Cleaning a black powder revolver

[Billnpatti]

I took my Remington revolver to the range Sunday and gave it a wringing out. Like all black powder revolvers, it was pretty gunked up but still going strong. When I got it home, my plans were to disassemble it and dunk it in a pan of hot soapy water. Before starting, I wanted to review a video on the disassembly and cleaning of a Remington revolver. In the video, rather than dunking the revolver in a pan of soapy water, he sprayed everything with a 1 part Balistol in 10 parts water mixture. In the video it looked as if it really cleaned the parts and made the whole clean up rather easy. So, being curious and willing to give it a try, I disassembled my revolver just as it showed in the video, laid all the parts out and sprayed them thoroughly with the Balistol in water mixture. I started cleaning the various parts and giving them an extra spritz with the mixture and lo and behold it really does clean like magic. I was amazed at how quickly everything was cleaned up and ready for reassembly. The only thing I did differently was that I did not rely on the Balistol to provide the rust protection. I gave all of my cleaned parts a wipe with Baricade. Even the nipples were easily cleaned. He placed his in an empty shotshell to soak while I used a medicine bottle to soak mine in. No big difference there. Put them in, squirt in enough Balistol in water mix to cover them and give them a good shake and let them sit while I cleaned the other parts. I changed the dirty cleaning mix and shook them again and dumped them onto a paper towel. I then scrubbed each one with a toothbrush and gave it another spritz or two of the Balistol mixture, blew each one with a blast of compressed air, put choke lube on the threads and returned each nipple to its place in the cylinder. Easy Peasy!! I am sold on the 1:10 Balistol in water as a black powder solvent. Now, I am going to try using it on my rifles to see how it works there. I see no reason why It won't significantly simplify rifle cleaning. But, being a bit of a skeptic, I will have to see it for myself first. Otherwise, I will stick to the proven soapy water cleaning method that I have used for years.

 

[necchi]

It ain't rocket science, but it is kind of a big word.

Surfactant
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.

A lot of things work when added to water that will break the surface tension of the water as it contacts something else will aid in cleaning.

When you try the mix with your rifle, just take the same kind of care you did when doing the revolver. I'm pretty sure the results will be the same.

 

[Patocazador]

You said "black powder revolver" but were you using black powder or a substitute for shooting?

I know that some substitutes are more difficult to clean than 'Holy Black.'

 

[M. De Land]

The only thing I see wrong with the spray cleaning jobs Bill is it also cuts grease on internal parts that need it to lube them properly like bolt cams and legs. It also cleans the gun oil off internal screw bearing surfaces like on the hammer, trigger and bolt possibly leaving behind moisture from the mix.
The Gunzilla I've been using is working really well to do the same job and has no water or petroleum in it but I still take them apart to re-grease the bolt cam,legs, hand nose and ratches teeth. Any thing with water in it as the carrier I believe is suspect for internal cleaning which is impossible to avoid completely when spraying them down.. Mike D.

 

[Billnpatti]

It was the real black stuff, Goex 3f

 

[Billnpatti]

When the water evaporates, it leaves a coat of Balistol on all surfaces. However, I used an air compressor to blow everything off before wiping each part with a patch with Barricade. No water left and Barricade on all surfaces. No rust.....so far. I just cleaned the revolver on Sunday and I looked at it today for any signs of rust. I removed a couple of screws to see if the threads showed any signs of rust. So far so good. Still, it is a good suggestion and worthy of consideration. :hatsoff: I'll keep an eye on it until I am satisfied that there is no rust showing up.

 

[dikman]

At a 1:10 mix I reckon the water is doing nearly all the work, with the small amount of Ballistol merely acting as a surfactant, like necchi said. Wiping it down with some other protectant afterwards is a good idea, as the amount of oil left behind when the water evaporates will be pretty miniscule.

One thing I've noticed is that black powder residue is actually quite easy to clean out - almost anything seems to shift it. Sounds like you've got a good routine going, anyhow.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

If you think that the "sauce" you're using now works well, you seriously ought to try Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine at full strength! Best thing on the planet for black powder residue. Foams up on contact and emulsifies the residue. Non-toxic, and has its' own drying agent built-in. Just lube what ever you use it on.

I take the nipples off the cylinder & place in a small plastic cup and squirt-in some Bore Shine. Agitate every-so-often while cleaning the rest of the revolver. Wipe-off nipples with a paper towel and the residue wipes-off onto the towel.

On my Colts I run hot water down the barrels, then do a treatment with Butch's on a soaked patch. It takes an almost clean barrel and turns the patches BLACK with the residue the water didn't wash away! When the foaming reaction stops, the gun is clean enough to rinse in plain water.

Distributed with every Lyman rifle sold by Dixon Muzzleloading! Once you use it, plain water & dish soap won't enter your mind, lol!

Dave

 

[MSW]

good deal ... thanks for the post ... i'll have to give that a try ...

 

[wicket]

I like Ballistol, but don't like mail ordering it. I completely disassemble my colts (always impressed at the fouling and occasional cap fragments in there)and soak the parts in dish detergent and hot water. After cleaning i drop the parts into a tub of WD40 to displace water (lotta folks dislike WD40, but i haven't had a problem), wipe them off, and lube with automatic transmission fluid, with white lithium grease for the cylinder pin.

 

[MacRob46]

I don't like it as a rust protecting lube. It will displace water for sure but that is all I use it for. When we go to Highland Games I wipe down my sword blades with it but for serious rust protection, grease or any light gun oil works better for me.

 

[jaxenro]

Shot 5 or 6 cylinders full on my ASM 1862 on Monday I used 20 grains of Triple 7 followed by a wax pill (mutton tallow, beeswax, paraffin, jojoba oil mix) and the ball.

Afterwards I ran a patch soaked in jojoba oil* down the bore then clean patches until they came out clean and the bore was clean, then another oil soaked patch. Did the same for each chamber in the cylinder and wiped the frame down.

That's my typical cleaning regimen sometimes I break the gun down further and wipe down the inside with jojoba

*jokoba oil is a liquid wax that replicates the properties of whale oil

 

[dikman]

Jaxenro, I use wax pills too, but without the jojoba oil. Last time I shot off 55 rounds (using 20 gns. fffg) and when I cleaned the revolver I was surprised at how little residue came out of the barrel. Those wax pills seemed to do a pretty good job of cleaning the barrel during use.

 

[siamese4570]

I use windex on my stainless ruger old army. actually i use the cheap wally world windex knockoff. bp fouling just melts when the windex hits it.
siamese4570

 

[Billnpatti]

It was the Holy Black. I don't use any of the substitutes in any of my black powder guns. The only thing I have against the substitutes is that they are too darned expensive and they won't work reliably in a flintlock rifle. Nope, I was cleaning up black powder residue. I eliminate rust problems in the working mechanisms by completely disassembling my revolver when I clean it. Each part is cleaned with the Ballistol solution, rinsed and thoroughly dried before reassembling. When I reassemble the revolver, I wipe each part with a very light coat of Barricade. and lightly oil each working part. when it is reassembled, it is probably cleaner than when it came from the store brand new in the box.

 

[Dphar]

Back when "moose milk" became popular there were letters coming into the old Buckskin Report telling of corrosion problems with the stuff when used for cleaning since it does not clean as well as water.
Somewhere I have a reprint of an 1890s Army booklet on the TD and Service Revolvers. There method was to pull off the grips of the SAA and I assume the S&W also then slosh them in a container of hot water then into a container of Kerosene to drive off the water.
Then IIRC they relubed them when cool. Have not read this in years so this is just a synopsis.
I used to use a sink or pan on the cyl and barrel of percussion revolvers and wipe off the frame with only periodic disassembly for washing the internals. Would clean the bore and used toothbrush around all the nipples and other areas that trap fouling. When dry I would wipe the parts done with a light coat of oil and greased the cylinder pin. I generally reloaded the one I used most so I did not oil the chambers on this one except now and then. I only pulled the nipples now and then when I felt energetic or thought they needed to be checked.
This was with blackpowder. People using corrosive subs need to take extra precautions.
Dan

 

I started shooting BP 35+ years ago, before a lot of the new speciality chemicals were invented.
An old man then, taught me to use plain old rubbing alcohol.
Remove the cylinder. Put a cork in the breech end of barrel, fill with the alcohol, let set 5 minutes or so to soften the residue. Pour it into a container. brush and swab the barrel and frame clean and dry. wipe down with a light coat of oil.
Place the cylinder with nipples in the bowl. Stand it on end nipples down, let soak, then flip it. Brush and swab the chambers and around the nipple cavities. dry it and oil it.
I fill the trigger recess with a patch grease, keep fouling out of it, so only clean it out every few years. I cock hammer and fill down in bottom same way. I smear a very small dab on the hammer and the recess side walls also, so the smoke residue doesn't "cake" to the metal. Q=tip or such with alcohol removes this thin coating.
I remove nipples once a year. I use a very light dab of patch grease on the threads.
Warning do NOT let soak overnight or even a couple hours. Soak and clean within a few minutes.
I make paper cartridges for mine as they stay loaded all the time.

 

[Billnpatti]

This is where I learned about using the 1:10 mixture of Ballistol in water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui5uXl33n8g

He impresses me as being quite knowledgeable about black powder guns so I decided to try the cleaning mixture he uses. It works quite well and is inexpensive so I have just stuck with it. I have had folks suggest that I add a bit of Murphy's Oil Soap to the mixture. I may try that some day. I can't see how it would improve on the current mixture but I'll give it a try.

 

[Dave Colborn]

I typically clean with hot soapy water and have been happy with that. I had a guy give me some http://www.militec-1.com/

lube, and used that per the directions. Seems to not let the BP get as thick or stuck to the metal. I used it on one pistol and it seemed to clean up much more quickly. I usually take it all the way apart every three to four shootings and clean. After three I broke it down and it cleaned up like a dream.

I shot it again, and let it sit overnight just to see how it would do. Still cleaned up the next morning just as well. I thought I was on to something new, until I read their website, and it had already been tried out by muzzle loader shooters. Seems to be very good at keeping it lubed and shooting, as well as cleaning.

 

[Rick Son]

Take em apart and stuff in the diswasher!Reoil reassemble..