how do you guys clean your guns?

[onefeather]

well how and what do you guys use to clean your guns out while on a trek or hunting trip or anything? :hmm:

 

[mattacton]

Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine (came with my GPR's) and cloth patches.

 

[gmww]

Butch's is a very effective and fast way. If I don't have that, soap and water. Window cleaner without the vineger in a pinch. I always finish it up with a petrolium lube. Used to do the non-petrolium route but it built up quite a bit over the years. They called it seasoning. Got so built up my accuracy went south.

 

[onefeather]

i use soap an water one mine with some oil.but what is this tow i keep hearing? :youcrazy: i have seen it used to fire building and gun cleaning.which one is it and whats it made of?

 

[roundball]

"...Used to do the non-petrolium route but it built up quite a bit over the years. They called it seasoning. Got so built up my accuracy went south..."

FYI, steaming hot soapy water prevents that buildup.

The only thing I've used for 15+ years is Natural Lube 1000...and I really plaster it in there...but I clean the bore to the bare raw metal after every time I shoot

 

[bulletman]

I clean with my patch lube, (wet for bore between shots) (dry for patches) using the moose snot mixture, then take the barrel off when I am done, sit in a coffee can of HOT water and plunge, let set, plunge more, then dry and oil.

 

[Swampman]

Tepid water is what our forefathers used and that's what I use. Olive oil keeps the barrel well lubed. A toothpick plugs the touch hole. Don't remove the barrel of a real gun unless you want to ruin it.

 

[gmww]

Actually, I was doing the boiling strait from the kettle to the barell thing. Still got the build up.

 

[roundball]

Actually, I was doing the boiling strait from the kettle to the barell thing. Still got the build up.

:hmm: that's a puzzler...it comes off like holding a breakfast plate with egg residue on it under a hot water faucet...as soon as it heats up it melts...add a little dishwashing detergent and everything is dissolved / leached out of the bore completely...15+ years, never any buildup

 

[Eric/WV]

One Feather,

Tow is unspun flax fibers. Flax or tow was used for multiple purposes. It was used to make coarse cloth for clothing, it was used as tinder for firemaking, and it was used to clean their guns. In order to use tow to clean your gun, you will need a "tow worm" to attach to the end of your ramrod. A tow worm resembles two corkscrews that wind around each other. You take some flax and wind it around the tow worm to clean your gun. You can wet the tow for cleaning, and you can grease the tow for oiling your barrel. After you clean your gun with tow(flax), you can sit it out to dry and reuse it for firestarting. You can buy tow/flax from various suppliers such as[url] www.jastown.com[/url] and [url] www.turkeyfootllc.com[/url] etc... I have seen some nice tow worms at[url] www.smilingfoxforgellc.com[/url]

 

[gmww]

There was some long discussion on this topic on some forum about a year ago. Not sure if it was hear or another one.

Anyways, someone suggested taking the barrel back down to bare metal. I did by scrubbing, and more scrubbing with bore brush and JB bore shine. Man the stuff that came out. And this was after I have been pouring boilig water down the barrel with some dish soap for years.

It was that seasoning that they advertise that caused the problem. That's my guess. Now its clean to bare metal every time.

 

[onefeather]

thanks eric.i am gonna get a tow worm.acvtually thats why i wanted to know what tow was.after i was reading mark bakers book.thanks :bow: can you make your own tow from blue flax a type of plant you see in gardens? :thumbsup: :hmm:

 

[gmww]

Hey Roundball I found the forum on the bore butter build up. You can read it and come to your own conclusion. Good reading. :winking:

Bore butter build up.

 

[roundball]

Thanks, but I've used it exclusively for 15+ years...pretty well already have my conclusion.

Be sure you understand my previous post...I do not believe in the notion of seasoning...whatever NL1000 I put in my bore comes right back out at cleaning time...I never let it build up...I don't let anything build up in my bores...so NL1000 is just an excellent lube for me, not a problem.

I've posted this many times about my cleaning regimen:

100% clean (100%)
100% dry
100% lubed

Each and every time...

 

[tnlonghunter]

solution using 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 hydrogen-peroxide, 1/3 Murphy's Oil Soap. Pour approx. 1-2 ounces down the barrel (you gotta plug the touch hole). I usually cover the muzzle with my thumb, then turn the gun upside down, back and forth several times to coat the whole inside of the barrel, then let it sit muzzle up for about 5 minutes, letting the stuff sit in the chamber.

Pour it out,unplug the touch hole and swab until dry with clean, dry patches (usually only takes me 3-4). Once clean and dry, oil with a high quality gun oil (Hoppe's works well for me), and run one last dry patch to get any excess oil out.

If I've only shot a couple of shots (like in hunting) then I wipe the pan and frizzen with a patch soaked in the cleaning solution, then wipe with oil. If I've shot a lot, then I take off the lock. I started a thread on cleaning lock on the Flintlock section. Lots of good suggestions there. I'm finding that using a toothbrush with either the cleaning solution or hot water works well. Again, finish with good gun oil and wipe of the excess.

 

[AZ-Robert]

can you make your own tow from blue flax a type of plant you see in gardens? :thumbsup: :hmm:

Yes, you can. But it is a heap of work... starting with making sure you have the best type of flax. Most of the wild stuff won't do, and there are two types of the commercial stuff. One type gives mostly seed (for linseed products) and poor fiber, and the other is vice versa. Flax was one of those gotta have crops way back when - a quarter acre would generally keep a family clothed. Looks like there is move afoot to make it a cash crop again in your neck of the woods.

But here you go for the retting:[url] http://www.ancientroute.com/resource/cloth/linen.htm[/url]
[url] http://www.dohistory.org/diary/themes/textile/textile_illustration.html[/url]

and here is the recent stuff:[url] http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-361.html[/url]

 

[Eric/WV]

One Feather,

I forgot to mention, you can also use tow for the wadding in a smoothbore. This can be used instead of an "over powder card" and an "over shot card". I've seen people use wasp nest for this purpose as well.

 

[onefeather]

thanks az.im gonna grow an half acre of that next year.and down here i might be able to get two harvest from that.up north i grew that stuff all the time.thanks guys :hatsoff:

 

[flintlock54]

Range - I swab bore clean with Butches Black Powder Solvent. Then I use a soaked patch to wipe down the lock and wipe dry with a rag. It is almost clean at this point. Butches just melts powder residue away. When I get home I do one more cleaning. Water wash the bore with tow and then clean rinse with water (tooth pick in flash hole). Finish with Butches solvent one more time. Patch dry and oil bore and metal with Butches oil. Takes less time than it sounds.

 

[dodgecity]

Hot water and tow...same as would have been available on a 1760 era trek. Don't have any bear oil just now, so I finish up with clean tow and ballistol.