Essential BP Cleaning products.

C

cloud8a

New member
I am thinking that pumping hot soapy water through my barrel, after a day at the range, followed by dry patches to dry, gun scrubber, and then a dose of bore butter is enough to do a good cleaning and protecting job on my BP barrel.

If anyone can simplify this further let me know because I get a thousand different ways to keep the gun well and clean. The simpler the better right?
 
Essential BP cleaning products:

Hot, soapy water

Patches

Ramrod with appropriate jag

Some sort of light oil or grease (Bore Butter is great stuff)

A gallon bucket, toothbrush, and appropriately sized nylon bore brush make things a bit easier.
 
Thing is I am really paranoid about water in the barrel because my barrel was not taken care of by the previous owner and I put alot of elbow grease in to cleaning the gunk and rust out. I do not want a single speck anywhere in it. That's why I want the gun scrubber.

Also the first time I shot it I had put "Super Lube", that stuff that comes in a BP cleaning kit at Cabelas, around the threads on my nipple. Wound up having to pull the ball, while the range master told me not "to use that crap" and had to go home after only getting off one shot. So I am also wary of oils and greases.
 
How are you sure you get all the water? Where exactly is it safe to put any lube? I have a CVA Frontier.
 
I have a couple of CVA's

A really old .45 flintlock, and a blued .50 hawken. I clean 'em both the same way:

I use water as hot as I can get .... it dries really fast .....

I remove the barrel from the stock, an the lock from the barrel.

I put the breech end into a 5 quart icecream pail of hot soapy water.

I put a patch (I use mattress ticking) on the jag, run it down and rapidly work it back and forth toward the muzzle ..... essentially pumping water up the bore..... until the jag comes out, usually followed by a little water.

I run the Nylon bore brush down the bore once.

Repeat the water pump thing a couple times with clean patches.

I drain the bore.

I dry the bore with more patches. The hot water evaporates really fast.

Once the patches come out dry, I run a bore butter patch down on the jag.... or a patch with a bit of Rem oil followed by a couple of dry patches....

and scrub, dry and oil the lock, outside of the barrel and brass furniture.

Re-assemble.

I shoot only real BP in my guns, and don't shoot plastic sabots either, so there's no need for any solvents other than hot soapy water. I use a bit of Crisco on the patches for the round ball in the flintlock. The Hornady 385 gr Plainsman bullets for the Hawken come prelubed .... no rust problems for me.
 
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Ok so the gun scrubber I can probably lose then to make this a simpler deal. Do you lube any of the nipple or drum threads?
 
Ok thanks a-lot. Ive been trying to sift through all this "moose milk" and wasp nest stuff and grandpa's old remedies. Not that those are not good, its just I want to get the best simplest way down first and then later I can experiment at leisure. I really appreciate it.
 
Simplest?

Plain water. it worked then and it still works.

Dry with alcohol if you worry about getting the water out, otherwise just use dry patches. They work, too.

The best, and simplest, rust protection I've ever used is Barricade, although Ballistol is very good also.
 
You are doing fine. Don't worry about the water, just dry your barrel afterwards.
All I would suggest is don't get all atwitter about products that are called "miracle" "wonder" or whatever. Any good lube will help protect your barrel between uses. I use WD-40 for short term storage and RIG for long term. But, fact is, several of my guns, modern and traditional, were lubed with WD-40 and years later are just fine.
 
I have some expensive pistols and I will only use water to clean them. Been
doing this for over 40 years. It rains here a lot also, raining now. Kansas City
 
The one thing you do not want to do is shoot the gun and leave it dirty for an extended period of time: BP fouling will absorb moisture from the air and form an acid (sulphuric, IIRC) ..... that will pit the bore, if left unchecked.

Wash it, dry it, oil/grease it, wipe as much oil/grease off as you can so it does not attract dirt. Done.

No magic, just elbow grease: procrastination is the enemy.
 
I bought a couple of large cans of RIG years ago and glad I did. I've never found anything better for rust prevention. Then I heard it was discontinued. Now I've done a google search just for the heck of it and apparently it is back by Birchwood Casey. Found some here if anyone is interested. No affiliation BTW.
 
The one thing you do not want to do is shoot the gun and leave it dirty for an extended period of time
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You can procrastinate for a few days without hurting anything. I live in the humid South and use Pyrodex which has a worse rep for rust than real bp does. I sometimes go a couple or three days without cleaning and once deliberately left one uncleaned for nine days with no sign of rust or corrosion.
 
Maybe 9 days isn't enough to do serious damage.....

..... but I bet it ain't doing it any good, either.


You can procrastinate for a few days without hurting anything. I live in the humid South and use Pyrodex which has a worse rep for rust than real bp does. I sometimes go a couple or three days without cleaning and once deliberately left one uncleaned for nine days with no sign of rust or corrosion.
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I like to be in the habit of cleaning BP guns right away, lest I forget about them.... no sense in destroying the gun 'cause I'm lazy and forgetfull......

Here, you might need this sometime, in case you forget about the muzzloader you were going to get around to cleaning......

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=..._Cleaning_Clinic__Salvaging_A_Rusty_Smokepole
 
cloud8a said:
Do you lube any of the nipple or drum threads?
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Yes, at least some Bore Butter on the nipple and clean out screw threads which I clean after each range session.
But I've never needed to unscrew the drum.
That's best left alone unless absolutely necessary.
 
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Maybe 9 days isn't enough to do serious damage.....
..... but I bet it ain't doing it any good, either.
Click to expand...

I only did that once just to see when it would start showing signs. I gave up and cleaned it after nine days. I usually clean the same day but sometimes circumstances dictate.. I can't see where it did any harm.

remmy.jpg
 
JimBob

I had the same problem with the bore on my CVA Frontier. I read the article which holds pretty close to how I cleaned my barrel. My problem is my model rifle does not allow for removal of the breech plug. So I have no clue as to the shape of the barrel further down even with a bore light.
 
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