Stupid Newbie cleaning question

[16gauge]

O.K., sorry if this has been covered before.....

I bought a Cabela's (Pedersoli) trade musket, and I've just realized that I don't have the foggiest idea as to how to clean it. I've watched the video and read the directison that came with the gun, but the barrel is pinned in place. I am used to hooked breech rifles....pull the wedge pin and pull the barrel. Do I have to tap these pins out? (and is this a wise idea?) Or do I just leave the barrel attached to the stock and mop out the barrel with hot, soapy water? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Musketeer]

This is what I use on my pinned-barrel flinters. It works great! http://www.trackofthewolf.com :thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

Do I have to tap these pins out?

No, but if you ever do, lay them in order so you can get the right one back in it's original hole...

I clean my bess inverted (the gun, not me), barrel pointing downwards with the stock/forearm on top...

This is so the excess water will drain out the muzzle and not down the barrel channel, I also leave it this way after I oil it until all the excess oil has drained or dried...

:imo: If you stand it up right after oiling it, there is a chance the small amount of oil left in the barrel will drain into the breech area and could plug the vent...

 

[Rat]

Be aware that it's not mandatory, you don't HAVE to clean any Muzzle Loader with water. You can pretty much just clean them like a "regular" rifle. This opinion is very much in the minority...but at least give it some thought.

All my ML's, and my Brown Bess carbine especially clean up fast and easy with Hoppes #9+, (which yes is water based) regular #9, and then some Kroil followed by whatever oil you like.

If you don't have a jag, but have the button-head ramrod, that will act as a jag...you will just have to fold the patch three or four times to get it thick enough. By refolding the patch, you can use it more than once.

Starting out with Hoppes #9 Plus/#9+, use wet but not sopping patches. Run a couple down the bore, and let it sit for ten or twenty minutes. Figure about four patches to get the bulk of the crud out...the really sloppy messy stuff.

Go back and wipe with more patches until they START coming out clean, or cleaner. Then put on your breech-face scraper and work on that. If you don't have a breech-face scraper, you can use a slotted tip, with a long narrow patch, and poke most of the patching down the bore ahead of the rod. It will then bunch up when it hits the bottom and you can turn the rod clockwise which will wipe the crud off. Might take three or four patches to get it.

Wipe the bore some more, and then let is soak again while you clean your lock.

Now switch to regular #9, or some other non-water based solvent you like. I really find it works better to run three or four patches down the bore, then let it sit ten minutes. Again, some patching, some letting it sit and soak while you go do something else, watch TV or whatever. Watching TV and doing this during commercials works well.

Somewhere in there clean out the touch-hole with pipe cleaners.

Ok now the bore is pretty clean so I do the final cleaning/patching with Kroil. Again, use wet patches, not sopping wet. Clean the breech face again.

Then I dry patch, and then run an oily patch down the bore. I re-check it the next day by running another clean oily patch down the bore.

When I got my first ML, no one told me about using soapy water, so I never did. It's been 30 years and all my ML's have cleaned up perfectly like this, with never any rust. Also don't have to take the rifles apart, or get water down in the stock, which seems like it's going to happen no matter how careful you are.

Ok just an opinion, your results may vary!!!

:results: :imo: :m2c:

Rat

 

[Stumpkiller]

Rat's solution is "satsfactory". It's just that most of us are too cheap to buy all them chemikals and patches.

I clean my pinned smoothies by first plugging the vent with my gloved thumb and a folded cloth and filling the bore (using a funnel) with HOT soapy water. I allow ths to sit for a minute, then pour it out. I repeat this several times, then I lay them down so the barrel slopes downward and use a bore mop or wad of tow on a jag to keep introducing hot soapy water (Ivory or Murphy's), and then several passes of fresh hot water as a rinse. I allow it to dry for a few minutes. Wipe with an alcohol damp patch to chase any relaoning water, and then lube up the barrel to keep it from rusting. Oil, if you prefer.

Two patches used - the tow and mops are reuseable after rinsing (so is the alcohol patch if you're REALLY parsimonious).

The trick is to keep your thumb over the vent whenever you are sliding the jag down and keep the barrel muzzle below the lock at all times after the initial two barrel flushes.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Man, Are you going to get a lot of differing answers! ::

Ok, Here is :m2c:.
I pull the barrel from the stock once a year. I wax the barrel channel and the underside of the barrel with paste wax. Great rust protection, and it keeps that eccess solution from getting between the barrel and the stock! eace:

 

[Rat]

Pulling a pinned barrel once a year sounds reasonable...doing it every time you cleaned would certainly not be real good. I like the paste wax idea. I usually just smear a thin layer of grease on the barrel, but the wax sounds more better.

However you do it/clean it don't pull the barrel every time. I think that would booger up the pin holes in the stock pre-maturely and maybe even enlarge them...depending on how often you shot the weapon and how careful you were. At any rate pinned barrels are not meant to come out every time you clean the gun.

Rat

 

[crockett]

I shoot percussion guns and want to try flint. I was under the impression you needed a screw out vent hole and one of those surgical tube jobs to wash out the bore. Is such a device more trouble than it is worth? Sounds stupid but I never thought of just swabbing the bore upside down.
With regards to water. I was told years ago if you used a PRB then all that was in the bore was powder/primer fouling, hot soapy water was fine. I was told all the solvents etc came into play with conicals and sabots because now you also had to deal with lead and plastic fouling. True or not??? :master:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I was told years ago if you used a PRB then all that was in the bore was powder/primer fouling, hot soapy water was fine. I was told all the solvents etc came into play with conicals and sabots because now you also had to deal with lead and plastic fouling. True or not???

True. Patched bullets require no strong solvents. No leading or copper fouling.

I've owned three flinters and never removed the vent liner yet (two of the three didn't even HAVE vent liners). In the Revolution (and much longer in the British ranks) the sergeants were issued screwdrivers and the lower ranks were forbidden from removing the locks of their guns for cleaning. We complicate things. The best system is to own only one or two and shoot them frequently, rinsing them out as soon as practical and drying them well before greasing up the bore to protect them.

Lonely flintlocks develop personality problems, and things like rust and misfires soon follow.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Crockett-

Did your namesake have a screw out vent hole and a surgical tube thing in his shooting bag?:crackup:

I tried a clamp on deal, but went back to this method. I remove the lock. I hold hy left thumb over the touch hole, and pour solvent down the barrel. I put my right thumb over the muzzle, and rock the rifle back and forth a few times.. Empty. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Usually one or two cleaning patches is all I need after that, then I dry the barrel and oil it. Use the breech scraper twice a year, and pull the barrel once a year.

As for your solvets question, well, in the case of blackpowder, soapy water is a solvent. The soapy water/solvent I am using at the current time is Windex with vinegar cut 50/50 with water. Cheap easy to use, and comes in a nifty reusable spray bottle! Most of the wonder cleaners on the market are there only to get your money! :imo:

 

[Bob J]

I never take the pins out on my flintlock jaeger. Instead I use the old "secret cleaning formula"; (you will read adverse opinions on this, but its worked well for me) :imo: 1 part rubbing alcohol, 1 part hydrogen peroxide, 1 part Murphy's Oil soap. I shoot Goex 3f in the flintlock and this mixture swabbed down the bore rally cleans it. swab until the patches come out clean and then dry patch, then a good lubricant like Break-Free, G96, or Clenzoil and the bore is done. Of course the lock and exterior also needs to be cleaned. Now, in percussion guns, I've gone to Black Mag 3 and it shoots so clean that a little bore wiping with Ballistol and a wipe down of exterior and you're basically done. With either method, ALWAYS go back in a few days and run a clean, lightly lubed patch down the bore to check for after-rust. With these methods I rarely have any. :results:

 

[brushbuster]

all i do is plug the touch hole with a tooth pick and gently close the frizzen to hold it in place.i then pour a mixture of 1 tblsp. of murphysoil soap to 1 quart of boiling water .down the barrel through a funnell, let stand a few minuts ,dump it out and repeat one more time.i then remove the tooth pick and scrub the bore with a b/p brush and use cleaning patches until dry(usually 5 patches)then i run a patch of stumpys moose snotup and down five or six times and put it away.if i dont shoot for a couple of weeks i run another m.s patch down it to make sure it stays lubed.

 

[qz2026]

I am brand new to this forum. I have had flintlocks and caplocks for about 5 years now. I found the best way to clean my flintlocks is to remove the barrel. I put the breach plug portion of the barrel a bucket of hot soapy water and don't plug the vent. It needs to be cleaned too!! I pour water down the barrel and stroke the cleaning rod up and down. This creates a lot of pressure and thoroughly cleans the barrel and vent. I then remove the vent screw and dry the barrel using as many patches as necessary. Inspect the vent screw, lubricate and reinstall. I then use a light coating of oil down the barrel. I set the barrel aside and completely disassemble the rifle (lock stock and barrel...). This is the only way I am 100% sure the rifle is clean. Black powder residue gets in every nook and crany. My researh indicates that you can start rusting the inside of the barrel very quicky (hours) if the barrel is not cleaned relatively soon after shooting. If your rifle has pins, I would really recommend that you buy the the correct size punch to extract them with. Just be careful putting them back in - don't force it. I guess I am a nut on cleaning these guns. In most cases the barrel is the most expensive part of the rifle. I don't want to have to replace it.

 

[Stumpkiller]

If your rifle has pins, I would really recommend that you buy the the correct size punch to extract them with. Just be careful putting them back in - don't force it.

I would caution against this frequently. The side of the pin that was hammered against will be slightly peened, and driving it the wrong way will open the wood (and the hole in the underlug on the barrel). Take a long time to determine which side the pins were driven in from (or call your gunsmith) and drive them back out the same way. (And don't get carried away and drive out the thimble and trigger pins :. There is also a 90% chance the surface wood will "grab" on the backside as the finish acts like a cement and pulls out along the grain. Instantly giving your gun character (and missing splinters of wood at the pin hole). I start mine out by laying the gun on a piece of soft pine to support the wood around the pin.

I owned, and used heavily, a Bess for 15 years and took the barrel off exactly once. It is not necessary for thorough cleaning. If you accidently get water in the barrel channel (or have been hunting in the rain) wick it out with a rag or paper towel. Afterwards oil the bottom of the barrel by dripping oil on strips of paper and pulling them through under the barrel.

While I had my barrel off I thoroughly sealed the wood channel with boiled linseed oil and then a heavy coating of paste wax so it would not hold or absorb water.

 

[mazo kid]

Until recently I had used the hot soapy water method for cleaning. Lately I use the Windex with ammonia as I shoot BPCR also and it works so well for cleaning; can clean both the suppository rifle and m/l at the range or at home right after shooting in the back yard. I don't remember where I read it, but someone advocated using plain cold water for initial cleaning, then hot water, then oiling the bore and exterior of the barrel while it is still hot. Lots of ideas and they ALL probably work well. Emery

 

[Keith]

Windex with ammonia or vinegar? :what: Vinegar is supposed to work well ammonia is not recommended, from what I've read. Ammonia can be harmful to brass, and, I think, promotes rust. (I don't remember the exact reason ammonia is not recommended now, but if ain't rust what is it?)

 

[Stumpkiller]

I don't remember the exact reason ammonia is not recommended now, but if ain't rust what is it?)

Surface and stress cracking in brass or bronze. Apparently bad enough to cause buttplates to snap at the heel where they make the 90

 

[Keith]

The writer Mike Venturino specifically recommends Windex with vinegar. He says not to confuse it with the ammonia kind. I am not sure what his reasoning is, but it I think it is worth passing along. Everyone can make their own decision.