How to clean the rifle at deer camp

[Hart]

Hey all, quick question.

Giving hunting with the muzzleloader a try for the first time this year. I was planning to head out and camp for 3-4 days at a time. I'm shooting a traditional style Lyman percussion cap with pyrodex. I've read on the internet that most advise shooting out the load after the days hunt, but also advice to clean the rifle the same day it is fired.

If I am in the middle of nowhere in a tent or sleeping in the back of the truck, what is the best method for cleaning the rifle? Go as far as dragging out there a bucket of soapy water? Is there an acceptable way to chemically clean it? What has been your experience?

Thanks for your insight!

[Edward]

I will keep the same load 7days ,unless killing paper! For hunting I tape the muzzle good and use a Mag spark (closed system) and don"t bring it inside if it"s cold . Works for me!

[Omega]

Don't fire it unless you are done hunting or you suspect moisture got into the powder. I have gone a few weeks with a loaded ML, I just remove the cap for safety when I'm back at my trailer/truck.

[trails4u]

I leave mine loaded until I shoot it...... No reason to empty the rifle every day, unless you've encountered terrible, wet, hurricane-like conditions. I have left mine loaded for an entire season with no ill effects...

[NyFirefighter357]

I don't see any reason to shoot the gun until you either have game in sight or if you want to empty it for the ride home. In which case you could clean it when you get there. I don't shoot my in-line at the end of each day, I just remove the primer. You can also use a C02 discharger to empty it without firing it.

[Tenbender]

I have left mine loaded a year or more. If I don't see anything worth shooting I might go 14 months. Treat the bore with Bore Butter load her up and never worry unless you drop it in the creek.

[hc18flyer]

If I fire it, it gets several patches with a ' bore butter' type natural lube, fire a couple of caps to clear the flash channel and reload it. Then I carefully clean the nipple with a pipe cleaner. If I am done hunting for the day I take the cap off and put a folded cleaning patch over the nipple and lower the hammer, and leave it in my cold pickup over night. I have never used soap, solvent, or any oil in my 4 muzzle loaders, only natural lubes and hot water, has worked GREAT for 25 years. Flyer

[NSB]

Keep it outside so condensation doesn't get inside the bore. If it's raining or snowing, keep the hammer down on the nipple with no cap in place. I put a piece of rubber innertube in the nipple and cap it when I'm going to shoot. That keeps all the moisture out. If it's a nice dry day I'll cap it all day.

[M-Tecs]

http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t2290-pyrodex-and-cleaning

[rodwha]

I reload my Remington NMA after cleaning and it sits about a month before I get back out (with Triple 7 no less, which is claimed to degrade quickly). It works well and continually hits where it always does.

However, you asked asked about easy cleaning in the field. I had read a couple of posts by CASS shooters that they could let their guns sit for no less than a week with no issues. I had gone to the range with two percussion revolvers and a muzzleloader and spent nearly half the day there. So I cleaned my pistols and let my rifle sit over night after shooting Pyrodex through it. I found it a rusty mess in the morning.

I typically run two alcohol patches before I leave. But read of running Ballistol instead, which leaves no room for humidity. I tested it in my hot and humid Texas garage and found it works quite well.

In essence any oil that saturates the residue will keep the moisture off long enough to get home.

[rfd]

for a trad sidelock ml, if it's loaded and spit/water was not used for patch lube, leave it be, remove the cap, or if it's a flint plug the touch hole and cover the hammer steel. if it's been fired, it'll need to get a few oil-based sloppy wet patches down the tube, in the nipple or touch hole, and oil down the metal - i prefer moose milk (ballistol & water 1:6) as it's also good for the wood. that'll do just fine until a proper cleaning can be done where the lock gets removed and if the barrel is hooked breeched and wedged it'll get removed, too.

[OverMax]

Don't shoot it after a days hunt. Once your rifle is exposed to outside air temp. See that it stays that way. Leave the rifle out in the cold. Bringing it into the warm will only cause it to form condensation on_in_ and around it. Thus requiring its unloading and reloading after its condensation has evaporated.

I load my rifle in the warmth of a cabin the night before seasons opening. There after it hangs by its sling in a cold porch till either I leave for home or shoot something. When hunting somewhere else. Overnight as a guest. My rifle has its #11 primer cap removed cased fully charged & lock in the trunk of my vehicle. Just make sure your rifle is un-capped at all times when not in your hands..

[Boz330]

If you use real BP there are few problems, Pyrodex I would clean immediately after shooting. I load my ML at the beginning of the 1st season in Oct and if I don't shoot anything then it stays loaded till after the 2nd season in Dec. I have never had so much as a hang fire.
When I guided hunters in NM some of the guides that weren't ML proficient use to make their hunters fire there loads at the end of the day. Those same guides told my hunter his gun wouldn't work when he needed it because I told him to leave it loaded. At the end of a particular wet, rainy, foggy week my hunter fired his load in a rain storm and it functioned perfectly. One of the other hunters who fired his load every night and didn't properly clean, popped 3 caps on a nice Bull before the Bull got tired of the noise and left.
Like skinning a cat there are lots of ways of doing it, this is mine. Before the hunt I clean the bore and nipple channel with a degreaser but do not fire a cap. The residue from the cap can draw moisture. Load the powder and ball with a bore butter patch and then treat the bore with the same, above the load. I cap when in the field and de-cap when leaving and put a patch over the nipple. I also tape the muzzle when putting the gun back in the safe, more to remind me it is loaded than to protect the bore. I do leave the gun in the truck after it is loaded although in my area there isn't that huge a temperature swing and if everything is dry to start it would be difficult for any moisture to infiltrate the powder. I have used this method since I started hunting with a ML in the late 70s with no problems.

Bob

[bedbugbilly]

Just remember at the END of the season, if you didn't get a shot, to UNLOAD it. That may sound a little "simple" and "foolish" but . . .

I was once on the line down at Friendship and a kid took the station net to mine. When the RO gave the signal to snap caps, he pointed his TC to the ground to snap a cap and BOOM! After I ended "ripping him a second one" the RO was there to finish the job. The kid's reply . . . "Gee . . I guess I forgot to unload it after deer season . . ".

I always used to deer hunt with BP and have never used Pyrodex - but as others have advised, I always kept it loaded and just un-capped it at the end of the day and made sure the nipple was sealed off.

[John Boy]

If I am in the middle of nowhere in a tent or sleeping in the back of the truck, what is the best method for cleaning the rifle? Pee down the bore - patch - run a patch of Lehigh Valley Lube & Cleaner down the bore = Done
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/156/1/LUBE-LEHIGH

[Hart]

Thanks for the help!

[rfd]

Pee down the bore ...

no doubt whatsoever that's how it was done a few eras or more ago. been there, done that - it works just fine if not better than plain water.

[Geezer in NH]

A ball puller can be used to unload without firing the gun. Same as a CO2 discharger. However if you shoot it a simple wipe out with a bottle of water and the oiling works everywhere.

[country gent]

If using the co2 discharger keep iit pointed in a safe direction, The ball puller works but is easier to use on a range rod with a bigger handle to get ahold of. If you feel the need to unload and discarge the firearm then a simple wiping solution of balistool water works well as does windex with vinegar followed by a light oiling of the bore and outside. A little trick used by some was a ballon ( some used a condom) over the muzzle to seal and a piece of rubber between hammer and nipple. This seals damp air out of the bore and maintains the drier enviroment.

[Good Cheer]

Hart,
Depending upon where you are geographically and meteorologically, and how your particular rifle behaves, and where your camp is versus how close to where you're hunting, whether or not you discharge the muzzleloader each evening is going to be a matter of experience. One thing for darn sure, a hang fire first thing in the morning and watching a deer levitate up a canyon wall like a magic act is a sight I only want one time. Super duper good cleaning to whatever extent your rifle demands is what's required. And if you got that good of cleaning to start off with then redoing it after discharging it each evening isn't the thing to do.
But that said, with black cleaning in the boonies is pretty easy. You wash it and swab until you get clean patches. My experiences with Pyrodex reflects what Boz330 was saying, it's more of a problem because of the corrosive chemical residue that doesn't give you as much of a discoloration as does black for a telltale to tell you when it's really really clean.

My advice would be to use a really good evaporative de-greaser before loading. Like denatured alcohol. Then load it and let it sit a week. Then see if it goes bang OK.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I keep same load in for my hunting trip 4 days if need be but i do put Black electrical Tape around the muzzle to keep clean and dry
will not effect accuracy at all