Matt / PA

I don' t know a ton about Centerfire rifles, but I do happen to know Flintlocks pretty well........
Here' s how I do it........I was tought by Dave Ehrig " Mr. Flintlock" here in PA on the do' s and don' ts of cleaning a Flintlock.

First......I never ever touch anything petroluem based for cleaning anything having to do with the bore or ignition system (except the internal workings)

I use the T/C style " all natural" cleaning products.(there are others on the market) The goal is a " seasoning effect" in the bore, and if you use cleaning products that you would use on a centerfire rifle you are ruining your " Seasoning" .........well actually you' ll never even get one started.

The " Hot" water method of cleaning blackpowder fouling is,while good intentioned, not necessary and a myth when it comes to cleaning a blackpowder gun. Cold/cool water is fine and actually preffered. (Dave Ehrig actually cleans his barrels in a toilet!! Scrub away with a solvent soaked patch with the breech end in the toilet, and when you are done simply flush away the dirty water.....a couple flushes will have a nice clean look to it as all powder residue is removed)
You do not want a bone dry hot bore as it will again destroy the " Seasoning" effect by boiling off the natural protectants and opening the pores of the metal.
Seasoning a bore will promote less powder fouling, and easier loading between shots.
(While sighting in I do a light cleaning between every single shot......BUT NO OILS!)
If you Oil a bore with a petroleum based product you will not only destroy the seasoning, you will more than likely get an unpredictable first shot out of the oiled bore.

Here' s my cleaning process followed by what you will need (if you choose to do it my way)
CLEANING THE BORE
1. Remove the barrel from the stock.....
2. Remove the " Touch hole" (A good investement is an aftermarket slightly bored out version for more reliable ignition)
3. Place the removed Touch Hole into a small cup with just enough T/C " #13 Bore Cleaner" to cover the entire thing.
4. Over the Sink squirt some more #13 Bore Cleaner directly into the bore and let it sit for a minute or 2 while you fill the sink with cool water...........Place the breech end in the water (use a dish towel to on the bottom of the sink to prevent any scratching.........and don' t use one of Mom' s good ones!)
now once you have enough water in the sink to completely cover the threads where your touch hole was Take a #13 soaked patch on a jag and run it down the bore. Draw it back slowly in a pumping motion to draw the cool water into the bore. Be careful when you get near the muzzle, or you' ll cover the kitchen in nasty water! (Yes it will stink like sulfur....that' s the fun part......all sorts of chances for Mom to get mad at you[:@])
5. Run enough solvent soaked patches thru the bore in this manner until you start getting very clean wet patches. (You may need to use fresh water a few times in the sink depending upon just how fouled up the bore is)
6. Once you are satisfied that the patches are clean enough get the barrel out of the water.
7. With a #13 solvent moistened patch or pipe cleaner make sure the threads are free of fouling where the touch hole will be re-inserted. Also clean any powder residue off the outside of the breech area caused by the eruption of the flash pan powder.
8. Now run Dry patches thru the bore one patch for each pass until you have the bore completely dry.
9. The final step in cleaning and protecting the bore is done with a patch coated with T/C " Natural Lube 1000" Bore butter.........once down and once back and the bore is now clean,protected and on its way to a proper Seasoning.
10. Fish your Touch hole out of the cup full of solvent and run it under the tap.....DON' T DROP IT DOWN THE DRAIN! []
WIth a cleaning patch and pipe cleaner make sure your touch hole is clean and clear.
11. Apply a small amount of " Bore Butter" to the threads and re-install the Touch Hole
12. Finally wipe down the entire barrel with a Silicone or Oil Moistened rag and Set it aside. That part is done.

CLEANING THE IGNITION SYSTEM
1. Remove the Flint and leather carrier and set it aside for now.
2. Remove the entire lock from the stock.
3. With a #13 bore solvent moistened rag or cleaning patch ,wipe down everything external to free it of powder residue.
4. Turn your attention to the inner workings........make sure everything looks free of residue and " gunk" If its a mess you can flush it with a normal Bore solvent first , dry and then apply a light coat of spray on gun oil. Don' t get crazy with it tho.
5. Now take your flint and clean it with #13 bore solvent to remove all the powder residue. (I personally like premium Agate flints for all of my shooting and hunting........they throw a hotter bigger spark, are more reliable and you can see fouling better on them. They may wear your frizzen more than a softer English flint but I' d rather the gun actaully go off everytime I pull the trigger)
After you have the flint clean here' s a trick my buddy Frank came up with years ago and it has really enhanced the ignition of our guns.
Buy a small can or CRC ' Electronic Contact Cleaner' from your local Auto parts store........Spray the flint (on a piece of newspaper, and then wipe dry with a clean patch.....careful not to get your finger oils on the contact surface of the flint)
6. With the same CRC Contact cleaner lightly spray ONLY the face of your frizzen and wipe dry. Also wipe the flash pan bowl with CRC.
What the contact cleaner does is ensure a perfectly dry and oil free flint to metal contact that will consistently throw the hottest spark. NEVER EVER EVER wipe your frizzen or flash pan with any oil.
GREAT TRICK!
Reinstall your flint into the leather carrier and back into the hammer........center it carefully, and align the flint so that there is about a 1/16th of an inch gap between the flint edge and the face of the frizzen when at " Half cock"
7. Put the lock back into the gun, wipe down the external parts , EXCEPT FOR THE FRIZZEN FACE , FLASH PAN AND FLINT or LEATHER with a silicone cloth.
8. Give the flint and the frizzen face one last wipe with a CRC Contact cleaner moistened patch and your' re done.

Finally wipe the entire external parts (Lock Stock and Barrel)down again for good measure with a Silicone cloth ...again avoid the flint and frizzen face.

Sounds a little more time consuming than the other methods, but IMO its the right way to do it and the way I' ve always done mine. Its also the exact way I intend to keep my new Inline clean. No offense intended to the other guys who have offered their help, this is just my opinion on how a muzzleloader should be cared for.
If you are careful and keep everything clean and dry misfires should not happen.........I can honestly say that in all the years I have hunted with a flintlock I have NEVER had a misfire while hunting, and lock times are terrific. No hang fires........just a KABOOM!

Here' s what you' ll need to duplicate my particular cleaning process:

1. T/C #13 bore cleaner
2. T/C " Natural Lube 1000" Bore Butter (tube)
3. Cleaning patches 2-2.5"
4. Cleaning Jag.(in your caliber)
5. Patch puller (in case you have one slip off the jag)
6. CRC " Electronic Contact Cleaner"
7. Cool water, a sink(or toilet) and an understanding Mother.
8. A good gun oil like Shooter' s Choice etc. for the internal lock
9. Silicone gun Cloth
10. A barrel pin remover (you can use a hammer but its crude)
ADDITIONAL GOODIES:
11. A good initial investment is also the Agate flints, and a bore out touch hole.......these will make shooting much less frustrating right off the bat and will very much enhance the reliablity of your gun to fire in hunting situations.
12. A good storage container such as the Plano style vertical shooting boxes makes hauling all of your supplies much easier
13. You might also want to get yourself (if you don' t already have one)a gun cleaning mat such as those green ones manufatcured by Remington. Or a Cleaning station that holds the gun with compartments underneath.
14. A small battery powered bore light that you drop down the bore is a nice cheap tool to have as well to confirm your cleaning the bore well.

Hope this helps.........have fun with it, these guns are a ton of fun to shoot, and they are more than capable hunting arms.
If you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me or ask here.

mauser06

wow matt....i didnt get to read it but im printing it out...i always have to print your posts!!! from fly fishing to flintlocks to bows....thanx alot...im going to read it tonight...

cayugad

Looks like they covered it pretty well. I personally have an old coffee pot that I 3/4 fill with boiling water. I remove the barrel and drop the barrel wedge and take the nipple out and dump all that into the coffee pot. When the water is almost to a boil, I remove it from the stove and add some DAWN Dishsoap to it. Just a squirt.

I put the nipple end into the coffee pot. I use clean old cotton socks that have lost their usefulness and cut them into strips. One strip is two cleaning patches. I dunk the strip into some of the water and work that up and down in the barrel on the cleaning jag. This forces boiling soapy water up and down in that barrel. Be careful it can come out the top and the barrel will get hot. I actually wear a pair of old gloves when I hold the barrel.

That water will get filthy. After I think it is clean, I remove it from the water and run some Hoppie #9, or WD-40 patches down the barrel and see if they come out clean. They usually do, Since the barrel is still hot, I run a few clean dry patches down it until they come out clean. The dry patches take the moisture out of the barrel.

I scrub the outside of the rifle off, using some Hoppies or WD-40 on a patch until that is all clean. Using a tooth brush I scrub around the nipple port and the tang. Then run a " lightly" oiled patch down the barrel, wipe the rest of the barrel off, and re-assemble the rifle. I always store the rifle muzzle end down also. Helps keep the dirt and dust out of them.

I know a lot of people will tell you that using products with petroleum will ruin the seasoning of the bore. That might be true. If they feel that petroleum based products are bad, then they should not use them. I have used them for 25+ years and there is no rust on my rifle. Maybe my bore is not seasoned at all, but it will shoots the same everytime I take it out (which is a lot), and I have never had any misfire problems, although I wipe the bore clean before loading, and pop a few caps through the nipple prior to loading and then pick it.

I guess each shooter have their own manner in which they clean. As you get more used to your rifle you will find one that works for you. When you do find one that works for you, stick to it. Good luck and good shooting..

By the way guys, do flinters discharge a load from the primer pan before they load for the first time the way percussion cappers fire two or three caps? Always wondered that.

eldeguello

IF you have a barrel that' s removable, it makes cleaning simpler than if you can' t separate the barrel from the stock for cleaning. If you can take the barrel out and put it into a bucket of water, then cool water will work OK, because you can pump it into and out of the bore enough times to get the BP fouling out. Cool water takes longer to loosen and remove fouling!!

If you cannot remove the barrel, the boiling water methoid is better, because you only pour the two quarts through a funnel and into the muzzle, letting it run out of the touchhole opening (assuming you have a touch-hole liner in the hole that you can remove with a screw-driver). I have several guns for which barrel removal is a chore. I clean these with the barrel still in the stock. I wrap a small towel or rag around my barrel near the muzzle so I don' t have to touch the hot barrel with my hands. After the water clears the barrel, just wipe the bore with three or four clean, dry patches. It will dry out immediately, and the first patch or two removes ALL the powder fouling, as your next couple of patches will show! Then, when the barrel has cooled to where you can touch it, just oil up the bore with something like Break-Free or Birchwood-Casey Sheath to prevent rust. I have found that products like T/C Bore Butter are OK for shooting patch lube, but cannot be trusted as a long-term rust preventative!!

As far as wiping the flint, pan and frizzen after each shot to prevvent misfires, I use a cleaning patch. I spit on it to make an end of it moist, then wipe the edge of the flint, the face of the frizzen, and the bottom of the flashpan with the wet end. I then dry those parts with the other end of the same patch. I also carry a touch-hole pick to use to make sure the touch-hole is not blocked with fouling. Since hot gas shoots out of the touchhole at each shot, it tends to stay pretty clear.