Rust patch?

[Omahkapi'si]

All I can say is the barrel looked great this morning and I will be shooting the hell out of it next week.

 

[flashpoint]

Boys, I just re-read my post, and found the following, in paragraph #3: "The problem with a lot of these Protestants is that they evaporate in time..."

Maybe that's what accounts for diminishing attendance at Sunday services. You reckon? The congregation is evaporating?

Probably ought to ask whoever programmed the spell-check auto-correct function into the system. Honestly, what I wanted to say was, "The problem with a lot of these protectants is that they evaporate...," but Mr. Auto Correct sneaked in behind me to do his work, and by now my "edit window" has expired.

In any event, I apologize if anybody was offended. As for myself, I'm having to clean off the coffee I spewed over the computer screen when I re-read my post...

Does Hoppe's remove coffee?

Notchy Bob

 

[good ole boy]

On average,how often do you guys use a brush when using real BP and not the Subs?

 

[B P Arn]

I only use a brush when I am shooting revolvers and notice some lead deposits in the rifling. This doesn't happen often, and it is easily removed with a brush and soapy water.

I have no experience with BP long guns.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Mom always said to brush twice a day.

 

[B P Arn]

Mom always said to brush twice a day.

...and wipe once. Oh, wait... that isn't "rust" I'm seeing on that patch.

 

[Okie Hog]

Be aware that vinegar will remove bluing.

Been using Windex with vinegar for 20 years. The stuff is about three percent vinegar and it does not remove bluing. i will continue to use it.

Cleaning muzzleloaders is not rocket science. If your gun rusts it's because your procedure is faulty.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I never use a brush for either propellants.
Walk

 

[SDSmlf]

All I can say is the barrel looked great this morning and I will be shooting the hell out of it next week.

Good deal. Repeat the cleaning process after next time out and the results should repeat.

 

[LME]

I got into ML before personal computers therefore no forums to help. I followed the direction that came with the rifle. Soap, Water and elbow grease. I am still shooting the rifle today over 40 years later. The only thing I will change is the way I store the rifle. A friend and ML shooter said he melts Crisco shortening and pours it down the barrel. No air gets to the bore and no rust can form. With very little heat the Crisco melts out of the barrel and he is ready to shoot again with no rust worrys.

 

[Notchy Bob]

This has been a great thread, with lots of good information. I want to comment on three random points that were brought up:

1. Hot water: I don't use boiling water, just hot water. I heat it up with Mr. Coffee, and use the coffeepot (or "carafe") as a dispenser. The water is hot, but not boiling, and Mr. Coffee keeps it conveniently hot until you are ready to use it. I haven't had a problem with flash rust. If you get the barrel good and hot, and stand it muzzle down for a few minutes, and most of the water will evaporate. Just like some of the Protestants. Blow it out, wipe it out with dry patches, and apply the surface protectant of your choice.

2. Brushing: I would not use or recommend a bronze or stainless brush in a muzzleloader. These brushes have to fit very tightly to do their job, and the bristles get "folded back" as you push the brush down the bore. After it hits bottom, you have to pull it back out, which requires that the bristles reverse direction. It can be a very hard pull, getting that brush out of there, and there is potential for the brush pulling off your rod and lodging down in the bore. Then you have a problem. If you feel the need to brush, I would recommend a nylon bore brush. The bristles are softer and reverse direction more easily, but they will get down to the bottom of your grooves. Much easier to pull out and less likely to pull off. Midway and Brownell's have nylon bore brushes in most calibers and gauges. However, you probably won't need one. Black powder fouling is water soluble, and you shouldn't be getting a lead deposit with a patched round ball. I could see that revolvers, which shoot balls of approximately groove diameter, might accumulate a bit of leading, but their design allows you to push a bore brush all the way through, so the bristles can straighten up outside the bore, and they reverse direction easily when you pull back.

This is actually pretty common knowledge among shooters with a little experience, yet many manufacturers and vendors to the muzzleloading community continue to provide cleaning kits with bronze brushes. This could potentially get some beginning shooters in trouble. Most of the muzzleloading-specific dealers don't even sell nylon bore brushes. You have to visit the unmentionable suppliers for these. Go figure!

3. Filling the bore with Crisco: As in LME's post #50, above. I have heard of old timers filling a rifle bore with melted tallow for long-term storage. When you are ready to shoot again, "Just stand 'er behind the old wood stove for a little while, and when she warms up some, turn her so the muzzle's down. The taller'll all slide out in one piece, slick as you please." I have not tried that and I'm not necessarily recommending it. Just offering the information, as it was presented to me, for whatever historical value it might have.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[eggwelder]

i use hot soapy water to clean and hot water to rinse because i clean the black powder residue off outside, and it`s usually miserable here in Newfoundland. Keeps my hands warm- that is the only real reason.
i use bronze/ brass brushes in my antiques and rescue guns because the bores are pitted and otherwise tend to hold on to unwanted stuff in the barrel.
the ones with good bores get a bore mop.
I also clean my unmentionables after every outing too, if corrosive ammo is used, they get the hot water treatment too.
i don`t worry about flash rust so much, it`s getting cleaned off shorty.

after the water and scrubbing, everything gets hosed down with WD40, the wiped down and renovated with G96 or Eds Red, or mil issue CLP, whatever i have on hand

i have also rinsed my MLs out with windshield wash fluid, especially if it is late getting off the range and i know i will not be able to clean that evening.

 

[Jim Wag]

Boys, I just re-read my post, and found the following, in paragraph #3: "The problem with a lot of these Protestants is that they evaporate in time..."

Maybe that's what accounts for diminishing attendance at Sunday services. You reckon? The congregation is evaporating?

Probably ought to ask whoever programmed the spell-check auto-correct function into the system. Honestly, what I wanted to say was, "The problem with a lot of these protectants is that they evaporate...," but Mr. Auto Correct sneaked in behind me to do his work, and by now my "edit window" has expired.

In any event, I apologize if anybody was offended. As for myself, I'm having to clean off the coffee I spewed over the computer screen when I re-read my post...

Does Hoppe's remove coffee?

Notchy Bob

Notchy! I protest! I'm Southern Baptist!

 

[Siringo]

IF you have a new Italian gun, beware that they use a preservative made by Vavoline in the bores. Over time, that preservative turns into a a substance that is almost varnish like that is very difficult to remove. I have gone thru this a few times and the only solvent that will remove it is MEK and aggressive brushing. MEK is next to impossible to find today and
its substitute is useless. AND that solvent will destroy your stock finish. Many of these Italian guns have been in storage for years. In a smokeless gun with jacketed bullets the substance will burn away. Not so with black powder and greased patches/lead bullets. It took me a very long time of brushing to get rid of it. I have not had this problem with any other barrel. Only Pedersoli.

 

[B P Arn]

Lacquer thinner has removed every trace of preservative oil that I have ever encountered. WD40 might work also.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I am done overthinking it. It’s clean and will get used and cleaned lots from now on. Love shooting it.

 

[S.Kenton]

Worked on neglected and improperly maintained muzzleloaders for many years. There are many ways to properly clean and preserve the bores of muzzleloaders. i don't use hot or boiling water, ditto for soap.

My cleaning routine:

1. Before leaving the firing range i swab the bore with a patch wet with Windex Multi-Purpose cleaner, aka Windex With Vinegar. This stuff dissolves the fouling.

2. At home the bore is swabbed with dry patches.

3. The bore is swabbed with a patch wetted with tap water.

3. The bore is swabbed with dry patches.

4. The bore is swabbed with a patch wet with WD-40. If the rifle will be used in the next few months it's put away.

5. If the rifle will be stored long term the WD-40 is swabbed out and the bore treated with a synthetic oil.

One of my rifles has deep rifling. It's hard to remove the crud clinging to the sides of the lands. i use a brass brush to remove that fouling.

I do all the following except swap out synthetic oil with fluid film as a final preservative. Synthetic oil would probably work ok too though.
For what it’s worth, I used boiling water ... one time... and it flash rusted my barrel instantly, between the time I pumped the barrel with boiling water, then went on to the oiling patch I actually had a bit of brown on my white patch. I switched to room temp.water and problem was solved.

 

[S.Kenton]

It’s very easy to overthink things! Do what works for you and enjoy the sport!

 

[BadDaditood]

I’m a Reformed Protestant: I gave up soap and hot water and compressed air and alcohol and Ed’s Red in barrels...
Just a bucket of hose water, two wet patches, WD40 to get the water out then a dry patch and a final patch with a decent oil.
Sooo much faster than my old routine.
I still run a dry patch before loading but since storing rifles muzzle down oil migrates away from the breech leaving Nun on it

 

[Bob Osceola]

This has been a great thread, with lots of good information. I want to comment on three random points that were brought up:

1. Hot water: I don't use boiling water, just hot water. I heat it up with Mr. Coffee, and use the coffeepot (or "carafe") as a dispenser. The water is hot, but not boiling, and Mr. Coffee keeps it conveniently hot until you are ready to use it. I haven't had a problem with flash rust. If you get the barrel good and hot, and stand it muzzle down for a few minutes, and most of the water will evaporate. Just like some of the Protestants. Blow it out, wipe it out with dry patches, and apply the surface protectant of your choice.

2. Brushing: I would not use or recommend a bronze or stainless brush in a muzzleloader. These brushes have to fit very tightly to do their job, and the bristles get "folded back" as you push the brush down the bore. After it hits bottom, you have to pull it back out, which requires that the bristles reverse direction. It can be a very hard pull, getting that brush out of there, and there is potential for the brush pulling off your rod and lodging down in the bore. Then you have a problem. If you feel the need to brush, I would recommend a nylon bore brush. The bristles are softer and reverse direction more easily, but they will get down to the bottom of your grooves. Much easier to pull out and less likely to pull off. Midway and Brownell's have nylon bore brushes in most calibers and gauges. However, you probably won't need one. Black powder fouling is water soluble, and you shouldn't be getting a lead deposit with a patched round ball. I could see that revolvers, which shoot balls of approximately groove diameter, might accumulate a bit of leading, but their design allows you to push a bore brush all the way through, so the bristles can straighten up outside the bore, and they reverse direction easily when you pull back.

This is actually pretty common knowledge among shooters with a little experience, yet many manufacturers and vendors to the muzzleloading community continue to provide cleaning kits with bronze brushes. This could potentially get some beginning shooters in trouble. Most of the muzzleloading-specific dealers don't even sell nylon bore brushes. You have to visit the unmentionable suppliers for these. Go figure!

3. Filling the bore with Crisco: As in LME's post #50, above. I have heard of old timers filling a rifle bore with melted tallow for long-term storage. When you are ready to shoot again, "Just stand 'er behind the old wood stove for a little while, and when she warms up some, turn her so the muzzle's down. The taller'll all slide out in one piece, slick as you please." I have not tried that and I'm not necessarily recommending it. Just offering the information, as it was presented to me, for whatever historical value it might have.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

Yup I use tallow ! Works exactly as said then a dry patch or 2 and ready to go !!!!