Cleaning Frontier Firearms

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Santa Fe

Santa Fe

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I’ve been pondering this question for sometime so what would the frontiersman do with a loaded rifle that was dirty? If he was in a fight with some hostiles and had been firing his weapon and reloaded it after firing what would he do leave it dirty and load it? I can’t imagine those guys wasting powder and ball Firing the weapon just so they can clean it and reload it. But if they don’t clean it Corrosion eat the barrel up What do y’all think? Did they really take the time and trouble to clean the rifles properly out on the frontier
 
We do know and they knew that cold water would easily remove fouling. They would use their tow worm on the ramrod with a wad of dampened tow to remove the fouling. Damp, not wet, to prevent the water from spoiling the powder. Dry with some dry tow on the worm then a wipe with oil. Later when there was no immediate need for a ready round to fire, the ball would be pulled and the powder saved for the next load. The used ball would be melted down in the next lead pot when casting lead ball.
 
Santa Fe said:
I’ve been pondering this question for sometime so what would the frontiersman do with a loaded rifle that was dirty? If he was in a fight with some hostiles and had been firing his weapon and reloaded it after firing what would he do leave it dirty and load it? I can’t imagine those guys wasting powder and ball Firing the weapon just so they can clean it and reload it. But if they don’t clean it Corrosion eat the barrel up What do y’all think? Did they really take the time and trouble to clean the rifles properly out on the frontier
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Taking time to clean, yes and no. Mostly no.
I know from personal experience that a rifle bore can remain uncleaned for several days in a row without rusting if there is enough grease or oil residue mixed with burnt powder fouling in the bore from previous shots.
In the rare circumstance that a ball puller was available, it may have been used.
to pull the load. Infrequent cleaning over time created big demand for freshing out services.
I base some of my opinion on conjecture and human nature ( which doesn’t change ) as very little of the written word covering such a mundane subject would have been put to writing to begin with. Almost none of what WAS written has survived.
 
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Hatchet-Jack said:
It's baffling that they could even shoot without an entire box of shooting supplies ;)

They cleaned their weapons. Remember every able bodied man was required to be in the militia. They were trained to maintain their firelocks.

Don't assume we know more than they did. They were out there living it daily!
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Militia officers complained constantly about the poor condition of many of the men’s guns caused by abuse and neglect.
 
Hatchet-Jack said:
It's baffling that they could even shoot without an entire box of shooting supplies ;)

They cleaned their weapons. Remember every able bodied man was required to be in the militia. They were trained to maintain their firelocks.

Don't assume we know more than they did. They were out there living it daily!
Click to expand...
Messing with a gun was not a part of the daily or weekly routine of most guys.
Only a very, very small percentage of them carried or shot a gun several days a week.
 
Probably cleaned as needed or when thought of. Those guys didn’t plan to “go shooting” like we do so likely didn’t have a cleaning routine like we do. Unless military, those guys probably cleaned often.
Just guessing.
 
I guess what they would do depends on the individual. Just as you have different responses to this question, so too would there have been different actions taken then. As far as their rifles? I’ve seen their rifles, and either they didn’t clean them that well or someone down the line didn’t. Hard pressed to find an original piece that isn’t rust ridden. They exist I guess
 
In talking about cleaning methods a common mantra is "that's how the old timers did it so it's good enough for me". Putting the shoe on the other foot, I've seen countless references to how they often had to have the barrels "freshed" and a new mold cut.
 
smoothshooter said:
Taking time to clean, yes and no. Mostly no.
I know from personal experience that a rifle bore can remain uncleaned for several days in a row without rusting if there is enough grease or oil residue mixed with burnt powder fouling in the bore from previous shots.
In the rare circumstance that a ball puller was available, it may have been used.
to pull the load. Infrequent cleaning over time created big demand for freshing out services.
I base some of my opinion mostly on conjecture and human nature ( which doesn’t change ) as very little of the written word covering such a mundane subject would have been put to writing to begin with. Almost none of what WAS written has survived.
Click to expand...
In Leonard Readys journals the number one repair he made was to freshen a barrel.
 
Joe Meek told a story about his first trip to the mountains and how Sublett passed a guy whose gun was dirty and Sublett told him to clean it. Later Sublett saw him with a still uncleaned gun and again told him to clean it. On the third time he saw it still dirty and asked Meek if he could clean it for ten dollars
Meek jumped at the chance. The other guy thought it a grand laugh, till he found out the ten dollars was coming out of his pay
 
wiscoaster said:
It's a wonderment to me they kept their weapons clean without Dawn and Ballistol. 😄
Click to expand...
I doubt they ever cleaned them as thoroughly as we do today.
On the frontier, my guess is that guns generally had a service life of 5 years or less. Many would not have even made it through the second year, and that’s not counting those lost in boating accidents or stream crossings on foot or horseback.
 
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Some very good responses Grenadier and smooth shooter. Thanks guys for all your opinions. I expect there were a lot of dirty corroded guns back in the day. Another question. Would a brigade of trappers have an armorer who perhaps could pull bullets and clean chambers/barrels. How many trapper/frontiersman Actually carried a bullet puller in their possibles bag
 
Santa Fe said:
Some very good responses Grenadier and smooth shooter. Thanks guys for all your opinions. I expect there were a lot of dirty corroded guns back in the day. Another question. Would a brigade of trappers have an armorer who perhaps could pull bullets and clean chambers/barrels. How many trapper/frontiersman Actually carried a bullet puller in their possibles bag
Click to expand...
Guns were normally sold with mould, tow screw and ball screw, often a turn screw
 
/From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s i owned scores of period muzzleloaders. The vast majority were badly rusted.

Don't have a good handle how people back then cared for their firearms i do have my great grandfathers civil war diary. Gramps was a sergeant in the 62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry. There is mention of a hot kettle of soapy water for cleaning rifles.

while stationed in southern Maryland i moonlighted as a mechanic at the truck yard of a trash company on Martin Luther King Ave in DC.

One day a driver brought in three old muzzleloaders found in a dumpster located in a VA suberb of DC. The bores of two rifles were filled unsalted butter. The bore of the other rifle was filled with tallow.
 

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