cleaning a fullstock flinter

[dave payne]

OK Guys...I know some of you will laugh but.....after shooting my old half stock (hooked breech) flinter for 30 years that was a cinch to clean....I now have anew fullstock flinter and didn't realize what a pain in the rear they are to disasemble for cleaning....can help this old dog learn a new trick ( as in giving me some cleaning tips for cleaning my new fullstock)

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

If you do a search you will find that the jury is undecided, some remove others do not.

I do as it adds to the overall experience. I figure those that don't are shortcutting.

 

[torn moc]

Remove the lock...plug the vent with a feather and pour some soapy water down the bore...
swab with a patch & jag....
pour out the barrel and repeat...then rinse...
easy as can be.. run some dry patches down the bore and then oil the bore
then tend to your lock as normal;..
You dont have to disassemble the total rifle every time ya clean the barrel....

 

[MikeC]

I find fullstock flintlocks are the easiest to clean. I do the barrel fully at the range and a lite outside cleaning with a alcohol dampened patch, then only takes another 15 minutes tops at home to finish.

Make up a mix of the following.
3 parts alcohol
2 parts hydrogen peroxide
1 part murphy's oil soap

Plug up the venthole pour a little down the barrel don't need much, put your finger over the muzzle and swish it back and forth for few minutes then dump, repeat a second time, run a few patches until dry and the patches are clean. Run an oiled patch down the barrel and it's done.

At home I remove and clean the lock with hot running tap water and a little soap, while it's drying wipe down the outside of the gun, oil the lock and install, your done.

 

[29caliber]

Does anyone remove the frizzen from the lock in order to clean the screw that holds it on the lock? If so, how do you remove it? If not, how do you clean this area? Thanks, Tom

 

[rabjr]

Does anyone remove the frizzen from the lock in order to clean the screw that holds it on the lock? If so, how do you remove it? If not, how do you clean this area? Thanks, Tom

I do, I just use my mainspring vise to take some pressure off then unscrew the screw.

 

[rice1817]

I remove mine periodically using one of those screw clamps used for putting even pressure on the mainspring during lock takedown. Mine is adjustable and works fine on the small frizzen spring. Usually though, a good toothbrush/solvent cleans it good enough for me. A little WD-40 to displace any moisture and a drop or 2 of bear oil and it is ready for the next outing.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I have guns that are over 20 years old that have never had the barrels removed. There is so little wood on the forestocks of my custom guns that constant removal would not be a good idea.
My barrels are pinned.

I had never heard of removal of a pinned barrel for general cleaning til I came to this site.

I remove the lock a little more frequently than that but the wood to metal fit there is so good it is not needed too often.
Downpours, etc., call for different measures.

 

[Swampman]

Use a round toothpick. A feather won't keep the water from ruining the stock finish.

Don't use alcohol, it will ruin your stock finish.

Don't use hydrogen peroxide, it causes rust.

Tepid water, winshield washer fluid, or Windex work great.

Never remove the barrel, you will ruin your stock. Never disassemble the lock, you will break springs & ruin the lock over time.

Cleaning ruins a lot of guns.

 

[hpbear101]

I remove the lock and wash in hot soapy water then set aside to let dry. I remove my vent liner and have a piece of tubing that is the same diameter as the vent hole. I then put the tube in a bucket of hot soapy water. Wtth a tight patch in the bore you can pump the water back and forth until clean. Then rinse with fresh water. Wipe down the exterior, and lock. I coat the vent liner with a dab of choke tube grease (eases removal later), lube everything up and put the lock back on.

I see where Dixie (as well as others I'm sure) sell a brass clamp that clamps a fitting over the vent hole and has a tube that you put in water to accomplish the same thing if you do not have a liner or dont wish to remove the liner.
Works good for me!

Tom

 

[Birddog6]

I use this method to clean all my flintlocks & percussions, longrifles and halfstocks. I use dishwater liquid soap & cold water for the flushing solution. (or 2 oz of Ballistol per gallon of water in a jug)
I put the rifle upside down in a cradle & remove the lock & have the barrel end a little lower than the buzzle. This way if I get any seepage out of the clamp or fitting, it stays on the Outside bottom of the barrel & NOT down into the barrel channel.

Next thing I do is take a breech scraper & scrape the accumulated fouling off the breech face. It takes about 15 seconds & knocks all that thick crud off the breech face. (Note: they make a special scraper for a GPPR & T/C or you can take a standard blade scraper in .36 cal & make one for them by rounding the edges of the blade to the contour of the patent breech interior. On a 40-45 you may need a .32 cal on for this)

Then remove the range rod & invert the rifle muzzle down & bump the breech with your hand & the fouling will fall out. Now put the rifleback in the cradle upside down & connect the Flush Kit & wet a patch, put it on a jag on a range rod with a bore protector & take it to the breech & then suck the barrel full of the solution & just leave the rod hanging out at the muzzle, with the barrel full of solution. (You may need to support the rod at the handle).

Then while the barrel is soaking I & clean the lock asm. under faucet with a old toothbrush, blow dry with air & or dry with a paper towel & take a tiny screwdriver & work the towel into the cracks & etc., then spray the lock down entirely including the flint, with Ballistol aerosol & pat dry with a paper towel & set asside.

Back to the rifle in the cradle, I take a cleaning jag & a tight patch, & start swabbing back & forth in full strokes to flush the barrel real good for about 20 strokes. Change patches & do it again, change patches and do it again til I am sure it is clean. Then I take the jag off & put on a breech scraper & check for any fouling. Scrape if necessary & if there is any fouling I put on a Breech Brush & brush the breech.

Then back to the jag & wet patch & flush again. Then I swab with a dry patch a time or two. I wad up 2 patchs & put them in the bore & shove them to the breech with the jag & hold it there tight with the ramrod & then take a worm & pull it & check it for moisture & fouling. Then I do 2 more. And 2 more if necessary to BE SURE THE BORE IS COMPLETELY DRY.

When dry, I then squirt a lil Non-Aerosol Ballistol in the barrel from a pump spray bottle & wet a patch real wet with same Ballistol & again swab & force some out the vent. (By doing this you just lubed the cone of the vent.

When I am satisfied it is lubed real good, I install the lock & close the frizzen on a dry patch so any excess Ballistol will run out the vent & be absorbed in the patch at the frizzen. You can do all the same with BreakFree which I used before I found Ballistol & it works good also.

Now keep in mind this is not a Maybe this will work, this is a "I KNOW " it will work proceedure.

Some tell me I go to too much detail, I know it works. I know I don't have any rust in the bores of my rifles & have done this for 30+years, so it must work.

It is IMPERATIVE that you get ALL of the moisture out of the barrel and at the breech before you put the gun oil in the bore.

It is IMPERATIVE that you Reswab the bore the Next day & the 3rd day just to be sure you got it all lubed & etc.

 

[Dane]

I've been building, shooting and cleaning fullstocks for about 16 years.

You don't need to remove the barrel or touch hole liner to clean them. (some liners are not removable at all) Do!! remove the lock, every time. You need to clean behind them, clean off powder residue, and lubricate. As well as clean where the pan meets the barrel.

I agree, don't use peroxide. I use Moose Milk, or some other home concoction. Room temperature water works just as well.

Flush tubes do make the job a little easier as well.

ALWAYS coat the inside and outside of the barrel when finished to prevent rust.

I sue Break Free CLP. I used to use WD-40, but after a period of time, it will allow rust.

Have been using Break Free for 8 or 10 years and never had rust.

Hope this helps.

 

[Swampman]

I forgot.....

Never remove your touch hole liner. They should be made so it takes an Ez-Out to remove them.

 

[Darkgael]

Remove the lock...plug the vent with a feather and pour some soapy water down the bore...
swab with a patch & jag....
pour out the barrel and repeat...then rinse...
easy as can be.. run some dry patches down the bore and then oil the bore
then tend to your lock as normal;..
You dont have to disassemble the total rifle every time ya clean the barrel....

Yep. That's just how I do it. I do use a toothpick in place of a feather. I let the soapy water sit for five minutes or so. I add two more steps by coating the stock quickly with Minwax paste finishing wax before cleaning and then buffing it off when all else is done.
Pete

 

[tg]

I only remove the barrel after a hunting season as I do get very wet most every year, I like to clean it up and reset the barrel into the stock with a thin coat of car wax.I have found no problems with rust from season to season, I have let it go two seasons now and then and had a very light powder rust which wooled off easily, this is with barrels that were not browned or blued just aged a bit of patina,the browned barrels when I had some held up even better.

 

[bob4st]

...excellent info... haven't use my full stock Pedersoli yet... only been using the T/C... I needed to know this...
THANKS!...
Bob

 

[deanscamaro]

I hope you will allow a newbie to document an observation that I have found true as I try and learn this hobby. If one thing is constant, it is that very little is constant across ML'ers. Everyone has their method, be it cleaning, lubing, whatever and if someone has been in the hobby very long, they are comfortable with their method, even though it will be different from the guy next to them on the firing range or out in the field. A 30 year flinter at a range I visited in my research probably stated the most important lesson I have learned. ML'ing is all about developing a pattern to what you do, then following that pattern all the time (loading, tamping, lining up the target, firing, cleaning, lubing, etc.). Reading through this topic and reading about all the different cleaning methods just emphasizes that. There is constancy within one ML'er way of doing something, but not between ML'ers.
:bow: :bow: :v :v

 

[Dphar]

OK Guys...I know some of you will laugh but.....after shooting my old half stock (hooked breech) flinter for 30 years that was a cinch to clean....I now have anew fullstock flinter and didn't realize what a pain in the rear they are to disasemble for cleaning....can help this old dog learn a new trick ( as in giving me some cleaning tips for cleaning my new fullstock)

Plug the vent by tapping a round toothpick in it.
Pour in a couple of inches on 1 part widow cleaner and 2 parts water mix. Keeping it in a spray bottle helps.
Slosh this around a few times by putting a finger over the barrel and up ending the gun.
Dump.
Run in a couple of wet patches then repeat the first process.
Dump and wet patch. If not fairly clean repeat.
If the patches are clean dump/spray in some clear water to rinse.
Wipe dry. Pulling the toothpick at about the 3rd patch it its fairly dry. The vacuum in the barrel with the vent plugged can suck a patch down the bore as the jag clears.
If you get black as the bore dries its likely iron oxide.
A good shot of gun oil, the light weight aerosol kind Like G-96 Gun Treatment or even current formula WD-40 will usually stop this. The petroleum distillate with displace the water.
Run a dry patch down and back then stand MUZZLE DOWN for a couple of hours. Then dry patch to check.
Too much oil in the bore can run out the vent and down the stock.
If the vent is plugged alcohol can be used to dry the bore of water as well or to wash out oil before loading.

Dan

 

[Dphar]

I have guns that are over 20 years old that have never had the barrels removed. There is so little wood on the forestocks of my custom guns that constant removal would not be a good idea.
My barrels are pinned.

I had never heard of removal of a pinned barrel for general cleaning til I came to this site.

I remove the lock a little more frequently than that but the wood to metal fit there is so good it is not needed too often.
Downpours, etc., call for different measures.

I might pull a barrel form a fixed breech gun once a year at most.
Too risky especially with full stock guns.

Dan

 

[Dphar]

I've been building, shooting and cleaning fullstocks for about 16 years.

You don't need to remove the barrel or touch hole liner to clean them. (some liners are not removable at all) Do!! remove the lock, every time. You need to clean behind them, clean off powder residue, and lubricate. As well as clean where the pan meets the barrel.

I agree, don't use peroxide. I use Moose Milk, or some other home concoction. Room temperature water works just as well.

Flush tubes do make the job a little easier as well.

ALWAYS coat the inside and outside of the barrel when finished to prevent rust.

I sue Break Free CLP. I used to use WD-40, but after a period of time, it will allow rust.

Have been using Break Free for 8 or 10 years and never had rust.

Hope this helps.

Break Free is good in bores but will form a hard grease as the solvents in it evaporate.
Can gum up lock/trigger parts.
Water soluble oil is not a good cleaner for BP either.

Dan