Cleaning new rifle

[Swamppanther]

I have on order a Flint .32 Tennessee Mountain Rifle from TVM.   The rifle does not have a "hooked breech" but is "Pinned". When I clean my guns
especially Muzzleloaders I always try to disassemble as much as I can. Do you ever get a punch and un-pin for cleaning?   

[RobD]

there is no need to remove full stock pin barrels.  in fact, it's not a good thing for both wear and tear, particularly on the stock.

with regards only to onshore built long guns with classic flat breech plugs, the flintlock regimen i use begins with the last shot taken of the day - the barrel gets immediately swabbed with a patched jag and moose milk (water soluble oil such as ballistol and plain water, 1:6 oil:water mix).  the patched jag is left down the barrel during the ride back to the ranch.  this keeps the fouling soft and rust from forming.  the lock is liberally sprayed with moose milk as well, using a small pump sprayer available everywhere.

at home, the lock is removed and dunked in a pail of plain tepid tap water (after the flint is removed from the lock jaws).  the barrel touch hole is plugged with a toothpick, the long gun is stood up on its butt stock, and tepid tap water is poured about halfway down the tube and allowed to stand while the lock is addressed with a toothbrush and more clean plain water.  after the scrubbing and subsequent water dousing, excess water is flicked off, the lock is patted dry with paper towels and is spritzed with wd40.  excess wd40 is removed with a paper towel and all moving parts get a *tiny* drop of any kinda light oil. 

back to the barrel .... the tooth pick is removed and the dirty water drains out the touch hole.  a patched jag that's sloppyy wet with moose milk is run down the bore, twisted against the breech plug face, and repeated 'til a patch comes out *reasonably* clean - it will Never be perfectly clean.  a pipe cleaner run thru the touch hole clears that out, a few dry patches are sent down the barrel, then a final oiled patch. 

notice the liberal use of plain, tepid tap water - there is absolutely no need for any other chemicals, or heated water, or soaps.  the ONLY time those things might be needed is if precautionary cleaning isn't immediately done after the last firing of the shooting session or hunt.

replace the lock, replace the flint, done.

before a shot is taken, the barrel is swabbed with a few dry patches to clear out any excess accumulated oils, and the touch hole is picked as well.

i will add  to make SURE a gun's breech plug and touch hole liner are both installed with quality anti-seize grease during the build.  i highly recommend using nikal or permatex.

easy peasy.

note: the cleaning and care of all offhsore guns with patent breeches will be a slightly different process that addresses the barrel's ante-chamber that is often neglected.

[rollingb]

I don't pull the pins and take the barrel off on such rifles/trade guns,.... but I do take the locks off (and clean'em), and plug the vent holes with a toothpick/feather quill, and pour warm water down the bores and let them soak.
After 5-10 minutes of soaking, I dump the water out, and swab the bores dry,.... checking the cleaning patches to make sure the bores are clean,... and if everything looks good I follow with an oil patch down the bore.

That's about it, and I don't have a problem with rust. 

Edited to add:.... I'm pretty sure this is the way it was done for hundreds of years, if you're interested in being somewhat "historically correct" about such things.   

[prairie dog]

I remove the barrel from my Chief's gun.  The flash hole liner has the screw slot and it is difficult to keep solvent from running into the lock mortise and the trigger.  That flush tube does not seal the screw slot well.  The first time, I tapered the ends of the pins so as to not split any wood on replacement.  Carefully remove the barrel from the stock and be careful handling that thin fore stock.  After replacing the barrel into the stock I fill the pin holes with beeswax so the pins don't fall out.  I also made some replacement pins from finishing nails and keep those in my shooting bag for "just in case".

My new flintlock Lancaster with swamped barrel has such thin wood in the fore end I would be afraid to remove it.  So, I had the thing epoxy bedded as it was being built.  That strengthens and seals the wood and it can't be seen.  It's flash hole liner does not have a slot so the flush tube O ring fits water tight.

I also remove and clean locks every time. 

[Uncle Russ]

I have been shooting Flintlocks for better'n six decades, and I never removed the barrels from the stock for cleaning.

Keep in mind, this time frame covers a lot of different Flintlocks, Flintlocks that were sold or traded while looking for that "magic Flintlock rifle" that would do it all.
My own "oldest" Flintlock is a .69cal smoothbore that goes back to sometime in the mid-1970's, it cost just over $100 bucks back then and Turner Kirkland of Dixie Gun Works sold truckloads of these el-cheapo guns to a fresh and upcoming market.

I have never got it to perform satisfactorily with patch & ball but she is my go to gun when I want to hunt birds.
I have shot it a lot, a whole lot over the years, but I've never removed the barrel.
That particular gun is the 2nd one down....It is an Ultra-Hi and was made by Maruko.

It was cheap back then, it is still cheap today especially when compared to other offers on the Market.
But that wood caught my eye and it was love at first sight...that wood is just as nice today as was 40 or 45 years ago.

It is still in great shape. It has been used and abused, a lot, even dropped from a tree-stand, back when I was stationed in Alabama years ago...but she's still dependable as the day is long.
I have just never found her "sweet-spot" for patch & ball..... I really hope to find that "sweet-spot" someday. It does have an adjustable rear "rifle" sight, so I should be able to get better accuracy with the stupid thing! (But so far I have been totally spoiled with my .56 cal smoothbore.)
And, the barrel has never been removed from the stock on the Ultra-Hi, never since it was brand new fresh out the box.

I haven't used Photobucket in several years now, but that is where I found this picture of a few of my old guns.
The Ultra-Hi is the second gun down.....I really love the .69 as a smoothbore with a good stout load of  #7's for Grouse and  Quail.

 

On the other hand, I absolutely do remove the barrels on my Caplocks, the procedure is so simple it seems to come automatically.

[AxelP]

I might remove the barrel if the gun has been out in heavy rain or snow, but other than that I leave it pinned. I'd say I probably remove the barrel once a year or less. Unless its been rained or snowed on, I never see any problems in the barrel channel.

[RobD]

if the barrel channel, and also the lock mortise, is sealed well then moisture and bp residue isn't much of a concern, if at all.  after staining and before clear coating i wick in quality water thin CYA to those two places, and "paint" it in with small pieces of paper towel.  this hardens and really seals the wood.  barrel metal that sits inside the stock can be protected with paste wax or some other metal protectent.

[Eric Krewson]

This same question was posed over at the ALR site, I never pull a barrel to clean it but was surprised that about 50% of the old hands did pull their pinned barrel to clean it after every shooting session. Many had been pulling the pins for 20+ years without any pin hole enlargement.

[RobD]

not for nothing, but as good as the ALR site can be, it can also be SO elitist with too many self proclaimed gurus who have no problem exclaiming "their way or the highway", and just fulla nonsense.  i often wonder about some of the "regulars" over there.  clearly dennis's site severely lacks in moderation. 

there is absolutely no need to pull pinned barrels, even the old timers knew that.  we should be looking to the past, to the guys who used these guns for survival, and what they did to make them consistently shoot and last.  old guys know good stuff.

[Nessmuk]

Amen, Rob, Amen. ALR has an amazing  amount of good information  but you have to dig through a lot of "Personality" to find it. Thank goodness  for RollingB, Uncle Russ and others who repost "jewels" from ALR for us. 

[Flinchlock]

note: the cleaning and care of all offhsore guns with patent breeches will be a slightly different process that addresses the barrel's ante-chamber that is often neglected.

Did you over this? I didn't se, but will continue looking.

[RobD]

FOULING CONTROL ...

With the first round fired, and you wish to fire another round, let's address fouling control. Black powder ignition creates lots of residue in the barrel, as well as in a flintlock's touch hole, flint, pan and hammer steel (frizzen), and in a caplock's nipple. A cleaning patch that's moist with moose milk (water solvent oil: water, perhaps a 1:6 mix) or straight water soluble oil  is run down and out the barrel will remove most of this residue while keeping any existing residue soft, to make loading the next patched ball easier. Most production traditional muzzleloaders (offshore manufactured) have patent breech plugs. This means there's a narrow diameter flue (ante-chamber or tunnel) that extends past the face of the breech plug and then doglegs towards the touch hole or nipple bolster. Since the cleaning jag is bore sized and larger than the flue, replace the jag with a .22 to .36 caliber bronze (not nylon) brush draped with a moist patch to reach down into the flue and clean it out. Wipe down the flintlock's pan, flint and frizzen with a dry cleaning patch, and run a pick and/or pipe cleaner into its touch hole. Remove a caplock's spent cap, and with a dry cleaning patch, clean the outside of the nipple and hammer cup, then run a pick and/or pipe cleaner down the nipple hole. Reload.

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

 CLEANING ...

After a day's shooting, it's important to clean the firearm as soon as possible because black powder residue is corrosive and will harden in the barrel, which makes cleaning a hard chore. Before packing up and leaving the range, run at least a few moose milk (water solvent oil: water, perhaps a 1:6 mix) or straight oil sloppy wet patches down the barrel.  Leave the jaged wet patch down the bore.   At home, the barrel can be removed (hooked breech) or remain on the stock (pinned barrel). First, pull off the lock.  Plug the touch hole or nipple with a snug fitting round wooden toothpick. A small funnel comes in handy, or make one from paper, or don't use one at all, but stand the long gun on its butt stock and pour tepid tap water down the barrel about halfway or so. The water should NOT be hot. Allow that to sit there for 5 minutes. While the water is doing its thing inside the barrel, remove the flint from a flint lock's jaws and wash the entire lock in a pail of tepid tap water.  A toothbrush can be used to scrub the lock inside and out.  Shake off the excess water, pat dry with paper or cloth toweling, wipe down with an oily cloth, pat off any excess, put a tiny drop of gun oil on all moving parts.  Lean the barrel or gun over so the touch hole or nipple faces the ground or a bucket and pull out the toothpick, allowing the water to squirt out.

Run wet patches down the barrel, allowing any excess to shoot out the touch hole or nipple. Do this until the patches come out relatively clean, then run down a few dry patches, followed by a patch wet with gun oil (Breakfree, Rem Oil, Hoppes, etc). Also, if the breech plug is a patent style and has a rear flue, replace the jag with a .22 to .36 caliber bronze brush draped with a patch to clean it out as well. Replace the lock you had previously cleaned. Wipe down any metal parts of the gun with an oily cloth as well. Wipe down the stock with either a clean damp, then dry, cloth or one moistened with a bit of Ballistol. The barrel may be left oiled as is, or an oil wet patch on the ramrod's jag can be sent and left down the barrel. Done.

I prefer using Ballistol for all instances of straight oil or for making "moose milk" (a 1:6 mix of ballistol:water) because ballistol is good for wood so no concerns over getting caustic cleaning chemicals on gunstocks - and you.

[Hanshi]

Good advice in all these posts.  I'll just add that I never remove a pinned barrel for routine cleaning.  I do remove the lock for cleaning and that's it.  I do pull pinned barrels maybe once every couple of years if I think there's a need or if work is to be performed on the gun.  Those with a hooked breech always get removed for cleaning.   

I also clean with cold tap water and never use any esoteric mixtures & formulas.  I use denatured alcohol and WD40 for moisture removal after swabbing the bore dry.  I even sometimes use an old hair dryer to make sure it's really dry.  I protect the bore with Barricade, which dries and leaves no oily mess.  If the barrel ever does come off I use the opportunity to seal the barrel channel with true oil, wax or something similar.  The bottom of the barrel is usually coated with grease.  One rifle I've owned since the 1960s is cleaned this way and the barrel is still pristine.

Everybody has their own special way to clean and preserve the gun; and if it works for them and no rust is detected, they must have got it right.

[RobD]

i don't like the idea of heating/warming the steel, nor the introduction of alky or wd40, particularly the wd40.  this is where a water soluble oil has worked best for me, even if watered down 6 to 1 during cleaning, but used full strength after the last dry patch comes out of the tube.  for long term storage i use break free with sloppy wet patches and the last patch stays down the bore and rests in the chamber (classic flat breeches).  for patent breeches, the ante-chamber is literally flooded with oil, then the patched jag is sent down to rest in the chamber.

with a kit gun or scratch build, the stock's barrel channel is first stained and then quality water thin CYA gets quickly "brushed" on with torn pieces paper towel.  this wicks into the wood grain and both seals and hardens it.  a final finish goes over that barrier along with the rest of the stock.  i like barrels left in the white to patina on their own, and just auto paste wax the bottom 3 flats.  pinned barrels rarely get removed, usually if there's some indication of an issue to be checked or if more than 2 or 3 years have gone by.

initially, ALL guns get anything screwed into the barrel removed and anti-seize greased with Nikal.

 

[Fyrstyk]

Alot of good advice in the previous posts.  To RobD, I add an extra step in cleaning the lock.  After the water and tooth brush routine, I use the blow tube on my compressor to blow away the excess water, then lightly spritz with WD-40 to remove the hidden water.  Blow dry again with the compressor, and lightly oil (in the warm months) or spritz with Powdered graphite in the cold months before re-assembling.