Post by Mainspring on Jun 30, 2011 16:40:48 GMT -6
At the request of Wandering Man I am posting a word about shootin' the black stuff. Now smokeless powder came out in the 1880s in France and became common in the US a little before the turn of the century. For some of us, however, this smokeless stuff is just a passing fad. We have already lost a century, so just how does one go back to the future? This post will concern itself only with gun cleaning after shooting black powder. Thorough cleaning of the firearm is absolutely necessary because black powder fouling is corrosive. The fouling of BP substitutes is actually even more corrosive than BP (except for Blackhorn), but the firearm is cleaned the same way regardless.
There are many commercially available BP solvents that work very well, but so does good ol' detergent and water. That is what I use. The water does not have to be hot, either. The water washes away corrosive salts in the BP fouling and the soap cuts through the greasy lube residue. The firearm must be taken apart sufficiently such that every part touched by the fouling can be cleaned. If you are fortunate to have an ultrasonic cleaner (such as the Lyman), you will not have to completely break down the gun, as the ultrasonic action does a marvelous job of stripping the fouling away. One word of caution concerning cleaning solutions: Be very careful not to mix various cleaning and houshold/shop chemicals unless you are sure they are safe to mix. Toxic and even explosive comounds can be formed by mixing the wrong things together. You sure do not want to be wearing your pistol like a steel mustache after the works blows up on you. If you stick with a commercially purpose-made cleaner or soap and water you will not go wrong. After cleaning and rinsing well, thoroughly dry the parts and oil and reassemble.
If you are shooting a cartridge rifle such as a Highwall or Sharps, cleaning is really easy. The cartridge case forms a seal in the chamber and keeps all the fouling forward in the barrel. By running a rod from breach to muzzle all the gunk goes out the end. After the patches come out clean, simply run a drying patch down the bore followed by an oil patch and that is it. Such rifles can be cleaned just as fast as a smokeless rifle can be cleaned. The brass cartridge cases must also be cleaned with a brush on the inside with soapy water and rinsed and dried. If you forget to clean them they will turn into a green pile of verdegris.
I hope y'all found this helpfull and if desired I can write some things on other BP subjects such as how to load BP cartridges.
There are many commercially available BP solvents that work very well, but so does good ol' detergent and water. That is what I use. The water does not have to be hot, either. The water washes away corrosive salts in the BP fouling and the soap cuts through the greasy lube residue. The firearm must be taken apart sufficiently such that every part touched by the fouling can be cleaned. If you are fortunate to have an ultrasonic cleaner (such as the Lyman), you will not have to completely break down the gun, as the ultrasonic action does a marvelous job of stripping the fouling away. One word of caution concerning cleaning solutions: Be very careful not to mix various cleaning and houshold/shop chemicals unless you are sure they are safe to mix. Toxic and even explosive comounds can be formed by mixing the wrong things together. You sure do not want to be wearing your pistol like a steel mustache after the works blows up on you. If you stick with a commercially purpose-made cleaner or soap and water you will not go wrong. After cleaning and rinsing well, thoroughly dry the parts and oil and reassemble.
If you are shooting a cartridge rifle such as a Highwall or Sharps, cleaning is really easy. The cartridge case forms a seal in the chamber and keeps all the fouling forward in the barrel. By running a rod from breach to muzzle all the gunk goes out the end. After the patches come out clean, simply run a drying patch down the bore followed by an oil patch and that is it. Such rifles can be cleaned just as fast as a smokeless rifle can be cleaned. The brass cartridge cases must also be cleaned with a brush on the inside with soapy water and rinsed and dried. If you forget to clean them they will turn into a green pile of verdegris.
I hope y'all found this helpfull and if desired I can write some things on other BP subjects such as how to load BP cartridges.
