Best Way to Clean a Brown Bess

[starman]

I have finally decided to fire my Brown Bess after owning it for more than 10 years. What is the best way to clean it after firing it? Thanks!

 

[RAEDWALD]

The British 'best gun' makers of the M/L period all agreed that plain cold water was the thing to use. I humbly concur and found tow as the best cleaning material to wash out the bore and dry it.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Water, if hot it helps to dry it self.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You will need a toothpick, OR perhaps a wooded skewer for grilling over the fire. Break off last three inches of said skewer, as this will be a rather thick "toothpick".
Remove the lock, put it aside with the lock bolts.
Insert the pointed tip of the "toothpick" into the touch hole to plug the hole. NOTE you do not remove the barrel for cleaning.
Get a measuring cup that holds two cups of water. Fill it up and put a single drop of dishwashing liquid into the water, after it's in the cup..
(some guys like to use hot water, but it's not necessary that it's hot or warm)
Pour about a third of the water into the musket barrel, wait a few seconds, then dump the contents of the barrel onto the ground.
Repeat this two more times.

NEXT..., put your worm onto your ramrod, and twist some tow onto the worm. Wet the tow, and some folks like to put a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on that, or with a 1/2 cup of water and a few drops into the measuring cup, then dip the tow on the worm into that. Scrub the barrel with the tow.
IF you don't have tow you can use patches made from an old t-shirt, old shirt, or a scrap piece of linen......

IF you don't have a worm, don't fret, you can order one. In the mean time...,
You'll need some very strong twine about 6' long, make a loop in one end and pass the other end of the twine through the loop to make a loop that closes down when the twine is pulled. Put a chunk of tow, OR the patch through this loop, and tighten it. Soak the tow or patch in the water-soap, and then ram down the patch or tow with the twine attached, BUT be sure the end of the twine stays outside of the barrel, so that you can pull the patch back out. You can pull the patch inside the barrel toward the muzzle a few inches, then ram it back down, doing this a few times to scrub the breech, then pull the patch or tow all the way out.

Rinse the barrel as before when you started, but use plain water.

Dry the barrel using dry patches and your worm OR use the twine with the dry patches.

When dry, use a patch soaked in lubricating oil, or rust preventative, to swab the inside of the bore. You can even use cheap olive oil if you wish.

Wipe off any crud from around the touchhole.

Most folks remove the frizzen if they've been to the range or doing firing demos. IF you don't have a spring vice, you can gently use a vice grip, compress the frizzen spring just slightly and remove the frizzen screw and frizzen. Remove the jaw screw and the top of the jaw on the cock.

Scrub the pan and where the frizzen and lock meet with a toothbrush and water. Use q-tip swabs to clean out the lock retaining screw holes (don't leave cotton residue within them) Scrub the jaw screw, the underside of the cock that's still attached to the lock, and the top of the jaw..., then oil and reassemble. Scrub the frizzen itself, and wipe down the lock. Some folks like to put a lot of oil on the lock, some even dunk it in oil. Wipe it free of excess oil and reassemble. Replace in the musket, wipe the lock screws free of dirt and residue, oil the screws and replace them in the lock.

Wipe the outside of the barrel with an oiled rag. Wipe the ramrod with an oil rag and replace.

You're done.

For the next two nights before you go to sleep, run a patch down the barrel to check for rust..., if you find some, then run another patch down with some oil or rust preventative. A common mistake is that you don't soak the patch enough so you have very little oil left when you reach the breech area.

LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

The process listed by Dave is basically the cleaning procedure I use. The minor details are not worth listing.

The Tow and Toggle (bunch of tow tied to the string) will clean the fouling from the bore better than any other cleaning patch. Following a quick rinse, the tow can be used many times to clean the bore.

 

[Rat]

I use patches, a jag, and a black powder solvent like "Blue Thunder". Not gonna turn my Bess into a rubber ducky. She won't stand for it. She don't quack, she can't swim, and she don't like water. Drizzling rain, or snow, but she don't like taking a bath.

 

[Le Loup]

Keith.

 

[Stumpkiller]

My system is similar to Loyaliost Dave, but rather than pugging the vent I pulled the lock and point the vent down on old towels. DO NOT USE YOUR WIFE'S GOOD TOWELS! Or, you can, and then you'll have one to use for the price of sleeping on the couch for a few nights and buying a replacement. Keep the muzzle lower than the vent when wiping with a wet/damp wad.

I owned a Kit Ravenshear Bess for 15 years and cleaned it with warm water ("tap" hot with a few drops of soap) and a tow worm loaded up with linen tow. Rinse the tow, squeeze most of the water out, then scrub again. Repeat until the tow runs clear when squeezed. Then a few more passes. Then dry tow (or cotton cloth) and finally oil the bore. After two days I'd oil it again. Never used anything but tow for scrubbing.

Never pulled the barrel to clean it. I only took the barrel off once (in the first year). It was my primary hunting gun in NY wet winters - large and small game - for those 15 years and I sold it for more than I paid for it. ;-)

Use the same method for my current flint rifle and fowler. Have never pulled the barrel on either. Though I use shotgun mops 28 bore (for my .54) and 16 bore in a little soapy water rather than tow flax.

 

[Many Klatch]

If you use steel wool for the first couple of swabs down the barrel it will speed up the cleaning. I couldn't improve on anything else already written.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

By far the EASIEST way is to have someone competent clean it for you!

Otherwise I clean mine like Stumpkiller & Loyalist Dave, less I never remove the frizzen.

Also while the water is in the barrel I put my thumb over the muzzle and tip the butt up towards the sky, leave it for a second, lower to the ground, rotate the gun a little and repeat, do that 3 times and then dump the water. It rinses the entire barrel surface inside.

 

[spudnut]

You will need a toothpick, OR perhaps a wooded skewer for grilling over the fire. Break off last three inches of said skewer, as this will be a rather thick "toothpick".
Remove the lock, put it aside with the lock bolts.
Insert the pointed tip of the "toothpick" into the touch hole to plug the hole. NOTE you do not remove the barrel for cleaning.
Get a measuring cup that holds two cups of water. Fill it up and put a single drop of dishwashing liquid into the water, after it's in the cup..
(some guys like to use hot water, but it's not necessary that it's hot or warm)
Pour about a third of the water into the musket barrel, wait a few seconds, then dump the contents of the barrel onto the ground.
Repeat this two more times.

NEXT..., put your worm onto your ramrod, and twist some tow onto the worm. Wet the tow, and some folks like to put a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on that, or with a 1/2 cup of water and a few drops into the measuring cup, then dip the tow on the worm into that. Scrub the barrel with the tow.
IF you don't have tow you can use patches made from an old t-shirt, old shirt, or a scrap piece of linen......

IF you don't have a worm, don't fret, you can order one. In the mean time...,
You'll need some very strong twine about 6' long, make a loop in one end and pass the other end of the twine through the loop to make a loop that closes down when the twine is pulled. Put a chunk of tow, OR the patch through this loop, and tighten it. Soak the tow or patch in the water-soap, and then ram down the patch or tow with the twine attached, BUT be sure the end of the twine stays outside of the barrel, so that you can pull the patch back out. You can pull the patch inside the barrel toward the muzzle a few inches, then ram it back down, doing this a few times to scrub the breech, then pull the patch or tow all the way out.

Rinse the barrel as before when you started, but use plain water.

Dry the barrel using dry patches and your worm OR use the twine with the dry patches.

When dry, use a patch soaked in lubricating oil, or rust preventative, to swab the inside of the bore. You can even use cheap olive oil if you wish.

Wipe off any crud from around the touchhole.

Most folks remove the frizzen if they've been to the range or doing firing demos. IF you don't have a spring vice, you can gently use a vice grip, compress the frizzen spring just slightly and remove the frizzen screw and frizzen. Remove the jaw screw and the top of the jaw on the cock.

Scrub the pan and where the frizzen and lock meet with a toothbrush and water. Use q-tip swabs to clean out the lock retaining screw holes (don't leave cotton residue within them) Scrub the jaw screw, the underside of the cock that's still attached to the lock, and the top of the jaw..., then oil and reassemble. Scrub the frizzen itself, and wipe down the lock. Some folks like to put a lot of oil on the lock, some even dunk it in oil. Wipe it free of excess oil and reassemble. Replace in the musket, wipe the lock screws free of dirt and residue, oil the screws and replace them in the lock.

Wipe the outside of the barrel with an oiled rag. Wipe the ramrod with an oil rag and replace.

You're done.

For the next two nights before you go to sleep, run a patch down the barrel to check for rust..., if you find some, then run another patch down with some oil or rust preventative. A common mistake is that you don't soak the patch enough so you have very little oil left when you reach the breech area.

LD

That's how I do it