How do you clean your cap lock?

[Lovesbeer99]

I just shot my hawkens for the first time, loved it. Anyway I have the TC #13 bore cleaner and bore butter, but I've heard that you should first clean the gun with hot soapy water.

How about the nipple and what's beneath? The caps are not corrosive, to do I have to worry about rust in this area?

Thanks in advance.

Lovesbeer99

 

[scrat]

This should be good. i can see a million responses to this by tomorrow.

Whats Important Now

the most important thing is the barrel. This is where all the fouling and corrosion happens. After that its totally up to you. A few guys use a mild solution of water and windex. Some use a mild solution of soapy water. The spray bottles work very well. Spray down the gun at the range. Then take it home and do the barrel first spend most of your time there. I myself after that go down the barrel with dry patches for a while to make sure the gun is dry. then wait a bit with the barrel upside down to try and get out any more water or condensation. Then when i know its dry i will put a light coat of bore butter down the bore. Now after that i may just put it away. As by now i have just spent a huge amount of time on it. Now the next day or when im in the mood again i will take it out. then take an old tooth brush over the nipples and anything else i feel that may need it. Then take out the mothers polish for the brass trims. then one more good wipe down then put it away. So ya for me the nipple area is not that important as the barrel. Notice i spend a great deal of time making sure its dry. a big mistake some people make is not making sure the gun is dry then keeping it standing up then put a coat of bore butter down the bore. Then a few days later the water drys up on the bottom of the bore and the rust starts to form.


MORE BLACK POWDER ARMS RUST THAN CORRODE.

 

[Chawbaccer]

Remove the nipple and the clean out screw and put the breech of the barrel in a bucket of hot soapy water, Use the ram rod with the cleaning jag and put a patch over it. Pump the rod up and down the bore, it will draw the soapy water into the barrel and clean the fouling out. Do that for a minute or two, you will see the water in the bucket turn black, dump it out and use clean hot water to rinse the bore with the same action. Swab the bore dry, make sure it is dry and then coat with a thin layer of your favorite oil. Wipe the outside dry and oil it too. CLean around the lock and anyplace else the powder residue and smoke got to.

 

[desidog]

Somewhere around here, on the THR blackpowder shooting board, are some links to some youtube videos that include cleaning a caplock shotgun. If you go to youtube, i'm sure you can find them; if you don't find something on here with the search engine.

Basically, what i do is put a little piece of leather under the hammer as a plug, and pour some (hot) soapy water down the barrel...then pour it out...repeat...maybe twice if it isnt looking cleaner on the next pass....and then take the bristle brush down there to loose things up, another little pour of water...pour it out...swab it out with a patch...then a patch with some bore solvent; this hopefully deactivates anything i didn't get with the brush and swab...and then unscrew the nipple, and clean from that end with a pipe cleaner. While the nipple is out, i run it under the faucet, and give it a dose of bore solvent. Be very careful not to cross the threads when re-installing the nipple! I imagine it would be expensive....and then i take one more pass over everything with some Butch's Bore-shine, and put her back in the closet.

This method might not be the best - i did it just as described and came back a few days later to find some new rust...so you might want to wait for some more informed opinions! Some of the guys on here know a lot more than i do.

Also, you mention bore-butter - i'm under the impression that bore butter is bullet-lube; not a cleaning product. A little bore butter on the patch of a round ball, or in the grooves on a minie, improves accuracy and decreases fouling. It is not a cleaning or metal preservation product, per say. (as far as I know!)

Stand by for some more informed opinions than my own.
Good luck, and good shooting. -Dd

 

[Lovesbeer99]

What about the TC #13 cleaner. Is this just to remove fouling, or will it neutralize the salt and stop corrosion?

It came in my kit so I used it but I get the impression that soapy water is cheaper. I'm still learning though.

 

[BHP FAN]

HOT water is the key.If you clean it with very hot water,you'll never get rust,as any leftover moisture evaporates away from the heat.I've seen 1880's cleaning techniques described from the original manuals [see Trapdoor Sprinfield,by Beinfeld] that talk about heating a kettle of boiling water on the barracks woodstove.We needn't go quite that far,but as hot as you can reasonably stand it,without injury.You can add a little dishsoap as a surficant the first pass,but the next two should be rinses,with clear clean water.An old brush is handy,wrapped in a patch to search for lingering moisture.

 

[BHP FAN]

TC 13 is a perfect Field cleaner,for after shooting,but before you head home for a real cleaning.

 

[MCgunner]

Hot water, dish soap, and a little elbow grease on the 20 gauge wire brush and shotgun cleaning rod. Dry it out, put some bore butter down it's chrome bore, and put it on the rack. Clean out the bore butter before loading. Stuff screws up accuracy on the first shot.

In the field, I just run a dry or slightly damp brush followed by a dry patch down the bore every other shot. Seems to work.

 

[mykeal]

Hot water and soap cost much less than T/C 13.

 

[Pancho]

The only thing I can add to the excellent advice thus given is after the hot water rinse and while the barrel is still hot I pour a liberal amount of rubbing alcohol down the barrel letting it pour out the nipple.

 

[Lovesbeer99]

This is basically the same process I use for my Mauser when I use corrosive ammo, but I always follow it up with a regular cleaning next day and a good oiling.