How you clean

[Magungo1066]

Hey guys! Hope all is well. So I have been thinking of how I clean my flintlocks lately. I used to use all of these complex concotions and would spend well over an hour cleaning a certain gun. Now I rely almost exclusively on room temperature water mixed with a little bit of ballistol, and cotton patches. I can clean any of my guns thoroughly in under thirty minutes. Some of this is surely do to having more experience, but I am still shocked by the effectiveness on relying of something as simple as Luke-warm water. How do you guys clean and how long does it take you to do so?

 

[Versanaut]

Seems we are in the same camp here. I put a toothpick in the vent, some Ballistol down the barrel. 5 minutes later, fill up with luke-warm water. 5 minutes turn over the gun a couple times. 5 minutes dump and start swabbing with flannel. I wet the flannel with some Ballistol if it gets to dry and starts becoming difficult to run the patch through.

I wipe the lock down every time. Every 3rd or 4th match I take the lock off and soak in the mixture and scrub clean. Rinse in hot water, towel dry, Hair dry, then soak the whole assembly in Paraffin based Automatic Transmission Fluid. 'dry off' with a towel for no drips or puddling and install. Good for 3-4 more matches.

About 30 minutes total for a simple cleaning. 45 minutes if I'm tackling the lock.

 

[tenngun]

Plug the vent for me. Fill with water, some time a little soap, sit, dump, repeat, wipe with flannel or tow, dry oil done.
some time ago I did put on the stop watch, then starred took less then half an hour, that was start timer,remove the lock, clean, clean the lock and oil reassemble, make sure outside is clean and dry, oil, then oil the wood wipe down agin and pick up my mess.

 

[Bob McBride]

Ballistol and water for me too boys. Quick and easy. I use bear grease or similar if the gun will be setting for a week or two and Barricade if she’ll sit indefinitely.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

I recently bought a Flush Kit from TOTW. I love it. I clamp it on drop the tube into a bucket of water and run a wet patch down the barrel, draw water up into the barrel, back down push the fowling out until it's clean. Remove it, run a few dry patches down to dry it and oil it. No spills or leaks brilliant. I bought a bunch of extra gaskets for 10¢ each so I'm good for a long time.

 

[oldwood]

Remove and tooth brush the flint lock under the faucet. next , I have a laundry sink with a hose fitting on the faucet. Attach a surgical tubing with an auto brake fluid steel tubing on it and insert the brake line into the muzzle. Put finger on the touch hole and turn on the hot water faucet. When the water from the muzzle comes clear . Remove the cleaning rig , squirt some WD- 40 into the bore to lube the cleaning patches , and run some clean patches down the bore until patches come clean. Dry and lube the lock , install back on the gun , lube the bore ,add a coat of Minwax Special Dark finish wax on everything but the sights. Done.......12 mins.. oldwood