proper care for gun

[longbow-hunter]

after a day of shooting what is the best cleaning procedure for my gun. I know about flushing or swabbing the barrel but do you remove the lock and if so how do you clean it. I dont wanna remove the barrel to often because I'd ruin the small pin holes that hold the stock and barrel together. Any thoughts would be appericated. :idunno:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I remove the lock but may go 10 years without removing the barrel. And then only if there is a reason. I just keep the muzzle below the vent when wiping with wet patches.

 

[Dirk Perry]

i always remove the lock, and run warm water over it, then put it aside and flush&swab my bbl. then oil everything. if the lock shows still wet, i may hold it over a heat source to dry it completely, then oil.
good luck,

 

[roundball]

after a day of shooting what is the best cleaning procedure for my gun. I know about flushing or swabbing the barrel but do you remove the lock and if so how do you clean it. I dont wanna remove the barrel to often because I'd ruin the small pin holes that hold the stock and barrel together. Any thoughts would be appericated. :idunno:

Different strokes for different folks and all that, I remove both the lock and barrel after shooting.
Passing on the technique I learned from other forum members, using the correct size straight pin punch, pins usually just "push" right out...I push them through far enough to pull them out from the other side with pliars, stick them on a strip of duct tape to keep them in order, and I reinstall them in their same holes, from the side I removed them...I leave my strong brass ramrods in place to ensure the empty forestock has good rigid support its full length...cleaning my Flintlocks this way is a personal choice I've decided to do.
I also use an air compressor I have for speed and convenience but its not necessary of course.

I completely clean the lock with hot soapy water, including the removal of the frizzen to clean all the pivot/contact points...blow it all off with compressed air, power flush it with aersol WD40, blow that off and reassemble with a hint of grease from a syringe at all the frizzen pivot / contact points.

Breech end of the barrel has been soaking in a 5 gal bucket of hot soapy water, pump flush it good then rinse it with clean hot water, blow it out with compressed air, patch it, let it lay for a few minutes for the residual heat to work...then run dripping sloppy wet WD40 patches up and down a few times, dry patch that out and repeat, store muzzle down.

 

[texcl]

I take the lock off and clean it and under it and leave the barrel in if it's pinned if it is a hooked breach then I'll take it off and clean. If you take a pinned barrel down too many times you will eventually bugger up and or enlarge the pin holes if you are a clutz like me. I'm pretty sure that most people didn't take them down back when they were modern.I've been cleaning like this for years with no ill affects.

 

[roundball]

I agree...if someone is a clutz, then they may not way to do it.
After all, it does involve pushing out 3 pins and removing one screw.
:grin:

 

[saber]

I clean with good damp soapy patches with a dry patch in the pan and frizzen down on it then after cleaning I dry ox yoke lube the barrel wip pan every now and then I take the lock out remove flint and boil in soapy water then boiling in clean water then out it will dry instantly then wd40 the lock and grease the pivot point and back in

 

[spudnut]

I wash the lock with a toothbrush and warm running water,Shake the moisture off and let it air dry a couple minutes.Then I blow all the wet out with wd40 then go back and reoil the lock.
About once a year i'll blow all the crud out of the lock with a can of gunk or brake cleaner then reoil.

 

[hanshi]

The only thing I remove (so far) is the lock. It gets a good cleaning same as the barrel.

 

[majg1234]

I remove the lock,go inside to clean it while I'm gone the barrel is soaking with hot soapy water with the vent hole plugged with a round plastic tooth pick,I clean the lock with hot soapy water (as hot as I can stand on my hands) then I place it on on a towel blow it dry with a hair dryer,grease frizzen pivot point and lightly oil all pivot points.I then go back out empty the barrel ( most of the junk comes out 1st time re do the hot water soap routine shaking it ..pour it out and use a mop with 1/2 murpheys oil soap and olive oil until clean(tooth pick is out now),when the mop is clean dry with a clean patches until dry take a clean mop dampened with ATF fluid and swab the bore,run one clean patch though it set it up and watch a few days,about 3 days later apply mink oil to a ptach and re swab..put her away.The stock,lock and external barrel get a lite coat of mink oil...she is then put in a gun sock and placed in the safe,to return to shooting the vent hole is picked after an alcohol soaked pad in run down the bore and the frizzen is cleaned likewise with alcohol

 

[luieb45]

Not that I'm doubting your method Stumpkiller but how do you get the area that the cleaning jag can't reach clean?

 

[Dirk Perry]

[/quote]
"Different strokes for different folks and all that, I remove both the lock and barrel after shooting.
Passing on the technique I learned from other forum members, using the correct size straight pin punch, pins usually just "push" right out...I push them through far enough to pull them out from the other side with pliars, stick them on a strip of duct tape to keep them in order, and I reinstall them in their same holes, from the side I removed them...I leave my strong brass ramrods in place to ensure the empty forestock has good rigid support its full length...cleaning my Flintlocks this way is a personal choice I've decided to do.
I also use an air compressor I have for speed and convenience but its not necessary of course.

I completely clean the lock with hot soapy water, including the removal of the frizzen to clean all the pivot/contact points...blow it all off with compressed air, power flush it with aersol WD40, blow that off and reassemble with a hint of grease from a syringe at all the frizzen pivot / contact points.

Breech end of the barrel has been soaking in a 5 gal bucket of hot soapy water, pump flush it good then rinse it with clean hot water, blow it out with compressed air, patch it, let it lay for a few minutes for the residual heat to work...then run dripping sloppy wet WD40 patches up and down a few times, dry patch that out and repeat, store muzzle down."[/quote]

Geez dude! Incredible! but i got to work for a living...

 

[roundball]

Geez dude! Incredible! but i got to work for a living...

You're telling on yourself.....your level of experience....."dude".
:wink:

Its a simple 30 minute job...I'm willing to spend 30 minutes to keep a $2000 investment looking showroom ready, and "know" it'll take down the next 10 pointer when I drop the flint on him.

Evidently you aren't...

 

[Dirk Perry]

Easy RB. anyone that offers the least dissent to your M.O. and you put the gloves on. What's wrong with you man?

 

[luieb45]

30 minutes is good time for me when cleaning a gun. Especially if you're cleaning the lock, too because I only clean the lock every other time. Then it would also take a little longer with a longrifle or fowler because all of my guns are about 28 in. I probably take longer cleaning than most but I always clean the breech more than necessary because that's probably the most important area to keep clean... at least with percussion it is. I have to say though I'm not looking forward to flushing my gun every night in deer season. Then before I leave the house every morning I'm planning on keeping cleaning patches, extra rubbing alcohol, and my cleaning rod in the house every day so I can wipe one alcohol patch and follow up with about 5 dry patches to make sure I get all the oil out of the gun and it's dry. So the 20 minute drive should be long enough for everything to dry and if not I could do this procedure right as I wake up then let it dry while I eat. Anyway to sum it up I get very specific about my gun cleaning :rotf:

 

[roundball]

What's wrong with you man?

Typical...trying to dodge responsibility and make it someone else's problem...YOU'RE what's wrong...with your sarcastic comment:
Geez dude! Incredible! but i got to work for a living...

 

[luieb45]

??? I think the question is what's wrong with you. What it looks like to me is that you're just trying to start arguments around here. I don't think Roundball said anything out of line.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Geez dude! Incredible! but i got to work for a living...

His name is Roundball, not "Man" or "Dude".

He's giving his opinion. If it doesn't work for you, that's okay.

Whether you work for a living or not is irrelevant to this discussion.

Please try to stay on topic.

 

[Leatherbark]

Not that I'm doubting your method Stumpkiller but how do you get the area that the cleaning jag can't reach clean?

Not Stumpy here but i'll bet he has a breech with a flat face slightly behind the touch hole and those are the easiest(sp?) type of breech to clean...........No firing chamber like the Italian guns and some American ones. But even on those I always use a smaller brush with a patch on it to wipe out that firing chamber.....................Bob

 

[luieb45]

Oh. I have a lyman and a tc and I can't clean those breeches out any other way than flushing water through it. That would be a lot easier to clean if a gun had a flat faced breech. I'm not sure why tc or lyman make the deep breeches because the lyman breech is pretty hard to clean.