cleaning tip, just want to verify

[raider]

I heard this tip from a guy at Cabela's when I was buying a few things for my muzzleloader. His cleaning solution was equal parts rubbing alcohol, peroxide, and murphy's oil soap. He said to use a bore rag dripping with the stuff. run it through a few times then run patches until they are dry and clean. Follow it up with a patch or two soaked in bore butter or some other protectant I tried it and it seems to work. Anybody else out there that can verify this method?

 

[Lostrifle]

I can't verify whether it'll work well or not, but be a little leery of the alcohol/peroxide combination; at certain strength percentages, the two combined make a form of rocket fuel! That's what was used by the WWII German rocket plane, the ME363 Komet.
The stuff you'd be using probably isn't strong enough for that(from the drugstore, right?), but one never knows...

 

[paulvallandigham]

HYdrogen Peroxide- the 3% solution you buy at your drugstore, really needs water to make it work its best. I would not mix it with Alcohol. Both Water and Alcohol are solvents. Don't mix the two. Use one or the other.

I use alcohol as a cleaner, and patch lube IN THE WINTER when the temperature is below freezing. When its above 32 Degrees F., I use spit, or water and soap to clean the bore.

 

[410-er]

Keep it simple.
Keep it cheap.
Warm water and soap followed by a rinse. :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

As I've said before, Hydrogen Peroxide !
With a name like that it must be good and it costs a lot more than water. You even get some loosely bonded Oxygen floating around in it!

Lets see now, Oxygen + Iron = RUST

BOY! That's what I want in my barrel. :rotf:

Seriously, even if the free oxygen in the Hydrogen Peroxide doesn't create rust in a barrel why spend the extra money for something that is basically water?

My advice is to replace the H3O with good old H2O and save the H3O (Hydrogen Peroxide) to clean any wound you get on your body. There, the extra Oxygen will kill any bacteria that may try to invade your body.

 

[silverfox]

Zonie you get the AAA+++ on that. Don't use the peroxide in or on your gun. But do keep it handy. It is better than soap and water after the shoot to clean your hands and any other part of your body that got dirty with BP or dirt. Also like Zonie said it takes care of all the little Boo Boo's you got and cleans them up before you drive home. Keeps the car or trucks steering wheel clean to.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[hanshi]

Zonie, I'll give you 4 "A"s and 4 "+"s. I'll just add that these bore butters everybody seems wild about ARE NOT BORE PROTECTORS! They protect nothing so don't get caught in a rueful mistake. Some claim they make good patch lube but I, personally, can't find a good use for them so help me Davey Crockett!

 

[rchargy]

I have been using this combination for about 10 years now.I have looked at my barrels with a bore light and have never seen any rust.Make sure to oil the barrel real good after it is dry. Try to keep the solution off of the wood as it will remove some of the stain over time.

 

[MikeC]

Been using the mix for years with no ill effects. Exception being the amounts. I use the following.

3 parts alcohol
2 parts HP
1 part murphys.

I typically run a spit patch to get the bulk of the fouling out, plug up the touchhole then pour a very small amount of the solution down the barrel, tip it a few times and dump it out, run two patches and repeat, only takes another couple of patches to dry and then followup with an olive oil patch to protect the bore. I do this at the range when I'm done, takes about 10 minutes, another 10 or so minutes at home to wipe the outside down and clean/lube the lock and I'm done.

To each their own, works for me and the gunsmith who is very well known that originally recommanded I give it a try. He has been using the mix for a loooong time.

 

[ohio ramrod]

The mixture has been around for at least twenty five years. Some swear by it, some swear at it. It does clean out fouling quite well. But then so does alcohol, so does hot water, soapy water, cold water, etc.

 

[boar]

I use it in my no-hook breech guns, only takes a little. just make sure you oil good afterwards. Never bothered my barrels,20 some years of use. Like any thing else have to use a little common sense. Dilly

 

[Zonie]

I hear you folks but I still wonder why anyone would spend a couple of dollars for a little tiny bottle of this stuff when the same amount of money would buy well over 100 gallons of water, even here in Phoenix where water is scarce.

 

[J.D.]

I tried it for several years, and while it cleans well enough, IMHO, I found that the mix won't keep for long periods. The peroxide separates into its base ingredients, 02 and water, if not stored in an opaque container.

Got tired of measuring and mixing and went back to water for cleaning. Last week, I happened to notice a bottle of PineSol on the shelf next to my bench, and for some unexplained reason mixed enough cleaning solvent in a 20 oz water bottle to last the next year.

The PineSol mixed 1-5 with water cleaned as fast and as clean as the peroxide mix, and won't deteriorate over time. It might make a good patch lube too.

All in all, I suspect that the peroxide/MOS/alcohol mix is over rated when less expensive and less invasive cleaning solutions are more readily available.

God bless

 

[MikeC]

I hear you folks but I still wonder why anyone would spend a couple of dollars for a little tiny bottle of this stuff when the same amount of money would buy well over 100 gallons of water, even here in Phoenix where water is scarce.

Not sure where you guys get your HP but we pickup a large bottle from Wally-World for like two bucks, it's always in the house as is the alcohol, even cheaper I get all I want from work. I mix 4 ouces at a time goes a long way and takes but a couple of minutes to mix together.

 

[MikeChapin]

As someone else mentioned, this has been around for about twenty years. I have friends that use it and really like it. I have found that soap and water work just as well and is simpler so I use that.

I made up some years ago. I was worried about using peroxide in a metal barrel but decided to give it a try. When I mixed up the concoction it heated up quite a bit. Evidently the peroxide was attacking the oil soap and alcohol and breaking them down. I doubt very much if there is any peroxide left after five minutes of mixing.

 

[Dphar]

I heard this tip from a guy at Cabela's when I was buying a few things for my muzzleloader. His cleaning solution was equal parts rubbing alcohol, peroxide, and murphy's oil soap. He said to use a bore rag dripping with the stuff. run it through a few times then run patches until they are dry and clean. Follow it up with a patch or two soaked in bore butter or some other protectant I tried it and it seems to work. Anybody else out there that can verify this method?

"The more you over think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain", Scotty from Star Trek.

Blackpowder fouling is very easy to dissolve in water. So using expensive solvents is a waste of money. When I was a kid I used "Blacksolve", DGW sells it now works good. But I have not had any in about 30 years....
Cool to tepid water with a little dish soap is all that is needed. I used Windex Window Cleaner with Vinegar for years mixed with 2 parts water, but the new "green" formula "All Surface cleaner" Windex has too much vinegar, to acidic, IMO.
Simple Green is hard on stock finishes that are not based on plastic.
So for BLACKPOWDER fouling water or a weak soap solution is all that is needed, the soap will cut any crap that the lube might leave behind. Hot water while needed for some "replica" powders, simply causes flash rusting for the BP user though it will dry the bore quicker.
If soap is used a clear water rinse needs to be done to wash out the soap since soap can be corrosive as well.
I plug the vent with a tooth pick and pour in 5-6" or water/cleaner then slosh the water around with my thumb over the muzzle. Dump wet patch (not tight or you may blow the toothpick out of the vent or force water out though the grain in the wood) and repeat the slosh again. Then follow with a couple of patches. A clear water rinse and then patches to dry and oil. After the first 2-3 dry patches run a 2-3 tight wet ones down. Once fairly dry, patches just coming out damp, pull the tooth pick and let air in and out.
If you have a hooked breech use the breech in the bucket of water method to pull water in and out of the barrel. If you use soap be sure to rinse it out.

Blackpowder fouling sucks up water so unless you use some silly store bought lube that causes it to turn to goo or "seasons" the bore. Petroleum will do this too.
I have some stuff that was supposed to be "Sperm Whale oil" it works pretty good but if too much is in the bore it causes a really tarry fouling. This could have been simply my getting too much in the bore. The rifle in question was blowing patches and all I had was oiled ones and I tried a few shoots with a oiled patch over the powder as a "gasket". This may have overly oiled the bore/powder. OR it may be "synthetic" Sperm Whale oil and has petroleum in it....

There are other lubes that will do the same thing or worse. So pay attention.
I have found Pure Neatsfoot Oil to be a good patch lube. But don't expect to shoot 1000 shots without wiping.
Water based "lubes" can promote corrosion. Corrosive "replica" powders make this worse.
Bore Butter is not something I would trust to protect a bore.
Use a GOOD protective oil in the bore when the water is gone.
Some very good protectant oils like Break Free CLP will turn to a grease in time so I do not use this stuff except to long term storage.
Bore should be wiped out the next day and perhaps re-oiled. Excess oil will run out the vent and into the stock so the gun should be left muzzle down to drain on a paper towel etc for at least an hour. Some products will pull even more crap out of the bore at this stage. Some of it is perhaps fouling but also expect some iron oxide, usually black form. This is what turns dry patches black in a clean bore.

It is impossible to build a layer of "gunk" in a bore ("season the bore") and have it shoot accurately. Anyone who has used a lube that will do this, and it was promoted at one time, has had to eventually mine the crap from the bore to get accuracy back.

Dan

 

[CoyoteJoe]

You're probably right Mike, the ingredients probably neutralize each other so you end up with water. Not a bad thing since nothing removes powder fouling better than water. People insist on believing that the more complicated and expensive you can make it the better it must be but plain water works so well there just isn't any need for "even better".

 

[wb4tjh]

I've always used a little mild, liquid dishwashing detergent and hot water, followed by a boiling hot water rinse. The boiling hot water will heat the barrel and the barrel will then get dry very quickly.

 

[renovato]

Why bother with all the mixing and stuff? Soapy water cleans just as well. Black powder fouling just isn't that hard to clean out. The water method rinses away corrosive salts formed by firing too. There are a bunch of cleaners you can make, or even wonder solvents that you can buy, but for something as easy to clean as black powder fouling, why bother?

A little dish soap in a bucket of water. Scrubby dub, rinse. Dry patch to get out the water. A splash of 91% rubbing alcohol afterwards to dry out any remaining moisture, oil up the metal and you're good to go.

 

[Robert Egler]

My advice is to replace the H3O with good old H2O and save the H3O (Hydrogen Peroxide) to clean any wound you get on your body. There, the extra Oxygen will kill any bacteria that may try to invade your body.

Just a minor point, hydrogen peroxide is H2O2, not H3O :wink: