How clean is clean?

[Jarikeen]

How clean should your cleaning patch be after removing the blackpowder residue? After cleaning my flintlock in hot water (final flushing), and the blackpowder residue is removed, I still find a light coloured browny green stain on my cleaning patches, even through too the final oil patch. I could run 10 clean patches through the bore, and still get this stain. Is my barrel clean enough and/or is this a sign of rust?Although the bore seems shiny, at least near the muzzle.
Cheers Peter

 

[mmahlock]

Do you use a bore brush or a breach face brush when cleaning? I've found that I can force two patches down the barrel when cleaning to get into the groves and that helps.

 

[Jarikeen]

Thankyou for your response. I do use a breach scraper and breach brush when cleaning with the warm soapy water, but not a bore brush - read somewhere that it was better not too. I haven't tried two patches at once yet.

 

[roundball]

Thankyou for your response. I do use a breach scraper and breach brush when cleaning with the warm soapy water, but not a bore brush - read somewhere that it was better not too. I haven't tried two patches at once yet.

Bore brushes are made precisely for this purpose...I make a couple dozen strokes with a good bore brush in steaming hot soapy water every time I clean a ML...gets everything out and prevents any buildup...bores are squeaky clean as a tesult

 

[scott adair]

Hi,

What's a breach brush? I'm having the same problem cleaning my .32.

I used two patches today and got my ramrod stuck. Like to never got it out.


Scott

 

[roundball]

Hi,

What's a breach brush? I'm having the same problem cleaning my .32.

I used two patches today and got my ramrod stuck. Like to never got it out.
Scott

If they're hooked breech barrels, they can be lifted out and set into a big 5 gallon bucket of hot soapy water to soak and heat up for 15 minutes, then pump flushed out squeaky clean, and there's no need for a breechface scraper or breech brush...at least I've never needed one on any of my TC or GM barrels.

If your barrels are not hooked breech barrels, someone else will step in and comment on cleaning them, possibly using breech face scrapers and brushes, etc

 

[paulvallandigham]

With patent breeches, the manufacturer often makes a smaller diameter hole in the back of the breech to hold the powder charge.If you have that in your gun, then you will need a small diameter bronze brush for cleaning that " chamber ", and a small diameter scraper to scrape the small wall at the back of that chamber. Typically, a 30 cal. rifle brush works in these and a scraper made for a .32 or .36 cal. gun does the cleaning chores. However, you have to measure these things, yourself, unless the factory tells you what you have. If you have a new gun, and didn't get a factory booklet that described the various parts of the gun, call the factory, They generally have an 800 number so the call is on their bill, not yours.

Not all percussion guns have this kind of ' chamber ", and some patent breech guns do not have them either. So, you need to know what brand and model you gun is, if you need help from us to tell you what you need, if anything. It is important to get the crud, and burned oil out of the chambers and flashholes in these guns for them to continue to finction properly.

 

[scott adair]

I've got a Traditions Deerhunter. It does have a hooked breech.

I got a set of attachments from Traditons that has a cleaning jag, a screw, a patch puller, a bronze brush and a cotton swab.

Scott

 

[Mad Professor]

Chamber cleaning brushes made for centerfire rifles fit nicely into (most) patent breaches

 

[mikee51848]

How clean should your cleaning patch be after removing the blackpowder residue?

Interesting that no one has answered his question? Mine always have some residue, a faded streak, even after water flushing, Butch's Bore Shine, brush scrubbing, etc. They never come out completely white. And I use original LV Lube too, 3f Swiss powder. But the gun will outlive me.
Nice to see a picture of someone's final patch. :hmm:

 

[Jarikeen]

I took one of these patches to the club to show them the stain - they said it was nothing to worry about, and to be expected in a muzzle loader. They went on to say that it was not rust or excess BP residue, but a stain that seeps from the very metal itself into your protective oil coating. Kind of makes sense, when you consider the combusion and heat processes involved.

 

[scott adair]

Thanks Wild at heart !

I thought I was really missing someting in the cleaning process. The other night I scrubbed the bore again after several dozen strokes with a bronze brush. I had some wimpy hoppes patches and I was using two at a time and ran something like 50 through the bore trying to get the thing spot free. I did not have anything but 3&1 to oil it with so that's what I used.

Today I got some flannel patches and birchwood casey bore cleaner and ran two saturated patches through the bore and then 5 or 6 dry patches until it was dry. The solvent soaked patches came out black of all things. No grit, just black lines on them. The last dry patch had some faint brown/black streaks.

I then lubed up two patches with TC bore butter and they both came out with black streaks!!!

My patches are a tight fit now and I am wondering where this black is comming from. Was it the 3&1? I have scrubbed the snot out of this thing.


Scott

 

[CrackStock]

I got browny green sometimes when I used to use P-Dex and Bore Butter.

I got a grayish color when I went to Goex. I cleaned and cleaned until I heard that this is graphite and poses no threat to the bore and is very difficult to remove. Now I give it a fair cleaning; dry well and lube with my favorite bore preservative. I also check with a patch or 2 every now and then -- just to make sure that all is well.

CS

 

[roundball]

IMO, the best way to fix this problem is to get the bore 100% clean back to the bare raw metal.

Get a jar of Birchwood Caseys Blackpowder Cleaning Gel and swab the bore heavily with it, let it sit 10-15 minutes as instructed...then use a bore brush then patch it out...it'll dissolve all the hardened fouling and residue in the 90* corners of the lands & grooves running the full length of the bore. Repeat 3-4 applications of it like this then clean it all out with steaminmg hot soapy water and hot water rinse.

(Per instructions, wash and rinse off the bore brush when done or when you reach for it the next morning, it will have dissolved).

Then in the future, just use a couple dozen strokes with a bore brush in the hot soapy water as part of every cleaning activity and you won't get that buildup, won't get those black streaks again...you don't get them from a clean bore.

 

[catman]

How come you never hear of anyone using Sweets 7.62 in-between the hot water and soap first clean, and the just hot water flush..is Sweets 7.62 just too much work on the barrel? I use it in my bench .308 rifle every couple hundred rounds..
Just asking...

 

[roundball]

How come you never hear of anyone using Sweets 7.62 in-between the hot water and soap first clean, and the just hot water flush..is Sweets 7.62 just too much work on the barrel? I use it in my bench .308 rifle every couple hundred rounds..
Just asking...

What is Sweets 7.62 catman, never heard of it...

 

[catman]

I guess all I can say it's just called Sweet's 7.62. It's the best rifle bore cleaner there is, and been around for a long time.
NOTE: It is very aggressive if left in the barrel too long.

 

[CrackStock]

Roundball,

With a name like Roundball, I don't doubt that you would not know about a bore cleaner common to cartridge guns. This solvent is particularly useful for removing copper fouling in sniper rifles. It is good stuff for its intended purpose, but of limited use to ML shooters whose main concern is the removal of water soluble fouling or residual lube that we introduce into our bores.

As to removing the graphite, I wonder why we need to remove it at all. Seems like this inert residue is harmless to your bore and accuracy. I see it as solving a non-existant problem.

A touch of gray does not bother me.

CS

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Sweets is heavy on ammonia. It is wonderful for removing copper fowling which is about all that amonia based cleaners are good for so it does little good on black powder. Pure water, warm or cold is all that you need.

 

[roundball]

"...As to removing the graphite, I wonder why we need to remove it at all. Seems like this inert residue is harmless to your bore and accuracy. I see it as solving a non-existant problem..."

I'm a simple man...I think of stuff in bores like I think of snakes:
"the only good snake is a dead snake"
and
"the only good bore is a clean bore"

If I know something is in there, it's coming out...I'm not smart enough to know that it's graphite...might also have a little residue in there, then what...
:v