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Muzzle loader gun cleaning advice needed
Herschel
Member Posts: 2,035 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have been asked to teach a class youths about proper gun cleaning.
I am aware of what is needed for all but the black powder replacements such as Pyrodex. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I am aware of what is needed for all but the black powder replacements such as Pyrodex. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Comments
When you no longer feel crud in the bore with the tight patch. Get second container (3# coffee can is nice) nearly full of boiling hot water. Put gloves on hands, insert barrel into hot water nipple immersed as before. Use tight patch on jag. Work the bore until the barrel is hot to the touch. Remove barrel, quickly run several clean dry patches down the bore. Residual heat in the barrel will finish drying it. When barrel cools, an oiled patch is run several through the bore. Inspect patch to make sure it is still clean. Put anti-seize compound on nipple threads and reinstall
Or you could use the Spit Patch - Bore Butter and their cleaning solutions if you like the seasoned bore theory like cast iron cookware.
Most of the others, which have no corrosive ingredients, say they are water soluble, which means to me, the same thing. Most of the factory BP/substitute cleaner's are nothing but soapy water. Keep in mind, that anything in preformed charges, also has a binder in it, to form it into the pellet shape, and keep it there. They are usually molded in the wet form, and dried in a low temperature vacuum oven, to extract the water from them. That binder is usually deposited in the form of a ring, just in front of the chamber area of the rifle. Usually a pre moistened patch on the jag takes care of that.
This is my procedure and materials...
For hunting season
Jar of Thompson Center pre moistened patches
Ample amount of dry patches
the correct size drill bit for cleaning carbon out of the flash hole...to be used in the fingers...never by drill motor.
Pipe cleaners
Bronze brush
take pre moistened patch on jag run it thru the bore, scrubbing it vigorously.
Take a dry patch, and use the same procedure. Repeat this process, until the dry patch comes out clean.
Use pipe cleaner to clean flash hole channel. If carbon appears to be built up from numerous firings, use the drill bit...it makes short work of it. Be careful not to enlarge the flash hole itself.
If your rifle has a removable breech plug, use the bronze tooth brush to clean the face, and threads. Submerging this in hot soapy water helps this process. Dry off breech plug, and grease it for reassembly. Before re assembling, make sure the threads in the barrel are clean, also.
After season for storage, I use boiling hot soapy water to clean everything, then put a patch loaded with T/C Bore Butter thru the barrel, while still hot...this lets it sink into the open pores, and helps season the barrel.
Best