For sixty years.....

I've always read about water being used as the best thing to clean up BP residue. I do use water (slightly warm) to clean my BP rifles along with Ballistol and it works really well. On the other hand I don't use water to clean my 1858 New Model Army .44 revolver however; rather I just use a brass brush along with Hoppe's #9 and Ballistol and it works just fine for me! I remove the cylinder and crack the nipples a bit to keep them from freezing and about every 50 rounds fired I'll fully remove the nipples and clean as necessary and with one drop of oil on the threads will reinstall. I will reoil as necessary and after cleaning the barrel using the Hoppe's and Ballistol I will leave the barrel entirely coated with a light oil. I have never found any sign of rust on any of the parts or buildup of carbon within the 8" barrel.

Untitled by Sharps Man, on Flickr

I take off the grips and cylinder and wash and rinse the whole thing in hot running tap water after first application of moose milk and scrubbed with patches on a jag and baby toothbrush and Q-tips into the action. Rarely use a brass brush unless I waited too long to clean and there's some BP crud in the rifling grooves washing didn't remove. After the soap and water I use compressed air to blow out the excess water, stick the whole thing in the oven at about 130 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes to evaporate the water, then a light spray and wipe of Ballistol after it cools takes care of any residual moisture.

Sun City said:

I've always read about water being used as the best thing to clean up BP residue. I do use water (slightly warm) to clean my BP rifles along with Ballistol and it works really well. On the other hand I don't use water to clean my 1858 New Model Army .44 revolver however; rather I just use a brass brush along with Hoppe's #9 and Ballistol and it works just fine for me! I remove the cylinder and crack the nipples a bit to keep them from freezing and about every 50 rounds fired I'll fully remove the nipples and clean as necessary and with one drop of oil on the threads will reinstall. I will reoil as necessary and after cleaning the barrel using the Hoppe's and Ballistol I will leave the barrel entirely coated with a light oil. I have never found any sign of rust on any of the parts or buildup of carbon within the 8" barrel.

Untitled by Sharps Man, on Flickr

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. Except I seldom use Ballistol, prefer hoppes or windex, (gojoe works too) and oil lightly with Eezox. Let that dry and reload.

been useing baristol lately..

Warm water and dawn dish soap...

Other than it does not have to be Dawn, that is the method I have settled on. Any grease fighting detergent will work. I am shooting true black a fair amount so serious crud.

I have a stainless pan about 6 inches deep by 10-12 long and 5 or so wide. All the free parts to into that.

Nylon brush, work it through the barrel. 47 Walker is easy, ROA I just point into the Pan and run the brush up the barrel a few times, rest of the gun stays dry.

Cylinders are pulled and the Cones removed. I can get deeper into the cylinder from the front and clean out any crud down in there. Cones are in a plastic lid and then I use the strainer insert to put them in so I don't fumble them into the drain or garbage disposal (two big sinks and a small middle for the Disposal)

I just do a quick clean on the cones with a bristle brush.

Then its off to the air dryer. If there is some flash rust I oil it and then dry patch particular the barlls to avoid excess oil.

While it's apparently possible to remove enough leftover salts and acids with materials other than water to avoid corrosion, I can't think of a single reason why I would want to do so.

Black powder is incredibly dirty. No way would I want to try and deal with all that gunk when it can be washed down the drain in the sink in under a minute. Some warm water, a nylon brush, and maybe some soap is all you need to make quick work of black powder fouling in a revolver.

It's like cheating. No need for expensive and nasty solvents. I like to cheat even further and use an air compressor to quickly blow dry all the parts. When dry, give things a squirt of thin oil, and hit with the compressor again to ensure every surface gets a nice thin coat.

Hot water,dawn,ballistol and a coat of rig.

Sun City said:

I've always read about water being used as the best thing to clean up BP residue. I do use water (slightly warm) to clean my BP rifles along with Ballistol and it works really well. On the other hand I don't use water to clean my 1858 New Model Army .44 revolver however; rather I just use a brass brush along with Hoppe's #9 and Ballistol and it works just fine for me! I remove the cylinder and crack the nipples a bit to keep them from freezing and about every 50 rounds fired I'll fully remove the nipples and clean as necessary and with one drop of oil on the threads will reinstall. I will reoil as necessary and after cleaning the barrel using the Hoppe's and Ballistol I will leave the barrel entirely coated with a light oil. I have never found any sign of rust on any of the parts or buildup of carbon within the 8" barrel.

Untitled by Sharps Man, on Flickr

Click to expand...

The reason for the use of water is to de solve the salt from combustion of the salt peter (potassium nitrate) charcoal and sulfur.
Black powder is not corrosive until it burns that's why clean muzzle loaders can stay loaded for decades without corroding. .

KingOfKindling said:

While it's apparently possible to remove enough leftover salts and acids with materials other than water to avoid corrosion, I can't think of a single reason why I would want to do so.

Black powder is incredibly dirty. No way would I want to try and deal with all that gunk when it can be washed down the drain in the sink in under a minute. Some warm water, a nylon brush, and maybe some soap is all you need to make quick work of black powder fouling in a revolver.

It's like cheating. No need for expensive and nasty solvents. I like to cheat even further and use an air compressor to quickly blow dry all the parts. When dry, give things a squirt of thin oil, and hit with the compressor again to ensure every surface gets a nice thin coat.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do.