why were they called, BROWN BESS ?, when they were as shiny as a new silver dollar, lock & barrel, the BRIT'S were always cleaning them with BRICK DUST.? never seen one that was browned, original, back in the day. it was stated that the troops could be seen marching from a mile away. with the sun reflecting off of them.
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Cleaning new Brown Bess
- Thread starter Winters
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Enfield1
40 Cal.
Congratulations on getting a “Bess”. I have had mine for 13 years, now and it has been a more faithful friend than many people that I know. Jay Templin is correct in saying that water is all you need. If you don’t want to have to get an adapter for the ram rod, Smiling Fox Forge sells an iron tow worm that screws right on to the Bess rod. I have one and it works great. If you have access to a fabric store such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels, you can get a couple of yards of “t shirt” grade cotton cloth and cut it up for all the cleaning patches that you need for very little money. Keep shooting’ and send us a range report.
leadhoarder
45 Cal.
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I am pretty much a novice as well. I once ran a dry patch down a dirty bore and got one stuck as well. I dumped some ballistol oil down the bore and let it soak for a few minutes then pulled hard and it came out.
If the bore is fouled you need to go down using short strokes a little more at a time or use a solvent/oil to lube it. If it is not heavily fouled a dry patch works fine. That has been m experience anyways.
If the bore is fouled you need to go down using short strokes a little more at a time or use a solvent/oil to lube it. If it is not heavily fouled a dry patch works fine. That has been m experience anyways.
As you, @Winters, may guess from my avatar, I have cleaned my Long Land Pattern King's Musket (Okay, Brown Bess) more than a time or two. If all you have is the parts that came with a Pedersoli Bess and the wherewithal to shoot it, that implies that you only have the steel ram rod that came with it. The threads are a metric thread that won't match up with parts available at most local gun shops. You are correct that the bulbous tip isn't too likely to grab a cleaning patch. You will need bamboo skewer which is bigger than a toothpick to plug the touch hole. You will need some sort of soft cloth to use as a cleaning rag. You may have to sacrifice a t-shirt to get cleaning patch material. Yo should have a string to tie the patch to the bulbous tip on the ramrod a leave an end long enough to be able to pull the patch from the barrel if necessary. Cold water, warm water, hot water or boiling water with a bit of dish detergent soap will effectively clean the fouling from the bore of your smoothbore (its not a rifle) Brown Bess. Soap and water is also used for cleaning the lock. Use as many patches as you need to clean the bore. A grayish patch is good enough. Use dry patches to remove as much of the water as possible. Dampen a patch with rubbing Since you don't have a good rust inhibiting lubricant, you can use any of the household cooking oils, Canola, corn, olive, whatever, to protect the metal while you get a can of Birchwood Casey Barricade.
If you have access to a hardware store a 1/2" of 5/8" dowel rod 48" long can be used as Britsmoothy suggests. Use a kitchen paring knife to carve a few circumferential grooves around one end of the dowel rod to secure the patch. Within muzzle loading, you have lots of options to get your new Bess clean.
Yes, patina in the form of the spots will always appear. Steel wool, the gray Scotchbrite pads (which you can buy at the hardware store when you buy the dowel rod) will clean most of those spots off.
Now that you have a patch stuck in the bore, try turning your rod clockwise to break it loose now that the patch is damp. You will need something to grip the end of your rod securely to pull it out. May take a tug or two to get things moving. I have a bench vise to capture the end of the rod. On most of my rods I can thread a cross Tee to gain advantage to pull it out. I have also used a strip if leather boot lace to tie a timber hitch on the exposed rod to tie to a secure post to pull the rod and patch out.
If you have access to a hardware store a 1/2" of 5/8" dowel rod 48" long can be used as Britsmoothy suggests. Use a kitchen paring knife to carve a few circumferential grooves around one end of the dowel rod to secure the patch. Within muzzle loading, you have lots of options to get your new Bess clean.
Yes, patina in the form of the spots will always appear. Steel wool, the gray Scotchbrite pads (which you can buy at the hardware store when you buy the dowel rod) will clean most of those spots off.
Now that you have a patch stuck in the bore, try turning your rod clockwise to break it loose now that the patch is damp. You will need something to grip the end of your rod securely to pull it out. May take a tug or two to get things moving. I have a bench vise to capture the end of the rod. On most of my rods I can thread a cross Tee to gain advantage to pull it out. I have also used a strip if leather boot lace to tie a timber hitch on the exposed rod to tie to a secure post to pull the rod and patch out.
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@Grenadier1758 You are correct in assuming that I only have the parts that came with the Bess. I have tried running the ramrod down several times, and have turned it clockwise as you suggested. Still nothing though, unfortunately. I will keep trying nevertheless. I'm not sure what I can use to grip the patch that I can put on my rod.
I keep welding rods with a fine hook on one end for retrieving lost patches. With a Bess you may need to add something similar to a dowl or buy a tow worm or similar.
You need what is called a patch worm or tow worm. Mine looks like a corckscrew with two prongs that will twist into the patch and grab it. Bear in mind that I have been doing this for awhile and I have a lot of tools to keep my Bess ready.
I have a button jag and adapter on the way. If I am unable to get the patch out before then (next week) will the Bess be okay?
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/582/1/JB-69-10
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/582/1/JB-69-10
Here you can see some of the accessories I have accumulated for my Bess.
Starting from the trigger guard
1: Turn screw and flint knapper. The notch can knap the edge of the flint.
2: Turn crew and the hole is sized to fit the end of a 3/8" dowel rod to grip that rod and act as a rod puller
3: Patch knife
4: Tow worm to screw on to the threaded tip of my ramrod. The tines can capture a wad of loose tow fibers or a balled cleaning patch.
5: Powder measure. That one is a little light for the charge for the Bess.
6: Fork to screw on the threaded tip of my ramrod to use in the cooking fire.
7: Ball puller and sometimes patch puller to thread on the tip of the ram rod.
Items on the lock:
1: Flash guard or flash shield to prevent the flash from the touch hole burning someone to my right.
2: Hammer stall, a carry over from when the frizzen was called the hammer and is a leather pouch to cover the frizzen and prevent the flint from striking the frizzen.
Starting from the trigger guard
1: Turn screw and flint knapper. The notch can knap the edge of the flint.
2: Turn crew and the hole is sized to fit the end of a 3/8" dowel rod to grip that rod and act as a rod puller
3: Patch knife
4: Tow worm to screw on to the threaded tip of my ramrod. The tines can capture a wad of loose tow fibers or a balled cleaning patch.
5: Powder measure. That one is a little light for the charge for the Bess.
6: Fork to screw on the threaded tip of my ramrod to use in the cooking fire.
7: Ball puller and sometimes patch puller to thread on the tip of the ram rod.
Items on the lock:
1: Flash guard or flash shield to prevent the flash from the touch hole burning someone to my right.
2: Hammer stall, a carry over from when the frizzen was called the hammer and is a leather pouch to cover the frizzen and prevent the flint from striking the frizzen.
Spray a good dose of Barricade through the touch hole and down the barrel. You should be okay.
I reenact and sometimes I am amazed that some members actually have muskets that can fire after the lack of cleaning. I keep my musket pretty clean.
Will do. Do you think I would be able to simply shoot the patch out by putting only powder down the barrel (and primer), or would that be generally just a terrible idea?
You could shoot the patch out. But you need the breech to be dry and free of any liquid. All that water and oils will plug things up. Your better choice is to use an air compressor to blow a blast of compressed air through the touch hole. One at a tire shop would do it. Use one of the needle type inflators. Cut the tip to have about 3/8" of needle. Poke that through some rubber or electrical tape to make a seal of sorts and the tire valve will fit on the needle inflator. If the compressor is set for 100 to 125 PSI, that patch will come flying out. Point the muzzle in a safe direction.
If you have a proper jag or corkscrew tip there will be no problem. Aging is a fact of life with muzzle loaders and real bp.
The button jag won't remove the patch that's stuck down the bore, as the patch needs to be wrapped around it as it's going into the barrel for it to grip. You need a patch puller. Go over to ebay and search for this: " Muzzle-Loaders Universal Caliber Patch Puller." It should be the first thing that pops up. $4.49 with free shipping. It's listed as having 10-32 threads, so it will fit in the adapter you have coming from TOTW. It looks like this:
Once you have your adapter and this item, you can thread the whole thing onto the end of your ramrod, run it down the bore, and twist/spin it around till it grabs the stuck patch. It might take a few tries, but they do work.
Once you have your adapter and this item, you can thread the whole thing onto the end of your ramrod, run it down the bore, and twist/spin it around till it grabs the stuck patch. It might take a few tries, but they do work.
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If the patch is already in the barrel, putting powder down the barrel will not blow the patch out. The powder has to be under the patch.
IF the area under the patch is dry, you can work some loose powder thru the vent hole. About 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon would do it. Then, you can prime the pan and fire the gun. That will blow the patch out.
IF the area under the patch is WET, this will not work. The water will keep the damp powder from firing.
The best way to get the patch out is to use a patch worm or a long piece of stiff wire with a hook bent into the end to catch the cloth material.
To clean the gun, you do need a jag or a 12 guage mop or brush and a long shotgun cleaning rod. A 12 guage brush or mop is made for a .729 diameter bore which is a little smaller than the bore on your Bess so a cleaning patch can be placed over it to clean with.
If the brush doesn't want to come back out of the bore, turn the cleaning rod clockwise while applying a light pressure to pull it back up the bore. That will allow the bristles to bend and release their grip on the bore.
Oh. NEVER leave the bore wet. If you can't dry it, spray some WD-40 into it to protect the steel until you can get something in there to dry things off.
There are about as many ways to clean a muzzleloader as there are ways to load & shoot it.
If you wanted to go fancy, do like I did and convert a pump up sprayer to flush out all the fouling then dry & oil it.
If you wanted to go fancy, do like I did and convert a pump up sprayer to flush out all the fouling then dry & oil it.
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i been using those little red steam cleaners, with distilled water & soap, happy trails.
One of those little handheld deals? That's an interesting idea.
That is what Pedersoli uses to clean their rifles & smooth bores, a little larger than the hand held steamers. It's what gave me the idea to use pressurized hot water.
