My smoothbore is actually a rifle..

[wittzo]

My Armi Sport 1842 .69 Springfield has rifling now, plain as day.

I kept looking at the bore when I first cleaned it and never saw the rifling before. I would run a patch down the bore and feel the rod rotate, but could only see what I thought was a land out of the corner of my eye..Even when I thought I had cleaned it pristinely the last time..pouring boiling water from the tea kettle twice and wiping it down with Ballistol for protection..storing it upside down, of course.

Friday I shot it a half dozen times with .010" patches soaked in a 1:6 ratio of Ballistol and water and swabbed it with a barrel swab between shots. Over the weekend, I used a punch to make felt wads and soaked them in Gatafeo's lube and tried them out today. Pour the powder, use the ball starter to put in the really tight 5/8" wad soaked in lube, and then push the ball down until it's tight, tight. When I got done, I guess the wad cleaned up all the crap that the boiling water didn't clear out (leading?) and I could see the rifling plain as day at the muzzle. 3 huge lands and 3 huge grooves. I guess I'm not used to seeing such large rifling and they're shallow.

I kept wondering because Dixie doesn't list the smoothbore with rear ladder sights, but this one has them. So my $250 find got even more valuable.

If I can just figure out how to bring that rifling out crisp and get some minie ball molds that don't cost as much as the rifle.

 

[scrat]

Bronze bore brush time. Maybe even get some CHORE boy. You can pick some up at almost any grocery store in the cleaning section. they are copper cleaning pads. Tear a bit and wrap the bronze bore brush. This will for sure get out the leading and clean up the rifling.

 

[Hawkeye748]

Armisport has made these for a few years. You can see them on their web site:

www.armisport.com

They also make a 33" rifle that is questionable historical accuracy, but that has never stopped the Italians before.

Good old Hop' No. 9 and a bronze bore brush will clean out any fouling you might have. If it is particularly nasty. Block the nipple and fill the bore with straight household ammonia and let it sit for a while. It will loosen the lead and any other fouling for you to scrub it out with the bore brush. Suggest you let it sit outside while soaking if you choose the ammonia method .

 

[BHP FAN]

Folks here and elsewhere say you don't need the felt wad...and they're right. You don't need to have an almost self cleaning gun, either, but it sure is nice.

 

[wittzo]

After I shoot it some more..but I broke my gong..after years of use and abuse, I need a new plate. My second wife was so happy with her StagArms left handed AR-15 I gave her for Christmas, she and her daughter were shooting at my steel plate, but I didn't know until I pulled into the driveway and saw Ellen jumping up and down, clapping at her mom's shooting. It was too late. Swiss cheese in steel. I had put a round of 5.56 and 7.62X39 through it to see and show what it would do to 3/8" steel plate. It had dings in it from .357, .44 magnum, .45 Colt, .35 Remington. When she did that, I moved it up to slugs and buckshot. It was getting some cracks and chunks were missing out of it large enough that I was literally shooting through the holes. The .69 and the .54 were just too much. This is after 4 shots of .69 roundball, one of ball and buck, and a few .530 RB's and .533" minie balls.

 

[scrat]

WOW pretty cool

 

[badpenny]

dixie has swaged minnie balls,good stuff.i shoot mine with 90 grains of goex 2f.recoil is stout but pretty accurate in my musket

 

[ontarget]

Ammonia will remove lead fouling but DO NOT leave it in the bore for extended periods
of time (days) as it not only removes lead but Will erode steel although at a much slower
pace. You can smell the ammonia in some of the commercial lead/copper fouling removers.

 

[wittzo]

I was happy with the results I got from using a bronze brush wrapped with copper wool. The rifling is sharp and crisp all the way down. I think I'm going to skip the minie balls for now, but I do want to buy some one day or pick up a used minie mold.
I just realized that I need to use the black synthetic brush that came in my kit for scrubbing the bore/tamping out possible embers between shots and save the bronze brush for cleaning. Anything that gets knocked loose gets pushed into the breech by the wool wad and mixes with the next load of powder and gets ejected or burned up. I think using a lubed wool wad does indeed make the rifle nearly self cleaning.

For the papercartridges from the 1776 book (?) they're using newsprint, do the wads go into the barrel or get tossed to the side? From the book, I was led to believe that it does down the barrel, but untreated newsprint?

One more thing, my mom had to go into the hospital, she fell and was in the floor for a bit more than 2 days. I had to have the firefighters break into the house. I taught her home security too well. She's almost herself now, they had her on oxygen for a couple of days. I was able to snag a length of tubing from the trash they used for her nasal air feed. The rubber nozzle on the end is a perfect fit for a musket cap, so the next time I clean, I won't make a mess in the kitchen floor. One of the few advantages of being a two time loser divorcee is making messes without anyone yelling at you. The kids are too young to know better.

 

[azyogi]

Wittzo hopes and prayers for mom

 

[Al LaVodka]

Look like the one below?

I have a John Zimmerman/Harpers Ferry Muskets Rifled '42 that includes a special blade front sight sorta as on a Krag. Only issues are the > 20 lb. trigger pull they argued is fine for a musket, that it is crazy innaccurate, and that of the few guns that supposedly had the blade front the barrel band it is on was actually pinned to the stock and not just held by the barrel bad spring as usual. But it is a beauty and I drooled over it for a year before I bought it...

Try Hoppe's Copper Solvent.

Obviously you bought this used and had no idea... LOL How'd this come about -- what's the back story?

Someone makes .69 minie balls -- I bought 10 bags last chance. Use 75 grains of 2f and you know you're shooting.

Al