Essential BP Cleaning products.
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Cascade1911
New member
jimbob86 said:
Listen to this man! He knows! I said to myself once "I'll clean it tomorrow". Tomorrow came about a month later when I realized I forgot. Now I have three year old barrel on my thirty year old Hawken........ (new barrel is great, has nice bluing, shoots great but my original barrel I hand polished and browned myself....will never be the same
)Cascade1911
New member
Yep, I KNOW!
Price in dollars is nothing compared to the "Soul" of the firearm I lost!
Price in dollars is nothing compared to the "Soul" of the firearm I lost!
On my TC Hawken I remove the Barrell and nipple. Place it in hot water with a splash of "HEAT" (the auto motive gas additive". pump the patch on my jag until I get a clean patch, requires several water changes.
The HEAT will make the barrell hot. When I remove the barrell from the water you can see the water evaporate.
Oil with a good gun oil clean the nipple and reassemble.
The HEAT will make the barrell hot. When I remove the barrell from the water you can see the water evaporate.
Oil with a good gun oil clean the nipple and reassemble.
Bill Akins
New member
If you are in the field or for any reason unable to do a complete cleaning until later, at least do what they did in the civil war with their revolvers. They would heat up a pot of water with lye soap in it and just dip their entire gun in it, shake it around a bit and then let it dry out. That will at least dissolve and get a lot of the fouling out. In other words they gave it what is known as a "whore bath", until they could clean it more thoroughly later. I don't recommend that though as we are not usually in the kind of situation where we don't have access to our cleaning tools and can't do a more thorough cleaning immediately.
I always RELIGIOUSLY clean my BP guns right after shooting. It was enough of a pain to chase rust on my old blue steel BP revolvers even when I DID clean them immediately, (that's why I only own stainless or nickel BP revolvers these days, and I still clean those immediately too). So by neglecting cleaning immediately I certainly wouldn't want to help the rust get any better toe hold than it already will. The only blue steel BP weapon I have is my CVA mountain rifle. If possible I always take soap and a bucket and water with me to the range or wherever I am shooting. If I'm in the field, I'll use canteen water, ditch water, any kind of water even if I don't have soap. I always also carry a small can of oil and cleaning patches and rags and a knife to cut cleaning patches from the rags if necessary. For my CVA mountain rifle I already have a ramrod attached and pump the water through the barrel just like was already posted by another poster. For my BP revolvers I carry a compact cleaning kit with several rod brushes. I totally agree with the previous posters that BP weapons should be cleaned as immediately as possible after firing to preclude any possibility of corrosion.
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I always RELIGIOUSLY clean my BP guns right after shooting. It was enough of a pain to chase rust on my old blue steel BP revolvers even when I DID clean them immediately, (that's why I only own stainless or nickel BP revolvers these days, and I still clean those immediately too). So by neglecting cleaning immediately I certainly wouldn't want to help the rust get any better toe hold than it already will. The only blue steel BP weapon I have is my CVA mountain rifle. If possible I always take soap and a bucket and water with me to the range or wherever I am shooting. If I'm in the field, I'll use canteen water, ditch water, any kind of water even if I don't have soap. I always also carry a small can of oil and cleaning patches and rags and a knife to cut cleaning patches from the rags if necessary. For my CVA mountain rifle I already have a ramrod attached and pump the water through the barrel just like was already posted by another poster. For my BP revolvers I carry a compact cleaning kit with several rod brushes. I totally agree with the previous posters that BP weapons should be cleaned as immediately as possible after firing to preclude any possibility of corrosion.
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I had a spring break on one of my CAS revolvers in early December 2009. I repaired it and put it away not remembering I had not cleaned it from the Dec shoot when I fired 30 rounds of FFg Graf thru it. The Jan 2010 shoot was canceled due to weather so the next time the gun saw light was in February. Took it out to make sure it was ready to go. Realised it's condition, took it to the bench, ran the normal 5 minute cleaning on it and was ready to go.
Water is the only cleaner necessary. I follow with Ballistol.
Water is the only cleaner necessary. I follow with Ballistol.
My first CB was a brass (fake) Navy. Being a virgin I had no idea how to clean these things. Over time and many guns down the road I stumbled upon Ballistol. The stuff is unlike any other lube/cleaner available. I have on many occasions even used it to clean smokeless guns, simply because it's non-toxic and I don't like taking a bath in Hoppes #9.
Back to the brass Navy....Any of you out there who have owned a brass gun know that BP residue is a PITA to get off of brass. Ballistol 1:1, spary it on while you clean the barrel and the residue just wipes off of the brass. That in and of itself was enough to sell me on the stuff but...
It's also alkaline so the acidic residue is neutralized even if you don't get it all off. Mixed with water, once the water evaporates you're left with the mineral oil still on the metal.
'Nuf said, once you try it, you'll understand.
Back to the brass Navy....Any of you out there who have owned a brass gun know that BP residue is a PITA to get off of brass. Ballistol 1:1, spary it on while you clean the barrel and the residue just wipes off of the brass. That in and of itself was enough to sell me on the stuff but...
It's also alkaline so the acidic residue is neutralized even if you don't get it all off. Mixed with water, once the water evaporates you're left with the mineral oil still on the metal.
'Nuf said, once you try it, you'll understand.
metalmechanic
Inactive
BP cleaning
I use a Charleville in a revwar militia unit. I have found windshield washer fluid
(water, alcohol, and a little liquid hand soap) to be a fast and effective clean.
I first brush the bore to remove as much scaling as possible, then slosh 4 oz fluid in the barrel twice, allowing it to drain thru the vent. Patch until clean.
Use WD-40 spray to chase away any moisture, swab the bore with a good oil.
I finish off with a coat of paste wax on all metal parts.
Clean time after a full day of shooting (24+ rounds) is about 20 minutes.
Works great in the field as well (unless the H.C. police catch you) with the fluid evaporating.
Hope this helps.
I use a Charleville in a revwar militia unit. I have found windshield washer fluid
(water, alcohol, and a little liquid hand soap) to be a fast and effective clean.
I first brush the bore to remove as much scaling as possible, then slosh 4 oz fluid in the barrel twice, allowing it to drain thru the vent. Patch until clean.
Use WD-40 spray to chase away any moisture, swab the bore with a good oil.
I finish off with a coat of paste wax on all metal parts.
Clean time after a full day of shooting (24+ rounds) is about 20 minutes.
Works great in the field as well (unless the H.C. police catch you) with the fluid evaporating.
Hope this helps.
Cleaning Black Powder Firearms
I met a friend a few days ago and he used a new product BC-50 and LR-52. These are waterbase copper, lead, carbon and powder cleaner from Gabriel Products, Inc. www.gabrielproductsinc.com.
He told me the products worked very well and that is all that he uses.
Anybody familiar with these products?
I met a friend a few days ago and he used a new product BC-50 and LR-52. These are waterbase copper, lead, carbon and powder cleaner from Gabriel Products, Inc. www.gabrielproductsinc.com.
He told me the products worked very well and that is all that he uses.
Anybody familiar with these products?