AAARGH! Cleaning &@$&@?!!! muzzleloaders!

[Macintosh]

Checked zero on my wife’s and my muzzle loader this weekend. Everything was right where it should be, until I spent the last hour cleaning both of our muzzleloaders. Shooting an in-line using triple-seven pellets. Nothing is wrong except cleaning them. Is there some secret to magically clean this stuff without getting soaking wet, spilling nasty gunk all over my work table and wasting an hour of my life scrubbing out something that seems like it should’ve been clean 45 minutes ago?
Also if anyone has suggestions for a much cleaner propellant, it has to be rock solid reliable ignition in a driving mixture of rain and snow, Because nothing says “I dont respect myself” more than hunting in that all day and then coming home to clean a muzzleloader.
Snide remarks, memes or helpful comments appreciated. I take things very literally, so if you’re disparaging me please let me know so I don’t take it as a helpful comment.

 

[MuleyFever]

I have never had any issues with BH209.

 

[Adam Gibbs]

BH 209 is clean. But for me it had to be sighted in and hunted on a dirty bore. So I'd shoot 3 shots, hunt for 2 weeks. Then clean, shoot 3 more shots then hunt for 2 weeks (long gun seasons in Michigan).

T7 cleans up fairly easy so long as you keep it clean between shots. I'd run 2 wet patches and 2 dry patches between every shot to keep the crud ring down. That way my zeroing and practice is closer to how it will be when I'm hunting, which is on a completely clean bore. When I got home I'd use Windex to clean it all up.

 

[Macintosh]

Who is bh209 and why would I have a problem with her?

I literally shot my ml twice, and it took me at least 30 patches, about half wet, to get clean. Are you having an easier time than this, or is that “fairly easy”?

 

[Ucsdryder]

Only rich guys can shoot 209. Over 100 dollars a pound now!!!


777 is easy. Get a bucket of hot water and put some dish soap in it. Use a bore swab, 20ga, put the end of the barrel in the water and swab back and forth 5 times. Set on bench, let dry while you have a beer. Done. Easy peasy.

 

[2muchhp]

As stated above but bh209 is expensive and hard to find right now
Cleaning is just part of the game,

 

[Ucsdryder]

Who is bh209 and why would I have a problem with her?

I literally shot my ml twice, and it took me at least 30 patches, about half wet, to get clean. Are you having an easier time than this, or is that “fairly easy”?

Patches and ML don’t go together.

 

[2muchhp]

Most of the time I use windex window cleaner on mine. After two shots my accuracy takes a dump so clean after two.
Not near the issue your having, only takes a couple minutes.

 

[Ope]

I use the hot water and soap method like stated above. Quick and easy.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Most of the time I use windex window cleaner on mine. After two shots my accuracy takes a dump so clean after two.
Not near the issue your having, only takes a couple minutes.

Ammonia free windex works awesome too. I like the foaming stuff. Spray in both ends and push a 20ga swab through. Cleans up quick.

 

[realunlucky]

Also use windex on a patch and let the plug have a soak

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[Choupique]

Used to always use a bucket of hot water, pull the nipple off the flash hole, stick the breech in the bucket and plunge the barrel with a patch up and down. It'll suck the hot soapy water up through the flash hole and back out. Do that a few times, oily patch, dry patch, dry patch and pop a cap to blow any remaining shit out of the flash hole, and put it up.

Don't know if it's right or wrong, but it's easy and keeps you dry.

 

[General RE LEE]

I calculated the cost to shoot BH209. It’s $1 per shot of 100 grains by volume.

$1 everytime you shoot BH209. Honestly 777 isn’t all that bad.

 

[SwiftShot]

Remove the rear plug. Place tip of barrel in 5 gallon bucket with soap and water. With a jag or cotton swap of the correct caliber run it down the barrel from the rear. Work it back and forth like a plunger. After a few run some regular cleaning jags through with solvent. Use an air hose to blow it out good then a quick swipe with bore butter for sticking in the safe.

 

[keystone112]

T17 foaming bore cleaner for me.

Someone mentioned fouling with BH209 and hunting for two weeks. That didn’t work out for me. My barrel was so rusty after one week that I couldn’t save it. Your results may vary.

 

[Macintosh]

Hmmmm. I used to use a swab and the swab itself got so fouled, uncleanable, that I scrapped that. That might have been with pyrodex though.
5-gal bucket method:
Does water have to be hot?
20ga or 50 cal swab? I see both mentioned.
Do I need a rubber ducky or a toy battleship for ML bathtime?


Re blackhorn or buckhorn or whatever its called. Seems like between powder and primers thats a “maybe next season” thing. $1 a shot is still roughly half what centerfire costs to shoot these days, I can easily stomach the cost if its way easier to clean and shoot.
How do you guys deal with changing powder each day? Or do you? I usually leave my muzzle loader unprimed out in the garage or outside so it doesn’t get condensation in the barrel from bringing it in, or pull the plug and replace pellets from the breech end. What’s standard practice with the BH209?
I have a tc triumph with a pretty long breech plug—seems they call this out pretty aggressively as one of the factors leading to poor ignition. Anyone have one of these and use bh successfully?
Would I need all new speed loaders, powder measure, etc? I have those black plastic speed loaders where the saboted bullet seals one end and the other end has a pop-top that holds a 209primer.

 

[Tod osier]

Hmmmm. I used to use a swab and the swab itself got so fouled, uncleanable, that I scrapped that. That might have been with pyrodex though.
5-gal bucket method:
Does water have to be hot?
20ga or 50 cal swab? I see both mentioned.
Do I need a rubber ducky or a toy battleship for ML bathtime?


Re blackhorn or buckhorn or whatever its called. Seems like between powder and primers thats a “maybe next season” thing. $1 a shot is still roughly half what centerfire costs to shoot these days, I can easily stomach the cost if its way easier to clean and shoot.
How do you guys deal with changing powder each day? Or do you? I usually leave my muzzle loader unprimed out in the garage or outside so it doesn’t get condensation in the barrel from bringing it in, or pull the plug and replace pellets from the breech end. What’s standard practice with the BH209?
I have a tc triumph with a pretty long breech plug—seems they call this out pretty aggressively as one of the factors leading to poor ignition. Anyone have one of these and use bh successfully?
Would I need all new speed loaders, powder measure, etc? I have those black plastic speed loaders where the saboted bullet seals one end and the other end has a pop-top that holds a 209primer.

It is better if the water is hot, since the parts dry faster. The actual cleaning is just a couple minutes. I wash with some soapy water in the sink by suctioning the water up (use a patch or swab, either way), rinse with clean water in the sink. Patch it to dry paying attention to threads. Air dry. Oil. I do oil the bore and patch as much of it out as I can before loading.

 

[MallardSX2]

Lot of experiences with muzzleloaders and cleaning them.

Run wet patch with solvent.
Copper brush.
Scalding hot dawn dish soap water and a patch.
Copper brush .
Scalding hot dawn dish soap water and a patch.
Run cleaning patches to check cleanliness.
Run dry patch.
Let dry.
Run dry patch.
Run a lightly oiled patch.
In that order.

Takes more time to heat up the water than it does to clean the gun..........

 

[EdP]

It takes me about 20 min to clean my traditional flintlock rifle. I shoot Goex 3F black powder, Everything in the powder residue is soluble in water. Use warm water with a little soap and alcohol. Cleaning the bore consists of plugging the vent with a toothpick then putting some solvent down the bore. Scrub the breechface with a breechface brush, add more water and slosh it up and down the barrel with my thumb on the muzzle, them dump. Repeat, run a few patches and done. Follow with a greased patch and put the gun up.

The alcohol helps dry the bore, as does using warm/hot water.

I don't know about the BP substitutes but BP has graphite added to help it flow better. Even after everything corrosive has been removed the graphite will continue to come out of the metal pores and show dirty on a wet patch. You can spend a lot of time trying to get all the graphite out to no benefit.

 

[Jimbee]

Are folks cleaning Blackhorn with soap and hot water? That's what I used to do before BH. I've switched to smokeless powder, I hate cleaning and BH is too expensive.