Cleaning black powder arms...

Just like the title says - what's you General method of cleaning? I've read hot waters, patch it dry, then a patch with oil down the barrel.

Wet cloth followed by an oiled cloth for all external metal.

Is that about right, or is something like Hoppes still what I should use?

I haven't shot my BP guns in a long time, but the method I found easiest was to stick a surgical tube onto the nipple, immerse the open end of the tubing into a bucket of hop, soapy water, then scrub the bore with a tight fitting patch. Clean in-n-out of the rod/patch will pull water into and out of the bore. Wash out the bore with clean hot water, patches until dry, then oil as usual.

Ballistol, dry patch, muzzy bore lube, grease the nipple and breach plug, put in safe, remove from safe two weeks before muzzy season. Check scope and loads. Clean. Go to hunting spot, reload, whack bambi, repeat.

At the range immediately after shooting, several wet soapy patches through the bore, several dry, then a patch soaked in Ballistol and wipe down the nipple area with Ballistol. At the house, repeat with hot soapy water, use breech scraper on breech face, remove nipple and clean it and flash channel. Wipe down every thing in Ballistol and put into safe to await next range trip. If you don't remove the nipple after every range and clean that flash channel, it may well seize and take drastic measures to remove. Also, just flushing with hot water can't remove all the coking under the nipple. YMMV as this is what I've found on my Civil War repros.

Back when I shot a lot of BP revolvers, my method was to completely disassemble the gun, and take the cylinder, nipples, and barrel, and soak them in a bucket of hot, soapy water for a few minutes, then scrub the dickens out of them with a nylon bristled brush. After that I'd clean them with a bronze brush and solvent, Rinse with hot water, and then dry them in a toaster oven.

After leaving them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes, I'd take the parts out, oil them, and reassemble. Its time consuming, and one of the reasons I got out of BP.

Hot soapy water, dry smaller parts in oven if needed. Oil. If you have a removable breach plug, it is a snap. If not, just like @trcubed said, some surgical tubing can make it easier, or if the wife does not care submerge the nipple end in the sink and a tight patch will pull the soapy water up the barrel. But hot water and black powder can make your kitchen smell like rotten eggs for a week.

edit: absolutely no need to buy the "marketed" black powder cleaners.

I pulled the breech plug and stuck the end in a bucket of hot soapy water and scrubbed, clean patches, oil and reassemble. Man, I haven't shoot mine in 25 years! And it's because of cleaning the damned things!

I think perhaps some of you are making it overly complicated. Warm water down the bore with a nylon bore brush will break up most of the fouling. Afterwards use some dry patches to pull everything out. Plastic tubing over a nipple can be very useful for keeping water from running down into the stock. For a flintlock you can just plug the vent hole with a toothpick. For black powder revolvers, I simply scrub the parts under hot tap water and dry with patches. Let them dry and spray WD-40 or ballistol or any other gun oil and then reassemble. I can clean a black powder revolver in about five minutes.

I have also discovered that brake cleaner can clean black powder firearms very quickly and efficiently.

Also, it is a good idea to give everything a good cleaning and then give them one more cleaning with dry patches followed by oiled patches a day later.

Always bring some ballistol or other cleaning lubricant to the range and give everything a initial cleaning before heading home for a full cleaning. Black powder residue gets much more difficult to clean over the period of a few hours.

Also, I highly recommend not using bronze or brass brushes in a black powder rifle. I have had these get stuck way down in the barrel when the bristles are oriented towards the muzzle. The nylon brushes are perfectly suitable for any cleaning. In fact, I rarely use brushes. Just make sure you have a proper sized jag and patches.

In my modern muzzleloader I have started using Blackhorn 209 propellant, which can be cleaned easily with regular bore solvents--Shooter's Choice, Hoppes's etc. It has the additional advantage of not absorbing moisture as much as the sugar (777).

Haven't used but heard you can use a spray bottle of Windex, just be sure it has ammoina in it.

CD

Water washes always the corrosive salts. Pour some water down the barrel and everywhere from the creek, run your rag down all the holes, repeat as needed, dry it, oil it with whatever lube you have, lard, motor oil etc.

Well that's how it was done the past few hundred years.


Shooting triple 7 it just melts away pouring water. Fast and easy clean up, especially on new inline rifles with removable breech plugs. I can clean a modern black powder rifle faster than my carry pistol. Triple 7 in an 1858 revolver is easy also.

I remove the nipple and poor hot water down. I clean the nipple(s) out and dry best I can. I grease er up and look for a reason to make em dirty again. It seems so weird to use water to clean a gun. It goes against everything I was taught about guns. I think ill use mink oil to grease the gun and lube patches from now on.

I've used hot tap water and then toweled dried. Lubed with CLP after it dried. Sometimes it sits for 2 years before I get home and hunt/shoot with it. Keep a worm tip in case you get a patch stuck down the bore.


CD

I was looking at midwayUSA today. I don't have one currently. I also need a powder measure. I have to try and dig up my BP stuff.

Soap and water it what I have done in the past. Then Ballistol. I am going to try something that I have been reading about and that is a mix of 7 to 1 water to ballistol and then CLP. See how that works.

Mightyox04, bring your BP stuff out to the shoot in September, if you're close to the Fuquay Varina area. We also have a monthly shoot, the next one us Sunday, August 27, 9am to about 3pm. Great chance to practice for the NCSMLRA competition in September.