Cleaning black powder

[abunaitoo]

I have another post asking about something call "Salt Away"
A friend who has a boat says it's the best thing for removing salt.
We have lots of salt water here.
I was thinking of trying it to clean up after shooting my Chassepot.
I read someplace that "Ballistol" works well with black powder.
I have two cans I bought when they first saw it at a product show years ago.
Figured I'd give it a try before trying the "Salt Away"
Mix is 10 to 1 with water. Looks like skim milk.
After shooting today I gave it a try.
It worked great.
Soak the barrel. Push a patch through.
Repeat.
Third time patch came out almost clean.
Soaked and ran a nylon brush through it 10 times.
Soak and push a patch through.
Repeat.
Patch came out clean.
Took less than half the time to clean.
According to the web site, just let it dry. It will form a thin coating to protect from rusting.
No need to oil.
I'll check it tomorrow to see how it's doing.
Except for the smell, I'm liking it.

[Hanz]

Ballistol has worked so well for me it's my go to cleaner for black powder. I also use it for between shot wiping in my rifles. I've either gotten used to, or have learned to overlook the smell.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

You do get used to the smell. Ballistol works great for cleaning up black powder! Been using it for about 8 years.


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[Petrol & Powder]

I'm old school. For black powder I still think hot soapy water followed by oil (Ballistol works great) is the way to go. Windex is an amazingly good short term cleaner when shooting long strings.

[Drydock]

I just use plain water anymore. Oil with Ballistol, great stuff.

[John Boy]

Ballistol is nothing more than mineral oil - Oleic acid - alcohol and perfume...
MSDS
(according to a specification from December 2002)

pharmaceutical white oil: CAS RN 8042-47-5
Oleic acid: CAS RN 112-80-1
C-5 alcohols: CAS RN 78-83-1; CAS RN 137-32-6; CAS RN 100-51-6
different essential oils to perfume Ballistol
There are many in the shooting community that live and die based on the virtues of Ballistol. I am not one.
Having tried close to 30 black powder & smokeless cleaners, the only 3 are: hot soapy water - Eezox and Lehigh Valley Lube and Cleaner (LVL&C). Among the commercials, I was a die hard believer that Eezox (8 quarts used) was the product that could not be met to do the job.
But when the patented Lehigh Valley Lube and Cleaner came back on the market from one of the inventor's a couple of years ago, I ordered a spray bottle. Example of quality: BP firearms not cleaned in over a week - sprayed the cleaner in the bore - let it work for a few minutes - ran a patch down the bore and the patch was the moist pure color of a dark black - couple more and done. Sprayed the stuff on the actions and it dissolves the foul in the same manner. Tried LVL&C on smokeless foul - same results.
After 5 spray bottles of LVL&C - I am convinced it is the BEST CLEANER on the market for BP and smokeless - plus shooting BP, one can fire multiple reloads with no patching and tubing
So, if you want to try LVL&C to confirm that it is an excellent product ...
https://gunsmagazine.com/lehigh-valley-original-patch-lube/
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/156/1/LUBE-LEHIGH

Corrosion Test ... https://ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/corrosion/corrosion2.html

[248dm]

I'm old school. For black powder I still think hot soapy water followed by oil (Ballistol works great) is the way to go. Windex is an amazingly good short term cleaner when shooting long strings.

This is me too. I'll sneak and use my wife's bathtub for a quick hot soapy soak, then use Ballistol after removing the barrel from the stock. Quick and easy.

[abunaitoo]

i used to do warm water. No hot water at the range.
Water with soap.
Windex green and blue.
The Balistol did it faster and looked to be cleaner.
The smell will take a little while getting used to.
People walking by while i was cleaning kind of made a funny face.
Smell seemed to go away once it dried.
Maybe I just got used to it.

[webfoot10]

I shoot a .60 cal smoothbore and all I use is cold water to clean. Plug the touch
hole with a round toothpick and fill the barrel with cold water and set it aside for
15 min's to let the water disolve the blackpowder residue then dump the water
may take two or three rinses to remove the gunk. Then use a 2x2 square of
mechancis blue handy wipes to wipe out the barrel. When clean pour in hot
water to heat barrel, dry with more handy wipe patches. When dry oil with
olive oil. Wipe down the whole gun olive oil won't hurt stock finish, Been using
this for the last 30 yrs. Takes longer to type this out then it takes to clean gun.
webfoot10

[Rayolamp]

Dawn dish soap and water, a few dry patches down the bore followed by oil. Works well and cheap!

[jdfoxinc]

Simple Green.

[3Gunnah]

My father and I use hot to boiling water on our Flintlock reproduction muskets. Flush until clean, wipe with a rag coated in canola oil. Works great!

[shdwlkr]

as many have said H2O and some soap, I like hot water but you can use just plain tap water if you like. run clean patches until dry then a couple of passes with oily patch and your done why make things complicated

[country gent]

At the range for cleaning I use windex with vinegar ( I might add a few drops of dawn dish soap to the bottle if I think about it). This works very good and leaves a nice clean bore with only a few patches. I brush with the windex 5-8 strokes and 3rd patch is clean. At home its balistol and water mixed 10-1 and if any leading some lead away or other solvent for it. Then a light oiling and check the next day.

[greenjoytj]

After reading the gun oil tests of their long term corrosion prevention ability I would never use olive, canola oil as a corrosion inhibitors on my firearms. Their too expensive to trust to an oil with no corrosion inhibitor additives. EEZOX or Barricade as a first choice for oiling after cleaning. At minimum use a quality brand gun oil that finished high on the corrosion tests.

As for the actual barrel cleaned, the goal here is to flush out the carbon build up and dissolve and flush out residual potassium salts. Water is the carrier and your brushing action provides the mechanical persuasion so any method you use that gets the job done is a good way to clean.

My own method to clean my Lyman GPR 54 flintlock is to remove the barrel and flash hole plug. Place the barrel in the laundry tub and use the short hose from the faucet to run water down the barrel beside the cleaning rod while the rod with a brush installed is pumped up and down. The fouling is flushed out the ~6mm flash plug port.
I use a 36 cal brush for the lower part of the powder chamber area. I use tepid water temperature so I don’t freeze my hands and not hot water (which does work best) but causes flash rusting to form. Dry it well an oil it up usually with EEZOX.

[country gent]

I bought a old cap lock 10-12 years ago that had been stored for 20 years Bore was nasty looking and showed no real rifling and was very dark I got it cheap at the estate auction because of this. It hs a beautiful figured stock and metal work on it was the reason I still bought it. A gunsmith friend and I started cleaning the barrel and it wasn't going anywhere the dark nasty stuff was pretty much just moving around not coming out good. We stood it muzzle down in a vise and started heating with a heat gun. After a few mins a wax like substance started dripping from the bore. We did this till the dripping stopped and then cleaned again. I was rewarded with a bright shiny bore with clean crisp rifling. The old timer had coated the barrel with a heavy coating of his bullet lube when he stored it, probably a beeswax oil mixture that was popular back when he shot it last. But after 20 years of storage the bore was still new looking. Getting the lube out of the small holes was tricky but we were able to load and shoot it. I found out later this was the "normal" method of long term storage back in that time period from some older shooters at the club later. The wax based bullet lubes may not have as much oil in them but the wax dosnt run off and holds the oil where it needs to be and the wax provides an moisture and air barrier also.

[rfd]

tepid tap water is all that's needed to clean out barrels - all the other stuff is to make ya feel warm 'n' fuzzy. bp residue is readily dissolved in plain water. no matter what fluid concoction is used, if yer using greasers and have leading you'll need elbow grease more than anything else. we ppb shooters don't have leading issues and it typically takes 3 patches to clean out a bpcr gun barrel - wet, dry, oil. one should be more concerned about cleaning bp brass, particularly the inside of the case.

[725]

Water based anything, elbow grease, dry patches followed by a preservative. Corrosion-X, Fluid Film, Eezox, synthetic motor oil, etc.

[Randy C]

I use simple green and brush and patch a few times let soak a few minutes then I spray with the shower head off in the tub, Mine has a long hose on it and it will shoot down the barrel I brush it clean in the tub. Then I take it to the bench and clean it with Hoppe's no 9 then put a couple patches down the barrel with Kroil on them and put it up. These are thing that are always at home so it works for me.

[Lumpy grits]

Windex multi-surface with vinegar is about the best BP cleaner you will ever find.
LG

[Knarley]

MAKE SURE YOU OIL THAT BARREL AFTERWARDS!!!!!
I have a few barrels that I didn't oil after using Balistol & water, now they are pitted.
Knarley

[big bore 99]

I've had some pretty good results using water pump lubricant from the auto parts store. Plain old water soluble oil.