Cleaning a non removable barrel

[sdilts]

To keep from splintering the stock, file a taper on the ends of the pins.

 

[doubleset]

But rifles/pistols that use a full tang barrel and have a long fore-stock "pinned" to the barrel risk damage to the stock if a barrel is removed.

Yeah, that does not sound like a good situation. I guess I'd use the flushing nipple approach, but I've tried that on my own guns and didn't care for it (compared to just pulling the barrel off).

What did people do in the old days? Did they have their own special nipples in the 18th century? And what's the relation to having a full tang barrel? Aren't hooked breech guns with long forestocks made that are pinned? And why choose a pin over a wedge? Is it a matter of aesthetics?

 

[Reno]

I’m not so sure it would change the point of impact. The sights are on the barrel I suppose. But anyway. You can cover the nipple of plug the touch hole and pour the solution or hot water down the barrel. Let it set and
Then pour it out the end of the barrel. Then clean with patches and whatever solvent you might use. Then dry with patches.
I would go back in a few days and swab with patches again and coat with lightly oiled patches.
Be sure and clean the lock and nipple well or clean the touch hole, pan and lock.

 

[Okie Hog]

Is like ... glued into the stock?

In some guns the tang is permanently attached to the breech plug and held to the stock by a screw. Others have the barrel pinned to the stock. i know a man who turned his beautiful maple stock into firewood by attempting removal of the pins.

A couple of my muzzleloaders have the tang screwed into the stock. i clean the bores like my other guns, with tap water.

 

[McClura]

Like most said, no need to remove the barrel. One of my best, accurate, dependable flintlocks is the one I built in 1981, Willie Cochran lock, North Star Triggers, Large .54 barrel, 42", with plain maple stock with Auguafortis on the stock and some tung oil. I have never had the barrel out of it since I finished the rifle. I have shot thousands of rounds out of it over the years in competition and hunting. I just take the lock off of the rifle, turn the rifle with the touch hole down while resting at about a 45° angle on the butt plate. I run wet patches through it until pretty clean, a few dry patches and then a patch with CLP Break Free oil and leave it. I use the break free on my lock, stock and all metal parts on the rifle and have since I built it.
Maybe after a 3 day match and a couple of hundred rounds, I might use a breech scraper to get any fowling that is behind the touch hole. It was my first muzzleloader build and I left about a sixteenth space from the breech to the touch hole. I took too much off of the breech plug when doing the final lock down to match a flat. Never been a problem, just clean it ever so often.
Mike

 

[doubleset]

My Crockett rifle has the tang as part of the breech plug. But it's not screwed into the stock. Instead, a bolt runs through it to the trigger guard. So I clean it the same way I clean my Lyman GPR -- by pulling the barrel off and using the bucket of soapy water approach. Don't know what I'd do with a gun where the barrel was actually attached in some way to the wood with a screw -- probably not have one , or somehow "fix" that so it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[willfish4fud]

From TOW. Recommended to me by custom gun builder. Plug nipple. Add 10-15 drops. Brush bore n let sit for 15 mins. Dry patch til patches come out clean.
My guns are all hookedbreech. But with an almost 3 month Deer season i wanted a way to keep them clean n functional without having to do the take apart hot water full clean. I used this successfully this year until end of season when I removed barrel for thorough cleaning for off season storage.

 

[gunslinger922]

When I first started with muzzleloaders, I always used TC bore butter both on patches and to coat the bite after cleaning. Never had any issues with rust. Does nobody use this anymore and why?

 

[doubleset]

I don't cling to any particular ideology about BP barrel cleaning, and instead approach it as a purely practical matter. For my guns, I use the "pull the barrel and flush with bucket of hot soapy water approach" not because it's the "old way" or "traditional", but because I've tried the alternatives and discovered that I can do it faster, with less effort, and get better results with the old way.

But in a case like this I'd consider a more contemporary (= solvent-oriented) approach because I found the "leave it in the stock and flush with water through a flushing nipple" approach to just be a cumbersome pain. But different strokes (and sometimes a lot more strokes ) for different folks. I think you've just got to try the reasonable alternatives and see which one is least painful.

 

[doubleset]

When I first started with muzzleloaders, I always used TC bore butter both on patches and to coat the bite after cleaning. Never had any issues with rust. Does nobody use this anymore and why?

Just do a web search on bore butter and you can spend the next week reading all about this. There are two camps. Like many others, I've found that bore butter is not the way I want to go for the variety of reasons others have given.

 

[Grenadier1758]

For my percussion rifles with a pinned stock, I have a bolt with same threads as the nipple. I use that bolt to plug the nipple seat after I removed the nipple. I have Hot Shot nipples with the vented cone so simple blocking of the nipple won't plug the breech. I also like the cleanout-flush kits and methods as described by @OldRust. Track of the Wolf also has the percussion flush kits.

I really like the way flushing the bore using a flush kit cleans the fouling from the barrel. Water with a dash of dish washing soap is about the best black powder fouling solvent that I have found.

 

[Bruce]

just clean with moose milk works great

 

[doubleset]

Water with a dash of dish washing soap is about the best black powder fouling solvent that I have found.

Absolutely. I'm a Simple Green guy for guns, but use Dawn for my brass musical instruments. Green for guns; blue for brass?

Yesterday I discovered that Simple Green makes a MARVELOUS shooting patch lube!!

 

[Grenadier1758]

In truth @doubleset, any grease cutting soap is great for cleaning black powder fouling. Even plain water works, the effect of the soap just makes the cleaning a little bit easier.

A bit of soap in the shooting patch lubrication will work too. Anything to soften up the fouling is good. That's why there are more than 16,000 excellent patch lubes out there and each one is better than the others

 

[tenngun]

Yeah, that does not sound like a good situation. I guess I'd use the flushing nipple approach, but I've tried that on my own guns and didn't care for it (compared to just pulling the barrel off).

What did people do in the old days? Did they have their own special nipples in the 18th century? And what's the relation to having a full tang barrel? Aren't hooked breech guns with long forestocks made that are pinned? And why choose a pin over a wedge? Is it a matter of aesthetics?

Old guns had a breech plug and tang as one piece. The hooked tang/breech was a very late eighteenth century. I’m thing patten in ‘96.
How do you hold a barrel to a stock.
Bands? Used on some military guns. A screw from below. That’s seen on some guns from the 1970s.
A pin was almost invisible but very secure and pretty easy to make compared to a screw.
Wedges were a late invention. We don’t see them till the 1820s and pinning would remain popular through the teamsters of the ml era

 

[TreeMan]

I have two rifles with wedges/removable barrels. A flint Mortimer and a percussion Great Plains. Once I get the the wedges fit tight and the rifles sighted in I don’t remove the barrels ever again unless absolutely necessary. I clean them like they are pinned barrels.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I have always have BP rifles with a hook breach rifle making it easy to remove and clean. I recently bought a 32 cal full stock rifle with a barrel that can’t be removed. Shooting traditional BP. How do I clean it without ruining the full length stock. I’m used to using soapy water to clean my other rifles. Any suggestions

I have a Kentucky flinter and of course it has a pinned barrel. I bought a flush adapter that screws into the touch hole liner hole. It has a barbed end for a hose with a brass weight on it to keep it in the bucket of cleaning solution. This is a better way to do it than the clamp on style, at least I find it to be. Both can be found on the Track Of The Wolf website. I use a towel around the muzzle to keep solution from getting into the nose cap and wood. All that said, the last time I cleaned it, I didn't use a soapy water solution. With a breech scraper, copper brush and jag/patches I scrubbed the devil out of it with a petroleum based solvent. I did it until the patches came out clean. I scrubbed the lock with the same solution, hosed it down with wd-40 and blew the excess off with an air compressor. As an added protection, maybe seal the wood and nosecap with beeswax to help keep any errant solution from getting between the wood and barrel. My 2 cents, your milage may vary.

 

[stephenprops1]

Technically it can be removed but appears I would have to remove it from the stock. Looks like the action and barrel are not meant to be taken apart. Just different fro the hook breach design I’m used to

Check your buttstock. I once had Mowrey muzzleloader. To remove the barrel from the stock I had to remove 2 screws from the butt of the buttstock first, to remove the butt plate. Then I had to remove a long bolt that screwed from inside the buttstock into the barrel assembly. It was a bit of a pain, but it enabled me to remove the barrel.

 

[MAC1967]

I’ve not removed a barrel in 11 years of muzzleloading to clean a rifle - too risky to mar a stock … too much work too, when a cleaning solution and about a dozen patches do the same thing

 

[JackP]

I clean my percussion, barrel horizontal (pointed down slightly) in a fixture with a tube on the nipple and pump in hot soapy water until it's clean, then WD 40, then Mobil 1 synthetic. If you point the barrel up water will come out the muzzle and run under the barrel like crazy. This has worked for me for years. And I'm getting old

Jack