How long to trust a loaded muzzleloader?

[Thomasss]

You'all should try WD-40 as a barrel lube, works great.
I've been a Bore Butter guy since the 1970s and it has some pro's and con's. But for the past two years I've been using WD-40 and it works great. Now clean the bore, dawn and hot water, then alcohol 90% isopropyl is best cause it displaces the water and if the barrel is warm it will evaporate. Patch it several times to dry it out. Now Bore butter works, but I always left a half moon of it at the muzzle cause over time it deteriorates too and the half moon glob prevents that. Don't plug the barrel, ...it doesn't work...humid air will get in and problems will start.
With a "dry barrel" spray WD-40 in the barrel and then soak down a patch and run it through. And then you are done. I still run a dry patch and shoot a couple of primers before loading. I watch some grass, dirt or snow move to make sure the caps are pushing air through. Now lately I drop 2 to 5 grains of Goex down and then add Pyrodex and haven't had any problems. But I keep the gun in the cold so it doesn't warm up and start condensation inside the barrel.

 

[hawg]

I have remoil and other normal gun cleaning solvents.

Do not let any of that stuff within 20 feet of your rifle unless you want to go to the trouble of swabbing it all back out before you load it and I don't mean running an alcohol patch down the bore and calling it good. Those normal gun cleaning solvents won't touch black powder fouling. If that's what you've been cleaning with it's no wonder it takes an hour. I can't recommend WD-40 because I haven't tried it. I do use it as a water displacer in revolver internals where it's not affected by bp fouling. It's 35% petroleum based so I'd swab the bore really good before loading it. It is an excellent rust preventative tho. I use Bore Butter. When I get ready to load it I drop a bank charge down the bore and fire it in the air. No muss, no fuss, no guesswork. Any vegetable based lube will work for patches just don't load them wet. I use olive oil but I let it dry out before I use it.

 

[Bazoo]

I haven’t been using normal gun solvents. Just hot water, dawn, and vegetable oil for lube.

I merely stated that I have normal gun cleaning stuff, but no BP specific stuff.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Try some 409, it's cheap and is the best blackpowder solvent I have found to date. After cleaning wipe it down with some of your remoil.

 

[woodnbow]

Try some 409, it's cheap and is the best blackpowder solvent I have found to date. After cleaning wipe it down with some of your remoil.

If I’m not using soap and water I’m about as likely to use windshield wiper fluid as anything else. After cleaning, Eezox or FrogLube.

Properly loaded, I’d trust my guns to shoot after years of storage. Take steps to ensure lube doesn’t migrate into the charge and you’ll be fine.

 

[alsaqr]

My muzzleloaders often remain loaded for months, sometimes as long as a year. They always fire.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

So what can I use to lube the bore and small bits with that is better than the vegetable oil we used 3 years ago? I don’t have the extra cash to buy anything at present. I need to use what I already have. I have nothing specifically for BP firearms but I have RemOil and other normal gun cleaning solvents.

If you can't afford to buy a tin of Mink Oil Tallow lube from Track of the Wolf, try Crisco or unsalted lard. Do NOT use RemOil or any solvents intended for modern guns in a BP rifle, unless it's for storage unloaded. Then remove it with a couple dry patches and a patch or two wet with rubbing alcohol before loading it.

E.g., I oil the bores in my BP rifles with FP-10 or G-96 CLP between shooting sessions, to prevent rust. Any decent gun oil, motor oil, or automatic transmission fluid is fine for preventing rust during storage as long as there's no charge down the bore. I clean it out thoroughly before loading. For deer hunting, I'll run a second patch with patch lube down the bore after I load so the bore has an adequate coating to prevent rust.

Don't worry about "seasoning" the bore. Modern gun steel is not porous like cast iron and doesn't season like it. All the talk about seasoning is advertising hype, as is the use of Wonder Lube / Bore Butter for preservation. I tried that and wound up with my guns full of nasty brown sludge after awhile.

 

[J-Bar]

Hot water with Dawn works just fine, just use it more often.

 

[Bazoo]

I appreciate the replies.

How do you get the smaller chamber section clean in the breech?

 

[hawg]

I appreciate the replies.

How do you get the smaller chamber section clean in the breech?

I don't use patches or brushes. I use bore mops. They will squeeze down to get into a patent breech.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

I use a smaller than bore size bronze brush with a patch wrapped around it to get into that smaller area.

 

[doubleh]

I have been shooting BP off and on since the mid '70's. Hot water will do the job but I always add a ilttle of whatever dish washing soap is under sink just to be sure., I protect the bore with ordinary oil which at this date in time has become Mobil 1. I clean the bore before shooting. A couple of my guns date from the '70's and I have never had any problem with rust. I should add that paste wax protects the outside of any and all of my firearms and has been since the mid "60's and no rust to this day.

 

[J-Bar]

I appreciate the replies.

How do you get the smaller chamber section clean in the breech?

I use a patch on jag.

Remove the nipple. Immerse the breech end of the barrel in a gallon milk jug (top cut open) filled with hot water and a drop of Dawn dish detergent. Insert the ramrod with jag and patch in the muzzle and pump the soapy water vigorously in and out of the barrel. You will generate enough turbulence to clean everything inside. Rinse the barrel with more hot water (hot enough that you need to wear a glove to hold the barrel). Dry with clean patches until they don't feel moist anymore. Swab in your lube/preservative of choice.

 

[SomebodyMakeRiderRepro]

I wouldn't trust a muzzle-loader loaded for longer than few days.

I did my best trying to degrease the cylinder before loading (with acetone) and then sealing the nipples but still 1st shot was extremaly underpowered. The moisture must have either defeated my counter measures or the grease from the nipple threads spoiled the powder.



It can be done reliably but you would need to give a bath to the cylinder, then dry it in an oven and then degrease any remains with acetone but it is quite problematic to get right.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

I've let a few go from one season to the next with a Pyrodex load...if they were clean when loaded. When that happened, I'd shoot them just prior to the start of the next season and see how far they were off. In most cases hunting accuracy either wasn't there or it was marginal. In one case, I drilled the bullseye...dead center. That was so non-typical it amazed me.

At no time did I have a failure to fire or a hang-fire. Nor did I have any measurements of velocity so I don't know how much energy was lost.