Cleaning tool

[Crow#21957]

Do any of you flintlock shooters use the tool that clamps over the flash hole and has a hose and I believe was attatch to a small squeeze bottle. I haven't seen one of those for a few years. Seems to me just a rod and cleaning jag and patches would be less hassle.

 

[Brokennock]

Do any of you flintlock shooters use the tool that clamps over the flash hole and has a hose and I believe was attatch to a small squeeze bottle. I haven't seen one of those for a few years. Seems to me just a rod and cleaning jag and patches would be less hassle.

I use a brass fitting that goes to a tube and into a container of water. The brass fitting attaches with a super-strong magnet.
Got it from @davec2

For guns that one doesn't want to remove the barrel from the stock for every cleaning, this works great. Far less mess and fuss. Well,,,, less mess unless one pushes down on the ramrod too hard while pumping a wet patch up and down the bore. The magnet and gasket seal well enough that being too forcefully on the downstroke can launch the brass fitting in the bucket our of the bucket spraying dirty muzzleloader water everywhere, lol.

 

[Crow#21957]

That's a nice too I like it. Thanks

 

[BradCayton]

I bought one of those clamp on cleaning tools when I started shooting flintlocks years back as I was accustomed to using a hose in a bucket of hot water in my cap locks. I never did get it to not leak on all but one of my flintlocks. I have since given up on using it and just plug the flash hole with a wooden toothpick and pour hot water down the barrel, tilting the barrel up and down to flush the powder residue out and follow up with patches, WD 40 and then barricade oil to protect the clean bore. I have flintlocks I've cleaned this way for 30 years and they're clean and rust free today. And.... I can clean my flintlocks quicker that way than I can clean my 12 gauge caplock double shotgun. Not that quicker is better but I can

 

[Crow#21957]

Thanks both of you guys. Looking forward to having a flintlock again. 32 and a fusil

 

[DuncNZ]

I got one of the clamp type ones from Track of the Wolf some years ago and found it was too much trouble to get it lined up on the flash holes and it is in a drawer somewhere in my workshop .

 

[Dave Marsh]

I use the same magnetic set up that Brokennock uses. Works great.

 

[Brokennock]

Here is the magnetic tube
http://www.luckybag.us/MagneticFlushTube.html
I've usually used a toothpick or sandwich skewer to plug the touch/vent hole, but have had that leak too many times. This works great. I did add a ball valve to the bucket end of mine to facilitate letting the bore soak for a while.

 

[Art Caputo]

WhileI I used the tube devices that mount to the flash hole of my pinned barrel flintlocks, I ended up preferring the simplicity of plugging the flash-hole with a toothpick. Using a properly sized section of the toothpick with a small piece of plumbers Teflon Tape, or even Saran Wrap wraped around the tip forms a leak free seal. It is fast, easy, and flash holes are well cleaned.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Dont use water, so no need for such a thing, did have one back in the 90s for the woman to clean her Harpers Ferry.

 

[tenngun]

Dont use water, so no need for such a thing, did have one back in the 90s for the woman to clean her Harpers Ferry.

I’m a fill and dump guy. The best way to clean a ml is the one you use.
What’s your waterless method?

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

I have the magnetic device, the clamp style, and the "remove the liner and screw in" types. All work with some limitations, as noted. The magnetic type can be bumped and moved, causing leaks. If careful, no problem. the clamp type can be wonky to get set up right. Both of those can occasionally leak where the tube joins the device, especially with hot water. The liner replacement types obviously can't work on guns where the liner can't come out or is absent. The skewer in the hole, slosh and dump works as well, but I never thought it as thorough as the methods that pump water under some pressure. I have found some guns' barrel breech contours (outside shape) can effect the magnetic and clamp styles. It's a matter of finding what works best for each gun.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[French Colonial]

I tried the magnet flush things and the clamp ones and I must have done something wrong, leaked all over everything.

I use a bamboo toothpicks from Amazon that I bought for cooking to plug the vent. Tap it in lightly with a small hammer or rawhide mallet (I said lightly) and it does not leak. You can reuse them several times as well.

Then like Tenngun I fill and dump. Easy Peasy.

 

[Grenadier1758]

The magnetic version and the clamp-on version can be difficult to use when the touch hole liner is slotted. The slots are close to the edge of the seal and may let cleaning solution leak around the gasket. The clamp was hard to get to fit on tapered or swamped barrels. Then the rubber o-ring gasket fell off and I have been having problems getting new gaskets (even from the supplier, Track of the Wolf) to stay on the cover to the touch hole. Mostly, I use the plug the touch hole method with a toothpick or a pointed bamboo skewer which is needed for the large touch hole in the King's Musket. Let the solution soak the fouling. Even doing that, a flush will surprise you as how much fouling is still in the barrel even after two or three soakings.

 

[Trapper-Jack]

I'm also one of those waterless cleaning guys. I use a patch wetted with a 50/50 mix of Murphy's Oil Soap and alcohol. Usually takes about five patches and the bore is clean. Same method for the outside. Been doing this way for 20+ years. No rust.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I’m a fill and dump guy. The best way to clean a ml is the one you use.
What’s your waterless method?

You didn't ask me, but I don't use water 100% of the time. My hooked breech barrels go into the slop sink or a bucket of hot soapy water. All my other guns, even the ones with barrel keys get cleaned with patch juice and CLP. A tooth pick, & breech plug scraper helps the process.
Larry

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I’m a fill and dump guy. The best way to clean a ml is the one you use.
What’s your waterless method?

Back in the day she would put that hose on and stick it in a can of water.
Then she would pour hot soapy water down the barrel and use the ramrod with a jag and patches to made a hydraulic plunger and pump the fluid in and out, changing it until it was clear.

When she left, she asked to take the Harper's with her because she could never afford a rifle.
So I gave it to her, and she still uses the method above.

Jump up 25 years.
I now use only T/C No.13 cleaner. WET patches, and exchange them until clean.
At the end of the year I use the scraper to check for cling ons at the closed end of the barrel.
Then a thin coat of T/C bore butter. In the spring, I do white patches to check for rust.
If rust is present, I use a brush. Only happened one year, I think I left it not totally dry in the fall.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

CLP

Petroleum based, add burnt black and you make sludge. All BP firearms should use only water based natural solutions.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Petroleum based, add burnt black and you make sludge. All BP firearms should use only water based natural solutions.

sludge
https://www.google.com/search?clien...2ahUKEwiQjPjR0dH9AhW3HkQIHVBaBX8Q3eEDegQICBAK
noun
thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid components, especially the product of an industrial or refining process.

Why? I use what works for me.

When BP is in the state of sludge it is removable. Try to get it out dried and caked against the bore.

When I am done the slippery coating in the barrel is a rust preventative. If you review my original reply you are referring to I also use CLP in conjuction to my home brewed patch lube. ( soap, water, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and water soluable oil).

Your point is well taken and correct with respect to chemistry, but I sill like CLP for ALL my guns.
Larry

 

[Ben Meyer]

I got one and use it. It has to be MEGA tight, and it doesn't fit on every gun. But it fits on mine, and works great.