In hot water?

Holland and Holland, the old time British Gun Maker, in a letter to a friend of mine, stated that boiling hot water can have a glazing effect on lumps of fouling, instead of dissolving them as cold water does.

I discovered this years ago too. Room temperature water cleans quicker, and as good as hot water.

waksupi said:

Holland and Holland, the old time British Gun Maker, in a letter to a friend of mine, stated that boiling hot water can have a glazing effect on lumps of fouling, instead of dissolving them as cold water does.

I discovered this years ago too. Room temperature water cleans quicker, and as good as hot water.

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Makes sense. I've always just used hot tap water (usually luke warm by the time I get nitty gritty), and as you stated, works just fine.

Hot tap water works and flashed off pretty quick.

Yes room temp works best.

I've been using boiling water and always end up needing to brush, so I'll give that a try next time. Thanks for the recco.

But have to ask: I liberally goop the bore with BP lube before leaving the range to keep the fouling soft and I'm wondering if that makes any difference in using room temp water to clean?

Clean with room temperature water, final rinse with the hottest water you can use. That will help dry the barrel more quickly and completely.

I think the old advice of "boiling hot water" is unnecessary. What it does do is promote rust. Oxidation, like most chemical reactions, is accelerated by heat. But I find that any kind of soapy water does the trick. Probably don't even need the soap.

wiscoaster said:

I've been using boiling water and always end up needing to brush, so I'll give that a try next time. Thanks for the recco.

But have to ask: I liberally goop the bore with BP lube before leaving the range to keep the fouling soft and I'm wondering if that makes any difference in using room temp water to clean?

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I sometimes clean at the range but if I don’t, I just take it home and clean. The first scrub with water gets most of the gunk out.

I just use hot tap water. I use bore butter as a lube, so my thinking is the hot water dissolves any left over lube. Never had rust problems, but I dry thoroughly and oil.

wiscoaster said:

I've been using boiling water and always end up needing to brush, so I'll give that a try next time. Thanks for the recco.

But have to ask: I liberally goop the bore with BP lube before leaving the range to keep the fouling soft and I'm wondering if that makes any difference in using room temp water to clean?

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Maybe so. Need water to neutralize the salts in the gun powder.

snakebit said:

Maybe so. Need water to neutralize the salts in the gun powder.

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Great point! Once the water neutralizes the salts, all that is left is some carbon and sulfur residue. Neither of which cause rust in their selves as oxidizers, although they may hold moisture. Kill the salts, oil the bore good, and you don't need pure white patches when cleaning. Although I do, from force of learned habit.

That makes me wonder if there may be some first shot/cold barrel benefits from NOT removing the last of the fouling. Something to experiment with, once we can shoot here again.

The hot tap water will be beneficial to dissolve and flush out residual potassium salt.

But the hot tap water will do nothing to the carbon because the carbon dust can't be dissolved only flushed out, and that can be done with cold water.

I always start the barrel cleaning by flushing first with hot water to remove the salts, then switch to cold to remove the heat from the barrel steel to stop flash rusting.
(Yes flash rusting does occur, I seen the orange dust form on hot barrel steel in the seconds it took to walk from my laundry tub to the work bench).

After the cold flush I turn on a tiny bit of hot water to create a tepid barely discernible coolish temperature as the pure cold water makes the bones in hand ache through nitrile gloves.

The bulk of the bore cleaning is done with the tepid water and alternating nylon and bronze brushing.

An aerosol spray oil like KROIL sprayed into the barrel and the end of the range session would certainly keep carbon fouling soft and likely lifted off the bore steel. KROIL will creep under any harden fouling and soften it and breaking its bond with the micro scratches in the steel.
KROIL is expensive look for a cheaper alternative spray oil. Any light spray oil should do the same some just may do it better.

You will need Dawn dish detergent or Dawn Power Wash to get the oiled carbon fouling out along with what every oil or grease you use on patches or in the lube groove of conicals.

snakebit said:

Maybe so. Need water to neutralize the salts in the gun powder.

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The non-gaseous products of combustion of BP are all water-soluble, and is it not necessary to 'neutralize' them in order to remove them with water cleaning. The same is true of Potassium Chloride residue from firing corrosive primers in unmentionable firearms - water is all that is necessary to remove it, if used promptly after firing.

mhb - MIke

I usually run two or three dampened patches followed by an oil dampened patch at the range and then do the rest at home. Mostly wet patches ‘til they come out clean (ish), then lightly oil. Oily patches to clean the lock and lock area.

Seems to work out.

I think the boiling water was to kill the percussion cap or primer acids mostly like I boiled out the govt 303 ect since the priming component lasted longer . Many old caps where corrosive to a degree not found with flint guns .but the careless will spoil any barrel .
Rudyard

Greenjoytj said:

Yes flash rusting does occur, I seen the orange dust form on hot barrel steel in the seconds it took to walk from my laundry tub to the work bench).

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If anyone who is confused about cleaning regimens, this is a FACT that you can resolve to live with.

My first gun In 74 was a TC (Of course ) and the manual recommended boiling hot water. I eventually realized that it was causing flash rusting and went to tap warm. The later TC manuals dropped the boiling water recommendation.

Dry...Dry...DRY, then oil but not too much.

Other then that it don't matter what Voodoo you do.

Clean throughly, dry, Dry, DRY, then oil.

The only thing boiling hot water does is burn your fingers. I tried it once, first time cleaning a BP gun, burned my fingers and flash rusted the bore red. Never used it again and I tell everybody not to use it. Cool tap water does just fine.

Mad L said:

Dry...Dry...DRY, then oil but not too much.

Other then that it don't matter what Voodoo you do.

Clean throughly, dry, Dry, DRY, then oil.

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This part of the voodoo ritual that should be done after cleaning and oiling is to store the gun with the muzzle down so the excess oil drains away from the breech.

Interesting. I always just used room temp tap water, never a problem.