Is there a way to postpone cleaning a ml?

[Stub]

My usual practice is to run a few wet patches down the barrel at the range when I'm done shooting for the day. I then run a couple of patches with WD -40. Normally I clean the gun when I get home. But once in a great while something comes up and the gun doesn't get cleaned until the next day. I've never had problems with a barrel that has waited over night to be cleaned.
Now to the other extreme, I have purchased guns from pawn shops that look like they have been shot plenty and never cleaned or cleaned wrong. Down goes the bore light and down goes the price. It always takes lots of work but I have only had one that I couldn't get to shoot better than I can hold. Actually, the one that still has problems hasn't been shot since I got it. I already had a barrel I wanted to use on the stock and I didn't go the extra mile to fix the original barrel. The barrel is now clean and lubed but it has some pitting, my guess is that it will shoot reasonably well.
My experience tells me that bores often look more damaged than they really are. Light cleaning at the range and topped off with WD-40 should buy you a few days before serious damage is done. I just like my guns too much to neglect them if at all possible.

 

[wiscoaster]

...
My experience tells me that bores often look more damaged than they really are.

Yes, that's my experience with milsurps, though you can't really tell until you do the best you can on the chamber and bore and then try shooting them.

 

[Daveboone]

The military for hundreds of years has scrupulously trained their soldiers to immediately clean their arms asap. To this day.
Fer darn good reasons. A good friend of mine got off going hunting because he couldnt admit to that ....Dammit, at the end of the day you clean /dry etc. your firearm....Unmentionable or black powder. He kept trying to find a firearm he didn't have to worry about. ( parkerized, ceramacoat, plastic coated bbl, etc). Invariably, if not cared for promptly....he got rust....even with centerfire smokeless. Incorporating a simple thorough cleaning routine into the planned shooting session is essential.
I by far have more confidence in a hot soapy water scrub routine than any other. That said, if I am being delayed, a good windex scrub out might save me five or ten minutes., but I will go back and finish the job...resulting in the same amount of time or more.

 

[R Ellis]

No scientist here but I have been shooting and hunting with muzzleloaders for close to 40 years. You can put off a complete cleaning for a couple of days by running a wet patch through went you're finished for the day. I use wonder-lube for that and after that use another patch to wipe down the barrel and lock area. It will hold until you can get around to a deep cleaning.

I agree 100%

 

[leadhoarder]

I have heard of folks saturating the fouling with oil which prevents moisture from being absorbed. This in theory means you could put off cleaning for a while. For most of us it is best to just clean it. I imagine many of the folks in the past did not have the luxury of cleaning their rifles with what little precious water they had while they were out in the bush.

 

[Okie Hog]

It's a toss up. The rifle may clean up fine without damage when cleaning is postponed, then again it may be trashed.

For many years i cleaned up the rifles of numerous hunters who put their guns aside after deer season.

One day i told a hunter his expensive Knight rifle was trashed and i would not attempt to clean it. That day i totally stopped cleaning up neglected muzzleloaders.

 

[bronko220002]

I'm from the same mold as the rest of the guys here. If you shoot it, clean it when you get home. I usually clean mine immediately when I get home. Very seldom do I wait even a few hours before cleaning.
But if you must wait due to unforeseen circumstances I suggest as a minimum you either run a Baristol patch or two down the bore or a couple soapy water patches down it to neutralize the potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide created by burned black powder. Both are highly corrosive.

 

[earlwb]

I would say that you want a stainless steel barrel and breech. That resists corrosion better than regular steels do.

But if you are using a decent patch lube then the effects of corrosion tend to be inhibited too. The lube leaves some of its anti-corrosion ability behind when you shoot.

As mentioned it does vary depending on the environment, humidity etc. When I lived in Arizona we were using a swamp cooler for our home. I guarantee you that you needed to clean and oil your guns promptly after use. Heck you needed to re-oil them often too. The inside the home humidity was very high. But if you had AC in the desert climate you could probably go a long time between cleanings and oiling as the humidity was almost non-existent.

 

[Banjoman]

Di-hydrogen oxide works good.

 

[trackpin]

Cannot clean it when done with shooting? Wet it with oil. That nullifies the hydroscopic nature of the soot. It may not be easy to get that and the fouling out later though without using a solvent as it will be a waterproof gooey mess.

 

[necchi]

True, but life happens. Sometimes priorities get in the way. It's not realistic to put cleaning guns as always a #1 priority. My RIGHT to bear IS always a #1 priority, but what, where, how and when I bear gets shifted according to other priorities.

Your right. So take care of that life happens stuff and schedule your shooting time around those things. That's how life happens happily.
Yes, "emergencies" in life do happen, not cleaning when that happens is understood.
But when life is dinner with the wife and neighbors @5pm interferes with your shooting until 4:50pm,, it's on you.

 

[TDM]

My memory fails me at times, but I believe it was @deerstalkert that had some dehydrated water to sell that was a true cure all for BP.

Just remembered, @azmntman had the dehydrated water!

 

[deerstalkert]

fresh out of it! need to get some warm day to make some more!

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I clean right away. Why take a chance? Only takes 15 min like others said.

 

[TDM]

I clean right away. Why take a chance? Only takes 15 min like others said.

Yep, just clean your gun properly and be done with it.

 

[deerstalkert]

as with any cleaning, be it a house or car, or a muzzleloader, keep it clean to start with and it is easier to get clean. once corrosion starts things get harder fast.
i find cleaning my guns to be a enjoyable part of the addiction.

 

[necchi]

One would think that a country that put man on the moon would be able to formulate some product that would allow a ml shooter to postpone cleaning his gun until the next day.

Well they did, it took centuries and scientists from around the world to do so.
They created the modern smokeless powder cartridge guns.
Honest, there was nothing else that worked, our beloved guns where left to the way-side because of those things you seek answers for.
And nobody in the last 200yrs has been able to beat it. It's just not possible.
Caustic deposits applied to steel barrels has no other resolve than to remove those deposits, truth.
That science is available for review from military development of the last 200-300yrs on google, it's free to see.
That same science is still used today in forensic research, Honest,

So if you want to enjoy the historic aspect of traditional ML, you need to participate in the traditional aspect of it.
It ain't rocket science, that came later.

 

[necchi]

Di-hydrogen oxide works good.

That stuff is Toxic!
Do not inhale it!

 

[The Miner '49er]

Well they did, it took centuries and scientists from around the world to do so.
They created the modern smokeless powder cartridge guns.
Honest, there was nothing else that worked, our beloved guns where left to the way-side because of those things you seek answers for.
And nobody in the last 200yrs has been able to beat it. It's just not possible.
Caustic deposits applied to steel barrels has no other resolve than to remove those deposits, truth.
That science is available for review from military development of the last 200-300yrs on google, it's free to see.
That same science is still used today in forensic research, Honest,

So if you want to enjoy the historic aspect of traditional ML, you need to participate in the traditional aspect of it.
It ain't rocket science, that came later.

Thanks to all who have replied thus far, especially necci. What he said makes the most sense. In my original post I merely posed a question to see if, on one of those once in a lifetime occasions (maybe you shot off three toes with your ml but still hobbled to the hospital and then home) if there might be some way you could skip cleaning until the next am. Seems like there are three, not two, things that can't be avoided: death, taxes, same day cleaning of your ml gun.

 

[Freedom]

Montana weather is pretty forgiving I guess. I stripped the bluing from a brand new 1858 Remington with vinegar. Then left it very dirty hanging on a nail in the barn for 9 months. Just wiped the ash out of it and zero rust.

My current ranch companion is an old CVA 50cal single shot pistol. I shoot it about every day and she is in the JD Gator right now waiting for tomorrow's adventure...been a week or more, and about 50 shots, since her last cleaning...no rust.

But the other side of the coin...Just one night spent in a canvas wall tent with my rifle, and in the morning I had crusty rust and light pitting! And I had even swabbed the barrel with a couple patches before bed.