How clean is your bore?

[Juice Jaws]

My bore is clean good enough, looks like I have been using it.

 

[SeaBee133]

I attended a week long Law Enforcement Armorer’s School at Murray State Gunsmithing School. An instructor advised us to give all of our customers plenty of WD40 if we ever became gunsmiths.
The reasoning behind this was that the only thing that will DISSOLVE WD40 is more WD40 and they will have to bring their firearms back to you for cleaning next year….and the year after.

Have to unsieze a fully locked up 870 next week when I get back. Our “armorer” “cleaned” it in a parts washer, and then pickled it in WD40…

My BP arms get scrubbed with Windex or windshield washer fluid. Then a course with BP spec cleaner. And then lubed with warm T17, lard or tallow. Before shooting, heat them up and melt out the greasy crud, a Temu heat gun is a fair investment. Patch until they come out clean. Load and use as normal.

 

[Mallenby58]

interesting thread. When I bought my Thompson Center Hawken .50 caliber percussion cap rifle back in 1990 I knew nothing about muzzleloading. I had read somewhere never to put any petroleum products inside the bore of the rifle, because when you shoot black powder it turns that oil into tar and it’s hard to get out of the barrel. So I have never used anything inside my bore except for natural products like TC bore butter. After i shoot i remove the barrel from the stock and stick the breech end into a bucket of very hot soapy water and with my range rod and tight fitting parches i draw the water into and out of the barrel through the nipple, thereby cleaning the nipple and barrel. When the water stops coming out dirty i set the hot barrel aside to dry. Then i run a dry patch or two down to verify the bore is clean and dry. I don’t own a bore scope but a light shined down the barrel reveals an extremely shiny bore. Then i lube the bore with a patch impregnated with more natural lube. Before i shoot again i run a dry patch down the bore to see what comes out. I have yet to see any rust on a patch yet. I have never put any petroleum inside the barrel for cleaning, lubrication or to prevent rust. Now i think i want to get a bore scope to see what i can see. With a small flashlight everything looks good, the bore is shiny as new as viewed with the naked eye. Accuracy hasn’t suffered a bit in all these years. I am curious what others thoughts are regarding natural versus petroleum products in the bore of a muzzleloading rifle. From running patches to shooting to accuracy all seems well with what i have been doing. Now i have one more item to add to my Christmas list.

 

[stubshaft]

I usually use WD-40 to displace any errant water in the bore, followed by a couple of dry patches and a final heavy coat of NON-Petroleum patch lube.

Years ago, I bought a cheap Teslong borescope from Amazon. It has paid for itself many times over as I use it to assess the bores of consignment guns that I am interested in buying. Last week I thought it would be interesting to check some of my muzzleloaders and pulled out my Jack Garner signed TVM Virginia rifle that I haven't shot in about 15 years. Used some denatured alcohol to clean the gunk and pushed the scope down the bore. It was as clean and shiny as the day I got it about 40 years ago.