Black powder pistols, how do you clean yours?

[airgunnut]

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

[tacfoley]

Hot water, toothbrush, kitchen wipes and Ballistol to end up.

There. THAT didn't take long now.

tac

[airgunnut]

Hot water, toothbrush, kitchen wipes and Ballistol to end up.

There. THAT didn't take long now.

tac

Show off

[loiner1965]

Hot water, toothbrush, kitchen wipes and Ballistol to end up.

There. THAT didn't take long now.

tac

Exactly the same for my stainless Steel Remington

[tim56]

Remove grips and cylinder. wash gun and cylinder in warm soapy water using a stiff small paintbrush. Dry with hair dryer and lube with maintenance spray. Refit grips and cylinder. Job done. Tim

[airgunnut]

I was always told that maintanance sprays (like WD 40) are for water displacement (the WD in WD 40 stands for water displacement) and have no real lubricating property's.
As said that is what was drilled into me when I was on the spanners. (grease monkey for 10 years servicing buses, the amount of times the management and stores thought the maintainance sprays were the same as spray grease was unreal)
A few weeks ago a chap at my gun club came in with a BP pistol, to his horror the pistol had rusted solid, other BP shooters spent 20 mins knocking out the cylinder ram/spindle, I commented that the pistol had never seen any oil, the owner said "I cleaned it like normal in hot soapy water, rinse in boiling water, leave it on some cloth to dry out as it cools, wipe it down to make sure its dry, then give it a good spray with WD"
It was the discussion about real oil v sprays that convinced him that a cheap gun oil is better than any spray, when I told him about the Napier oil (with vapour release that attaches to any metal surface and prevents rusting) as soon as he finished with his other BP pistol he went to the local gun shop to buy some.

[tim56]

By Maintenance spray i refer not to WD40 but to those containing silicon or such as 4 in 1 spray. Works for me.

[airgunnut]

By Maintenance spray i refer not to WD40 but to those containing silicon or such as 4 in 1 spray. Works for me.

Silicon is not ment for metal to metal lubrication, in fact silicon on metal to metal aids in friction welding, there have been lots of air guns (brake barrels) that have had silicon used as a lubricant and the jaws/barrel have seized solid

[tim56]

Been in machine and building maintenance for 45 years and used it since it came out. Never had a problem. Maybe I'm just lucky but it works for me.
Iv had my Rogers n spencer 15 years its still in perfect working order, used it this morning and it shoots as good as the day i got it. Both my Ruger old
armies also.
Now silicon on a break barrel as a lube, no it would probably gum things up but as a post wash spray i have no concerns about using it.

[lilguy43uk]

Seaclean does an excellent job for stainless parts that will fit in an ultrasonic cleaner, but DO NOT use it on blued parts. It will strip the blue off.

[CLINT3]

I put my cylinder(s) in the dishwasher. Just make sure I soak them in wd/Gt 85 as soon as the cycle is finished to get rid of the salt or they don't 'arf rust quick.

[DesG]

I tend to agree with airgunnut, those surfers do smell a bit don't they!

[airgunnut]

I tend to agree with airgunnut, those surfers do smell a bit don't they!

I blame them for making auto correct program's

[discotwo]

I am new to this but wondered what people's view's were of steam cleaners rather than soap & water. Here are a couple of hand held ones I found, do you think they would be a good idea?

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/24013/Bissell-Steam-Shot-Steam-Cleaner-2635?src=gfeed&s_kwcid=AL!49!3!{creative!e!{placem ent!o!{adwords_producttargetid!&ef_id=VzyvGAAABfX5 iZaY:20161024132247:s

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/pifc...4-005056946dac

[tacfoley]

I am new to this but wondered what people's view's were of steam cleaners rather than soap & water. Here are a couple of hand held ones I found, do you think they would be a good idea?

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/24013/Bissell-Steam-Shot-Steam-Cleaner-2635?src=gfeed&s_kwcid=AL!49!3!{creative!e!{placem ent!o!{adwords_producttargetid!&ef_id=VzyvGAAABfX5 iZaY:20161024132247:s

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/pifc...4-005056946dac

nope. Nothing beats a good old toothbrush for getting into the nooks and crannies, plus, the nipples need removing, wire brushing, lightly greasing and replacing. I don't think that a steam cleaner can do that, or go up the barrel or into the chambers.

tac