B.P. corrosion

[APshooter]

Help me with this if you could. How long can I keep my B.P. revolver loaded without the B.P. corroding my cylinder. I am new at this, and just wondering. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[aeatwood]

Starting w/ a clean, de-greased cylinder? Probably 20-30 years. Possibly, 40-100 years. BP is not corrosive at all. It is the fouling from firing that has salts in it and is hygroscopic.

 

[APshooter]

That is great! Thanks for the fast response. :thumbsup:

 

[David W.]

Starting w/ a clean, de-greased cylinder? Probably 20-30 years. Possibly, 40-100 years. BP is not corrosive at all. It is the fouling from firing that has salts in it and is hygroscopic.

That of course means the clean cylinder must not be oil soaked. Too much oil present will foul the powder. All it takes is a very THIN coat of oil. Any more than that is a waste of oil and will do nothing extra to prevent rust. Using too much oil is why some suggest storing rifles upside down.

 

[APshooter]

So after cleaning, run a dry patch through it to keep it clean, but not over saturated? Will do. Thanks again, :hatsoff:

 

[ronnie_kennedy]

Get you some balistol...best stuff out there for cleaning bp guns. Eats the gunk off of them and leaves a nice thin film of oil on the gun. You can use it on your guns, your holster, your boots, etc. Great stuff!

 

[Zonie]

A lot of the answer depends on where you live and where your gun is stored.

It also depends on how well you have sealed off the area where the black powder is.

Several years ago a couple of guys known as the Bevel Brothers, who wrote articles about muzzleloaders in the Muzzle Blasts magazine did a test on this subject.

They made a number of short barrels from a rifle barrel and breeched each one with a bolt.
They then fouled a few of the barrels and left the others clean and loaded all of them with powder and patched round balls.

After loading they took them down to a damp basement and left them on a shelf for about 8 months.

They found that over time, the black powder absorbed moisture from the damp air and all attempts to remove the patched balls failed.

They even took out the breech plugs and ended up driving the balls out of the barrels with a large piece of steel rod.

The cloth patches had rusted into the bores and the area where the powder was was badly corroded, even in the unfired barrels that didn't have any fouling in them.

Appearently the moisture from the air was absorbed by the cloth patch and worked its way thru to the powder loads.

Although black powder doesn't have anything in it that attacks steel, the water in moist black powder can cause rusting.

If your talking about a cap & ball pistol where no patch is used you can keep the moisture out of the powder by sealing off the area around the balls with grease.
Melted candle wax can seal off the caps but I would be real careful doing this because the heat of the wax could set off the fulminate in the caps.

If your guns are stored in a dry area where there is no high humidity there should be no problem even without waxing the caps.

Left in a cool dry place, black powder will last for centuries without degrading.

 

[APshooter]

I was just thinking of a time frame of about a week or mabey a couple of days. I live in the central valley where it doesn't seem to be that humid. The revolver is a 1860 army.
On a different topic, does anyone know a good loading stand? Or does everyone just build their own? Thanks for the help.

 

[Zonie]

"I was just thinking of a time frame of about a week or mabey a couple of days. ..."


If your pistol is clean before loading you will not have a problem.

 

[APshooter]

Thanks Zonie

 

[Adui]

~snip~
On a different topic, does anyone know a good loading stand? Or does everyone just build their own? Thanks for the help.

Heres two recent links you might have seen for home built stands:
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/266661/ http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/266185/

 

[APshooter]

Adui, thanks for the links. The first one gives the plans and mesurements. Much appreciated :thumbsup:

 

[detent]

You can leave the power in your gun longer than what youll live so long as its dry but in damp or wet corrosion will start straight away, When I worked fore the War museum I unloeded some springfields that had been used in the first world war north africa thay where fine been on display fore fifty years and nobody had ever checked them the projectile was twin core lead covered cable diced.

 

[APshooter]

That musta been a fun, historical moment! Thanks for the info. atriot:

 

[capt_turk]

My 58 Remmy stays loaded all the time for home defense.

I put a grease pill over the balls, and just a touch of finger nail polish on the base of the caps. I've never seen any signs of corrosion at all.

I generally shoot my pistol, clean and reload at least every two weeks, but don't feel I would have anything to worry about even for much longer periods of time.

 

[nilo52]

I live in the San Joaquin valley in California and, as you, I keep my '58 Remmy loaded all the time for home defense. It's not very humid ( very hot summers, and mostly dry winters ) here and I Have had no problems with rust in my new army and I don't use any grease over the ball. I thought Florida was supposed to be very humid most of the time, is that true ? If so you could try putting a short piece of aquarium tubing over the capped nipple to keep out moisture. There is a company that sells something just like that only the sleave is red in color to protect the cap. I tried this idea and had no problems with jamming or anything like that,the tubing stayed on the nipple after fireing and was easy to remove with a finger nail. Remingtons rule ! :thumbsup:

 

[capt_turk]

Yup! It gets a bit humid here in the rainy season. Still have never had a problem with rust or corrosion. Just give everything a good squirt of WD-40 about once a week.

I like the clear fingernail polish around the base of the nipples better than anything else I've tried. I use just the tiniest dab. It seals them, and makes the caps a lot less likely to fall off too. Firing the gun seems to burn all the polish off so it doesn't seem anymore difficult to clean than without it.

Without the finger nail polish the caps would sometimes get brushed off if I happened to rub up against anything with the holster. Hasn't ever happened since I started using the polish on the caps. A knife blade pops them off if you need to unload without firing it.

 

[APshooter]

Thanks for the info guys. My 1860 Army stay loaded all week and shoot just fine at the range this afternoon. The real topic I want to discuss is : you guys use your BP's for home defense? I love the idea but never thought about doing it. How long have you been doing it? I will keep the nail polish idea in mind. Thanks, A.P.

 

[aeatwood]

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.

IF I lived in one of the areas where I could not own a modern firearm, and C&B revolvers were not banned (or regulated as tightly), I would not hesitate to keep one loaded for that purpose.

And I would pay whatever it took to get my hands on a Ruger Old Army. It is in no way historically accurate, but it is powerful, reliable, and mine is bidding fair to be the most accurate handgun I own. With a full load of 2F goex, a lubed felt wad, and a .457" RB, it will cut one (not very) ragged hole at 20 yards. IIRC, using my volume measure, it was a full 45 gr of powder, and it just left room to seat the wad so that it didn't interfere with the ball when it was placed in the chamber mouth. 2F wants a good bit more ramming pressure than 3F does.

 

[smokeum54]

if i only had or could only have a cap and ball revolver, than yes it would be ready to go at all times.

that being said, last weekend i shot my 58 around 100 times and it went click twice.

ive put thousands of rounds thru my modern handguns and they have never went click. just my opinion.