game.
 
"I've found Pyrodex to be very corrosive, requiring diligent and thorough cleaning to prevent the rust you've discovered. Complete disassembly, assuming a revolver here, followed by a thorough scrubbing of each part in hot, soapy water is essential. Next the bore should be dried with clean patches and all other parts wiped down with a cotton cloth. Next, all components should be blasted with compressed air followed by a liberal dousing with WD-40 followed by more compressed air, paying particular attention to threaded holes and screws. Lastly, wipe everything down with your favorite lubricant and then wrap the gun in that special paper that resists corrosion and store the gun in a dry place. It's a pain in the butt to clean black powder guns properly, but that's part of the game"

Norton Commando, how did folks during the late unpleasantness and on the frontier ever manage without air compressors, WD-40 and that vapor barrier anti-corrosion paper?
Much less manage a complete tear-down by campfire light.
Now I realize you mentioned Pyrodex, but is regular black that much better?
Then I read Pancho's post where he says he uses Ballistol for everything.
???????
 
...how did folks during the late unpleasantness and on the frontier ever manage without air compressors, WD-40 and that vapor barrier anti-corrosion paper?

I wondered the same thing. However, having observed the rust on many of the guns in my collection of antique firearms, it appears they didn't manage all that well.
 
Take apart the major components - barrel, frame, and cylinder. I dump the barrel and cylinder in hot soapy water and rinse them with very hot water such that the metal gets hot and aids in evaporation. This is followed by a lightly oiled patch in the cylinders, barrel and crevices. I wipe the frame down and lightly oil. I do not routinely remove the nipples, but us a tiny bit of anti-seize on the threads when I do remove them. It's easier than cleaning most "new" guns.
 
My great uncle was a part time deputy and full time bounty hunter from around 1885 though 1925. As a kid I remember him shooting his .45 Colt slipgun loaded with BP. He could really get that gun going. He was an oldman, but REAL fast! But when he was done shooting, and my dad and other family members were milling around after a family shooting day, Uncle Leo was sitting under a shade tree with a jug of water, a bunch of cut up cotton for patches, and working on his pistol. I sat by him many times watching how he cleaned his old revolver. He'd work wet patches throught the bore and chambers. Then taking another wet patch, he'd scrub everywhere to remove the fouling. Then dry patches and an old cloth followed to dry everything. When he was satisfied he got all the "crud" as he called it, off his weapon, he'd wipe the whole thing down with an oil soaked rag. He's put a few drops into the action in front of a cocked hammer and work it a few times. Happy that his weapon was clean, he'd load five and put it back into his holster.

Uncle Leo said his father taught him how to clean his guns. He told me that his dad carried a brace of Colt Navies and he could remember his dad cleaning them often. Uncle Leo always had a small leather bag that had his cleaning stuff in it. In saddlebags, then later in the trunk of his car. My dad remembered Leo and my grandfather (an old sheriff in Montana), going out after felons on horseback and Leo was never without his .45 slipgun and grandpa always carried his .45-70 Winchester rifle. Grandpa never carried a pistol, always that big levergun. Said it put them down quick and took all the fight outta them.

So, I clean my weapons like my grandpa and great uncle Leo. With water, dry patches, and oil. Of course my oil is now CLP, but I still use the same method as my family did for decades. I do use real hot water as I have that at the house some 50 feet from my range, but other than that, I use the same method. Guess it works...I've been doing it that way for going on five decades now and I can't complain....

Wade
 
That is the way I have been cleaning for 50 years. I use cold water sometimes the blue windshild washer stuff, but mostly just cold water. I dry
the pistols and then a little WD-40 wiped on them. Been working for 50 yrs.
 
My Grandfather grew up with his grandfathers (they both moved onto his fathers estate) and they went out and shot all the time. Each of his grandfathers were officers during the war of northern aggression (each was from a well off well to do southern family), his father was a veteran of the Spanish-American war but apparently was a lover of the drink and didn't raise my grandfather much. My grandfather's one grandfather had an 1851 navy (my grandfather still has it, it's a beautiful piece complete with presentation box, et. all.) the other had a pair of remmingtons, my father has these. They each were known to not trust cartridge guns, claiming they were unreliable. My grandfather was given a Colt 1849 pocket revolver his father had been given as a boy (my dad gave it to me when I was about 12). They used to go out and shoot and sit out and clean. My grandfather taught me exactly what he had been taught as a boy when I got the 1849 pocket revolver.

To load they put in powder (for my gun it was 17grains, my grandfather told me he always used 25 in the 1851 when he inherited it, and 30 in the remmingtons), a small bit of paper and the ball. If you were just going down to shoot then no lube was used, but if I were going to carry it out into the field in a holster I was told to but beeswax on the end over the ball. My grandfather said when he first learned to shoot they used paper cartridges and conical bullets, but they became to hard to find as he got older so his one grandfather started casting round balls and they used loose powder.

To clean they (and then I) used to rinse the guns thoroughly with black coffee (pouring it down the barrel and into the various chambers), after the coffee they would rinse with water and damp patches on a wood rod. Everything would be dried heavily and wiped down with oil. Every year they would carefully take the gun down to the springs and screws and clean the insides, rubbing them with fat before putting back together.

They always stressed safe gun handling, feeling a bit responsible for what happened to my grandfather's father. When he went to West Point he took along the 1849 pocket revolver, feeling a bit nervous whenever he went out into the city he carried it stuffed into his trousers. One day the gun went off and he shot himself in the leg. He walked with a limp from that day on. Interestingly my grandfather a naval officer during WWII tried to take his 1849 pocket revolver with him when he went to sea, his commander ordered him to leave it as it was "dangerous, unreliable, and foolish" not to mention he was not supposed to bring a privately owned firearm. He took it anyway as a "goodluck charm", he obviously never fired it as he didn't have the shot and powder needed. He tried to get my father to take it with him when he went off to Vietnam but he declined... they apparently got in a big fight over it.

Cheers!
 
Great story! I've never heard about cleaning with black coffee before. But on the other hand, considering the price of coffee these days, I think I'll stick with doing essentially the same thing but leaving the coffee out of the coffee - plain water, in other words!
 
When I shoot matches out of town or state . I use Windex or auto windshield clean in a spray bottle and toothbrush before I leave the range , Dry it and hose down with WD40 dry it again . Then coat everything with automatic trans fluid which is a high detergent oil . This is good for a week or two of storeage . I've never found rust in any gun . This is the best I found since 1968 of BP shooting .
 
I have enjoyed the stories, and advice in this thread very much.
The best advice I am able to give is "don't use pyrodex". That stuff must be made from battery acid and fertilizer.

777 or real black will be less corrosive.
 
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