Cleaning a Muzzeloader

[hashelocmaccabee]

My father-in-law has a traditional style muzzle loader I want him to teach me to use for this season. It has not been fired in a long time and has evidence of dust, powder residue and superficial rust (at least I hope it's superficial) in the barrel. I want to give it a good cleaning but have never cleaned one and need some advise.

I think it's a traditions .54 cal, Cap and Ball. I know he uses Sierra slugs and Pyrodex.

Thanks

[pkuptruck]

remove the barrel assembly from the gun.

boil some water/dish soap, and pour it in bucket.

remove the nipple.

from the muzzle, insert the rod with a tight patch all the way down.

insert the barrel in the water/soap mixture.. wait a minute... then plunge the
patch up and down about an inch at a time.. gradually moving to the muzzle..

push it back down...

do it again..

and again..

and again..

remove the rod/patch. remove the barrel from the water.

empty the water from the barrel.

put a clean patch on the rod, and use a BP solvent.

push this down in the barrel, and then remove it.

if it is dirty... repeat the initial procedure until it is clean....


if you notice "rough" spots... that could be rust... and depending... isnt too
big a deal... use the rod and a piece of fine steel wool and carefully burnish the
rough spots a few times.

then re-clean the barrel to remove rust/steel wool.

run a dry patch down it, to check for "smoothness...".

when it is to your satisfaction.... load and shoot...

then you can do the begining all over again!!! yeah!!!! :rofl:

[Toledo Kid]

and when the man means 'Hot Water...
He means "HOT HOT" water with the soap. Get a towel, rag or something to hold the gun because that barrel will heat up when you are swiping it. Thats a good thing!!! Smoke poles are great fun!!! You just have to be patient!!!

[Donzie]

All good advise!
To add a little to it: remove the nipple and the clean out screw. You can do it in a sink or bath tub, but don't let your wife see it.


also a excellent cleaner is:
Mix equal parts of Hydrogen Peroxide, Rubbing Alcohol and Murphy's Oil Soap.
Store in a dark area, light degrades the Hydrogen Peroxide.

[Tom Fineis]

You can 'season' a muzzleloading barrel much like a cast iron pan, and it's generally not recommended to use grease cutting agents during cleaning (most firearm cleaners are, as well as dish soap).

However, for a good scrub down and starting back from scratch, I wouldn't hesitate to use some grease cutters to remove any junk in the barrel and maybe even some rust remover/preservative products to clean any surface rust inside.

Once you've done that, I only clean with HOT water to dissolve the powder fouling, hit it with a couple patches of black powder specific solvent, and treat with Bore Butter. After a few cycles of this, I've seen a noticeable accuracy increase.

FWIW, I didn't find any difference with the above method on modern muzzleloaders, but my old school ones get a generous dose of bore butter. Be sure to run a few dry patches before each shooting session, you don't want the grease too heavy in there, it will affect accuracy.

[msbcomputer]

Remove nipple and replace with a bolt that fits. Soak with boiling hot water and dishsoap for a few (time for a beverage), dump and repeat. Use a decent brush to remove fowling then rinse once last time. A couple of patches to remove any water and while barrel is still hot use bore butter to help with any rust and season the barrel. Once you start using bore butter you cannot use petrolum based cleaning products.


You can 'season' a muzzleloading barrel much like a cast iron pan, and it's generally not recommended to use grease cutting agents during cleaning (most firearm cleaners are, as well as dish soap).

Once you've done that, I only clean with HOT water to dissolve the powder fouling, hit it with a couple patches of black powder specific solvent, and treat with Bore Butter. After a few cycles of this, I've seen a noticeable accuracy increase.

FWIW, I didn't find any difference with the above method on modern muzzleloaders, but my old school ones get a generous dose of bore butter. Be sure to run a few dry patches before each shooting session, you don't want the grease too heavy in there, it will affect accuracy.

[Donzie]

I do not recommend using bronze/brass brushes ever. If you MUST use a brush use a nylon one.

[Mike in Michigan]

The very first thing to do is to make sure it is not loaded.

[hashelocmaccabee]

Wow, that seems like a lot of work.

Dish soap, wads, nylon brush, and bore butter... Do I use s a sewing needle or safety pin to clean out the nipple?

I am not familiar with "seasoning" My grandma just always has bacon grease in her pan, ready to go.

I had an interesting thought for a barrel cleaning bath tub. Take a PVC pipe large enough to put the barrel in. Fit some joints and caps on each end and mark the pipe. Cut a slot wide enough to put your hands in, along the PVC pipe. seal the fittings and let cure. then figure a way to keep it from rolling when it is laying on a work bench. You can remove an end cap to pour the used water or just turn it over in the yard.

[sse]

I recommend you go here and get the proper advice:

http://www.traditionalmuzzleloadingassociation.com/

[fbuckner]

Also the proper way to store a smoke pole is bore down. This prevents any of that bore butter or other agents so run down and get in the nipple along with dust and plug the nipple.