Curious but hesitant

[Three Legged Pete]

Howdy, Darksiders.  Except for plinking with my cap & ball pistols I've always shot that fad smokeless powder.  Yes, I'm a heathen.  But, reading the posts here and meeting some Darksiders in person at matches have caused me to feel the alure of The Dark Side.  The thing that has really held me back are my reservations about clean up, especially with my long guns, a '73 Winchester and a '66 Winchester.  I've always found cleaning my C & B pistols to be pretty labor intensive and have never shot the holy black in any of my cartridge weapons.  Any guidance you can give this poor, blind pilgrim about what you initiates into the dark arts do by way of cleaning after a match as well as major cleaning and maintenance.  I think a little push here and I could well turn to the Dark Side!  Love the smell of black powder in the morning.  Smells like - history!  Thanks in advance.

[Noz]

I shot a 10 stage shoot on Sat and Sun. Wiped them down on Sat night and ran a wet patch thru the bores. Came in to the shop this morning and cleaned a Marlin 1894, a SXS double and 2 Remingtons to "storage clean" in about 30 minutes. Would not hesitate a bit to put them away and not look at them for six months(I may do that anyway based on the way I shot).
Come on over. It seems to be a group of better guys inside of a larger group of good guys and in this case guys is gender inclusive.  Just be prepared for a whole new learning experience.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Cleaning cartridge guns that fire BP cartridges is actually easier than cleaning C&B guns.

In a C&B gun, the chambers are not bored straight through, but are stepped to a couple of different diameters, plus there is the narrow threaded portion where the nipples are threaded in. Each of these places presents nooks and crannies where fouling likes to hide, and worse yet, water likes to hide in these places and cause rust. A cartridge cylinder has the chambers bored straight through, without any of those hiding places like a C&B cylinder does. Much easier and quicker to clean, and easier to get the water out if afterwards. I used to shoot a lot of C&B when I was a kid, and I would completely tear down my revolvers every single time, and clean every single part. Very time consuming. There are ways to clean a BP revolver without totally tearing it down, only squirting cleaning fluid where it is needed. I only completely tear my guns apart about once a year to completely clean them out. Much, much easier.

A rifle is even easier. A rifle is a closed system, unlike a revolver. With revolvers, no matter how well you seal the cartridge in the chamber, fouling still blasts out of the barrel/cylinder gap, getting everywhere. A rifle is really just a pipe, closed at one end. Seal the chamber well enough, and the fouling all stays right in the bore, it does not get into the action to cause problems. It takes me about 5 minutes to clean my 44-40 '73 at the end of a match.

The other thing is, BP fouling is no where near as corrosive as many believe. Since we no longer use corrosive primers, BP fouling does not do the job on steel that many are afraid it does. If you don't clean your guns the minute you finish shooting them, they will not instantly dissolve into piles of rust. I never clean my guns the same day I shoot them, I often wait a week, sometimes even more. Last time I looked, they still worked, and were not piles of rust.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho Three Legs,

Ya got good advice here already.  The water does the work.  Soap helps.  Problem is, it leaves the guns too clean.  So, you should follow up with a lite oil wipe.  I prefer Ballistol, but there's a lot of fine oils that will work great.  Rust doesn't seem to happen to a steel surface that has a film of oil, and it needn't be heavily coated.

Also, to help your guns run good and keep on runnin' without worries about foul out, get some bullets that haul a LOT of lube.  Nuff commercial.

Enjoy the smoke!!

DD-DLoS

[Goatlips]

Three Legs,

As above.  My last shoot was three weeks ago and I'll get around to cleaning my guns tomorrow for next Sunday's shoot.  Roogers and Rossi are stainless, I'll just soak the pistols in a plastic shoebox half full of hot water (grips don't get soaked)  and brush the cylinders twice per hole and the barrel twice; run a wet boresnake through the rifle after brake cleaner and compressed (or canned) air in the action and squirt ballistol around.  My mule ear shotgun gets a brush through twice each barrel and flushed with hot water.  Every few years I do a teardown and rust check and wonder why I did.

I don't recommend it but it works for me.  Cleaning is lots easier now that I switched to Black Powder and Big Lube boolits.

Goatlips

[Three Legged Pete]

Thanks a bunch for all the great information.  Does sound like clean up isn't nearly as bad as I had thought, maybe even easier than smokeless.  Ok, you've convinced me.  I'm going to take at least a tentative step into the dark side.  One more question, though.  I don't reload (yet) and will need to buy some BP cartridges.  Any recomendations?  I've looked at several and Republic Metalic Cartridge Co. looks like the best.  Any thoughts on commercial BP cartridge suppliers?

[Three Legged Pete]

Thanks guys.  Just put in an order with Track Of The Wolf.  I'll report back once I've had a chance to run some of that Black Dawg though my smokewagons.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Three Legged Pete

Just so's you don't get the wrong idea. Yes, cleaning BP is easier than cleaning Smokeless. It requires less elbow grease and the solvent doesn't smell so nasty as Smokeless solvent.

But cleaning BP is messier than cleaning Smokeless. There's a lot more guck with BP fouling.

A pard took me at my word a couple of years ago about how easy it is to clean BP, so he cleaned his guns on his wife's new white living room carpet. Good thing he lived in a different state than me.

Just so's you understand.

[litl rooster]

Three Legged Pete


A pard took me at my word a couple of years ago about how easy it is to clean BP, so he cleaned his guns on his wife's new white living room carpet. Good thing he lived in a different state than me.

Ouch

[Wills Point Pete]

 Because my shotgun is one of those newfangled Chicom Mule Ear Doubles it likes the plastic wads, it justs patterns better than with the fiber ones. Therefore I use Windex with vinegar to get the plastic 'snot' out of the bores. Otherwise I simply use lots of water, a little soap and some Moose Milk to clean, Something that has not been mentioned is our other friend, the oven. Set the wet revolvers and shotgun pieces in the oven and set the temp at 200 degrees. Let everything get nice and warm, then turn the oven off and let things cool down. Viola! Your irons are clean and dry.
Now coat with Ballistol and let 'em dry again. Now they are clean, dry and oiled up, ready for the next shoot. the next shoot can be tomorrow or six months from now, you are fine either way.
Most of the trouble folks have in cleaning shootin' irons after The Holy Black can be traced to petroleum lubricants. If there is any petroleum based oil anywhere the fouling will find it and it will turn into an awful sludge.

[sundance44`s]

White carpet /Black Powder ...is he still married ?  Thats a brave man ... I just thought i was a brave soul I wouldn`t even try that for size .

[litl rooster]

White carpet /Black Powder ...is he still married ?  Thats a brave man ... I just thought i was a brave soul I wouldn`t even try that for size .

  After leaving the first 2 house I bought, I have finally learned a few things besides, Yes dear.  Now not to get you in Dutch with your misses Wills Point Pete, did you ever consider a electric hair drier?   They normally don't mind buying them selves a new one of them.

[Wills Point Pete]

 My wife does not care if I use the oven or much else. I bought the house, I get to use it.