I've been here for years, but still not sure about BP in a l

[hightime]

OK, I shoot BP cartridge, Ped. Sharps 45-120 to be exact. It's an easy clean up, mostly because you can push patches through from the breach to muzzle. Many here promote BP in leverguns, at least in cartridges mean for BP. I've tried it a few times and it's fun, but I'm still concerned about accumulating corrosive grime taking it's toll on my beauties. For those that have been using BP for many years, do you see any issues? Do you have to go deep into cleaning after each shoot?
I've always thought that rifles from the BP era that are still around, haven't been shot much.

I'm hoping that I can shoot BP a lot and still have a nice rifle for the grandkids someday.

Owen

[FatJackDurham]

not an expert, but I shot it a bit at my gong club, and a lot of guys there did as well. Here is what my regimen was, and I didn't see any internal corrosion or other issues. For a Rossi '92.

1) Gun in storage is oiled with Hoppes.
2) Before a shoot, I would degrease the bore with Gun Scrubber
3) I would wipe the inside of the breache with acetone on a patch, to get grease off the extractor and breach face and rails.
4) I would grease the bore with Bore Butter, and wipe off excess. Same with the breach face.
5) I would wail away with it at the range. I used only .357 Magnum cases, so that the case filled the whole chamber. I found with 38 Spl. cases, soot would build up in the chamber.
6) After shooting, I would clean the bore with water soaked patches. It usually took only between 5-10 patches once through with a jag.
7) I wiped out the breech and bolt face with a damp, not dripping patch.
I would run dry patches through the bore and wipe up then action and bolt to dry it.
9) Last step, oil the bore with Hoppes, spray a little rem-oil or hoppes into the action and wipe it around with a patch.

Thats it. Cleanup after BP seems easier to me than smokeless, because there is very little carbon soot that has to be desolved or brushed out. Usually 5 water wet patches through the bore and all the soot and lead is out.

Things to remember - If you use a petroleum lube or oil, you should degrease the areas that are likely to see BP soot such as the bore, chamber and bolt face. Otherwise, the soot and oils turn to sludge.

Another thing, despite the claims, I don't think Bore Butter or the like are suitible for long term oiling or storage. Thats why I degrease with gun scrubber before a shoot and then oil again after.

If you shoot regularly with this gun, that is pretty much all you have to do. If you only shoot once and then store the gun for a year, definitely do a break down clean.

Another note, if you use real Black Powder - After cleaning the bore out the first time, plan to clean it again in a few days. I was warned that not only with the BP be corrosive, the water used to clean it will turn the sulfer residue to sulfuric acid, and should be cleaned again before petroleum is applied for storage. I don't know if this is true, I only have used 777. But, even with all that shooting, my Rossi bore is clean as a whistle.

That's basically all the tips I have learned. To summarize- Dont use petroleum oils during BP shooting, Bore Butter works great for short term lube and is safe to use with BP, but probably not great for long term storage, clean with water, or a light water and Windex mix, and if you use real BP, clean a second time after a few days before long term storage.

[nemhed]

I've shot muzzleloaders for years, but I personally don't understand peoples love affair with the "holy black" as some call it, beyond perhaps the cloud of smoke, the smell, the romance, and the nostalgia. I personally wouldn't shoot black powder through any cartridge gun that I actually liked, but that's just me. I believe smokeless powder was invented for a reason and there are so many perfectly good powder choices out there that I have no inclination to play with "the black". Again, that's just me, I don't have to understand other people's choices. I've also been known to change my mind. Maybe others will enlighten me.

[Don McDowell]

If you use a decent cleaning technique and properly treat the bore after cleaning, there's no reason why a firearm that shoots blackpowder exclusively won't last just as long as one that is shot with smokeless.
The thing that made the old dead guys guns get corroded and pitted was mainly due to the priming compounds of the day. We don't have that problem nowdays.

[M. M. Wright]

For many years I've shot black powder in SASS competition. I use real Colt revolvers and a Uberti 73 all in 44-40. In case you don't know, we shoot the stuffins out of them. I started using Ballistol about 20 years ago and think it's the Bee's Knees. After a match I clean the rifle with a damp patch, usually 2 then one soaked with Ballistol. It's done. the pistols get their cylinders removed and the barrels and chambers scrubbed with hot water then some Ballistol. I use compressed air to dry them which makes them ready for storage. Maybe twice a year they get a full disassembly. Just remember that the cartridge is 44-40 which is thin and tapered which seals the chamber much better than straight walled cartridges so the internals stay cleaner.
On a day with 6 stages the Colts get a spritz of Ballistol after the 4th stage and I wipe the rifle's bore after every stage, (10 rounds usually).
Oh yeah, I shoot Goex ffg. I have several of the substitutes but seldom use them.
Fire and Smoke!!

[Nath]

Candlewax or beeswax and olive oil make a good grease and is all I use on actions. Olive oil neat dribbled everywhere holds the salts in suspension...proper black powder bullet lube or home made will coat the bore some and protect it.....like 22 barrels get coated, they don't rot with modern priming do they!
My shotgun got the wet patches untill the thick crud was out. A dry'n and then olive oil inside and out.....no rust.

BP is a fabulous fuel...long may it last.

N.

[Griff]

I've shot in cowboy action matches since 1985, and started shooting in thhe old BP category in 1986. I love cap n' ball. In 1989 they changed BP to Frontier Cartridge due to numbers of entrants in BP, it'd fallen to less than 10 out of some 400 at EOT.

I use much the same cleaning method on my cartridge guns as I do for my frontstuffers. Strictly hot water. For my 1873 Uberti rifle, I open the action, then push the carrier down, leaving the carrier mortise clear behind the breech. I use a plastic bag w/several pages of newspaper in the bottom as a catch, placing it under the mortise. Buttstock on the floor and barrel over my knee, lever up. With a bucket of hot water (outta the kitchen tap), I use a soaked patch on a bronze brush and push the fouling down the barrel from the muzzle. My rods all hhave a muzzle protector, even the ppistol rods. As the brush clears the chamber, I pull the patch off. Pull the rod out, hold a rag over the muzzle to contain the spray as the brush clears the muzzle. Usually twice like that, then I switch to a jag and water soaked patches. Then a dry patch until they come out dry, then one oil-soaked patch to protect the metal and I'm done with the bore. My '73 is a .45 Colt, so I get a fair amount of fouling on the carrier, but between a bronze brush and carb cleaner it comes out. Yea, my carrier is stained black, so... it ain't a safe queen.

The pistols are done much the same, except in the kitchen sink, (stainless, so as long as I clean up right-away, the wife is ok).

About every 6 months I totally disassemble my guns and clean everything down to the last screw, re-lube and reassemble.

In that time, I've broken one Colt hand spring (then changed ALL 6 of my Colt & clone SAs and the 4 Colt 1851s over to a Ruger plunger & coil spring), & 1 extractor on the 1873... none of which I'd attribute to the use of BP.

I think the big hoopla over BP cleanup is much ado over nada. But... far be it from to me to encourage more competition!

[hightime]

On the lever guns, Do you hold them upside down then to keep the water from dropping into the carrier?

[Hobie]

I have a revolver that was shot exclusively with BP for years and you can't tell that it has been shot enough to change the nipples twice.

[Old Ironsights]

I experimented with BP in my .357 '92. I cleaned it exactly the way Griff mentions - except that I always clean ANY cartridge gun from Breech to Crown. Follow the Bullet and keep the fouling (BP or Smokeless) out of the action. Then I clean the Action and do a final clean patch down the bore.

My next great BP experiment will be to see if I can run my HK91 on it for a few magazines...

[Don McDowell]

This Olde Eynsford powder from Goex, might just run that selfshucker for several magazines. The stuff is amazingly clean burning, and generates a good bit of velocity.

[44-40 Willy]

I've shot some FFFg and Pyrodex P loads in my 44-40 Marlin 1894 Cowboy just to see how they did. When I went to clean up, I pulled the bolt (easy enough on a Marlin), did the moose milk thing from the breech end, reassembled it, fired a few smokeless rounds in it to clear out anything that might have been left behind by the moose milk, then cleaned the barrel again like I normally do. No issues at all and that was about a dozen years ago. Bore still looks new.

[FatJackDurham]

On the lever guns, Do you hold them upside down then to keep the water from dropping into the carrier?

Yes, I have a cleaning cradle I take to the range with me. After shooting, I swab out at the range.

[barbarossa]

The key to shooting a gun with black powder is, to not just put it in the rack after cleaning and oiling and leave it there until it is shot again but to give it a good visual inspection every few days, that way you aren t caught with any surprises.Most wear I ve seen on BP guns was do lazy owners and they soon got out of the sport saying too much work and trouble to shoot BP.As far as I m concerned the clean up ending with you just as dirty as the gun is part of the fun.

[Griff]

On the lever guns, Do you hold them upside down then to keep the water from dropping into the carrier?

Yes, but, more importantly, to keep it out of the magazine.

The key to shooting a gun with black powder is, to not just put it in the rack after cleaning and oiling and leave it there until it is shot again but to give it a good visual inspection every few days, that way you aren t caught with any surprises.Most wear I ve seen on BP guns was do lazy owners and they soon got out of the sport saying too much work and trouble to shoot BP. As far as I m concerned the clean up ending with you just as dirty as the gun is part of the fun.

I used to worry about this, but even living on the coast in CA and the humidity of TX, that HOT water seems to warm the metal, making drying easier and the lilght coating of a preservative type oil has kept my guns rust free for years. The A/C in summer & 'lectric heat in winter doesn't allow moisture to accumulate.