Is there a way to postpone cleaning a ml?

[1971fx]

I've posted this a couple of times on different threads

 

[Reno]

No. You don’t have to clean a ML. But then you probably will never shoot it again. Choice is yours.
Or you can take a few mo ents to clean after shooting. Not to mention cleaning or wiping after each shot or after every second shot.
Cleaning is as important as shooting g and working up a load. Maybe more important. It insures the piece will fire correctly, shoot where you want it to when you need it.

 

[French Colonial]

No. You don’t have to clean a ML. But then you probably will never shoot it again. Choice is yours.
Or you can take a few mo ents to clean after shooting. Not to mention cleaning or wiping after each shot or after every second shot.
Cleaning is as important as shooting g and working up a load. Maybe more important. It insures the piece will fire correctly, shoot where you want it to when you need it.

Cleaning or wiping after each shot or after every second shot!!!

And don't forget to take the lock off and unpin the barrel while cleaning after every shot as well!

REALLY! You can read some pretty amazing stuff on this forum....

 

[64Springer]

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.

Grammar Nazi word of the day is.....Hygroscopic.

 

[Shiloh]

That stuff is Toxic!
Do not inhale it!

Or drink it. Everyone that has drank it has died.

 

[borne2fly]

Here’s a hip-shot thought … rust requires oxygen to form, right? So what would happen if you put your guns in a sealed container and replaced the air inside with, say nitrogen (or argon, or any other inert gas used at welding shops)?

 

[sturmkatze]

Do what works for you. Usually, I get back from shooting later at night. Wipe down with balistol. Spray lock. Do tomorrow

 

[Greenjoytj]

I always clean the next day when I’m feeling more energetic.
Two days is the most I’ve waited to clean.
If I had to put off the cleaning longer I would use a aerosol spray CLP all over the metal parts.
The fastest I’ve cleaned my GPR was just under 2 hrs from the start off setting up the work area, getting out all the cleaning stuff, doing the actual cleaning and putting away all the cleaning stuff.

 

[The Miner '49er]

The attached file is an article by Ross Seyfried that appeared in a 1997 Muzzleloaer magazine.

Thank you jimbob! What an interesting article, by a writer whom I respect, and SO different than any other that I have ever read on this subject. BTW, do you follow his cleaning method, and if so, what have been your results?

 

[azmntman]

Is there a way to postpone cleaning a ml?​

Yes, keep shooting it!

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I wouldn’t.

A great quote from “The Muzzleloading Cap Lock Rifle” by Ned Robert’s is the old timers would say “first take care of your horse, then take care (clean) your gun, then take care of yourself” in regards to what to do at camp before going to bed.

If I don’t have time to take care of my gun right after shooting, I don’t shoot.

 

[D.Summers]

Yeah, that was an interesting article. But it sounds like a recipe for "seasoning" a barrel, something I've heard ridiculed right much!!

 

[The Miner '49er]

Here’s a hip-shot thought … rust requires oxygen to form, right? So what would happen if you put your guns in a sealed container and replaced the air inside with, say nitrogen (or argon, or any other inert gas used at welding shops)?

Now we're talking, borne2fly gets it! Someone else thinking outside the box! Now all we need is a ml shooting-chemist-tinkerer willing to experiment. I remember back in the 70's there was a product, an electric heated rod that was being sold to leave in your rifle barrel to keep it dry and rust free. Never had one, nor knew anyone who did. C'mon chemists, get to work on this . . . just remember me when the profits start rolling in. ;-)

 

[mushka]

Modern metals, black powder, an evening won't hurt.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Modern metals, black powder, an evening won't hurt.

Sorry but that’s just not true. In the dry desert regions, perhaps. But here in the humid Midwest and in the South, that’s a recipe for rust.

 

[MikeWas]

I've postponed cleaning my cap 'n ball revolvers for several days and saw no harm done when I did get around to cleaning them, and had to do nothing more than the normal when I did. Those who claim rusting sets in immediately, well, maybe technically that's true, but practically speaking, I think it takes a while before you reach a point beyond which there's no return.

14 minutes!?!?!

I'm sure that modern muzzleloaders are made with a much better steel.

I wouldn't delay on a vintage firearm though.

 

[mushka]

Yeah Smokey, I do live in the Sonoran desert. Forgot about you poor people that live in a water environment.

 

[Isiah1103]

I've done quick cleans at the range, enough to get some of the fouling out, then a quick oil, just to thwart off any corrosion, then got to doing a proper clean the next day. I don't do that very often, but there are those days when I'll get home from shooting and am just not in the mood to clean the gun right then. I don't do that often though, usually, I get home and within an hour I get to cleaning the gun.

I 2nd that!

 

[Grenadier1758]

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.

In those rather rare instances where one really has no choice but to put off cleaning a muzzleloading firearm, then yes, the cleaning can be put off. This works best if one is shooting real black powder as a wipe with some sort of rust inhibiting lubricant will do enough to protect the barrel for a day. Delaying cleaning works if the humidity is low. Not so much for some of the substitute powders like Pyrodex that while there isn't much in the way of appart sooty fouling, the fouling that is there is very corrosive. Once again, if there is no choice but to put off cleaning to take care of an emergency or other compelling event, then wipe the bore and clean later, no more than a day. Don't go around finding excuses to put off cleaning or one day the barrel will no longer shoot acceptable groups. There is no magic elixir that will allow one to make delay in cleaning a muzzleloading firearm an acceptable practice.

 

[The Miner '49er]

Cleaning or wiping after each shot or after every second shot!!!

And don't forget to take the lock off and unpin the barrel while cleaning after every shot as well!

REALLY! You can read some pretty amazing stuff on this forum....

OMG, "UNPIN THE BARREL"? French Colonial, you better get set for 500 (minimum) lashes with a brand new cat 'o nine tails!