Cleaning solution

[Deadeye Dick]

D D, You say you just put your pistols in the moose milk for about five minutes. I assume you break them down. Do you leave the stocks on and how do you get the moose milk out of the internal workings in the frame or do you worry about it? I being naturally lazy am looking for an easy quick way to clean my shootin' irons.
Deadeye Dick

[Delmonico]

The "old" Hoppes contained Benzene, a known carcinogen. Hoppes was great stuff in its day but it's pretty much Stone Age technology now. Here's the best:  http://www.montanaxtreme.com/.

Thanks for the link, don't shoot much jacketed any more, except for 22 Hornet and it don't hardly foul at all.  Got on Sweets years ago from my benchrest friends.  I shoot Barnes X bullets in a 243, man do they foul, but who cares, they do the job required better than anything I've tried.  Will pick some of that up when I see it.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Deadeye,

Depends on my mood.  Last time I just dumped 'em in and took out the cylinders and removed the grips after they swam for a while.  I swear I heard giggling in that spa.  My lil Rem spur trigger .31 was in there foolin' around.  Kids are like that.

Anyway, Moosemilk will release it's water to evaporation and leave a good film of rust preventing Ballistol behind.  Once and a while I treat 'em to a blow dry with my air compressor.

I use bore snakes for all the holes, even a .22 bore snake for the cylinder base pin hole.  Bore snakes slither thru and pull out all  the nastys.  There is enough Ballistol left behind that the holes are all lubed and rustproofed enuf.

Hope this helps.

DD-DLoS

[Deadeye Dick]

Thanks DD,
Just seems like the trigger, bolt and hammer mechanism would get gunked up if not blown out or taken apart to be wiped down. I have a hard time thinking that soaking the stocks in balistol would'nt hurt them. Guess I'll just have to get the faith.
Deadeye Dick

[Driftwood Johnson]

Deadeye Dick

When I was a kid I used to completely take down my Cap & Ball pistol after every single time I shot it, and clean every part to within an inch of its life, making sure there was not a hint of a smudge of BP fouling anywhere.

What a royal pain in the butt! Probably the main reason I stopped shooting Black Powder for almost 30 years. Not to mention how much extra wear and tear I was putting on the parts, particularly screw threads, with all that extra screwing and unscrewing.

No matter what cleaning method you use, if you manage to infuse Black Powder fouling with an oily residue, as happens with Dick's method, or mine, or many other methods of cleaning up after shooting Black Powder, the oily coating robs the fouling of its ability to suck moisture in the form of water vapor out of the air. Oily, gucky, goopy Black Powder fouling will not cause rust, particularly not with modern non corrosive primers. Yes, there will be some oily, gucky, goopy, ugly, Black yucco stuff down inside the gun, and this always bothers guys who were taught that guns should be inspected with white gloves. Nonethe less, that oily, black, gucky stuff left down inside will not cause any rust, and it does not usually manage to affect the function of the parts, like the trigger, hammer, bolt, etc, either. Afterall, it is really just a thick layer of oil. Hardened oil is a completely different story. That bogs down guns. And dry BP fouling will cause rust. But not fouling that has been infused with some sort of oil.

I take my BP guns completely apart once a year to remove the black oily gunk. There is always plenty of gunk in there that would make a drill sargeant cry. But there is never any rust.

[Arcey]

I was shootin' with a youngster a couple years ago.  Some ole muzzle loadin' guru he'd known since he was a kid had him convinced he HAD to immediately take everything apart and wash it with soap 'n water.  Told me he was havin' fun with it but it was too much work.

Told him how long I'd been shootin' it 'n what I did to clean up.  Although he didn't say so he didn't believe it so I just shut up.  No point in it.

Last I saw him he was shootin' smokeless.  Last few shoots with that club I haven't seen him at all. That's sad.

[Deadeye Dick]

Hey Pard's thanks, you've convinced me. I am just not going to worry about it. You are right, I don't shoot as much as I'd like since I always take my guns down to clean. Now that I've got the word I'm changing my ways. Gee, I think I'll go out and shoot. I feel better already.
Deadeye Dick

[Fox Creek Kid]

I had rust twice w/ a Ballistol "Moose Milk" 50/50 concoction. I had just shot a cap 'n ball w/ real BP. When finished I hosed it down with a 50/50 mix of Ballistol/water and put it in the car trunk. It was a hot & humid August day. When I got home a few hours later there was some flash rust. I had it happen with a muzzleloader as well. Needless to say, I avoid Ballistol "Moose Milk" concoctions. Your mileage may vary.

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET
.........
Odour Like citrus.
.........

Citrus!?  Good lord!  I'd hate ta work in that grove! 

I use ballistol when cleaning all my firearms.  Sometimes I use Hoppe's if I have leading in my BPCR rifles, but I clean it out afterward with ballistol.

[I think I'll go huff some old Hoppe's, I'm losin' my buzz]

[Delmonico]

JD, they quit makin' the good Hoppes in the 90's, but I have about a pint of it, come up here sometime with that 38-55 of yours and I'll let ya sniff some for a few shots out of it.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho Kid,

I think my success with Ballistol and water comes from the fact that they are allowed to dry out in a low humidity area.  It's water moisture, warm temps and whatever fingerprints, blood and powder residue that do the foul deed.  I  do a lot of Ballistol wiping on my guns with a Ballistol dampened rag when  I have to shoot in the rain.  Onlyist thing is, it does make 'em lil iron pieces slippery.

DD-DLoS

[Buffalow Red]

i tryed Ballistol & water , murphys mix etc. etc. the best cleaner i have found for my remes & goex is hottttttttt water & dawn dish soap, just wear welding gloves. works so good then oil em with straight Ballistol . works every time. sometimes i have had rust with  with other cleaners. 1/2 of the hot water (heated in old canner pot on turkey fryer burnner) is poured into a 2nd pot with soap, 1st pot is used to rinse & is hoter than soap pot after rinsing the water on guns  evaporates right away.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Usually I prefer to use Hoppes #9 Plus   BP cleaner or Moosemilk (6/1 water-Ballistol) to clean, but hot water and a bit of dish soap (Dawn, as Buff Red suggests) is a great cleaner.  Hot water if no soap is available.  Cold water if that's all there is, and last - and so far never tried by ME  you can use fresh urine.    Yes - that IS one of the "field expedient" methods used back in the day!

The key ingredient is water.  The Ballistol or whatever oil Hoppes uses in their #9 Plus   or the other good BP cleaners available is just there to help preserve the metal AFTER the water has done its work.  Shucks - I've been using BreakFree (with petroleum ingredients, BUT mostly synthetic) for decades, and with the Hoppes product, I DON'T get the tarry, stiff residue like some - many - most - NEARLY EVERYONE cautions against using.    Works for me!

The ONLY time I actually took the gun apart and then went to the sink and did the hot water/dish soap thing, just as I was finishing, a friend knocked on the door and an hour or 2 later, when I went back to the sink I found a light coat of fresh surface rust ALL OVER my (then new) 1860 Colt!    Never done it since!

SHB

PS - all the rust wiped off with a light coat of oil (WD, I think) but it sure had me scared for a while!  Obviously, the 2 hour wait right after the hot water was the REAL culprit - NOT the water itself.  I often do my shotgun barrels at the sink by simply spraying down the bore with the hand sprayer, drying, then a liberal spray-down with WD before using REAL lube/preservative, usually BreakFree.  The shotgun MIGHT take 5 minutes - start-to-finish.

If you didn't know:  WD 40 stands for Water Displacing; formula # 40.  I had a soldier in one of my last Platoons who told me this - he had worked at the plant where WD is made before he joined Uncle Sam's Traveling Roadshow. 

[Dakota Widowmaker]

For guns after a match or range session, I use 50/50 of Balistol to water. (spray bottle)

For ammo/brass cleanup, I take a big apple cider jug, put in 1/4 cup of my 50/50 mix and 4 cups of HOT HOT water.

I then just prep the rest of the gun with CLP or Barricade and then Kroil in the bore.

I use Barricade to protect the surface of my percussion guns.

I know folks who use pure ballistol on their guns, but, I find it ALOT easier to clean up by cutting it 50/50 or 1:4.

[Paladin UK]

 
Thought I`d throw my hat into the arena here too!!

At the moment I am really into my opentops..

On my 1st load I smear wonder lube on the pistola cylinder spindle.

I load my pistolas using BP and a home made wad (2pts tallow 2pts paraffin wax 1pt beeswax)

I use my home made small pistol primer nipple jobbies fer ignition,

Using this recipe I can shoot 25 cylinders without ANY fouling whatsoever!!
After shooting.......

A VERY liberal dowsing of WD 40 into the works and barrels of all smokepoles
I use one or two of those alcohol baby wipes fer my hands and then use em (The wipes ), on my smokepoles.
I then bag em `n we drive home, and take them out of their bags.

Later could even be the next day...

Remove the scattergun barells and swab with 60% Ballistol 40% water

Remove cylinders dump in old air freshener lid with same 60% Ballistol 40% water mix. Swab through barells and swab with 60% Ballistol 40% water.

Open action on Rifle and run linen swab through the barrel then again with a bore snake again same mix

Clean all the actions with a linen rag again same mix.

Pull through the barrels with a Ballistol/ linen rag

Dry off and apply Ballistol using linen rag

Remove cylinders and jet spray through them through the nipple holes with the old compressor, twist a linen covered jag through each cylinder, go around again with Ballistol, wipe off any access with yer rag.
Re-assemble the lot `n put em ta bed!!

Notice I have used NO HOT WATER WHATSO-EVER

The WD 40 seems to do a great job of loosening BP residue and Ballistol does the rest!!

I have been using this method for about 18months now and there has been absolutely NO ill effects to my smokepoles 

Paladin (What lurvs the Holy Black  ) UK

[Arcey]

Remove the scattergun barells and swab with 60% Ballistol 40% water

Remove cylinders dump in old air freshener lid with same 60% Ballistol 40% water mix. Swab through barells and swab with 60% Ballistol 40% water.

Notice I have used NO WATER WHATSO-EVER

Paladin (What lurvs the Holy Black  ) UK

No water.....  Huh?

Just messin' with ya, mi amigo.

I believe water is good but not alone or with soap. 

Those adherin' to myths 'n usin' soap 'n water can continue to wonder why they have rust and/or hard foulin'.  Ain't my problem.  Ain't my guns. 

[Wills Point Pete]

 I wonder if the myth of BP needing immediate and careful cleaning is not from the old corrosive primers.

I know my Dad had to worry about those primers, to the point of having to pee down his M1 barrel on one of the drier Islands he visited courtesy of our rich Uncle, Samuel.

[Delmonico]

You've got it there Pete, the old mercury based primers and the Potassium Clorate based ones used till right after WWII in military ammo are nasty and cause most of the stories about black powder, not those things are right nasty.

[Driftwood Johnson]

I wonder if the myth of BP needing immediate and careful cleaning is not from the old corrosive primers.

I have been making that case for years now. We don't use corrosive primers anymore, and I never clean my BP guns the same day. My guns do not disintegrate into piles of rust.

[Paladin UK]

Fer Arcey......

Ya got me fair `n square pard!!  

Fer those pards also wantin clarifcation 

I dont use buckets o Hot water ta clean my smokepoles, the only WATER I use is mixed with Ballistol

Paladin (Whats a little  ) UK