Easiest way to do a quick cleaning in the field?

[DougB]

As you may have seen from previous posts, I'll be on a 3-day hike with blackpowder guns (rifles & revolver). I don't want to carry a lot of cleaning stuff. What's the easiest way to clean them on the trail? Bullet T/C bore butter and a patch on a cleaning jag? Do I need to worry about patches coming lose and staying in the bore? Lube/cleaner clogging the nipple/touchhole? Any tips for a relative rookie?

Thanks

Doug

 

[Sistema1927]

If you are going to be authentic you are going to use hot/boiling water. Even at home I do this, drawing hot water via the nipple/flash hole using a patch with a jag. You shouldn't need any solvents.

 

[Bad Flynch]

Try "Ballistol Milk," an easy mix to make and use. Simply spray it on, wipe if you must, and then clean for real when you get home. I also use the Ballistol Milk for the real cleaning when I get home and it works jut fine.

 

[arcticap]

This is a TC patch worm with 10-32 threads for pulling patches out of the barrel that fall off the cleaning jag:

I use an undersized .40 cal jag along with larger home cut patches. Once I learned the proper size to cut the patches, they rarely fall off. When using the properly sized .50 caliber jag, it's much too easy for homemade patches to get wedged in the barrel causing the ramrod to become stuck and sometimes impossible to remove without shooting it out or having special tools. If you practice cleaning and swabbing your bore with the jag you select, it makes for easier cleaning in the field.
IMO it shouldn't be an issue to clean & preserve your gun by carrying a small bottle of the appropriate solvent while on your trek.
A nipple pick and a nipple wrench should always be carried along with percussion guns.

 

[K.A.T.]

Field Cleaning

I would have a worm with me to remove a loose patch.You can use TC #13 bore cleaner,and I would have a couple of bore brushes.Take some TC bore butter for lubrication,this has done the job for me and several friends on 3 day hunts.

 

[Malamute]

Cold water to clean, dry with fresh patches, reload. In the rifle, when reloading, the bore will get some oil from the patch lube, in the pistol, you can lightly oil the barrel, but should leave the chambers dry before loading.

I used to save the patches and re-use them, throwing out the dirtiest one.


In a pinch, a regular bronze bristle brush of a smaller caliber can usually catch a lost patch in the bore by twisting it into the patch.

 

[Dienekes]

Many years ago, when I was in the Service (Union Air Corps) I had an original Navy Colt in shootable condition and would occasionally take it into the Montana hills. As an interim measure until I got back down I would just take the barrel and cylinder off and toss them into a (shallow) creek for a while. They dried off fairly well in the sun and I oiled them up again, reassembled the gun. Good to go.

Nowadays I would probably be thrown in jail for environmental pollution or some such crime.

Still have the Colt but like me, it's retired now.