I must give it up to most of you guy's

[Fly]

Yes I do listen.I posted a post here on how many patches to clean your muzzle
loader.Many said less than 5.I questioned that.Many said they used ONLY hot
water.

Now I have been in muzzle loading for over 30 years.I have used almost everything.Soapy hot water, Butches & so on.But I try just hot water today.

I put a pot on the stove & brought it to a roaring boil.To it to my back deck
& poured a good bit down the barrel.Then I put three hot water patches down the bore.

After a drying patch, I ran a windex with ammonia patch that always picks
up carbon.CLEAN as a whistle.

Thank you guy's Fly:violin:

[thunderthud]

cool beans

[Taylor]

I've tried about everything too,nothing really works as good as hot water,and it's free!

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I use straight up hot water and then oil with a light coat of Ballistol.

[Sasquatch-1]

I add just a touch of dish soap to my hot water. Then a little WD40 to displace the water when done drying.

[Shooter]

Hot water and a few drops of Murphy's oil soap. After drying, lube with olive oil or Bore Butter.

[Grapeshot]

Yes I do listen.I posted a post here on how many patches to clean your muzzle
loader.Many said less than 5.I questioned that.Many said they used ONLY hot
water.

Now I have been in muzzle loading for over 30 years.I have used almost everything.Soapy hot water, Butches & so on.But I try just hot water today.

I put a pot on the stove & brought it to a roaring boil.To it to my back deck
& poured a good bit down the barrel.Then I put three hot water patches down the bore.

After a drying patch, I ran a windex with ammonia patch that always picks
up carbon.CLEAN as a whistle.

Thank you guy's Fly:violin:

Many years ago when the only propellant was Black Gun Powder, the US Army cleaned their handguns by first taking off the grips and hanging the befouled revolvers in a pot of boiling water. After the boiling water stripped the fouling from the metal the revolvers were removed from the pot and air dried and lubed with Sperm Whale Oil to combat rust. We seem to be relearning what our ancesters knew 160 years ago.

[SamTexas49]

Ive still got an old bottle of sperm oil I picked up from Dixe GW (back in 60s) good stuff!

[Tatume]

Hot water causes surface rusting. Cold water is much better.

[Sasquatch-1]

Hot water causes surface rusting. Cold water is much better.

The trick with the hot water is you want it hot enough to heat the barrel up pretty good. The when you run the dry patches through and dry the outside of the barrel the heat helps with the drying. Never had a problem with surface rust. Also I use WD40 to displace any remaining water.

[twotoescharlie]

did you fellers know that whale oil was used for ATF until it was outlawed? the ATF that is used now is the closest thing to whale oil now. I use it for most all of my firearms and fishing tackle. also works well in my hydraulic wood splitter.

TTC

[Sasquatch-1]

did you fellers know that whale oil was used for ATF until it was outlawed? the ATF that is used now is the closest thing to whale oil now. I use it for most all of my firearms and fishing tackle. also works well in my hydraulic wood splitter.

TTC

Hmmmmm? ATF? I have one of them that lives around the corner. Maybe I can render him down for all my oil needs. :groner:

[Omnivore]

I use plain hot water, with the breech end submerged so I can blast water in and out of the flash channel, and to draw hot water all the way up the bore to heat the barrel. After that a dry patch or two, then I run a dry patch real hard, several times up and down, to blast air through the nipple hole and clean-out hole (Lyman) to get the water out of the flash channel, then a pipe cleaner through the clean-out hole. That dry patch goes down into the breech chamber too, because the ram rod has a 35 cal jag on it. Last is a grease patch, also with the 35 cal jag, to annoint the bore and chamber with Bore Butter. Never a sign of rust, because there is no soap to cut the pre existing "seasoning". No liquid oils down the bore means that the first load always fires, and with no pre-loading fuss, even if I leave a load in there for a week, in and out of the house during hunting season's sub freezing (and sometimes sub zero) weather.

A little soap may be just fine, depending on what you're using to treat the bore, but in my case, using Bore Butter, the first time I tried the soap I noticed some brown (rust) on the patch, so I quit using soap and don't see that brown any more. Point being; your system is your system (it's a SYSTEM, and not one particular product or operation) and so what works for you is all good. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

[Boerrancher]

I use just plain hot water followed up with a dry patch and then a good coat of WD40 or PB Blaster while it is still warm. Then I mop it all up with a couple of dry patches and put it away. In 30 years I have never had a rust problem. In the bush camping I have used cold water and WD40, didn't get any rust there either.

Best wishes,

Joe

[DIRT Farmer]

Camp cleaning using cold water works reminds me of taking cold a water bath in camp. However I am much happier with a hot bath at home, and I treat my guns like friends.:p:bigsmyl2:

I "try" to get my guns cleaned and oiled quick enough that they never show any camp "browning" but tent camping they will sometimes pick up a little by morning generally on the outer surface. A quick wipe down will remove it.

[Bullet Caster]

When re-enacting the Civil War, I would always take my bbl. off and get into the shower with my bbl. I got teased quite a bit for doing this but it works sooooo well, and then others started with the bbl. in the shower. I would take my rammer with me and a .58 cal. bore brush and while I was getting off all the grime, my musket bbl. would shower with me. Then a few patches to dry and one patch of Bore Butter to lube the bbl. I never had any problems with rust. Now that I've sold my musket and bought a flintlock, I still use the sure-fired method of taking off the bbl. and getting into the tub with my bbl. This is my tried and true method of cleaning BP bbls. Afterwards I put a pipe cleaner through the touch hole to make sure it has no fouling. BC

[Hang Fire]

I use the hot water submersion method, then blow dry internals with compressed air. run brushes, then wet/dry patches in bore and chambers. Squirt it in and out well with WD-40, then blow internals, followed with spray of light mahine oil and blow internals again. Wipe it down, check few days later and forget.

Have used this method on BP revolvers for many years and never a problem

[**oneshot**]

I use Gunslicks foaming bore cleaner and about 10 patches, 10 Qtips, and a pipecleaner. Bore butter "wash cloth" rubbed on all metal parts and store til next time. No rust and no degreasing before my next shooting session.

[2571]

When re-enacting the Civil War, I would always take my bbl. off and get into the shower with my bbl. BC

I learned recently that salt water sport fishermen do the same thing with their gear to remove salt.

I live in the great lakes area and had never heard of that.

Gonna do it from now on with ml & fishing gear.

[x101airborne]

I run all my offshore gear such as pliars, hand gaffs, bait nets, and large lures through the dishwasher when I get back. I will also get all my rods in the shower with me and stand em in the corner making sure they get a nice warm bath with pleanty of water. Then just a light coat of WD, or something similar. I do prefer kano Kroil, but will use whatever.

[Crawdaddy]

yup- works like a charm. Never too old to learn something new.