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Thread: Black powder pistols, how do you clean yours?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    doncaster
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    I only use a steam cleaner to blast inside the trigger and hammer crevices, then just to get the pistol hot so it dries out fast.
    "Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened" Winston Churchill
    http://planetairgun.com/index.php

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    Bristol
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    Tac

    Thanks, was only asking as my RFD has an expensive steam cleaner that he uses/recommends and when I saw those cheap hand held ones thought they may be worth considering.
    Regards, Phil

  3. #18
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    Feb 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by discotwo View Post
    Tac Thanks, was only asking as my RFD has an expensive steam cleaner that he uses/recommends and when I saw those cheap hand held ones thought they may be worth considering.
    If you look inside the case for any Colt revolving pistol, there is no mention on the instructions for any kind of steam cleaner. Just hot water and a scrubber of some kind, followed up, in the original, by whale oil, or even fine lamp oil.

    Of course, you may use whatever give you pleasure, but why complicate things that were designed to be easy enough to do around a camp fire with no running water except what was in the nearby stream, and no means of heating it except a fire?

    tac

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Swadlincote
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    3

    Cleaning BP revolvers

    I only use 777. Very hot soapy water, bore snake with a little cooking oil and then a little drop of oil in the moving parts. The gun is like new and shoots fine. Takes about 15 mins.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Rye
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    386
    Most of us in our club use screen wash. I was told by the guy that ran the BP course that it is what he always recommends. It works very well, but having only used that I have nothing to compare it against. I half fill a small margarine tub, put in the cylinder and detached nipples, and by the time I have cleaned the barrel and frame the cylinder and nipples are clean. I then swab it all out with dry patches and spray with oil.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    leeds, west yorkshire
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    12,946
    Quote Originally Posted by discotwo View Post
    Tac

    Thanks, was only asking as my RFD has an expensive steam cleaner that he uses/recommends and when I saw those cheap hand held ones thought they may be worth considering.
    I don't use one for my pistols but I do for my martinis....

  7. #22
    terry is offline This is not the Terry you are looking for....
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    diss /sheringham
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    944

    bp

    Quote Originally Posted by airgunnut View Post
    How do you clean your black powder pistol? Do you use solvents or like me, hot water and washing up liquid.
    How long does it take you to clean your BP pistol?
    With my euro arms Roger & Spencer I fill the sink with very hot water with a good glug of washing up liquid, at this point I close the kitchen door and turn on the extractor fan to full and don a pair of marigolds (allows me to tolerate the hot water longer and the fan helps get rid of the sulphur smell conected with cleaning BP guns)
    1 take off the wood grips
    2 cock the pistol to 1/2 cock to allow the cylinder to rotate
    3 1/2 turn on the screw holding the ram/cylinder spindle to allow it to come out
    4 remove the cylinder
    5 remove the nipples and put in a glass of hot soapy water
    6 put every thing (except the wood grips) in the sink
    I use 2 bottle brushes, 1 is a long one which has been trimmed down to fit in the barrel the other is a small one I use on the cylinder (again trimmed down) and a cheap kiddys tooth brush to clean the pistol
    7 with the pistol body under water I use the long brush from the muzzle and scrub the bore, this pump water up the barrel (sink not big enough to scrub the barrel under water) then scrub the forcing cone
    8 swop to the small tooth brush and scrub every part of the hammer, cylinder area
    9 using the small tooth brush clean the nipple end of the cylinder paying attention to the nipple recesses
    10 use the small bottle brush to scrub the cylinder bores
    11 using the tooth brush clean the cylinder spindle/ram
    Drain the sink
    I was given a small hand held steam cleaner I use this to blast all parts with steam (the marigolds give some protection)
    12 holding the grip ps the pistol I blast steam down the barrel from the cylinder end then over the out side of the barrel
    13 holding the bottom of the grip blast steam into the cylinder stop hole (just above the triger) after full cocking the pistol blast steam in the area of the hammer and then the hanger spring/bearing (look into the gun from inside the grip)
    14 put pistol on a dry clean cloth
    15 resting the cylinder in the plug hole with the nipple holes up, blast steam down all holes, then turn over and same again
    16 using a cloth that's been folded over a few times puck up the cylinder and put on the cloth with the pistol (yes the cylinder does get that hot!)
    17 blast steam over the cylinder spindle/ram paying attention to the little latch (there is a spring in there which is now full of water) then put on the dry cloth with the rest of the bits
    18 agitate the nipples to clean them then put on a cloth to dry
    I use Napier oil with the vapour release stuff (the oil releases a vapour that attaches to any metal and prevents rusting
    19 using a rod and mop coted in oil, mop the battle from the muzzle end, then pit a few drops of oil on in the cylinder stop (this drips into the trigger spring), the hammer and the hammer spring/bearing.
    20 using a well oiled bit of cloth wipe every bit of the gun
    21 hopefully the cylinder has cooled enough to handle, using the mop oil the bores then the nipple end
    22 using the oiled cloth give the nipples a once over
    23 put nipples ack in the cylinder (just nip them up, no need to swing on the nipple wrench with a scaffold tube for leaverage!)
    24 put a drop of oil on the cylinder spindle and all pivots then put the cylinder back in the pistol and give the retention screw 1/2 a turn to lock the spindle/ram in place
    25 using the oiled rag give the cylinder a good wipe over
    26 replace wood grips
    This takes under 10 mins (it has taken me far longer to type) (one day I will film it as a beginners guide to cleaning a BP pistol)
    Hope this helps some one
    like dad showed me on ruger old army stainless steal bless ol gal , now for sale in riflecraft , harleston suffolk /norfolk

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Rochford
    Posts
    10
    remove cylinder and nipples, remove grips, then hot soapy water soak with use of a tooth brush ,flush with hot water and then dry , oil with 3 in 1 , job done

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    chelmsford
    Posts
    1

    revolver cleaning

    Hi folks, this is my first post - actually the second but my reply to Jock's thread (Lemat & R&S) seems to have gone awol.

    I use Muzzle-Magic to give the bore a clean between details & before slipping the gun, but its' expensive so I use concentrated screen wash (popular with the Yanks) & a small headed toothbrush when I get home. Follow this with a hot water rinse - wipe over then a light spray with Brunox, & a drop of gun oil on some moving parts completes the job. I remove nipples (unless I'm using the same gun again within a week) but rarely strip it down & when that becomes necessary there's not much in the way of gunk in the moving parts.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Battle, East Sussex
    Posts
    2,583

    BP Cleaning

    I only use the clubs BP revolver, that way someone else has to do the dirty stuff

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Huntingdon
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    9,253
    Quote Originally Posted by norseman View Post
    Hi folks, this is my first post - actually the second but my reply to Jock's thread (Lemat & R&S) seems to have gone awol.

    I use Muzzle-Magic to give the bore a clean between details & before slipping the gun, but its' expensive so I use concentrated screen wash (popular with the Yanks) & a small headed toothbrush when I get home. Follow this with a hot water rinse - wipe over then a light spray with Brunox, & a drop of gun oil on some moving parts completes the job. I remove nipples (unless I'm using the same gun again within a week) but rarely strip it down & when that becomes necessary there's not much in the way of gunk in the moving parts.
    Sounds just fine to me, 'slong as you remember to grease the arbor. Me, I run a rod through the bore every now and then with a jag and baby-wipe. It's cheap, and leaves it smelling nice and fresh, too.

    BTW, Welcome to the forum!!!!

    tac

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    chelmsford
    Posts
    694
    baby wipes make life so much easier when you shoot BP firearms

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Stroud
    Posts
    61
    Another vote for hot water, washing-up liquid, and assorted toothbrushes.
    Admittedly, with a stainless ROA and Triple 7, life is easier
    Steve

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