I need input into any Homemade cleaning recipe that knocks the fouling out of Blackpowder Guns, and also prevents the usual rusting that follows cleaning. A dual Clean/Preserve formula. It would save all of us some grief. P.S.: I clean lots of B.P. guns for Civilwar Re-enactors who leave their guns uncleaned for maybe a whole week or more, and that stuff is caked in there! I also wish for the cleaned guns to remain clean until the next Re-enactment. My current Closet Storage Solution is beef suet and olive oil.

I use Triple 7 black powder subsitute instead of Black Powder. When I did use Black Powder, I cleaned my rifle with good 'ole soap & HOT water, then rinsed with more hot water then ran patches through the bore to dry. Then I ran a patch with WD-40 to coat the bore & also other parts affected by Black Powder. This worked for me.

I shoot blackpowder rifles and clean my muzzleloaders the same day with hot soapy water, hot water, dry patches and oil patches. Never had a problem. All the best...
Gil

If you are not married, the bath tub is the easiest place to clean your gun. Dunk the whole thing in, minus the stock of course. Then it's just a simple lubing and rust prevention.

Course, if you're like me - married, then take it outside. And deal with it.

According to Mike Venturino one of the best cleaners is Windex - the "with vinegar" formula. Don't believe there is a cleaner and rust prevention all in one solution. Sounds like someone needs to teach the re-enactors how to clean and care for the guns that they use!

Waaay back I met some Massachusetts Military Match shooters who used a mixture of equal parts of kerosene, peroxide, and automatic transmission fluid to clean and preserve their modern guns. Now I find that lots of re-enactors are using the verysame mixture, but I've also discovered that having peroxide in the mixture isn't such a great idea for blackpowder. Now I've been using the mixture myself for freeing rusted in place breechplugs, soaking old barrels and such, and it works better than anything else I've ever tried, but the peroxide is a bad idea for being mixed with a Preserving solution. But I did see a B.P. cleaning and preserving mixture posted someplace, and was trying to see if it might have been on The Forum. Swampy

Hornady makes a cleaner/protector called One Shot http://www.black-powder-guns.com/ite...zleloadin.aspx . I personally use soap and hot water and WD 40. I have no experience with One Shot.

I,ve been shooting a Hawken flint for about 4 years now. The shop I got it from recommended soap & water to clean. Also, using T/C bore butter in the barrel. I take it out every month or so to shoot & never have any problems. My guess is that the butter might gum up with longer term storage but have no experience. Any body else use this stuff?

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Life is Tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. - Sgt. John Stryker

Soap and water or even just plain water is all you need for bp cleaning and it doesn't even have to be hot OR warm.

Use a bore scraper first then plug the nipple or vent hole and stand the rifle upright and fill the bore with water. Let sit for 5 or 10 and empty. Swab with wet and dry patches till it's as clean as you can get it then dry with patches and spray in WD40 to get rid of any moisture. Swab out the WD40 - you'll find the WD40 will bring out hidden fouling - with dry patches. I use Barricade as the last step. Barricade goes in wet and leaves a dry, impenetrable barrier on the metal that absolutely protects against rust. I also remove the lock to clean and oil that, too. I wipe tall exterior surfaces with - ready for this - TYPE F tranny fluid (must be TYPE F). It polishes the wood and cleans/protects the metal. I no longer use oil or silicone cloth on the metal.

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Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.

I submit to you that "the usual rusting that follows cleaning" means that the cleaning wasn't done properly. I clean my guns pretty much as Hanshi described, using either Eezox or Ballistol at the end (never liked olive oil, too gummy). Scrape, soak, scrub, swab dry, coat with oil. No rust.
I do run a cloth with transmission fluid over the exterior before putting the gun away.
Pete

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"Only hunting and mountain climbing are sports. The rest are just games."

+1 for Windex - neutralizes the salts in the residue that cause the most rust....

Still need to wipe dry w/ WD-40....

Maybe soluble oil would work in the Windex for a "one-stop shop"????

Make the users clean their pieces! THAT'S the TRUE re-enactor's creed!!!!

Windex doesn't neutralize anything. It rinses the salts away.

Salts are soluble in water, and water-based cleaners. But you still have to get the cleaner out, once the salt is dissolved in it. If the Windex stays in the bore, with salt in it, the salt will eventually come back out of solution when the solvent evaporates.

Leaving any salt in the bore will cause rust, eventually. It cannot be "neutralized" because salts are already chemically neutral, by definition.

Bottom line, you basically rinse it out of the bore (scrubbing to get the solids that may hide more salts under them).

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MikeG

Birchwood Casey Barricade or RIG #2 seem to do a great job at keeping the rust away. WD40 i wont ever use.

I remove the barrel and nipple

Fill a small bucket with HOT water and a little dish soap [deep enough to submerge the breech].
Jag on the rod with a patch thick enough to make a good seal.

with the breech in the bucket I can get a good piston action going, sucking in fluid and pushing is out through the nipple seat.

While doing this I have the tea kettle on the boil.

Switch to a bore brush for a few strokes and back to the "piston" for a bit more flushing.

When I am satisfied that the bore is clean.

I pour boiling water from the kettle through the muzzle and out the nipple seat [good rinse]

Might want to wear a glove to hold the barrel IT GETS HOT!!! and this is by design.

Dry patches through the hot barrel paying special attention to the breech plug area.

Then while every thing is still toasty [pores open] oiled [or buttered] patch.

Kind of like seasoning and caring for that favorite cast iron fry pan or dutch oven.

Mike

I've used plain ol' hot water. I have an old tea kettle I keep on my bench and when I'm finished shooting it get filled and goes on the basement kitchen stove. If boiling water was good enough for Ned Roberts, Walter Kline, Norman Brockaway, Edwin Wesson, Morgan James and William Billinghurst it's good enough for me. Not too dissimilar from what michaelcj said.

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There is no right way to do a wrong thing

NRA Benefactor, 2008

KISS..... hot soapy water, rinse with hot water, (you can blow out with compressor at this point, not necessary) dry patches, oil patches. I have used Bore Butter successfully long term(1 yr +) but never saw any benefit and I don't think it "cured" my bbl as some claim. Sometimes the basic approach is the best, cheapest, ............and most effective.

Kinda limited experiance with blackpowder here. Revolver was the last one. I basicly boiled the whole firearm three times. Two might have worked, but I saw clean water after three.

Laid it all out in the sunshine for awhile after that. It dried real fast. Oiled an re-assembled while still warm+ to the touch.

Ribbonstone posted about using one of those steamers (as seen on TV) awhile back.
I think he modifiyed it some so as to push live steam from the nipple to the bore downhill to the muzzle into a bucket or something similar. Worth your time to use the "search function" for that one.

Cheezywan