cleaning with a gunworm and tow

[john4645]

How do you clean with a worm and tow? I fill my gun up with water run a patch down squirting the water ou the touch hole then run patches until they come out clean, this takes about 40 patches and then I lube it. so how do you clean a gun with tow? and what is it? and where do you get it?
thanks

 

[rich pierce]

Tow is the rough and scrappy leftover fibers of flax. The good fine stuff is used to make linen thread and cloth. Tow was used to clean black powder guns forever as it was cheap and works great because it is fibrous, gets into the grooves, does not stick, and is scratchy. It can be rinsed and re-used. If you are good and tired of running endless patches down your bore, get some tow. If you never want to have a stuck ramrod jag again, get some tow.

If you find a local bunch of weavers who spin their own linen thread, they will often have tow. Can't remember where my buddy bought 5 pounds but I will ask him tomorrow.

 

[john4645]

so do you use water or solvent with it?

 

[sniper68]

john4645, I've used TOW on and off for many years. I found recently, the best to be from hemp. I got mine from Hemp Traders, off the internet item #F-DG1.
I've tried all kinds of cleaning methods and solvents. My favorite method is as follows; Drill a small hole in the end of your HICKORY rod. Feed a wad of tow thru it. kinda like threading a needle. wrap the rest around the end of the rod. Pull the nipple if ya got on ot them newer type rifles. Now the non PC part!! Smear on a gob of Go Jo hand cleaner, NO WATER and start swabing. After a bunch of strokes add some more Go Jo and keep goin, 10 or 20 strokes should do it, never realy counted. I rinse out the TOW leaving still on the rod and flush your usual method with warm water and a dash of baking soda mixed in.. I find using a quality paper towel picks up moisture much better that cotton, I use the same rod and method of attaching the wad of paper towel. this way it forms a tight wad in the barrel with out tearing. Now yer ready ta oil her down usin your favorite method.
If ya want PM me and I'll send ya some to try out... :v

 

Another way to use tow. take a good sized piece of tow and tie it in the center with artificial sinew, push down the bore with your rifle rod leaving the sinew to trail out the bore, then keep enough out to tie around a toggle, remove rod and pull tow out. wrap around the toggle and stow in shooting bag when done . fluid can be anything you may wish to use, even urine.I have had a piece like this in my bag for years, only add tow on occasion. Bob :thumbsup:

 

There are several ways to do it--and all you really need is water. Tow used to be available from taxidermy supply stores in bulk, cheap. You can as one fellow said, just tie a bundle with string, wet it and push it down the barrel--retrieving it with the string; repeat until clean (some folks think that is very PC--but it may have been so mainly with the poorboys with plain hickory rammmers). The other main PC way is to use a tow worm tip on your rammer--coil/twist tow around the tip, wet and swab. I still use cotton patches and a jag most of the time--but keep the pc stuff with me when reenacting. Jags mainly stick for one of three reasons: (1) obstructions in the bore--such as touchhole liner protrusions into bore; (2) oversized jags (which also can cause problems pushing fouling into the breech area); and (3) oversized patching.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Good to see another shooter that has discovered Go-Jo (white) hand cleaner usefullness. I carry it in a tube in my kit along with a bore mop when going trekking for a few days.
To clean I plug nipple with a splinter, fill barrel with boiling water, soak few minutes dump and repeat, then either mop or patch with Go-Jo then use paper towel to dry well. warm barrel by fire to make sure dryness then load 'er up. I also carry a worn-out bore brush that I've untwisted to make a 'worm' out of for catching cloth/paper towel. :grin:

 

I use water. Started cleaning rifles with this method and never looked back except on the gun range I swab with patch jag and cotton flannel patchesMake a mop out of the tow and rinse it out with the tow mop still on the worm until you get clean tow coming out of the barrel. I just swish it around in a bucket of water I don't fill the bore with water. Cleans them up right quick and one mop cleans 'er out. Like Rich said, you don't have to use 20 pathes to clean yer rifle. The first swab cleans the second swab dries and the third oils the rifle. :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Silver Shuttle in Mamphis, TN sells great tow. Long fibers twisted in a big "hank" that are ovet a foot long. Not the chopped stuff some sell as tinder. I keep a forged double helix/corkscrew jag with it in my patchbox for my rifle. When I had my Bess that was all I used for cleaning. It had a tow worm threaded to the rammer. The tow rinses out and is reuseable.

Had the swell idea of wetting it one day by popping it in my mouth. Read that was done with "wiping sticks" in olden days. Took me a while to find my hat after it shot off when my hair all stood straight on end. BLAAAA! Not recommended.

The tow is great at grabbing the fouling, but I much prefer it in smoothbores over rifles. Just dip it in hot water and scrub away. I keep the muzzle lower than the vent, and the vent set on an old towel (on a table or the back steps). Rinse and repeat. I have five pounds I bought 15 years ago and still have more than a pound left.

Save the old stuff for tinder once it's dried out.

 

Now that's a funny picture right there Stumpy. I never tasted the stuff...yet. :rotf:

 

[john4645]

Ok, im getting the idea: I have a screwdriver tool that has a worm on it, i use that wrap tow on there, now I asssume i use enough to make a tight fit in the barrel, then get it wet, scrub out the barrel, rinse off the tow, put some lube on it, run it down the barrel and were done. If thats the case im in. thanks

 

[Rebel]

Almost but not quite all. You still have to dry the bore before the lubing. But the tow does a good job, especially on smoothbores.

 

[CWC]

I've never used tow, but I wouldn't think it would be good for lubing the bore after it's dry. What do you use for this job? I'm guessing that "back in the day" the rifles were kept loaded, so the grease from loading the PRB would do the job.