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