Cleaning after shooting

[Sleeping Dog]

Getting more into black powder (because you can actually find it in the stores), I wanted to check as to the easiest way to clean the guns.

I've been told that hot water is the key. However, I've also been told to spray it down with Moose Milk (Ballistol and water). Can I leave the Moose Milk on, or do I need to wipe it off, or do I still need to wipe it down and then put a coat of gun oil over the gun?

[Randy Bohannon]

What I do: All of my guns all get taken apart and waxed regardless B/P or smokeless , high grade carnauba wax. B/P solvent Napa Cutting Oil 1:7 and water , some people swear by distilled water I do not. 2” Pro Shot patches wetted wrung out,pushed through the bore with appropriate sized nylon brush,patch turned over and pushed through again. Dry patch ,pay attention to dry the chamber . This is what I do during the course of fire,depending on the rifle I am doing this after each shot or after 10 . Single shot rifles after each shot,lever action rifles after 10.
After shooting 2 dampened wet patches wiping as much of the action you can get at,and the muzzle dried with another patch. Kroil on a patch pushed through on the appropriate sized jag. I fold the Kroil patch in half ,start in the muzzle or breech and tap the handle on the ground to push the tight jag down the bore,if lead is present it will be removed and visible. I don’t spray or douse any part in hot water of expensive guns. The ‘Moose Milk’ I.e. 1:7 Napa Oil and water is not meant as a storage preservative just clean up,dried ,oiled or waxed. Waxing only needs to be done once in a while with B/P guns. Oil migrates unless motor oil so the only oil I use is the Kroil left in the bore, waxing replaces the oil and doesn’t migrate use engine oil on your AR’s. ‘Gun Oil’ is useless engine oil is designed to ‘ cling’ .

[Nobade]

Depends on the gun. Cartridge guns, using properly annealed cases, generally keep all the fouling in the barrel. Clean with water, dry, oil, done. Then clean your brass. Muzzle loaders depend on the design. Anything with a patent breech pretty much needs to have water pumped through it to clean the little passages inside. Then dry, oil, done. Flintlocks with a flat breech plug don't need that, just clean the bore and outside. Revolvers have lots of parts to clean, and it's up to you if you want to completely tear it down and clean everything or just do the barrel and cylinder and spray oil in the action. Both work. So what kind of gun are you working with?

[rfd]

Lotsa good ways to clean up black powder cartridge guns.

For me, my main concern is always the brass and bbl wipers, since I only load and shoot black powder charged PPBs. It all starts at the range with the fired brass and used gopher wipers going into water with a bit of liquid soap, and the bbl and lock wet patch wiped with either straight Ballistol, or Ballistol moose milk, or WD-40.

Back at the ranch, the brass and gopher cleaning processes end with the brass going into an ultra-sonic cleaner, then a vibratory with corn media to dry off the brass. Rinsed off gophers are laid out on newspaper to dry (never in the sun).

As to the rifle, there is no leading and no copper wash to be concerned about (love those PPBs) so it only takes a few passes of a patched jag wet with one of the above liquids to swab out any of the soft bp residue left, followed by dry patches, ending with a patch wet with some kinda gun oil. Done inside of 10 minutes.

My flintlock guns have a different process, but along the same idea of always keeping the bp residue soft, never allowing it to dry and harden.

[bigwagon]

For you guys using a Ballistic/water mix, what ratio are you using? 50/50 or something else?

[rfd]

1:6 of Ballistol (or any water soluble oil):water

[beltfed]

After shooting is done:
Swab bore with 2-3 patches wet with Windex with Vinegar- last one wipe down the muzzle area
Does a good job of dissolving any residual salts as well as the general fouling.
wipe with one dry
wipe with one wetted with 97% Isopropyl Alcohol
wipe dry, including muzzle
Oil into bore: RIG gun grease if not shooting again for a longer time,
and wipe down all metal - barrel, action, steel butt plate, with RIG rag
Done
beltfed/arnie

[Hip's Ax]

Since I wipe after every shot its pretty easy to clean up before I leave the range. I use my moose milk patches (5:1 Tru Sol cutting oil) until they come out clean, then I clean it like any other rifle. Shooter's Choice solvent for a few patches, 20 wet strokes with a bronze brush then patch out until dry then I oil the bore well with Butch's Gun Oil. I spray Remoil down into the action to chase out any water, then I wipe all the metal down with Remoil on a folded 3" patch. Has worked with no complaints since 2008.

[mack1]

I find cold water and Dawn works as well as any. Usually one wet, two dry, one more wet, a nylon brush, and two more dry. Usually the cleaning is done at this point so I run one with WD40 to remove any water then oil. I keep my cases soft so blow back is not much of an issue but I do get some in my 73s so I coat the internals with Mobile One Synthetic Bearing grease.
I also find with good bore Black is easier to clean than smokeless. I never have lead or copper to deal with.
With a good lube and a little load work 20 to 30 shots with accuracy is possible at least in the 38WCF and 44WCF, so far about 5 with my 45-70 are good and 10 or so are ok.

[Dave T]

I've always tried to keep this simple. My first go around with BP cartridges (started 38 years ago) I cleaned everything with hot, soapy water (Dawn dish detergent). Then I sprayed everything (revolvers, rifles & shotguns) with WD40 to displace moisture. Wiped that off and left them clean and dry as I live in the desert.

This time around I use cold water with just a dab of Simple Green. Wipe down (dry patches and rags) for moisture removal then spray and wipe with Ballistol, wipe clean and put them in the safe.

With neither procedure have I seen any corrosion or rust.

Dave

[country gent]

At the range I use windex with vinegar wet bore a few strikes of a nylon brush then patches between the strings. I use this when dine fir the day leaving bore damp. When I get home rinse the brass and set out to dry. The rifle gets the bore cleaned with balistol water 20-1. dried well, if leading shows a quick with hoppes dry. I wipe the outside down with hoppes then oil lightly.

[Exal]

In my limited experience I’ve learned there is no real “correct” way of cleaning your bcpr rifle. As long as you adhere to these steps you’ll be fine and you should not see any rust form on your rifle. Since your title was “cleaning after shooting” I’ll stick to strictly after shooting steps. One other thing.... I am not going to put what my steps are just general steps below.

1. Clean rifle of all residue using some sort of solvent (water, windex with vinegear, water w/ pinesol, soap and water, etc...). Black powder leaves salts behind which accelerates rust and this needs to be removed. Remover that everything you touch while shooting will have these salts on it since it’ll be on your hands from dealing with the cases!

2. Once residue is cleaned from rifle ensure there is no water/solvent left behind (dry patches, wd-40 for displacement, alcohol). Removing any solvent or water is critical to ensure the oil makes contact with the metal.

3. Oil the rifle EVERYWHERE (use YOUR choose of preservative, everyone will tell you different just like everything else, a lot of good recommendations though above! ). The main thing to remember about this is that anything outside the bore can have an oil based product but anything inside the bore needs to be cleaned of any oil based products before shooting again.

4. Store the rifle in a low humidity environment and what ever you do don’t leave it in a case to store it!


If I missed anything please put me in my place :kidding: but really!

[DonHowe]

As is evident from the above posts there are lots of good ways to clean up after shooting black powder. In my opinion most are unnecessarily labor intensive but it is your gun and your elbow grease. My method involves water in a pump spray bottle, brush, patches, followed by a wipe with Ed's Red. It is quick and easy and no rust.
Whenever I talk to shooters about shooting black powder cartridges I invariably get comments or question indicating that my rifle wILL be ruined and they would NEVER subject theirs to such abuse. This stuff comes partly from ignorance but mostly from old wives tales. It is true. If you look at old cartridge rifles which were used with BP loads but m not cleaned properly the bores. Are corroded beyond sV
saving. However, examining the bores of pre WWII military rifles will show similar bore damage despite their use of smokeless powder cartridges. The common denominator between the two scenarios was corrosive primers, not black powder.
Black powder will promote rust however an experience of which I am not proud he'd convince me of the opinion expressed above. After shooting a 50 shot match (+ sighters) BPCR with my grandson I cleaned, packed up, went home and put the rifles away. About 3 weeks later, to my horror, I realized that in after match business I had only cleaned one rifles. After a pani-warp-speed cleaning session and heart-sickness I had the barrel inspected by a gunsmith. To my relief he said there was no discernible damage to the bore!
My point in all this is, ignore horror stories,, take your pick from the above cleaning routines and enjoy BPC shooting!

[Lead pot]

Don,

Your absolutely right with the old rifles with bad bores. The priming compound did most of the damage. Also the .22 rimfires and revolvers got ruined from the priming compound.

One thing that has not been mentioned here is getting the lead out completely. If your patches show any signs of gray streaks or gray smears on the patches you have lead in the bore. Under that lead is the black powder fouling trapped under it and this will start edging the metal under it causing more lead to collect.
If you see dark discoloration on that dry white patch you still have lead in that bore.
When the bore is clean that tight dry white patch should come out unmarked.
Then you can oil the bore and your done.
Personally I stay away from any cleaners that have an acidity like windex with vinegar, just my personal preference. I just use plain water and tight patches. and a couple squirts of WD-40 down the bore and wet the patches with it and dry patch to get it out of the bore then a good gun oil.
WD-40 is a good water displacement.
Now they also have a very good rust preventer if you are one of the guys that just shoot a powder rifle during hunting season, or have to many that stay in the safe waiting for their turn in the rotation :D I have some that sit in the back row of the safe that don't get much use but they get pulled out several times a year to get cleaned and re oiled.

[JKR]

Lead Pot,
What’s your recommended method for getting the lead out?

[Lead pot]

If I get a lead problem I get out the 100% cotton poplin fabric patches I cut or I use 100% cotton flannel but the flannel is a little thinner than the poplin so I overlap two patches corner to corner. Cotton will grab the lead. And synthetic I stay away from that stuff. It does not make good cleaning patches.
I use Kroil or any good penetrating oil and presoak the bore for a couple minutes and follow with a very tight cotton patch wet with penetrating oil.
I shoot greasers in my .50-2.5 and the bullet is a creedmoor nosed bore rider and that will leave lead behind but it just shoots so well with that bullet that I put up with the lead.
But like I said a tight 100% cotton patch wet with penetrating oil the patch will be covered with silver lead.
Push it till it just reaches the muzzle and drag it back out this will hook on to the lead.

[M-Tecs]

While hot water is the standard recommendation it really doesn't work any better than cold water and with hot water flash rusting can be an issue.

Initial cleaning is done with Windex with vinegar followed with 1:6 of Ballistol water mix if I am shooting the next day.

If not I follow that up with BoreTech Eliminator for a deep clean or storage clean. After a couple of dry patches it gets straight Ballistol for storage.

[Sleeping Dog]

Thanks for the high level review of the key steps. I've seen lots of techniques, but was I wasn't sure which piece was good for which step.

[Adam Helmer]

The Old Army Manual specified hot, soapy WATER, dry patches and oil. Windex, alcohol, vinegar, etc., work because all are Water-Based! Water, the hotter the better, cleans gun bores.

The Army had more guns than I ever will and knew how to preserve bores. Nuff said.

Adam

[greenjoytj]

The hot water will cause flash rusting. I’ve used hot water clean up and have seen the reddish orange powder of flash rusting. Just use tepid temperature water you don’t have mercury primer salts to remove.
Straight cold it’s to cold on the hand even through the nitrile gloves. Tepid temperature water allows you the time to clean, finish with a blast of cold water to buy the time to dry off the wet before the rust starts.
Liquid Dawn dishwashing detergent is the stuff required to remove the in barrel wax base lubes.
Throughly dry off the water. Then a second quick cleaning with standard bore cleaners like Hoppe’s #9. This type of cleaner is very watery so it will penetrate the nooks and crannies within the firearm. Then oil it well, check it over again few days later just in case something got missed.

[rfd]

SO many personal opinions about bp cleaning and SO many diverse processes.

Which one to choose?

The answer is that you may only know what's best for you through personal testing of those personal opinions.

[indian joe]

The Old Army Manual specified hot, soapy WATER, dry patches and oil. Windex, alcohol, vinegar, etc., work because all are Water-Based! Water, the hotter the better, cleans gun bores.

The Army had more guns than I ever will and knew how to preserve bores. Nuff said.

Adam

the army also strenuously resisted cartridge guns in favour of muzzle loaders , resisted repeaters in favour of single shots - they were not all geniuses and as mentioned corrosive priming compound was a major issue for military - room temperature water is quite adequate for cleaning blackpowder - hot has no advantage at all for cleaning and carries the disadvantage of flash rusting the clean bore ---nuff said?

[smithnframe]

I clean all my BP revolvers in the dishwasher. Remove the grips and I always take the action apart and clean by hand. Been doing this for decades with no hint of rust ever.

[SierraHunter]

I use hot water and dawn, but I ruined the finish on a Ruger Vaquero using dish soap last year.

My wife got away from using down and starting using 7th generation citrus scent. I **** the vaquero with some black powder and figured dish soap was dish soap, boiled some water and threw the gun in there. Cleaned the cylinder, and pulled out the barrel and frame and the finish was gone. Turns out natural based soaps have citrus, and citrus will strip blueing which was something I didn’t know. So be careful what kind of soap you use.

[Nobade]

I use hot water and dawn, but I ruined the finish on a Ruger Vaquero using dish soap last year.

My wife got away from using down and starting using 7th generation citrus scent. I **** the vaquero with some black powder and figured dish soap was dish soap, boiled some water and threw the gun in there. Cleaned the cylinder, and pulled out the barrel and frame and the finish was gone. Turns out natural based soaps have citrus, and citrus will strip blueing which was something I didn’t know. So be careful what kind of soap you use.

I got to refinish several guns for a guy who did that with the citrus based simple green. It does indeed remove the blueing quite effectively. Left a pretty interesting tiger stripe rust pattern in the metal too.

[GARD72977]

After shooting is done:
Swab bore with 2-3 patches wet with Windex with Vinegar- last one wipe down the muzzle area
Does a good job of dissolving any residual salts as well as the general fouling.
wipe with one dry
wipe with one wetted with 97% Isopropyl Alcohol
wipe dry, including muzzle
Oil into bore: RIG gun grease if not shooting again for a longer time,
and wipe down all metal - barrel, action, steel butt plate, with RIG rag
Done
beltfed/arnie
I have never heard of RIG. After looking it up , I ordered a jar

[DonHowe]

Black powder is NOT complicated chemical compounds. It is quite basic. BP revolvers and lever action rifles require more work but cleaning the BP residue is still simple. Single shot cartridgerifles BP are so easy most shooters simply don't believe it. One shooter shunned BP loads as the thought of cleaning his barrel with WATER horrified him. Seeing 19th century soldiers cleaning Trapdoors ahead of inspection would likely have caused a coronary.
I remember NCOs who had entered service during WWII boiling water in a 55 gal drum over an open fire and dunking our stripped M16s in prep for inspection. Funny to think about now.