How do you clean your rifled barrel?

[John Spartan]

As above. Veteran of cleaning smoothbores (warm water and soap, Ballistol, Hoppes, jag, patches) but now have a .54 cal rifled kit inbound.
How do you ensure there is no corrosive powder residue left in the rifling?

With the smoothbore, even after the warm water and soap flush, the first couple patches invariably have black on them that quickly cleans up but I can imagine residue remaining in the lands and grooves. .54 jag ain’t gonna do it? .50 cal (so it doesn’t get stuck) bore brush? Some other magic trick?

 

[Walkingeagle]

Same way you clean the smoothbore.
Walk

 

[LME]

As above. Veteran of cleaning smoothbores (warm water and soap, Ballistol, Hoppes, jag, patches) but now have a .54 cal rifled kit inbound.
How do you ensure there is no corrosive powder residue left in the rifling?

With the smoothbore, even after the warm water and soap flush, the first couple patches invariably have black on them that quickly cleans up but I can imagine residue remaining in the lands and grooves. .54 jag ain’t gonna do it? .50 cal (so it doesn’t get stuck) bore brush? Some other magic trick?

There is a ton of information on this forum. I don't think there could be any new ways that haven't been mentioned? #1= soap and water!

 

[John Spartan]

Alrighty then. I’ll carry on and see how it goes.

 

[tenngun]

Tow seems to scub my smoothies real well. Though I do a final pass with jag and patch and oil with a patch.
A jag patch combo seems to work better on my rifles then tow wad.
Real difference or just in my head I can’t say.
On both I fill with water and dump several times, wet swab several times then dry and oil
I can’t find tow often and use picked hemp in its place. I can’t see a difference between them in looks or use.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

I have all TC rifles so taking the barrel out of the stock is easy.

I boil a pot of water, squirt a healthy dose of Dawn in it, put the pot in the bathtub and place the breech end of the barrel with nipple removed right in the pot. Take a patched jag and pump that boiling hot water in and out of the barrel for about 10 minutes. A heavy glove on the hand that holds the barrel highly recommended here..Take the barrel out, let it dry (hot barrel aids in drying quickly) then run dry clean patches in and out till it comes back squeaky clean. There is usually a small amount of color for the first two or three patches. Once the dry patches come back clean, I butter the bore and take a q-tip moistened with a good gun oil and work that into the flash hole under the nipple as best I can. It's worked for me for many years. My Renegade sat unused in my safe for several years after this cleaning method and when I got it out and ran a dry patch down the bore it was clean.

 

[nkbj]

John Spartan,
What works best is going to depend upon your rifling pattern, the projectiles being used, the breech geometries (shape of the ignition paths); lots of water, plenty of pumping and swabbing as needed to physically displace persistent fouling. The corners of the rifling (in some barrels with some loadings) will be the last place to surrender it's combustion products. And if you shoot something besides patched round ball you're even more liable to develop corner pitting due to deposited materials. The lube you use on your patches or projectiles can provide combustion products some resistance to wetting so hot water and a little dish soap may be found to be advantageous.
What all that really boils down to is what works for you is what works, but the basics are water to dissolve the salts and agitation to help it work.

 

[John Spartan]

Thank you gentleman!
It’s a Pedersoli Jaeger kit.

 

[nchawkeye]

Put a toothpick in the touch hole, pour some water down the barrel and pour out, repeat, not hot water, no soap...I then turn the gun so the touch hole is pointed to the ground and run 2-3 patches through...Next step is plug the touch hole again and pour a little rubbing alcohol down barrel, swab again...I then spray some WD-40 down the barrel and swab...Finally, put a touch of gun oil on a patch and swab with this...I store my flintlocks with the wiping rod and oiled patch inside the barrel..

 

[akroguy]

Soapy water.....not hot water. I did the hot water thing and could never stop the flash rusting, giving me endless rusty patches.

Went to just room temp water and gets the job done just as well without the rusting.

 

[Buckskinn]

Same way I clean a modern weapon. Not a fan of intentionally putting water down a barrel, even though that's the way they've done it for hundreds of years. But they did not have access to the solvents and protective agents we have now and if they did, I'm pretty sure they would use them...

 

[John Spartan]

Guess I thought the black powder/rifling required something special. I see I was mistaken!

 

[TDM]

Same way you clean the smoothbore.
Walk

That’s what I do. You want have any problems.

 

[tenngun]

Same way I clean a modern weapon. Not a fan of intentionally putting water down a barrel, even though that's the way they've done it for hundreds of years. But they did not have access to the solvents and protective agents we have now and if they did, I'm pretty sure they would use them...

I love Muzzleloading on you tube does a real good video of cleaning with barristol in a modern manner

 

[akroguy]

Another consideration is that most new rifled barrels are a bit rough in the grooves from the machining of the rifling. This can lead to difficult loading and cleaning. Check your spent patches at the range for cutting (and burnout, as well). I've found that some time spent with a sub-caliber jag and some green scotchbrite is time well spent to smooth out the bore surface. Makes loading smoother and tends to hold less fouling.

 

[nhmoose]

 

[kvistads]

I use a mixture of 1 part Simple Green to 9 parts of water for cleaning solution. I dampen cut patches and swab until clean. If cleaning the flintlock, I use an additional step with a tool that I bought many years ago from Jim Chambers that simply clamps over the flash hole and has a clear rubber tube that you submerge in a bottle of cleaning solution. You then use your range rod with jag and patch to suck cleaning solution into the flash hole and then back out again. After everything is dry, I use 3 and 1 oil to lubricate.

Russell

 

[mjpchief]

Some shooters use WD-40 on their firearms, some don’t. I personally do not have a can of WD-40 around my gun bench. Recently bought an unmentionable rifle that previous own had sprayed enough of the stuff in the rifle that I had to scrape all of the parts with my knife because of the WD build up being so thick that the rifle would not operate. I prefer to use Ballistol on my forearms.

Not bashing just stating my opinion.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Cold water, dry patches and oil.

 

[ormond tony]

There was a thread about cleaning where one person used a tube with a magnet at one end and the other end fits into a water/dawn filled gallon milk container. So I bought it. (some place in California, I think) I take the nipple off and attach the magnet end to the hole. Then take a patch, shove it down to the bottom, rapidly pull up and down to create a vacuum. Then draw the water into barrel and back out a few times. Take the magnet end off, use a few patches to dry the bore and use WD-40 on a patch. Put nipple back on with anti-sieze. Don't have to take barrel off stock and is almost perfectly neat and clean.