cleaning the very bottom of the bore.

[rogervan]

Hello,

How do you guys scrub the very bottom of the bore, so destructive crusts don't build up? My brushes can only get to about 3/8 from the bottom. BTW I have a .625 black powder muzzleloader.

Thank you for your help,

Roger

 

[GaCop]

I have the caliber specific brass scrapers that I use in my rifles. :grin:

 

[M. De Land]

The scrapers look like a thick slotted screw driver head and are bore and breech plug face specifically shaped so they will get to the corners and bottom without harm to either. Mike D.

 

[David Grout]

You can buy the scrapers at Track of the Wolf.

 

[Billnpatti]

Much depends on the kind of breach that you have. If you have a patent breach, you will need something that will get down in the small part. A small breach scraper such as a .32 to a .40 will get down in there and clean out the crud. If you have a "standard" breach, you can buy breach scrapers that are caliber specific to get out the crud. There are also brushes that screw onto the rod that are designed in such a way that they can be twisted against the breach and scrub off the crud. Once you get it clean, you can keep it clean by using the good old soapy water flush method to clean it. That will wash out all of the crud after each day at the range or trip to the woods.

If that crud has been in there for a while and has built up and baked on, you will need to soak it good to soften it up so you can get it out. To do this, just use something to plug the nipple or touch hole and then stand the rifle or just the barrel up where it will be safe and secure and then fill it with soapy water and let it sit for an hour. Empty out the soapy water and replace it with some clean soapy water. Let it sit again for an hour. Pour out this batch of soapy water and then set the breach in a container of soapy water and scrub with a tight fitting patch on your jag allowing the soapy water to flush in and out of the nipple hole (with the nipple out, of course). Quite often, this will remove even old crud. Once it is clean, keep it clean and the problem will not re-occur.

After washing out the bore, wipe it dry with several dry patches and then you can either spray the bore with WD-40 to remove the last traces of moisture or you can pour denatured alcohol into the bore to flush out any moisture. I think the WD-40 is better, though. Wipe out the bore again with dry patches to remove the WD-40 (it will have done its job) or the last traces of alcohol, if you use it. Once the bore is nice and dry and clean, put some Barricade on a patch and swab the bore well and it is ready for storage until the next time. Of course, you need to clean the rest of the gun, I am only addressing the cleaning of the bore.

 

[Alden]

Yuppers -- if you're getting to the corners you're getting to the breech face. I came to the conclusion that you don't necessarily need the the exact size for your bore... That if it is a little smaller and you are manipulating the cleaning rod well and its wet enough, you are getting where you need to...

I THINK I generally use a .50 for that and up to .77.

 

[crockett]

These guys have touched on it but I'll repeat things a bit. Most of the bores have a flat breech plug so if you buy a scraper (the big "screwdriver" and rotate it, it will scrap off the fouling.
But....a few manufacturers came up with a cone face breech plug. For that type you need a triangular tip on the end of the scraper (screwdriver) that matches the angle of the cone.

 

[Snakebite]

I must be getting old because I can't remember what the type of breech is called used on Hawken rifles. But anyway, if your rifle has a hooked breech and you can easily take the barrel out of the stock, just pump the heck out of it with water (place the breech end in a can of water). I also take some powder solvent and squirt a good amount in the barrel and tip the barrel up and down kind of washing it out. On my flintlock, it does have a flat breech face and I used a scraper.

 

[Rifleman1776]

First, don't use brushes in your ml. They can get jammed. Many discussions here by unhappy guys who found out the hard way.
To answer: I pour about an inch of hydrogen peroxid in the bore and let set for a few minutes. Best bp gunk cleaner there is. Will not harm your bore. A bottle costs well under one dollar and will last a dozen or more cleanings. Cheap insurance.

 

[necchi]

I just use soapy water and the bucket-n-pump method.
I guess I've never had gunk build up that needed to get cleaned out, :idunno:

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

I just use soapy water and the bucket-n-pump method.
I guess I've never had gunk build up that needed to get cleaned out, :idunno:

Ditto for me as well, and I've fired my rifle THOUSANDS of times :idunno: ! I do use a single, dry 2 1/2" circular cleaning patch on a worm (screwed onto a Range Rod) to get into that little spot all of the way at the back of the breech. Usually comes-out clean enough to use over again :wink:

 

[fearless51]

The "patent" breech is commonly used in the hooked breech system. Many patent breeches have a conical shape and can be very difficult to clean. It is part of the reason there are often problems with misfires. If you use an extrememly tight fitting cleaning jag it is possible to basically scrape the fouling ahead of the patch and deposit it right where you don't want it, down in that cone, which makes it all the more difficult for your fire to make contact from nipple to breech. I never mess around letting a rifle sit for more than a day without a thorough hot soapy water purge, if I'm going to be shooting the next day I will clean out the barrel thoroughly followed up with a damp Ballistol patch, then the next day a dry patch a couple of caps and another dry patch and back in business. If the rifle is going to sit for more than a day I thoroughly purge the barrel with hot soapy water via the plunger technique. I have pulled my breech plug and there is no buildup whatsoever in the breech. You have to be consistent with everything in muzzleloading and that includes cleaning...I have never fired any form of Pyrodex, etc. through any of my rifles or my target pistol. I picked up a Ruger Old Army from a guy that used that stuff and was sloppy at cleaning and it shows how corrosive that stuff truly is, it took me more than a couple of efforts to get the nipples freed up, it was almost like they was cross threaded they were so corroded.
I will echo what the previous responder said about crunching a balled up wet patch down the barrel and grinding it around with an old style patch puller, that gets down into that cone shape and usually comes out a dark color.

 

[Snakebite]

Patent Breech, yes, thank you. :hatsoff:

 

[Billnpatti]

I agree with you about not using bore brushes but the brushes that I am talking about are called breach brushes and are sort of cone shaped rather than being round like a bore brush. They are designed for brushing a breach face and present absolutely no sticking problem. They are not easy to find, I had one for my .50 cal. but I don't know where it is at the moment. I think it is hiding with my brass pan charger that I haven't seen since the move. I bought my brush from a vendor at Friendship. They are real dandies and I sure miss mine. It is hiding but I will find the sneaky little rascal.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

I don't know what everybody else does, but I use a Range Rod with a worm and (2) 2 1/2" circular cleaning patches for the bore, then only a single patch for the breech face finish-up. Even with (2) patches on it, the worm does a wonderful job of getting those patches into the void and getting all of the dirt out.

Using the pumping method of cleaning always loosens-up the black powder reside/crud at the breech. I've never used Pyrodex or other subs in my barrel either, so I don't have the cement-style crud problems associated with using the subs.

I use a separate Range Rod with a jag on it for loading, then switch rods when I have to clean. It's just easier for me to do it this way, and lets me loan-out my cleaning rod when others have trouble with dry balls, etc. Changing-out the worm for other acc's is quite easy, especially with a Leatherman tool. The worm is made by Tresso and works really well!

As far as being AR about cleaning the same day--I find that I needn't worry about that since I often use Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine cleaner which neutralizes black powder residue on contact and foams-up to indicate that the chemical reaction means that it's working. After several sets of wet patches are pumped with the worm, and the foam shoots out of the uncovered nipple (with the hammer at full-cock), the entire ignition pathway is now residue-free. And the breech is already "treated" before I get it home to wash it....so maybe that's why I've never incurred a single problem requiring any scraping or brushing of the breech?? :hmm:

After multiple thousands of round balls and more than a thousand 370 grain T/C Maxi-Balls, I must be doing something right, lol!

Continued success to all of our forum members!

Dave
NRA Distinguished Expert in Muzzleloading Rifle & Pistol

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

I have a breech brush, which I got from the Gun Emporium in Oregon, and it can clean both the flat or patent breech quite well. But in truth I don’t use it all the time because it isn’t always necessary. A good flushing with water takes care of any build up from a day’s shooting quite well.

 

[fearless51]

As I mentioned in another thread the cone shaped base of the patent breech shows up real well when you shine a light down the barrel, if you keep that purged with the hot soapy water plunger technique you should see that cone shape shining back at you. It shines out real nice if you polish it before installing on the barrel, you can do wonders to open up the flash channel and prevent misfires by polishing the channel from nipple to breech as well. Often with some breeches you can see the line across the face of the breech plug where the drill went along as the channel from nipple was drilled, it shows as a horizontal line on the smooth face of the breech. It all depends on the method used to open up the flash channel, many of which are only 1/8" wide and run at a 90degree angle to the nipple flash charge through the thickness of the barrel into the breech.