Brown Bess Update/More Questions re cleaning

[FlinterNick]

When I first started shooting I never removed the barrel for fear of wrecking the stock. I would block off the vent hole and then clean out the barrel with soap and water and then oil the bore.

I found in time that this wasn’t the healthiest option for the stock and its finish as sometimes water would get in the mortise and barrel channel and under the ramrod.

As I progressed in the hobby I began removing the pins.

The biggest problem with removing the barrel is the pins.

I’d always recommend extra care and detail to the pins themselves, ensure there are no burrs on the pins and they’re polished and smooth, this can be accomplished with carbide paper or a rotary tumbler, i round off edges of the pins and countersink the lug holes for easier and smoother access. I also harden and temper the pins so they have some spring to them, in a normalized state they tend to bend out of shape which can mare up the wood, and if too hard they can wear out the lug.

I also slightly shorten the pin to make sure they’re below the surface of the stock (as Dave mentioned above), so that when I drift out the pins my point of entry is guided.

I always coat the pins in wax so that they have some mild friction in the stock, but not too much.

For cleaning the barrel I don’t use a fouling scraper, I use scotch brite Brillo bads (soapy steel wool) with a worm and a wood rod). This burnishes the bore while cleaning it. Then I oil, grease and reassemble. I use renaissance wax on the outside of the barrel.

The lock I always dissasemble and clean in an unltrasonic bath.

I pretty much always remove the barrel, as I can with care, once you get in a pattern of doing it, its very easy.

The stock I wash with Dr.Bonners Castile soap and warm water and towel dry then apply some oil to touch it up.

In the field……. I do not dissasemble the gun, I just wipe it down with a cloth and some soapy water, disassembly in the field is where many accidents happen and parts can be easily lost in tall grass.

The only part of the gun that ought not be removed is the breechplug, you really need a special vise and training on removing it without damaging the barrel or threads. I’ve seen many folks destroy a breech trying to remove the plug with common household tools.

 

[maillemaker]

While it's always a good idea to clean a black powder gun as soon as possible, it's not going to disintegrate into dust if you don't get to it in a couple of days. Pyrodex is another matter - the fouling from that stuff will corrode steel overnight. But I have found black powder fouling to be fairly tame. However, when I get home my guns are immediately in an air-conditioned environment.

I also find that it is beneficial to do at least a quick clean with some Ballistol before leaving the range. This buys you some time before a thorough cleaning also, but also makes detailed cleaning easier when you get to it.

As others have noted there is no need to routinely remove a barrel for cleaning. I've been competition shooting for a decade and I know many shooters who will not remove their barrels from their guns so that they do not change the way the gun shoots. Many pack the barrel channel with furniture wax as was noted previously.

I've not found any advantage to boiling or even hot water in cleaning. Things do dissolve better in hot water but I haven't noticed any difference in cleaning effort or efficacy.

You'll find that the Pedersoli Brown Bess has an almost mirror-polish finish. This is unlikely to last. Eventually you will need to scrub at a stubborn spot and then that spot won't be mirror shiny anymore. I tend to clean my "white" barrels all over with a 3M green scrubby and this leaves a uniform matt finish. I removed my Pedersoli Brown Bess barrel once to do this to the entire barrel easily. I do the same thing with my US smoothbores with white barrels.

 

[shaman]

I like that idea with the 3M pad. In fact, I bought my Ruger Hawkeye stainless, because the finish could be put back with a green pad.

 

[springfield art]

Huzzah!

I'm pleased to report that I finally got my Brown Bess out over the weekend and fired it for the first time. I got good results with some FFG Goex. I did not get many shots off, but the 'Bess functioned well.

I tried both the .69 ball in a paper cartridge load as well as a patched .715 ball. Both worked well.

Now comes the next question: How do you clean the thing?

I've cleaned muzzleloaders before, but the design usually let me release the barrel from the stock/action and just take it into the shower with me. 'Bess is not going to be as easy.

I realized as I was Googling the issue this morning that I did not have a breech scraper jag. I do have a nice cleaning jag, plenty of 2X2 cleaning patches, and a worm.

Nice thing about Besses: no "patent breech" or snakey flash channel, just a pure touch-hole into a flat, plain, barrel, easy to clean! Yeah, that's the only thing about the Bess, you don't want to remove the barrel each time, but you'll get lots of tips here. I think I used to plug the touch hole with a wooden toothpick or something, and and pour in hot water and dump it and just keep cleaning and swabbing. I haven't cleaned one in some time, used to do Rev War enacting. You're on the right path! Good luck!

 

[wulf1928]

I have never read so much "over kill"......Here is my method, plane and simple. I use "MAP".....Map is Murphys oil soap,Hydrogen Peroxide,and
alcohol....in even amounts. After shooting, I remove the lock and run five map soaked patches down the barrel. Then I run a couple dry patches and then I dry it out. Then I wash the lock under running water, air blow the wet off and wd40 the guts, and dry that off and re-
assemble the whole thing.

 

[wulf1928]

The computer quite before I was finished.....I don't bother oiling the bore but double check it each day after. I have never had any rust Period.
If you don't believe me that is just too bad. This method works perfect for me as it has for the past 37 years. I even know of a few who used
nothing but alcohol and were happy with their results. Try it if you have the guts to experiment. Oh yea,,,,the whole procedure takes me about 15 to 20 minutes and no mess. I hope you are able to put these two posts together....

 

[bpd303]

I also use MAP when I can't flush the barrel. It does work like a treat for me too.

 

[FlinterNick]

I have never read so much "over kill"......Here is my method, plane and simple. I use "MAP".....Map is Murphys oil soap,Hydrogen Peroxide,and
alcohol....in even amounts. After shooting, I remove the lock and run five map soaked patches down the barrel. Then I run a couple dry patches and then I dry it out. Then I wash the lock under running water, air blow the wet off and wd40 the guts, and dry that off and re-
assemble the whole thing.

Aside from removing the barrel, Your method is the same as the overkill methods.

 

[smoothshooter]

No need to remove the barrel, remove the lock and plug the touch hole (I prefer bamboo toothpicks but regular ones work OK) pour water in the barrel and let soak while you clean the lock, pour out the water and pull the toothpick, scrub out the barrel until happy and then rub everything down with your favorite oil.

Anything more is just added work for no benefit.

When you pour the water down the barrel be sure to slosh it around some by plugging the vent hole and barrel, then upend the butt of the gun,
Then the muzzle, then the butt, then the breech. Repeat as necessary.
Then unplug the muzzle and dump out the dirty water. Then finish cleaning using whichever method works for you.

 

[smoothshooter]

Huzzah!

I'm pleased to report that I finally got my Brown Bess out over the weekend and fired it for the first time. I got good results with some FFG Goex. I did not get many shots off, but the 'Bess functioned well.

I tried both the .69 ball in a paper cartridge load as well as a patched .715 ball. Both worked well.

Now comes the next question: How do you clean the thing?

I've cleaned muzzleloaders before, but the design usually let me release the barrel from the stock/action and just take it into the shower with me. 'Bess is not going to be as easy.

I realized as I was Googling the issue this morning that I did not have a breech scraper jag. I do have a nice cleaning jag, plenty of 2X2 cleaning patches, and a worm.
[/QUOTE

I had my Pedersoli Brown Bess for about 10 years. Shot it a lot.
The only time I had it out of the stock was when I browned it the second year.
Did the full clean like you would if do if not planning to shoot again for days or weeks, over a hundred times. Was always afraid of chipping the wood around the pin holes from frequent removing and inserting them.
A good clean up can be done in 20 minutes, inside and out.
I am a big fan of breech plug scrapers. You will need a thread adapter for connecting the scraper and any other brushes or implements to the end of your ramrod.
Track of The Wolf is a great source for these. Buy two of everything so you have spares.

 

[SlidePicker]

I'd never thought of using alcohol in gun cleaning until I read about it here. So I gave it a try. When I used it on a percussion pistol, a little oozed back from the muzzle and instantly marred the stock finish badly. It is shellac! I've been trying to French polish it, but haven't yet gotten it back nearly as nice as it was. Nice thing about shellac is that I can keep working on it till it's right, or strip it all off and start over. Anyway, be careful what you get on your finish.

 

[m4fun]

Founds this thread and I am a newbie and just acquired a used Brown Bess. The barrel has some light surface rust and so far read the green scotch-bright pad. Any other ideas or thoughts for the outside?

 

[wulf1928]

Huzzah!

I'm pleased to report that I finally got my Brown Bess out over the weekend and fired it for the first time. I got good results with some FFG Goex. I did not get many shots off, but the 'Bess functioned well.

I tried both the .69 ball in a paper cartridge load as well as a patched .715 ball. Both worked well.

Now comes the next question: How do you clean the thing?

I've cleaned muzzleloaders before, but the design usually let me release the barrel from the stock/action and just take it into the shower with me. 'Bess is not going to be as easy.

I realized as I was Googling the issue this morning that I did not have a breech scraper jag. I do have a nice cleaning jag, plenty of 2X2 cleaning patches, and a worm.

I have been shooting ml's for 70 years and finally discovered "MAP"= Murphy's Oil soap....Alcohol.. Hydrogen peroxide. I use five soaked
patches one at a time down the barrel [that has been plugged] when the last one comes out, dry and oil the barrel. Job done ! Then wash
the lock that you removed and dry and oil. I know I am going to get a lot of feed back but I know what I'm doing. Never had any rust!

 

[Grenadier1758]

Founds this thread and I am a newbie and just acquired a used Brown Bess. The barrel has some light surface rust and so far read the green scotch-bright pad. Any other ideas or thoughts for the outside?

To keep the exterior surface of the barrel of the King's Musket (Brown Bess) armory bright, the historic method was to use a mild abrasive such as brick dust. The green Scotch Brite pad works well. 0000 steel wool will also work to bring back the shine. You really don't want the near mirror like polish that can be achieved using a buffing wheel and polishing rouge.

 

[PathfinderNC]

At our recent Rev War reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, I invited several members to join me in a musket cleaning session. I introduced them to the miracle of Windex. They were amazed at how the fowling dissolved before their very eyes as I sprayed it on those cruddy fowled locks. Then I showed them how I insert a toothpick into the touch hole, pour canteen water down the barrel ( maybe a quarter pint) and covered the muzzle with my thumb and sloshed the gun around, then pouring out the black water. After three procedures I ran a cleaning patch down the tube and gave a quick swab, followed by patch- dampened with Windex. Three patches later the bore was clean and I used Synthetic Motor Oil on a patch to finish up. Then did the same with the lock using the motor oil.
The guys were amazed at how easy clean-up was.

 

[2 shots]

i send mine to the dry cleaners.

 

[ZUG]

Nice thing about Besses: no "patent breech" or snakey flash channel, just a pure touch-hole into a flat, plain, barrel, easy to clean! Yeah, that's the only thing about the Bess, you don't want to remove the barrel each time, but you'll get lots of tips here. I think I used to plug the touch hole with a wooden toothpick or something, and and pour in hot water and dump it and just keep cleaning and swabbing. I haven't cleaned one in some time, used to do Rev War enacting. You're on the right path! Good luck!

Here is an India made Brown Bess with its breach plug removed. As you can see it does NOT have a flat faced breach plug. That hole is .375" in diameter and .350" deep. It's a nice place for powder residue to hide.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

Hi,
You can remove the barrel on the Bess. Is this a Pedersoli? If so, take out the lock bolts and remove the lock for cleaning. Then remove the tang bolt on the barrel and there are barrel pins to be tapped out with a pin punch or a nail with the point ground flat. You will see pins for the ramrod pipes and the barrel pins are the other ones. If a Pedersoli, the forward sling swivel screw does not need to be removed as it would on a real Bess. It doesn't make any real difference on a Pedersoli but on real Besses all pins are tapped from lock side to be removed from the side plate side. They are installed from the side plate side. Be careful to tap the pins slowly the first time and make sure the end coming out does not catch any wood splintering it. If it looks to be pushing up wood, tap it back in and try removing it from the other side. Now, a little trick. When the pins are removed the first time, file or grind them slightly shorter so they will only be flush with the wood on one side. That way the hole on the other side will guide your punch in the future when removing the barrel again and keep it from slipping off the end of the pin marring the stock. Also, sand the edges of the ends a little before inserting the pins after cleaning the barrel. With the tang bolt and pins out, hold the gun barrel side down over a bench or table with the muzzle resting on the surface but the breech held up slightly above the bench and give the stock a good rap on the bottom by the breech until the barrel drops out onto the bench. That is a better way to remove a barrel rather than grabbing it at the muzzle and levering it out. The latter way can wear the stock at the breech. Clean the barrel and lock as you normally do. I recommend rubbing the bottom of the barrel with beeswax or buff a little paste wax on it. Return it to the stock, tap the barrel pins in (if you want to be authentic, tap them in from the side plate side), screw in the tang bolt, install the lock and screw in the lock bolts. Do not crank down on any bolt. Just tighen them until snug and no more.

dave

Perfect Dave. Exactly how I do it.