Cleaning Lyman flintlock lock.

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Ken Morrison

40 Cal.
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Hi fellas,
I have a new flintlock Lyman Deerstalker and I'm new to muzzle loading.
I've been removing the lock after a shooting session and wiping the lock parts with a patch wet with black powder solvent to remove powder residue.
I'm wondering if I should do a better cleaning at the end of the season.
Should I take the lock apart to clean the parts or just flush it in a basin of hot soapy water then dry and re-oil?
While I'm on the subject should I remove the touch hole liner at the end of the season to clean the barrel? I've been cleaning with patchs and the BP solvent that came with the rifle. Sorry I don't remember the name.
Thanks go out to Lehigh for his help at the range in SGL 205. :hatsoff: :thumbsup:
Happy New Year. Good shooting.
 
I always remove the touchhole liner at every cleaning, and lube the threads with some kind of anti-sieze. I also clean the lock internals thouroghly (though I don't always completely diassemble the lock).

Rust can creep in small places, and I've heard of touchholes having to be drilled out and retapped.

Just an opinion....

Legion
 
Magumba said:
I've been removing the lock after a shooting session and wiping the lock parts with a patch wet with black powder solvent to remove powder residue.
While I'm on the subject should I remove the touch hole liner at the end of the season to clean the barrel?

When I first got into muzzleloading, a few decades ago, I would do as you fellas have been doing... I would take the lock out and clean it carefully. Now I do it a little more easily; I swish the lock around in a coffee can half ful of gasoline and then blow dry the lock. It has never damaged the finish on the lock and seems to get it pretty clean.

Don't get me wrong... if a owner prefers to clean delicately or even disassemble the lock... I'm all for it and appreciate the attitude. (The reason I do not disassemble threaded parts will be indicated below.)

When I install touch hole liners for customers or even for myself I face off the touch hole liner and thereby remove the screw slots.

OK... assembly/desassembly... when I tap a hole or cut threads of any sort, I want the threads to be as tight as possible. When I machine the large axle that goes through the lockplate I strive for a .0005" fit since I want it to turn freely but not fall out when you turn the plate upside down. When I thead (breech) a barrel I strive for a 'machinist's fit' so that the 'side play' is minimized to the greatest extent.

When I install the touch hole, I let the taper portion of the tap bring the screw to a halt just as the 'shoulder' touches.

Any time you start threading and unthreading bolts or screws... there is wear. With smaller bolts and screws the problem gets worse. By virtue of tightening the bolt or screw you can stretch the threads... not much, but over a period of time it accumulates. With stainless touch hole liners I wouldn't think you would get much rust unless the tapping job is 'loose' and gas is leaking out around the threads. I cannot really imagine this as the liner has a hole in it already and I think most of the gas would follow the path of least resistance. In any event, I've never experienced any rust around the touch hole liner.

But you know... like I said earlier... if you just enjoy carefully cleaning your smokepole then I say go for it.

One word of caution on lock removal. If the lock is inletted closely you might damage the lock mortise when you are taking it out and putting it back in. I tend to inlet very close and so I am very carefull about this removal of the lock (or the barrel for that matter). I do not know what design any particular person has that reads this thread but there is the little matter of the tang screw which might or might not thread into the triggerguard. In addition... some firearms have a breech so designed that the bolt that holds the lock in from the sideplate side might pass through a hole in the back of the breech. As a gunmaker/gunsmith I've seen just about every configuration you can imagine in 40 years.
 
I wouldn't remove the liner (I also file mine to remove the screw slot) but different strokes for different folks. I do remove my lock every time but the inner workings shouldn't have any crap on it at all if it's fitted well. I just find it easier to clean around the lock area with the lock removed. The pan, frizzen pivot and cock jaws seem to get all the crud on mine. Just my opinion of course.
 
Removing the touch hole liner will create a dangerous condition eventually. They should never be removed. The lock is best cleaned with dishwashing liquid or windex and an old tooth brush under running warm water in the kitchen sink. Dry and oil the lock when your finished. Excessive cleaning ruins a lot of guns. Gasoline is a major cancer causing agent and a fire hazard. It's good for cars and bad for people.
 
I just clean the crud off the outside of the lock. The internals usually do not need anything but a drop of oil here and there if anything. Once every year or so I will take the lock apart and clean up and recoat the internals with a thin layer of 3 in 1.

I don't pull the touchhole liners because all would require an easy out to remove. I don't have any with a screw driver slot. I use anti-sieze when I install them and file them off smooth.
 
As Legion said you should remove and clean the touch hole liner and barrel threads each time you do a breakdown cleaning and use a thin coat of antisieze when you reinstal it.
However the lock internals is one place you should never use soap and water. In my 18 years of serviceing and repairing these weapons the best method [short of completely disassembling the lock] is to spray the inside down with WD-40 using an old tooth brush to brush away the heavy gunk then rinse again with WD-40 and let set to drain off while you clean the barrel. Then relube the friction points and reassemble in the rifle. The reason not to use soap and water on the lock is there are many small hidden places where water can go and short of disassembling the entire lock they will never copletely dry out, rusting away from the inside out.

Toomuch
................
Shoot Flint
 
I shoot a flint Lyman Deerstalker, and a flint Lyman GPR...I don't take the touch hole out more than once every couple of years, just to be sure I can get it out. I do clean by immersing the touch hole in hot soapy water and working a patch up and down the bbl. While I'm doing this, I toss the lock into the hot water. When the bbl is clean and dry, it gets a coating of Wonderlube...I admit that I squirt some WD 40 into the touch hole, and I use Bore Scrubber on the lock after I've dried it off, followed by WD 40 and then a lube...Hank
 
I agree with Voyageur. I can't remove my vents without an easy out and see no need to. Vents and nipples need cleaned too, so they get cleaned while I am cleaning the barrel. The threads get lubed, when I lube the barrel. In about 30yrs. it has not created a problem on my new guns and you can tell on my old 150+yr. old guns it wasn't a problem for them either. My locks go in the sink of warm water and I tooth brush them clean, pat them dry and spray them with Ballistol. I let them hang for a day or two on the edge of my waste paper basket and then wipe out the excess oil. If you shoot allot, it wouldn't take long before all the bolt and screw removal everytime, would have many things unsafe from stretched and loosened threads. JMHO I will carry on as I have in the past.
 
For my Flinters, I always clean the lock after a shooting session. It goes into a bucket of hot water, with a little dish soap. I use an old toothbrush to scrub the pan and frizzen. Be sure to rinse well with clear warm water, and dry. I use a hairdryer. I then oil lightly all moving parts, and wipe excess with a rag, being careful to keep any oil off the face of the frizzen. I also always remove the touchhole liner when cleaning the barrel. Just use a good anti seize type grease on the threads when reassembling, just a very little will do. I have never had a problem, following this procedure.
 
You don't need to take your lock apart to clean it. Drop it in a bucket of water with a alittle soap and scube it with a small brush. After that use a heat source to dry it, like a propane torch. Just make sure you don't over due it.
I use a air compressor and blow the water out until it's dry and then oil it and use the compressor to blow the oil into the moving parts. It works really well.
As far as the barrel goes mine is pinned onto the stock so I remove the touch hole liner and insert a rubber hose into the hole. The hose goes into a bucket of water with alittle soap and I use my ramrod and a cleaning patch to pull the water into the barrel. A smiple way to do it and I never had a problem... ssettle
 
Lehigh, Glad you found the post. Good shooting.
Thanks for all the help.

Drive and hunt safely you don't want to fly in an EMS helicopter.
 
Good intelligent question. :hatsoff:
These fellows, in here, sure know their stuff. I usually use the bathtub (She "made me" quit using the kitchen sink years ago!" to wash my barrel with hot soapy water and using a tight patch as a piston to swish water through the barrel. A good drying an a better oiling follows. Cleaning the tub is harder this way, though!
The lock shouldn't need much cleaning, inside, if your lock fits tight along the top and little soot can invade?
I tend to side with the "leave them parts alone" philosophy of gun disassembly unless absolutely necessary. Thus maybe removing the t-h liner once and coating it with antiseize ( I use do-drill) is OK?
I fear to admit I use my ctg.-gunsmith's ultrasonic cleaner & lube on my locks, though this is cheating. It does clean and follows with a bath of water-displacing lube-perservative! Oil and a little grease on the polished parts and...
The biggest causes of deterioration of clients' ML's, I've dealt with, over the decades, is failure to clean and pamper the bbl&bore, then around the touch-hole area. The flash removes the lube, in there, and rust/corrosion starts the next micro-second when the corrosive soot hits it.! I regularly clean/repair antique ML's and it is amazing how little the metal is deteriorated if well cared for.
'Course I defer to "these feller's" experience and wisdom. My memory aint too good (Not that I ever claimed to know much), and I am wrong about 20 times a day according to "the missus"! :yakyak:
 
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