CLEANING YOUR BLACK POWDER RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS

A really good cleaning especially if you are going to store your gun. Their are several wonderful solutions. I did recently find a lead out which works great. Clean gun good --good -- after using this solution. You can also use Napa Cutting Oil water soluble, CLP Break free oil, for Quick and good results. Recently I found that a mixture of Alcohol, Peroxide, and Murphy's oil soap mixed 1- 1- 1 (mixed one to one ).

I like to save my old flannel shirts that I cut up into patches for cleaning. They have been washed a lot and lost a great deal of their fuzziness. They hold up well and are easy to retrieve if you stick one. Otherwise a 50 cal = 049 patch works well. Pillow ticking works well but I like to wash it before I use it to get all the sizing out of it. It is one of the few products left on the market that the Government hasn't given the manufactures permission to use 15% percent polyester in all their cotton products. You can test your cotton fabrics by burning them in your char can. When finished look at the lid, the polyester will collect on the underside of the lid.

FLINTLOCK

Remove lock first to keep cleaners from getting behind it and cause rust. Makes it easier to reach the all important flash hole.

Insert a round toothpick into the flash hole.

Pour only enough mixture down barrel as to not get sprayed. Then scrub with brass brush. Let barrel sit while you clean lock, inspect it closely and oil. Go back to barrel and force mixture through the flash hole over a catch container. Wipe bore using both sides of the cleaning patch. Roll a patch long ways and push to bottom of barrel and twist with the patch worm and remove. Repeat again and again with clean patches until the patch comes out clean.

At this point if I'm at home or if my planning to store my gun for a period of time I will pre heat my oven to 120o and put all metal parts in for a period of 20 min. Take them out and let them cool. I will then spray oil down the barrel and swab with clean patch. I then oil outside the barrel and lock until they are near dry.

PERCUSSION

Same as flintlock except replace nipple with a plug. Q tip works well. Remove barrel and follow the same procedure as with the flintlock.

PISTOL

The procedure is the same as with flintlock and percussion rifles.

COLD BARREL

If you should be at a match or a hunt when the temperature is below -0 degrees or hovering in the low teens don't be surprised if you find yourself as I did a few weeks ago at a primitive shoot were the temperature was in the low teens and really not much wind. As you know you shoot and do a lot of standing around moving from target to target. THE COLD EFFECTED MY BARREL to the point were I was consistently 8 inches to the left. Lucky I recognized what was happening because it happened to me years ago. I had to hold 8 inches to the right. My distance was also slightly high so I had to make adjustments for that also.

After we were finished shooting we all agreed to shoot fast and heat up our barrels. After shooting 5 shots as fast as we could our shots began to come back on center. Let the gun sit for 15 minuets and it went wild again. So tuck this in the back of your mind.

LOCK

Bees wax and tallow - waterproofing mixed in a can - wipe around your flash pan when as a seal when your encountering rain and snow. Also use it on your mocks and shooting bag for waterproofing. This can be made using 1 to 1 beeswax and lard from the Hog, Bear or groundhog.

Hope you find this interesting and useful. Should be very helpful when introducing another person to our sport.

Now, go burn some powder!

Howdy Davis