HELP, stuck bore brush.

[mustanger]

Okey, just to keep things straight. My normal cleaning process, is; after shooting, I remove the barrel, swab the barrel with a couple wet patches, then stick the breech in warm soapy water, and draw that up several times, changing patches as needed. then I pull the soapy water up the barrel with the patch and with the patch and rod pulled up almost to the muzzle, and the breech still in the water, then I just slide it all to a corner and let it soak, every once and awhile I pull the soapy water back up into the bore. The next day I change the soapy water and clean it again. Then I dry it with a dry patch or two, and coat with clp. Before shooting again, I use a dry or two on the bore, and a slotted .22 cal. end on my cleaning rod, with a patch wrapped around and over the end, to get into the patent breech. I do have some Hoppes #9 plus, that I could coat the bore with instead of the oil.

 

[BCRider]

You are DARN lucky that the barrel isn't rusting on you. That is WAAAAYYYY too long to leave the soapy water in the barrel. Especially when that water has the corrosive salts from the fouling in it. You're not gaining anything by letting it sit wet overnight except a high risk of rusting. The black powder fouling isn't that tough normally. And if you do have "crusties" due to the choice of oil then soaking isn't going to remove them. It's far better to flush n' patch from fouled to dry and ready for some oil in the least time possible consistent with doing a good job.

I found that cleaning my Uberti Remingtons if I stuck the barrel into the soapy water and let it soak while cleaning the cylinder by the time I was done with the cylinder there were signs of a flash rusting in the patches used to clean out the barrel. So now it's just a few dunks, push a nylon bristle brush through the barrel a few times while in the water, double dunk then rinse with hot water and wipe and patch dry. Then oil. Done this way the bore is shiney clean and the water is only in contact for about 3 minutes tops. And best of all the patches come out grey then clean from the fouling with no signs of rust brown.

An Armi Sport flintlock barrel seems to have this same sensitivity to being wet for more than a few minutes. So it too gets cleaned fast and furious in the same manner.

I hope I'm wrong but if that's your standard method then perhaps the crusty bit in the bore is actually rust. You'll want to check that with a bore light and see if oiled patches come out with some of the telltale brownish color.

Hopefully you won't use CLP anymore once you find some Ballistol. Even if you have to order it online and wait. In the meantime use some solvent patches to clean out the CLP and re-oil with some Canola oil from the food market.

As mentioned the Canola will turn to a varnish over time. But I've had revolvers oiled with it and kept in my gun locker for up to two months without any sign of the oil thickening. And I know because I checked every couple of weeks just to be sure. Out in the light of day it would have turned to varnish in that much time due to the UV exposure. But kept away it's fine for easily more than a month.

Far as I know Hoppes #9 cleaning solvent has no oil in it. So you can't really coat the barrel with it since it'll simply evaporate and leave the metal exposed.

 

[mykeal]

Hoppe's No. 9 cleaning solvent and Hoppe's No. 9 Plus are not the same thing.

 

[BCRider]

Oops. My bad. I didn't see the "plus" part.

 

[mustanger]

I thought I was doing good. Did not figure out that CLP was a petrolium based product. I have been paying attention to your replies, and taking notes. The gun, a TC with two Green Mountain barrels, a .50 & a .32, is a nice combo gun. So I do want to do right by it. To bad I wasn't able to see the hard fouling in the chamber, that the gunsmith was talking about. Then I would know what I was dealing with. Might be just normall, that is in all guns that are used, and not to worry about. Soaking with CLP has been getting black stuff out of there. I do dry patch the bore and powder chamber before shooting to get the oil out of them.

 

[mykeal]

Dry patches will not remove all the oil. Use an alcohol-soaked (denatured alcohol from the drug store) patch first, then follow with two dry patches. The alcohol will remove the oil, then the dry patches will dry it out.

 

[mustanger]

Thanks, picked up abottle. will add it to my routine. Guess I was doing extra because the gun was filthy inside when I bought it. I'll keep trying for the Ballistol, and check the sticky, and postings, see if I can find a good natural recipe that I can find the parts for, and brew some up. I may seem a little dense at times, but every once in awhile something smart happens. lol, Just happy little accidents, waiting to happen.

 

[BCRider]

I'd suggest don't "try". Just order some up online and get the stuff in. It's a lot less fussing that way then playing with CLP smokeless oil and then have to mop it out before shooting the gun.

Besides, with some Ballistol comes the option of making up some "Moose Milk". That is a mix of around 1:6 of Ballistol to water. Shake it up to make a suspension that doesn't settle out. In a recent Mountain Man shoot I used the Moose Milk to wet the patches on my flintlock for a good 20 shots one day and darn near the same the next. The balls and patches rammed home easily all day long for both days with no noticable build of crud on the bores.

The other shooters were often using a soapy water mix as a patch lube vs my oil and water mix. Frankly I'd much rather have an oil and water mix on the exposed steel of my barrel bores than a soapy water mix. At least with the Moose Milk there's some oil involved.

My method was to use the stubby end of a ball starter to seat the ball and patch in the end. I'd then soak the ruffled patch fringe with a few drops of the MM. Then the longer end of the ball starter was used to push it further and the ramrod that came with the gun rammed the ball and patch the rest of the way.

With this method I went through each day using only around a half oz of MM for around 20 shots. The method was so consistent and effective at keeping the bore useable that it is now my SOP for the future.

 

[Zeke/PA]

The OP has a conventional muzzle loader.
Removing the breech plug from one of those is a major operation for a skilled gunmaker.
Not something someone without all the needed tooling that should even be contemplate.

The Breech Plug removal should ONLY be reserved for DIRE circumstance.
A routine practice WILL alter the thread engagement to the point where "tight" and "flat alignment " ain't the same.
The Hot Water flushing is BY FAR the best that you can do in my humble opinion.
My T/C Hawkin and my .36 Seneca have been treated thusly for YEARS.
Bright Bore, no rust and STILL great shooters.