surgical tube cleaning

[thumbs]

At one time I bought a cleaning kit that had an adaptor and a piece of surgical tube. You screwed the adaptor into the nipple threads and attached the surgical tube. You then put one end of the surgical tube in a bucket and the suction of the ramrod drew the water into the barrel for cleaning.

Two questions. Is there stuff locally at a hardware store to make the adaptor for the nipple hole? Or are these things still available?

thanks

 

[Blizzard of '93]

yes, vacum line of the correct size will push-fit over the nipple and you can use that method. you might try plugging the nipple with a toothpick (after patching a few times with a wet patch) then pouring W/W fluid down the spout, let it soak awhile dump and repeat then wipe the bore until clean really cleans the crud. then dry and grease bore of course for storage.

 

[Zonie]

Personally, I think the pressure flush method is the way to go when it comes to cleaning any muzzleloader.
This is especially true if the gun has a "patent breech" which has small holes going thru it that will build up layers of fouling if they are not cleaned. Pumping water rapidly thru these will wash away this fouling and assure proper ignition the next time the gun is shot.

IMO If a person is not going to remove the barrel from the stock, the rubber tube adapter is a good way to go.

 

[ryoung14]

Those kits are still available....or at least they were a year ago. I bought a couple from Cain's Outdoors over the web. Got a 1/4-28 for my T/Cs and one threaded metric for my Investarms guns. I think Cain's bought out Mountain State Muzzle Loading, so you might find them there.

Haven't used 'em much, but I think they'd be the way to go on a hunting trip where a shot or two was fired but a full takedown wasn't advisable. Some people use them for extended range sessions as well. They let you pump crud out to your hearts content.

Of course, prior to storage, the patent breech guns should be taken down and given the full treatment.
Bob

 

[Mountainman56]

They are still a couple styles available at TOTW. Here is a link.
[url] http://www.trackofthewolf.com...tList.aspx?catID=6&subID=49&styleID=1020[/url]

 

[rickjf]

I found a grease zert that is the same thread as the nipple on my rifle, drilled it out and epoxied a pastic tube to it to make one of these.

 

[Zonie]

If anyone wants to use a grease zert they need to go real easy when they screw it into their guns.

Most of these come with threads that are no where close to the standard 1/4-28 or 6mm X 1 threads that are in the gun so if they force the zert in it will ruin the existing threads in the gun.

 

[thumbs]

I found one at Dixion's BP shop. They are pretty cheap and do a heck of a job. Now to get ready to wack a buck tomorrow. :haha:

 

[navaho]

I have found in the hawken type rifles if you remove the barrel and then remove the nipple you can stick this end in a bucket of soapy water and then use the ram rod and a jab and do the same thing as the tube and fitting. As long as the nipple hole is covered you can suck water up into the barrel.

 

[BrownBear]

I've got mixed reactions, depending on the gun. I use one all the time on a Traditions Crockett with its fixed breech, and it does a better, faster job of cleaning than anything I've tried.

But when I move to my two Lyman GPRs, the little allen head screw in the side of the bolster alternately sucks air or sprays water. Air coming in keeps you from being able to draw water up the bore, while water leaks on the downstroke gets into everything including the lock plate, as well as all over the floor. So for the time being I'm still doing the bucket method on Lymans, but soon as I come up with the right screw to replace the original while cleaning, I'm going to use the tube on Lymans, too. Along with Zonie, I find the system does a better job of cleaning patent breeches than anything out there.

BTW- I've got commercial versions I bought somewhere cheap, but the brass fiting has a knurled "finger ring" on it you grab to turn it in and out of the nipple fitting. That hangs up on the flash shield or whatever on the Crockett's bolster, and you have to grind if off before you can use it.