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Breaking in a New Flint

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john1964

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Greetings all,

I was wondering if there is any standard procedure for properly preparing a new gun for use?

Some have indicated that I need to clean the gun thoroughly before I use it. Is there anything I should specifically be doing (bore butter and the like) to "season" the barrel and get it off on the right foot?

Any info would appreciated.

Thanks,
john
 
Opinionated opinion, but. I season cast iron cookware, but have never use them for shooting. IMHO, if one wants bore problems, by all means season the barrel.

Otherwise, clean the piece up as normal and go shoot it.
 
Sachem said:
Greetings all,

I was wondering if there is any standard procedure for properly preparing a new gun for use?

Some have indicated that I need to clean the gun thoroughly before I use it. Is there anything I should specifically be doing (bore butter and the like) to "season" the barrel and get it off on the right foot?
Any info would appreciated.
Thanks, john

Just there's no confusion...I don't believe in the notion of "seasoning" either, preferring to clean my bores to the bare metal after every use...but that has nothing to do with using bore butter as a bore lube after cleaning.

I plaster my bores heavily with natural lube 1000 as a bore lube after thoroughly cleaning & drying them...then I dry patch out the excess bore butter when I go to the range or load up to go hunting.
 
I concur... seasoning is a myth thought up by T.C.Arms, the only seasoned iron in my house are my skillets :winking: Clean it well with soapy water or a thousand other concoctions ( I use denatured alcohol and murphies oil soap myself, sometimes ballistol)oil it well inside and out ( again I prefer ballistol or 3 in 1 oil)been working for me for a coons age.
Good shooting
 
I think you get any grease or oil that is in the action and barrel off and out, because you don't know what it is, or how long its been there. When you take the oil out of the barrel, using a patch with alcohol on it, feel the bore as you run the patch down and back out of the barrel. Do you feel any high spots? And drags, or grabs? Is the patch frayed when you pull it out, indicating that something is snagging the patch in the barrel? Run a dry patch down and see if this happens a second time. Locate where the sticking is. If you seem to hve several places in the barrel where the patch is dragging or sticking, you may have burrs left on the rifling. These will " Shoot out " eventually, just using a PRB. But you can also remove them quickly by wrapping 0000 steel wool around a bore brush, and polishing or burnishing the bore with the wool. If your jag hangs up on the touch hole liner, you want to remove the liner and file down the excess so you don't hang up. This may be a chore for a black powder gunsmith, as I agree with many here that a liner is not something that should be removed most times unless it is being replaced. But, we are speaking of a new gun.

Once everything is clear, and you have re-oiled the moving parts( Tumbler, contact points for the springs, pivot pins.) load her up and shoot. If the lock seems to be slow, or you feel any dragging, then you need to tend to the lock, remove high spots that are rubbing on the lock plate, or other parts, to reduce drag, and speed lock time. It is not unusual for new locks to not have the frizzen heel polished well. This is the little arm that sticks down and contacts the top of the frizzen spring, or " Feather spring.", on the outside of the lock, forward of the pan. Polish it and the contact point on the leafspring. Put some grease or oil on the contact points, and you should feel a noticeable improvement in how the frizzen opens and closes.
 
Wow! Great stuff folks. Thanks.

Question, and please forgive if it is "stupid" - what do think of WD40 as cleaning solution after the warm water/soap treatment?

Also, I have bore butter for the bore - Is Remington gun oil a good lubricant for things like the various lock parts?

Thanks again,
john
 
Again, Lots of opnions; I use WD40 to "dry" my barrel after cleaning with water. Then coat it heavily with pure Ballistol. Wie it dry before lading. In a test Steven Wardlaw did over a couple of months in a humidity chamber the only 2 products that really prevented rust were Lehigh Patch lube and Ballistol. That and my own experience were all I needed.

I use Accra Lube oil from im Chambers to lube my lock parts. I got a couple of little needle oilers from Brownell's.

Everything else is wiped down with Ballistol.
 
I clean my lock with hot soapy water, let dry for a minute or two and then spray with Rem Oil. Wipe off excess and be careful not to spray the Rem Oil on your flint. Seems to be working very well for me.

Ron
 
DrTimBoone said:
"...a couple of months in a humidity chamber the only 2 products that really prevented rust were Lehigh Patch lube and Ballistol..."

FWIW, IMO, test data like that is sort of "gee whiz" but really bears no resembalance to reality (ie: "two months in a humidity chamber"...who does that????)

An example of reality is that I have a dozen and a half muzzleloaders that have been shot, hunted, cleaned, lubed, and kept in my house over the past 15+ years with nothing but natural Lube 1000 bore butter in them, and the bores are still perfect today.

There no doubt in my mind that if I stored them a humidity chamber for two months, bad things would happen...which is precisely why I will never do that to any of my rifles no matter WHAT kind of lube I might be using.

Not jumping on you by the way, just offering a different view about test results like that

:v
 
My experience is that oil can soften and deteriate wood and will especially work on wood that meets metal. I also use the Bore Butter[T/C 1000] and have had great results for some 20 years...probably. I would use a light sewing machine oil [3 in 1 oil] for the lock. Put it on with a fine toothbrush. Remoil is expensive and contains teflon...Wd 40 sooner or later is going to cause you a problem...it is a penetrating oil and some would argue that it has very little lubricant value. I do not use petrolum products in the barrel and do believe in "seasoning". I go through my half dozen muzzleloaders about once a month with a patch of lightly coated bore butter. They never come out clean...just less the powder residue...I think that spells seasoning ...that's my 2 cents.... :thumbsup:
 
I use simple green to clean the barrel and lube it with bore butter. Been doing it this way for many years.

Frank
 
WD-40 is a water displacer. I use it to clean shotgun barrels with and it does a great job on the plastic residue that the modern wads leave behind. I use Breakfree CLP as a lube and I think WD-40 should never be used as a lube but as a cleaning agent. It is also useful for scrubbing out that "seasoning" after it has changed the POI of your rifle. Try it sometimes for removing the sticky residue left by a price tag or sticker.
 
I used Bore Butter for years then when I couldn't get it easily anymore I stumbled on to Ballistol.Both products worked perfectly for me.

Warning:....If your muzzleloaders are PC these products might not work for you :grin: :blah: :rotf:
 
paulvallandigham said:
If your jag hangs up on the touch hole liner, you want to remove the liner and file down the excess so you don't hang up.

Your new Lyman GPR has a patent breech, so you won't need to worry about the length of your vent liner, or your cleaning jag getting stuck on it.

:thumbsup:
 
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