This question is for those of you who plug your flashhole with a toothpick when cleaning. Do you have trouble with the toothpick breaking? How much trouble is it getting the toothpick out? ..............watch yer top knot..............
Cleaning your flintlock
- Thread starter buford87
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You do have to be careful on removing the toothpick from the touch hole. Pull straight out. Its not much of a problem if you do break the tooth pick off. I usually push the tooth pick tip through the touch hole with my vent pick and It floats out with the cleaning solution or gets caught up in the patch.
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Used to do it that way. Never found it to be completely water tight. Now I pull the vent liner and clean it. Screw in a bolt of the same threads to wash the barrel. No tooth picks.
Griz44Mag
70 Cal.
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One word of caution if you plug the vent on a gun with a patent breech when cleaning -
You wont get the flash channel clean, you have to flush the breech to get it clean, a jag will not reach around corners or pass through the small channels.
When cleaning one with that type of hole (TC - IA - Lyman - Pedersoli - Etc...) remove the barrel and bucket pump it or if the barrel is not readily removable - lay the gun down with the buttstock rotated up so the vent is on bottom and flush through to a rag or bucket.
A flush clamp and hose is also available but those have a tendancy to be messy and not seal completely on lined vents especially.
This is how I clean my guns that I don't remove the barrel for cleaning.
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=57155.msg571743#msg571743
Dave
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=57155.msg571743#msg571743
Dave
Erwan
45 Cal.
Normally I do it all the time with a toothpick but some people prefer this solution, I never did try this but that looks like if it was cleaning by a false nipple, that's may be good...
Griz44Mag
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I have one of those. It works good on the guns with a vent hole, but leaks when used on a vent liner with a slot.Normally I do it all the time with a toothpick but some people prefer this solution, I never did try this but that looks like if it was cleaning by a false nipple, that's may be good...
Erwan
45 Cal.
Is it leaking through the screwdriver slots? If that's it, then that's what I thought and the reason I dont buy this tool...
Mine is modified to use a magnet. No leaks.
kingsax26
45 Cal.
i used to use a toothpick....now i just put a wrag in the pan and clamp it down with the frizzen. insert healthy dose of GOJO hand cleaner ( non pumice) and swab barrel....wait 20 minutes and wipe out with a couple of wet patches. no jugs of water..no special tools, works on rifles and fowlers.
On the slotted touch hole liners I have used a 1" square of bicycle inner tube over the hole held in place with a small "C" clamp. If clamped tightly, I get no leaks.
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Just to clarify, I do this for 20 minutes of soaking with water changes. Then the bolt comes out and I start the swabbing.
There are times when I am in the field overnight, and I really can't be carting around plastic jugs and tubing, but I do need more than a wet patch cleaning. Whether it's my rifle or my Bess...,
SO...., As nice and easy as these "plunger systems" are, in the comfort of your own home, or at the tailgate of one's truck, or at a formal shoot at a modern range..., I am often not at that sort of location.
The trick is, you don't use toothpicks.... you use wooden shish kabob skewers. You break off the tips with a bit of the stick, say about three inches long, so the whole long skewer isn't hanging out the touch-hole. 100 sticks cost about $6.
That's 6 cents per cleaning if you don't reuse the tip for a second or additional cleanings, and you can still use the remaining portion of the stick on the bar-b-que.
I use my Ted Cash funnel to help me pour the water into my rifle. The .75 Bess doesn't need a funnel for the water when I pour...
Getting it out is no worry, and if it breaks off, you just punch it through to the chamber, and rinse it out. IF you really really want to be "authentic" since the skewers are bamboo I think.... you can use a hawthorn thorn to plug the touch-hole. I've used them and they work well too.
LD
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In the field I always do a quasi wet clean, not soaked or flooded and not completely cleaned spotless, I plug the touch hole with my kids used toy putty or thicker plumbers putty.
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I don't let the hours worry me all that much. Swab as you can in the field, grease it up for overnight. Swab in the morning before you resume shooting.
250 years ago I don't think they lost sleep over if they got a bucket flush done as much as who was still shooting at them.
250 years ago I don't think they lost sleep over if they got a bucket flush done as much as who was still shooting at them.
That’s my method also. Most of mine have the white lightning type liners so removing them is not an option.
I put grease on the toothpick to stop leaks and let the barrel soak a while. Then drain(sometimes I soak it twice) and swab. Clean the hole with a pipe cleaner or interdental brush.
I have no problem like a toothpick and plugging a flash hole at all. I don't put water anywhere near my guns. I use WD40 it cleans as good as or better than water and no chance of rust or water rotting my wood,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
hanshi
Cannon
I just peg in the toothpick and wrap a paper towel around the breech in case there's any seeping. Mostly there's no seeping at all and I soak the bore twice. After that I just start patching and go from there. The lock, obviously, gets removed.
