How long do you spend cleaning your long rifle after an outing at the range

[59sharps]

About 20 min is right. After a competition, I shoot windex down the barrel, swab out till dry, repeat with Ballistol, swab out till dry, remove and clean nipple and flash channel, wipe down and oil. Takes about 20 minutes.

Dave
I know you from seeing you on the line in Va and have had conversations w the gentleman on your left. What unit you with don’t remember

 

[flintsteel]

For my flintlocks it is a quick, simple job. I pack paper towel into pan, close frizzen, and then begin. I scrape the face of the breech plug first. Then I wet patches with Windex and wipe several until fouling is out and patches are fairly clean. Then dry patches. I then open frizzen, remove paper towel and clean touchole with pipe cleaner. Wipe bp residue off lock. To finish I then grease a patch with a non petroleum grease, such as Wonderlube, and run it down the bore a few times. Finis! Never had a problem over 40 years of shooting flinters. (Disclaimer: I do live in a dry climate)).

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Maybe I'm getting slow in my old age, but seems like it takes longer and longer for me to clean my BP guns when I get back from shooting. Last time I was the better part of an hour - and that was only one rifle. Is this the norm, or am I just too slow and meticulous?

I think it probably takes me about 20-minutes. I remove the lock first and then stick a twig or toothpick in the barrel vent and pour a little MAP down the barrel (about 2-inches worth). I'll use water if I'm out of MAP. Then I lean it up against the wall, branch or whatever and let it soak while I clean the lock. I have a period toothbrush (bone and bore bristle) that I wet with the MAP and then scrub the interior and exterior of the lock, repositioning the cock as needed to get at all the parts. Then I'll wipe it dry with a piece of flannel patching and use my oiler to put drops of oil in the appropriate places. With a clean flannel patch I soak a little oil on it and give a light coating to all the surfaces I can easily reach.

Now that the lock is ready to be remounted, I'll set it aside , pick up the rifle, wet a patch with MAP, and push it down with my ramrod until I feel some compression resistance. Then I am very careful to point the vent in a direction where nothing will get hit with the spray of gunk I'm about to push out of the vent. Keeping a little pressure on my ramrod, I will reach down and pull out the toothpick or twig and quickly and firmly push the ramrod all the way down. This will spray out a stream of dissolved fouling at least 6-ft. long. Anything it gets on will stain. Then I'll run about 3 wet patches down the barrel until the patch comes out clean. Then one dry patch to dry it out and another oiled patch to put a light coating of oil on the inside of the barrel. I'll usually use that same oil patch to put a light coating of oil on the outside of the barre too.

After seating the ramrod, I will re-mount the lock and check to make sure it moves smoothly. At that point, I'll hang it up on the wall in the living room, which is where it lives. Typically about 20-minutes to do all that, though it might take as long as 30-minutes sometimes. I do that at the end of the shooting day, whenever that is. I do NOT let any fouling sit in either of my rifles overnight.

IN the field at a reenactment instead of flannel cleaning patches, I'll use a worm with tow wound around it. By the way, if you use tow to clean with, don't throw it away. Dry it out and put it in your flint & steel fire-starting kit. It catches and holds a spark remarkably well.

 

[Stony Broke]

I've used the same method for many years, with no problems. I use a mix of windex/murphy's oil soap as a patch lube and use the same mix to clean the gun with. I take my time and try to be very careful to not miss anything, and it usually takes me about an hour to do a long gun and a little less to do a pistol. After I get it all clean, I proceed with bore butter inside and outside of the barrel and on the stock.

 

[dave951]

Dave
I know you from seeing you on the line in Va and have had conversations w the gentleman on your left. What unit you with don’t remember

If it was at the Fort then the guy on my left is the world famous PJ. We're the Palmetto Sharpshooters. You?

 

[dave951]

Dave
I know you from seeing you on the line in Va and have had conversations w the gentleman on your left. What unit you with don’t remember

If you're referring to the guy in my avatar pic, that's Joe.

 

[J. Paul]

I usually spend 5 minutes at range and use water wet patch swab then follow with dry patches. After I get home, that gives me a couple days if needed, and the hot water cleaning takes about 15 to 20 minutes

 

[Trooper]

I clean them as if I was still serving in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. They're not clean until that patch shows no carbon. Usually depending on how much powder and lead went down that smoke pole, but at least 1 hour is spent cleaning.

 

[SOLANCO]

About an hour. Could do it quicker, but I like fondling things that I love

 

[59sharps]

If you're referring to the guy in my avatar pic, that's Joe.

Yes that’s who I’m talking about.

 

[L W Smith]

I take my time and make sure the gun is CLEAN and DRY and WELL OILED before I put it away. Otherwise, like when I'm hunting, I wipe it down with an oil cloth and put it away.

As long as it takes to get the job done completed...

 

[L W Smith]

What ever amount of time it takes to get the job done completely....can never get BP guns to clean...

 

[FlinterNick]

It generally takes me 25-1 hour.

I take my guns apart, unpin the barrel etc. I clean with soapy water and dry with barricade.