Cleaning a Flintlock, any recommendations?

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warrenlikesboats

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Ive sort of searched/browsed through this forum for proper Flintlock cleaning threads and haven't found much....

So whats everybody's take on cleaning their flintlocks ?


I personally have been following the "pumping hot soapy water through the bore" method recommended by the rifles user manual. Ive noticed after I drain and blow the water out of the bore with a air compressor, a very fine layer of flash rust develops in the bore rather quickly... but disappears with gun oil.

Does anybody here add anything to the water to reduce the chance of flash rust?

What other cleaning methods do people here use?

thanks for any input.
 
This is how I do it based on trial and error, and I still have some improvement to do, YouTube is your friend,
First I remove the lock (never pry the lock of, gently tap the loosened lock screws on the other side to get it loose) then I use a steam cleaner I got from Amazon with a narrow nozzle down the vent hole with any liner removed/nipple removed. After this I use some brushes and patches to ensure everything is clean and dry, I use special pipe cleaning stick to brush the vent. The lock gets steam cleaned as required and oiled, depending on the finish I use beeswax on bare barrel exterior or any type of gun oil on blued barrels. I rarely remove the barrel from the stock, only to inspect the underside for rust. I still bedate what is best to put down the barrel to prevent rusting, the only important thing is to prevent oil/grease accumulating in the vent. I like to have tarnished brass on my rifles so apart from cleaning residue I don't really do anything to keep it shinny. I still get some flash rust, I guess I just learned to live with it.

And always use anti seize on nipples and liners
 
warrenlikesboats said:
Ive sort of searched/browsed through this forum for proper Flintlock cleaning threads and haven't found much....

So whats everybody's take on cleaning their flintlocks ?


I personally have been following the "pumping hot soapy water through the bore" method recommended by the rifles user manual. Ive noticed after I drain and blow the water out of the bore with a air compressor, a very fine layer of flash rust develops in the bore rather quickly... but disappears with gun oil.

Does anybody here add anything to the water to reduce the chance of flash rust?

What other cleaning methods do people here use?

thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

Yes, oil. So much as a matter of fact that it has completely displaced all water. :) I'll use solvents and elbow grease then wipe, swab, patch dry...then oil. I'll never use hot water to clean anything but my body and dishes.
 
I've come to only use water as warm as it comes from the tap, not even letting it heat all the way up. Maybe not absolutely neccessary but I do feel better about warm as opposed to cold water.

Quick swab with dry patches to get as much water as possible out then WD-40 to displace rest and swab dry again.

Have used a few different things in the past to prevent rust in the bore but the last couple times have used gun oil. Have to swab it out well, including with alcohol before next use.

I got a small amount of Hoppes BP solvent I use to wipe off the lock.
 
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Just to illustrate the WIDE variety of ways this can be done, I only use boiling water mixed with dish detergent. Been doing that now for over twenty years, have not experienced flash rust yet. But, maybe it is because of local climate conditions, the hardness/composition of the water, who knows. I dry with cloths (usually cut from the kids old clothes) until she's dry then I just oil it with gunoil.

Point is to try a few things.
 
Water from the tap. Warm and with a dash of liquid laundry or dish detergent just to help cut the crud. I put about a gallon into the bottom of a 5 gal bucket and use a cup to lift it and pour into the muzzle. Then a cleaning rod with a nylon brush to scrub. rinse and scrub a couple or three times then use a smaller brush to clean out the reduced size powder chamber at the end on those with such a chamber. Then a rinse with warm fresh water and some immediate dry patches using a drum style jag. From there switch to oiled patches with Ballistol as a protectant. Including a smaller wad like patch with oil into the powder chamber. One dry swab into the powder chamber and a dry patch on a drum style jag and I leave the rest of the Ballistol to protect the bore.

Doing it all this way I don't give the bore or anything else time to flash rust. I also found that using exceptionally hot water seemed to promote the flash rust. Since then I just make it sort of warm enough to be comfy for me and to aid the dash of detergent to mix and spread.

The detergent isn't really needed to clean the fouling. It's there to cut through any oil that might still be on the metal which is holding dirt and fouling in it.

The lock is removed and dunked into the warm soapy water and given a good brushing with an old toothbrush. It's rinsed in hot water and dabbed dry then I hit it with a hair dryer. When fully dry I dribble a few drops of Ballistol onto a different dry toothbrush and scrub the lock down with the oiled brush. Wipe off the excess with a rag.

This oily toothbrush is also used to oil the spots on the barrel such as around the sights and other clips or gizmos that the barrel might be wearing.

The stock gets a wipe in the fouled areas with a damp cloth and then I put the gun back together.

A pipe cleaner is used to twirl out the touch hole.
 
plinker 777 said:
Hoppes9, CLP, Ed's red, diesel fuel, WD40, kinda everything/anything but soap and water.
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Did you miss the part where he's asking about cleaning a flintlock? Like black powder cleaning? Most of the things you are suggesting turn black powder fouling into a nasty mess that is then that much harder to clean away. Water is THE solvent of choice.
 
I have seen all sorts of crack pot concoctions but I'm in the hot water and oil after club. As long as you clean it within 24 hours I don't think it matters how you do it.
 
I also wonder if part of the issue is the compressed air. There's not a lot of room for the air to move and blast the water away. What goes in has to have a place to get out or it just stays there.

The difference between what you're doing and what the rest of us seem to mostly be doing is that we patch the bore dry instead of blowing it out. Perhaps give that a try.
 
I give the bore a couple of quick wipes while still at the range using a solution of water and Ballistol followed with a couple of dry patches. When I get home, I use equal parts of Murphy Oil Soap, Hydrogen Peroxide and Rubbing Alcohol (95%). Plug the nipple and fill the barrel with the solution and let sit for 3-5 minutes. Wet a patch with the solution and swab the bore, pushing the solution out with the patch & rod. Clean the nipple/snail area. Dry the bore with a couple of patches then I run a patch saturated with pure Ballistol down the barrel. Wipe down the outside of the barrel & stock. Quick & easy.
 
I use plain hot water, then oil them up with Virgin Olive oil. I never use petroleum based oil products. Just use what they did back in the old days
1. hot water
2. plant or animal based oil

No need to waste money on whizzy fangled cleaners :)
 
BCRider said:
Did you miss the part where he's asking about cleaning a flintlock? Like black powder cleaning? Most of the things you are suggesting turn black powder fouling into a nasty mess that is then that much harder to clean away. Water is MY solvent of choice.
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I didn't miss a thing he said. And I fixed your statement in my quotation. (Just because you choose that method, doesn't mean it's the best.)
 
Mean Steak said:
I use plain hot water, then oil them up with Virgin Olive oil. I never use petroleum based oil products. Just use what they did back in the old days
1. hot water
2. plant or animal based oil

No need to waste money on whizzy fangled cleaners :)
Click to expand...


Only problem I've found with Olive Oil (which I LOVE mixed plain 50/50 with water as a BP patch lube; and when I'm shooting BP cartridges straight olive oil is all I use to lube em that day) is that I have had stuff rust if left for months oiled only with olive oil. Might not be an issue if you have low humidity. The thin film that an oiled patch leaves in the bore, doesn't seem to matter.

A bit OT but I use it straight 50/50 with beeswax for BP cartridge bullet lube. Love it. EMWV ("everyone's mileage will vary") :)
 
plinker 777 said:
I didn't miss a thing he said. And I fixed your statement in my quotation. (Just because you choose that method, doesn't mean it's the best.)
Click to expand...

Obviously from the other replies it's not only MY choice. In fact it appears that you are a community of one in this regard.

The one time I tried using Ballistol only thinking that I could reduce the work I found that it took far more of this supposedly BP compatible CLP to clean the bore than it would if I just washed it out with water and then dried and oiled it. And some of the products you mention will either not remove black powder or might even gum things up instead of cleaning.
 
BCRider said:
Obviously from the other replies it's not only MY choice. In fact it appears that you are a community of one in this regard.

The one time I tried using Ballistol only thinking that I could reduce the work I found that it took far more of this supposedly BP compatible CLP to clean the bore than it would if I just washed it out with water and then dried and oiled it. And some of the products you mention will either not remove black powder or might even gum things up instead of cleaning.
Click to expand...

Uh huh. you're not the boss of me...KBhero
 
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