@64Springer is correct. Military longarms with barrel bands, like your Zouave, are meant to be disassembled for detail cleaning. Remover the ramrod first. Put the hammer at half-cock, and then turn the lock bolts almost but not quite all the way out, so they are standing a little proud of the sideplate, but still engaged with the threads in the lockplate. Turn the rifle lock side down, and push the two lock bolts simultaneously with your thumbs, to push the lock out of its mortise. Then remove the lock bolts the rest of the way. Note which bolt was in which position so you can replace them in the same holes when you reassemble. The lock should then lift right out, if it doesn't just drop out. Next remove the tang screw, then the forward barrel band, then the lower barrel band. Hold the rifle horizontally with both hands and turn it barrel side down. Gently and lightly bump the muzzle end of the barrel on a well-padded horizontal surface, like a folded towel on your workbench. This will loosen the barrel so it will drop into your palms. You do
not want to lift the barrel up and out of the stock by the muzzle unless it is a very loose fit. You can bend the tang that way.
Your friends who told you never to remove the barrel may have been thinking of full-stocked sporting rifles that have the barrel pinned to the stock. While you don't want or need to remove the barrel from these guns every time you clean them, you can do it with the right tools and reasonable care. Remove the ramrod, lock, and tang screw as above. Use a pin punch of a size that will not enlarge the hole, and
don't let it slip off the pin while you are driving the pin out. I was taught that pins go in from the right, out from the left (wedges usually go the opposite way). Also, don't drive the pins all the way out... just enough to release the barrel. When the pins are out far enough to release the barrel, turn the rifle barrel side down over a padded bench and gently work the barrel out of the stock, taking care that you don't stress or bend the tang. Put the stock in a safe place, so you won't break it, and replace the barrel in the stock as soon as you have done whatever you want to do with it. The reason for not dithering around here with the barrel out of the stock is that the fragile forend is best supported, less likely to warp or get broken, with the barrel in place.
While I don't think it was universally practiced, that is one traditional technique (except maybe for the coon fat... never heard of that). Frank Mayer, the old buffalo hunter and author of
The Buffalo Harvest, described using urine to clean his Sharps in camp. Urine is warm, free, and comes from a convenient dispenser. It works very well as a solvent because it contains ammonia, although mine also frequently has traces of beer. However,
it is very corrosive, and if you use it as a solvent, the barrel should be rinsed thoroughly with water afterward. Mayer also addressed rinsing with water after cleaning in his narrative, so he was well aware of the corrosion risk. Then dry the barrel and grease it as stated.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
