Yet another "101" question. I recently acquired a Pedersoli Brown Bess. What's the recommended way to clean the barrel of a pinned "don't take it apart" flintlock? I've been using the barrel in the hot water bucket method for my other firearms. I can't and don't want to do this with my Bess. Second question: Do those modern flintlock clean contraptions that use a "C" clamp that presses a long tube on to the flash hole actually work? Thanks guys.
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Recommended cleaning method?
- Thread starter Darryl
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I never tried the "C" clamp flushing contraption before, so I can't give an objective opinion on the usage of it...
I clean my bess with hot soapy water, I use a barrel swab at the end of a lond cleaning rod, I soak the swab in scaulding soap water and have at it...
Here is the important parts of that last statement;
1. Wear rubber gloves, I use boiling water, it evaporates better by heating up the barrel, lass chance of rust...
2. Have the barrel pointing down at at a 45 to 90 degree angle at all times, this means the musket will need to be higher than you...
3. Have the flash hole plugged, (remove the lock first) a rubber disc or plug can be made from a pencil's eraser and a small "C" clamp (pad the clamp's jaws so as not to mar the stock or barrel)...
Once done swabbing, let drip dry for a few minutes, than clean cloth dry patches followed by oiling the barrel, inside and out...
This will prevent the stock from getting soaked and excess water from leaking into the barrel channel and rusting the underside of the barrel...
I clean my bess with hot soapy water, I use a barrel swab at the end of a lond cleaning rod, I soak the swab in scaulding soap water and have at it...
Here is the important parts of that last statement;
1. Wear rubber gloves, I use boiling water, it evaporates better by heating up the barrel, lass chance of rust...
2. Have the barrel pointing down at at a 45 to 90 degree angle at all times, this means the musket will need to be higher than you...
3. Have the flash hole plugged, (remove the lock first) a rubber disc or plug can be made from a pencil's eraser and a small "C" clamp (pad the clamp's jaws so as not to mar the stock or barrel)...
Once done swabbing, let drip dry for a few minutes, than clean cloth dry patches followed by oiling the barrel, inside and out...
This will prevent the stock from getting soaked and excess water from leaking into the barrel channel and rusting the underside of the barrel...
smokeblower
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I have the pedersoli blue ridge and clean like musketman , I have discovered that a oxygen-acetelyene(sp?) cutting tourch tip cleaner is perfect for pricking the touch hole. You can find then at any welding supply store and are inexpensive.
Guest
Do you guys ever try a final flush with boiling water? Pour it in, then out immidiately. The super hot water steams out quicker, leaving less actual moisture in the barrel. I learned this while blueing guns. You dunk the parts in boiling water and they steam dry instantly, leaving the parts hot enough to take the blue better, so I started doing it as part of my cleaning process.
It also helps when you're browning a gun.
It also helps when you're browning a gun.
Rocky Johnson
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I use the C clamp contraption. It works ok. When I get another flintlock it will have a hooked breach so I can take the barrel off to clean it.Dose anyone make a kit like that.Lyman ?? Rocky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Guest
Go to a hardware store, purchase a funnel and long flexable clear piece of tubing . Affix the tubing to the funnel, then boiling water can be poured to the breach area . With the muzzle at a downward slope the water will drain and evaporate quickly, leaving a bore that is ready to accept your favorate rust preventative.
Yes, the "C" clamp does work. I have cleaned them like that for years & long before they started mas producing them.
I start with a breech fouling scraper & I scrape the breech, tip the rifle muzzle down & bump it with my hand to jiggle the loose fouling out.
Then put a gallon of Cold water in the jug & a squirt of dishwater detergent, then the hose from the C clamp in the jug thru a small hole drilled in the jug lig. (If you don't you will find out why)
Then you lay the gun upside down in a cleaning cradle (Walmart) & remove the lock. Clamp the lil C clamp over the vent. (If you have a removable vent you can now remove it if you wish & screw in a fitting with a tube & it connects to a jug same way)
Take your cleaning rod with a Bore Guide & a appropriate jag & a good thick patch, wet it & push it down the bore. When you pull it back it will suck the solution into the bore. Swab back & forth 10-15 times. Change patches, do it again. 3 patches worth usually does it. At that point when you have the barrel full, stop leaving the barrel full & most of the rod hanging out of the rifle & let the breech soak. Now go to the faucet & take a toothbrush & clean the lock. Dry the lock with a paper towel. Completely saturate the lock with Ballistol & set asside to drain.
Go back to the gun & pull out the rod, tip the gun up & drain the fluid into the jug. Put on a breech brush & brush the breech just to be sure. If any residue, reswab as before. Usually there is none.
Now take remove clamp & lay the rifle back into cradle & put a rag over the vent. Put dry patches on the jag & swab with several, changing patches til they come out dry. Now wad 2 of them up & stick them in the bore & take a jag & push them tightly into the breech & hold for a minute to absorbe any moisture your jab patch may have missed.
Take out the rod & put on a worm & grab the 2 patches. Squirt some Ballistol down the barrel & into the vent, wet a jag liberally with it & swab the barrel, WITH a rag over the vent or you will oil the wall or someone. Swab barrel real good & quit. Install vent if you had it out, wipe down the lock & install it. Put the gun away with the muzzle down. Reswab 2nd day. Reswab 3 day.
It takes me about 15 minutes to completely clean a longrifle or a halfstock in this manner.
I don't use hot water as it makes the barrel flash rust. IMHO. Think not ? Polish a piece of steel & put it in hot soapy water & clean it real good, pour boiling water over it & then immediately put it under a microscope & see what forms. If you are cleaning your gun & using hot water & stop after the boiling water part & talk for 5 minutes, you barrel has already flash rusted while you were a yappin.. I never us peroxide in any cleaner or lube. Same way if you swab with alcohol, you better be a shooting it or oiling it as you just took all the rust inhibitor off the bore.
There are no doubt hundreds of successful ways to clean a ML successfully. But to me the Most Important thing to remember is to get the Moisture Out. You can still have cruds in it & if you use a good preservative it will most likely neutralize it.. But if you leave moisture in there, it WILL rust.
I start with a breech fouling scraper & I scrape the breech, tip the rifle muzzle down & bump it with my hand to jiggle the loose fouling out.
Then put a gallon of Cold water in the jug & a squirt of dishwater detergent, then the hose from the C clamp in the jug thru a small hole drilled in the jug lig. (If you don't you will find out why)
Then you lay the gun upside down in a cleaning cradle (Walmart) & remove the lock. Clamp the lil C clamp over the vent. (If you have a removable vent you can now remove it if you wish & screw in a fitting with a tube & it connects to a jug same way)
Take your cleaning rod with a Bore Guide & a appropriate jag & a good thick patch, wet it & push it down the bore. When you pull it back it will suck the solution into the bore. Swab back & forth 10-15 times. Change patches, do it again. 3 patches worth usually does it. At that point when you have the barrel full, stop leaving the barrel full & most of the rod hanging out of the rifle & let the breech soak. Now go to the faucet & take a toothbrush & clean the lock. Dry the lock with a paper towel. Completely saturate the lock with Ballistol & set asside to drain.
Go back to the gun & pull out the rod, tip the gun up & drain the fluid into the jug. Put on a breech brush & brush the breech just to be sure. If any residue, reswab as before. Usually there is none.
Now take remove clamp & lay the rifle back into cradle & put a rag over the vent. Put dry patches on the jag & swab with several, changing patches til they come out dry. Now wad 2 of them up & stick them in the bore & take a jag & push them tightly into the breech & hold for a minute to absorbe any moisture your jab patch may have missed.
Take out the rod & put on a worm & grab the 2 patches. Squirt some Ballistol down the barrel & into the vent, wet a jag liberally with it & swab the barrel, WITH a rag over the vent or you will oil the wall or someone. Swab barrel real good & quit. Install vent if you had it out, wipe down the lock & install it. Put the gun away with the muzzle down. Reswab 2nd day. Reswab 3 day.
It takes me about 15 minutes to completely clean a longrifle or a halfstock in this manner.
I don't use hot water as it makes the barrel flash rust. IMHO. Think not ? Polish a piece of steel & put it in hot soapy water & clean it real good, pour boiling water over it & then immediately put it under a microscope & see what forms. If you are cleaning your gun & using hot water & stop after the boiling water part & talk for 5 minutes, you barrel has already flash rusted while you were a yappin.. I never us peroxide in any cleaner or lube. Same way if you swab with alcohol, you better be a shooting it or oiling it as you just took all the rust inhibitor off the bore.
There are no doubt hundreds of successful ways to clean a ML successfully. But to me the Most Important thing to remember is to get the Moisture Out. You can still have cruds in it & if you use a good preservative it will most likely neutralize it.. But if you leave moisture in there, it WILL rust.
I have found that plugging the touch hole with a toothpick, pouring in some cold water or oil soap/alch mix and letting it set for a bit then dumping and then swabbing till clean/dry with wet/dry patches then oiling with favorite lube natural or otherwise works well, the hot water is a waste of time and effort and the flash rust theory has been shown to be valid by sveral folks doing experiments I believe, you can clean the bore with a series of wet and dry patches or tow using either water or lube most likely this was the "old" method, keep it simple, it ain't rocket surgery....
scatteringlead
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I always remove the barrel even though it is pinned. I find it just a lot easier to clean. I have found that a cotton swab to be the way to go for pumping water in and out of the barrel, I don't plug the touch hole so the water moves through the touch hole cleaning it as well. Now here comes the real thing that will draw the most comments. After I remove the barrel I simply take it into bathroom and put breech end into a clean toilet bowl and pump the clean water (clean water being and important part of the process), and then flush the powder residue away. Okay fellows have at me.
That's called "thinking outside the box"...good for you!!
(I also saw where somebody lays them down in a bathtub)
I personally got started using hot water for the alleged drying effects from the hot metal, but am also convinced it doesn't have to be hot to get a barrel clean.
(I also saw where somebody lays them down in a bathtub)
I personally got started using hot water for the alleged drying effects from the hot metal, but am also convinced it doesn't have to be hot to get a barrel clean.
HOT WATER??? Is thar any other kind? Out har in Arizonie hot water is all we gots.
Guest
In spite of the almost universal belief in the use of hot water for cleaning, it actually sets the residue up into a hard crust. Cold water will clean powder residue faster than hot water in most cases. The final rinse should be with boiling hot water to speed drying. That's its only benifit! The comode idea is great! Now I don't have to clean the tub any more. Wish I'd thought of it!
Scatteringlead;
OK the gun cleaning is th eeasy part: How do ya clean a toilet? (My experience is there is always a black ring in the bucket I use when cleaning my guns.) At least there is often a fan in bathrooms to remove that sulphur smell.
Cold water works for me. You can't get a greased patch down the bore fast enough to prevent rust when using boiling hot water.
OK the gun cleaning is th eeasy part: How do ya clean a toilet? (My experience is there is always a black ring in the bucket I use when cleaning my guns.) At least there is often a fan in bathrooms to remove that sulphur smell.
Cold water works for me. You can't get a greased patch down the bore fast enough to prevent rust when using boiling hot water.
scatteringlead
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HEY HORSE DOCTOR, JUST HOW LONG DO LEAVE THAT WATER IN THE BUCKET? KEEP THE WATER MOVING AND THERE WON'T BE A RING PROBLEM. IT HELPS IF YOU PUT A SMALL PIECE OF TAPE AROUND THE BREECH END SO THERE IS LESS CHANCE OF LEAVING SCRATCH MARKS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BOWL, OTHER WISE YOU HAVE TO SCRUB THE MARKS OFF WITH A SCOURING AGENT (LEARNED THAT THE FIRST TIME).
Speaking of toilets, some friends were hunting in Washington state, staying in a motel and going out every day. One of them killed a buck and while gutting it out gave his rifle to one of the others to take back. Late that night they got back and he cleaned his rifle for the next days hunt. When he snapped a cap he stuck the barrel in the toilet so he could see the water move, unknown to him his buddy had already loaded it for him, blew a big hole thru the toilet,
cost him several hundred dollars, scared the heck out of everyone.
cost him several hundred dollars, scared the heck out of everyone.
Guest
Deadeye,.... I like to, "shoot-tha-s#!t",... with my hunt'n buddies too!! 
TwoShadows
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Couldnt help remembering a TRUE story about toilets and muzzleloading.
A member of the Florida Frontiersman ended up in quite a quandry because of a port-a-john they had bought and used at a shoot that needed to be emptied. Finding no drain hole ( they are always cleaned with a vacuum truck) the fellow stepped up and said "I'll make a hole and drain it. Then we can patch my hole and locate one wherever it's needed." He then thumb cocked his 1911 45 automatic and stuck it down the hole and pulled the trigger.
I understand he went by the name of "Poppa Smurf" for a couple weeks until the blue stuff finally came off him.....I won't name names (to protect the guilty)....Glad I didnt see this in person....I suspect I would have hurt myself laughing....still get a giggle every time I remember it or hear the verse of a song that Chuck Hardwicke wrote about it.
A member of the Florida Frontiersman ended up in quite a quandry because of a port-a-john they had bought and used at a shoot that needed to be emptied. Finding no drain hole ( they are always cleaned with a vacuum truck) the fellow stepped up and said "I'll make a hole and drain it. Then we can patch my hole and locate one wherever it's needed." He then thumb cocked his 1911 45 automatic and stuck it down the hole and pulled the trigger.
I understand he went by the name of "Poppa Smurf" for a couple weeks until the blue stuff finally came off him.....I won't name names (to protect the guilty)....Glad I didnt see this in person....I suspect I would have hurt myself laughing....still get a giggle every time I remember it or hear the verse of a song that Chuck Hardwicke wrote about it.
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