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muzzleloader tips

edgecamedgecam Member Posts: 3,280
I bought my first muzzleloader recently. It is an older knight. I wanted to know If You guys have any tips as to the cleaning and care of my muzzle loader. I am planning on takeing it out to shoot this weekend and get a feel for it before I take it hunting.

Comments

  • edgecamedgecam Member Posts: 3,280
    edited November -1
    Im completely new to the muzzleloading game i got a tc impact for my birthday and in looking for tips on a little bit of everything, thanks
  • navc130navc130 Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Clean black powder or Pyrodex with hot water (a little dish soap helps) after shooting. Wipe dry the bore. Check for rust the next day. Make sure the breech area is clean and dry. Oil / grease the bore for storage.
    During hunting you can use windshield washer solvent or hand / baby wipes to clean the bore after firing. Clean with water when you get home. Wipe out the oil in the bore before loading and snap a cap to make sure the nipple vent is clear.
    Try to get an Owners Manual or some written material on inline muzzle loaders.
  • redhead71redhead71 Member Posts: 2,337 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by navc130
    Clean black powder or Pyrodex with hot water (a little dish soap helps) after shooting. Wipe dry the bore. Check for rust the next day. Make sure the breech area is clean and dry. Oil / grease the bore for storage.
    During hunting you can use windshield washer solvent or hand / baby wipes to clean the bore after firing. Clean with water when you get home. Wipe out the oil in the bore before loading and snap a cap to make sure the nipple vent is clear.
    Try to get an Owners Manual or some written material on inline muzzle loaders.
    agree 100% one thing i have done before in the past I will buy a can of compressed air and use that to blow out the nipple before i load works pretty well for blowing out excess oil and water after cleaning. I use hot water and Dawn dish washing liquid to clean all of mine. I rise the barrel with the hottest water i can get and wipe dry use clean patched to wipe out the bore and i use Breakfree oil for long term storage for the bore and outside of the barrel and other metal parts.
  • mbsamsmbsams Member Posts: 1,076 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here is the best tip you will get! -- don't use water - or anything with water in it to clean - promotes rust and impedes ignition -- all I have ever used for more than 30 years is the cheapest rubbing alcohol you can buy. I clean after a shoot with it and during shooting with one wet patch between shots and a dry one. My rifle groups best that way - learned this from a hodgdon book I had years ago. Alcohol works with real black powder and the substitutes. drys immediatly and is flamable. There is no need to dissassemble your gun and make a big mess with soap and water. And the black powder cleaning products you can buy are a real rip off. Lightly oil the bore before you put the gun away. I'm still usin the 54 lyman hawken I bought new 30 years ago - still looks new - no rust anywhere.
  • redhead71redhead71 Member Posts: 2,337 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would guess their is alot of different ways to clean and maintain muzzleloaders. The best way is what you have on hand at that time. From all the books i have read about black powder and how to clean them all stated to use hot soapy water and dry rags. So what ever you have and the method you want is how you will clean your rifle. Go online and order some books on muzzleloaders Lyman has a book out that is really good to read and go to www.dixiegunworks.com they have alot with blackwpowder assories for sale.
  • edgecamedgecam Member Posts: 3,280
    edited November -1
    Thanks everyone for the tips
  • minitruck83minitruck83 Member Posts: 5,369
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mbsams
    Here is the best tip you will get! -- don't use water - or anything with water in it to clean - promotes rust and impedes ignition -- all I have ever used for more than 30 years is the cheapest rubbing alcohol you can buy.


    I'm guessing you're referring to 70% isopropyl alcohol?
    The other 30% of it is water.
    Isopropyl Alcohol is made by combining propylene (propene) and water.
    IPA will evaporate much quicker leaving less residue behind, than DHMO.

    [:)]



    Allen
  • anderskandersk Member Posts: 3,627 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I learned from guys at my gun club and the rest I learned on my own. But tips from men at the range is the best way to go!
  • slumlord44slumlord44 Member Posts: 3,702 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Windex with viniger also works well and is cheap. To me what you use is not nearly as important as the need to clean immediately and to follow up after the fact to make wure there are no rust problems.
  • JunkballerJunkballer Member Posts: 9,147 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Seriously, what did Daniel Boone and the boys use, don't think they had dish detergent back then ?

    "Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee

  • andrewsw16andrewsw16 Member Posts: 10,728 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If it is real blackpowder, you actually NEED something with water in order to dissolve the salts left in the bore. The active ingredient in the solutions listed above as alternate solutions is water. The other ingredients, like alcohol, are just extra benefits, like increased evaporation rate. You can also use a water displacer afterwards to help get rid the water. Try, wait for it.....Water Displacer-40 (good ol' WD40) [:D]
  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    I use soap and hot water after range time but during I swab with alcohol. After cleaning I will take the little red straw that comes with cheap $2.00 brake cleaner remove the nipple and shoot brake cleaner all down the barrel. Removes anything left behind and all water. Dries immediately. Then I oil the barrel until next time.

    Time to go shooting again I simply remove the nipple, blow out the barrel with brake cleaner again and ready to load and shoot. I have found that brake cleaner is one of the best gun cleaners around. Removes all carbon, lead, oil and dries immediately. Its great for flushing out your trigger group but remember brake cleaner removes all oils so you have to re-oil real good after using it.

    Brake cleaner is a little trick I learned back in 1970 from my senior DI right before final inspection in boot camp.
  • bambambambambambam Member Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The way I clean my muzzle loader is to cut a hole out of a gallon milk jug. Fill with HOTTT water mixed with T/C bore cleaner. Take the barrel off the gun, put nipple end in the jug summerced to bottom. Get the carpet looking jag(looks like a tampon) and wet it. Push the carpet looking thing down the barrel and this wet (patch) will force the air out. When you pull it back up it will drawl the water out of the jug through the nipple end and into the bore. I push it up/down few times and switch to brass brush for a few more strokes. I then go back to carpet looking thing with clean water. Sometimes a really dirty gun you will need to take the breech plug or nipple out to get the water to go up the barrel.

    Finally I run regular gun patches down the gun till dry and clean. I finish with a patch of Bore Butter to coat the barrel.

    A friend of my dads got my family started in the BP sport and he told me to never use gun solvents to clean a BP barrel. It removes the season of the barrel causeing it to rust faster. Dish soap can be used in place of BP bore cleaning liquids.

    I store my freshly cleaned BP guns upside down in the cabinet for at least a month or untill I use them. I was told that the bore butter and any fluid will puddle on the breech end and cause the first shot to mis/hang fire.
  • KX500KX500 Member Posts: 733 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Loosen or take out the breach plug, when you get done shooting. It'll never get any easier to get out and can be a bear to get it out if you wait too long. I imagine you're using one of the black powder subs and if so, you Can wait until the next day to clean the gun (with no real negative effects) provided you get that breach plug out of there. I know I've spoken blasphemy in saying the cleaning of a ML can be put off - but imagine you shoot that deer at last light, you don't find it until 9 or 10 O'clock, by the time you get it taken care of it's midnight, the next day is a workday and are you really gonna clean that muzzleloader before you get to bed? No, pull that breach plug out of there, put it in a little jar of kerosene/solvent and clean that gun the next night.
  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I suggest that you DO NOT use any hydrocarbon-based product in your blackpowder guns. This means a refined oil product. This means most every product out there. Clean with soap and water. My vote is for Simple Green and hot water.

    Lubricate and protect your gun with a mixture of real lanolin and beeswax. You decide on the mix ratio that suits you. Mix in spoonful batches to start with a 1:1 ratio (50%/50%) mix and go from there until you find the ratio that suits you. You can buy lanolin and beeswax on the Internet and some of the auction sites, such as eebay.

    The reason is that when BP or most of the substitute BP products burn with and combine with hydrocarbon-based products, a sticky, nasty asphaltine sludge is produced, which will gum everthing up. This is especially true of weapons with a lot of moving parts, such as bp percussion revolvers. The lanolin and beeswax will not do this.
  • countryfarmercountryfarmer Member Posts: 4,552
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bambambam
    The way I clean my muzzle loader is to cut a hole out of a gallon milk jug. Fill with HOTTT water mixed with T/C bore cleaner. Take the barrel off the gun, put nipple end in the jug summerced to bottom. Get the carpet looking jag(looks like a tampon) and wet it. Push the carpet looking thing down the barrel and this wet (patch) will force the air out. When you pull it back up it will drawl the water out of the jug through the nipple end and into the bore. I push it up/down few times and switch to brass brush for a few more strokes. I then go back to carpet looking thing with clean water. Sometimes a really dirty gun you will need to take the breech plug or nipple out to get the water to go up the barrel.

    Finally I run regular gun patches down the gun till dry and clean. I finish with a patch of Bore Butter to coat the barrel.

    A friend of my dads got my family started in the BP sport and he told me to never use gun solvents to clean a BP barrel. It removes the season of the barrel causeing it to rust faster. Dish soap can be used in place of BP bore cleaning liquids.

    I store my freshly cleaned BP guns upside down in the cabinet for at least a month or untill I use them. I was told that the bore butter and any fluid will puddle on the breech end and cause the first shot to mis/hang fire.


    +1 That is the way I clean mine also, never had a problem with it
  • fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    I take my bbl. off the stock and locknd submerge it in the bathtub withas ht of water as c come from spigot.I add dis soap,soak 15 min,then scrub,making sure nipple is clear of foling.
    Rinse wit more SUPER HOT water and allo to drain and dry.(heat of steel will dry it fast)Re oil and reasemble.DONE!
  • anderskandersk Member Posts: 3,627 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Does this mean that Hoppes #9 is not good for muzzle loader barrels? I just love the smell of that stuff. And I use it with my muzzle loaders. I just cannot handle the guns and water mix! Am I a wimp?
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