How Often Do You Clean?

[Justin Crossley]

I haven't hunted with a muzzleloader in years. Will be deer hunting with a .45 cal this year. Planning to shoot the Hornady bullets with Triple Se7en powder.

How often do you clean your barrels and what is your process?

 

[BBob]

If I’m just shooting for practice or for testing I’ll swab with windex patches as needed. With patched round ball I don’t need to swab very often. For a full clean when the season is over or if I’m not planning on shooting it for awhile the barrel comes off and it gets swabbed in a bucket of hot water with dawn. I used to oil the bore after but I’m trying out Hornady One Shot as a bore anti corrosion. Yeah that’s actually a thing I just learned here not long ago @ElDiablito

I hunt with a fouled bore. Down here in the desert I’m not hampered with much moisture so I don’t worry about corrosion during the hunt. I want to retest sometime for accuracy with a clean bore coated with the one shot to see how it does.

 

[LCguy]

I clean breechplug, barrel and frame after every session. This includes removing the barrel from the frame. I clean the barrel using the plunger method, basically plunging hot, soapy water through the barrel. Gets it very, very clean. I leave the barrel and breech plug to dry for several hours to overnight. I then wipe everything down with gun oil and reassemble the gun. Muzzle-loaders.com has these pipe cleaner's that have nylon stud embedded and those do a great job cleaning the plug.

With my CVA I would also remove the firing pin and clean that and the spring after every session. My T/C doesn't get nearly as dirty so I won't be doing that until the end of my last hunt.

At the Range, I keep a zip lock bag with patches that are saturated in windex and I run one of those plus two dry patches after each shot. Before shooting, I run two dry patches and then pop 4 primers to foul the barrel.

 

[Wrench]

In my videos where I am shooting the clay pigeons with my hawken, I run a spit patch and a dry patch between shots.

I do the hot water pump and dump when I get home. Water is your friend!

T7 has a habit of forming a crud ring that gets pretty tough in some guns. I ran it in 3 and 2 of them built crud.

I could get about 6-7 shots in my knight on t7 and about the same with swiss in my hawken.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

With 777 and similar bullets I clean every 5 shots.

Process is usually brush, wet patch, brush, wet patch, and a couple dry patches. Nothing between shots.

Sounding like I don't do enough! I usually only shoot it a couple times a year before muzzy elk season. I probably should clean it better after that hunt...

And since I'm on a video posting kick today, always liked this one.

 

[.270]

I’m running BH209 in my muzzleloader, and after about seven shots it starts getting pretty hard to load. Once the fouling builds up, the bullet/sabot just doesn’t want to seat smoothly anymore. If I’m in the field and it gets to that point I pull the breech plug and run a few patches with Butch’s Bore Shine until they come out clean. I don’t think the exact solvent matters much with BH209; that’s just what I’ve always used and it’s worked fine.

After the hunt or a range session, I break the whole muzzleloader down, clean everything, and re‑lube all the metal before it goes back in the safe. I usually only have one muzzleloader hunt a year, so it ends up sitting for a while afterward.

I also make sure to foul the barrel before the hunt. My rifle throws the clean‑bore shot several inches away from a fouled‑bore shot, so I always sight in and hunt with a fouled barrel. Hunting in AZ/NM, with short seasons and dry weather, I’ve never had any issues leaving a fouled barrel for five days or so during the hunt.

 

[tracker12]

I pull the BP and clean the gun after each shooting. I shoot T7 or Pyrodex. On the range I usually just shoot till I am done butI am shooting a White ML using lead conical and wool wads. Never need to swab between shots.

 

[long hunter]

Can’t say too much about the so called modern muzzle loaders but with a traditional black powder rifle at least every Other day or every day If damp out or the rifle has been shot that day I am a traditional long rifle guy using a flint lock use hot soapy water and lots of elbow grease and many many cleaning patches for me that’s part of the challenge doing it the old way as it was intended for.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Thanks, guys. I'm going to shoot today, so hopefully I'll have a good range report.

 

[Wrench]

BALLISTOL is your friend.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Got some rounds on the target. I have very little experience shooting a peep sight so I need a ton of practice.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

View attachment 1080601

View attachment 1080602

Got some rounds on the target. I have very little experience shooting a peep sight so I need a ton of practice.

View attachment 1080603

You thought about putting a 1x on it?

I thought about it too late last year, might actually do it for this season.

 

[KnightExtreme]

Dependent on which Black Powder or Sub I am Using;
When I Was using Triple Seven it was swabbing after every shoot due to the "Crude Ring" but rarely use T7.
Now only use Blackhorn 209 shoot about 15 to 20 shots before I even think about any Swabbing as it is a cleaner Powder. Once I am done (range Session) I get home and clean the entire ML even the Breech Plug's Flash Channel with a corrected size drill, don't need any build up in that and have any mis fires. But most have their rountine of when they cleaning their Muzzleloader.
KE

 

[schur7559]

I use T7 powder and swab between every shot. 1 windex patch followed by 2 to 3 dry patches. It’s sort of a pain but just what I do. Then strip it down and clean everything good once I’m home.

 

[captainmoose]

I don't clean until I see accuracy degrade. That's usually not until 500-1000 rounds down the tube. Unless it's for long term storage, then I like to scrub it down.

 

[Scorpion]

View attachment 1080601

View attachment 1080602

Got some rounds on the target. I have very little experience shooting a peep sight so I need a ton of practice.

View attachment 1080603

Can you move that peep any further to the rear? The closer you can get it to your eye, the more accurate it will be. I’m not familiar with your setup so that might be your only option.

 

[Rich M]

I will remove breach plug and patch the muzzle using windshield wash/alcohol mix every 3 or so shots. After cleaning solution, run a dry patch inside & out and shoot some more.

ML need a lot of attention. When I'm done shooting have been known to use car wax on the bore. Hate the way they rust so fast.

Will bore snake thru rifle/pistol 1-2 times a range trip, lots less than ML.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Can you move that peep any further to the rear? The closer you can get it to your eye, the more accurate it will be. I’m not familiar with your setup so that might be your only option.

I can move it back a few inches. My thought process in mounting it forward like I did, was to match the peep with the sight housing to help keep them in alignment.

I'll try moving it back to see if I shoot better or worse.

 

[sprinklerguy208]

With black powder I'll clean every few shots at the range or after every hunt. With triple7 I feel like it doesn't hold moisture as much, usually I'll load up at the beginning of season and shoot the round/clean once a week