Period black powder cleaning

[Okie Hog]

Using a good vegetable oil or fat, or an animal oil or fat based lubricant absorbs salts and forms a barrier between steel and any salt solution.

Yep, that's the theory anyway. In practice the barrels often rust under the lubricant. In the late 1950s through the late 1970s i owned a couple hundred different period muzzleloaders. The bores of the vast majority were trashed, some rusted under the tallow or lard.

A trash truck driver friend gave me three muzzleloaders found in a dumpster near Arlington, VA: One was made by Hacker Martin. The bores of two were filled completely with tallow, the other was filled with unsalted butter. Those bores were pristine.

 

[Okie Hog]

Grand Pa's diary entry mentioning gun cleaning is longer than his diary entry for killing a Federal colonel. Detailed to guard a bridge Grand Pa wrote: "Told the colonel to halt. He tried to draw his gun and I killed him."

A cousin owns the colonels Ames sword. Another cousin owns his Remington revolver.

 

[RAEDWALD]

Muskets for the East India Company were filled and covered in mutton fat for the voyage to India.

 

[Okie Hog]

Muskets for the East India Company were filled and covered in mutton fat for the voyage to India.

That's neat to know. Thanks.