New to muzzleloading - need cleaning advise.

[Dixon]

Hi all. I recently got a CVA Optima Elite in .50 cal and had a blast shooting it. Afterwards, I took it home and cleaned it and put it up until the next time I shoot it.

However, talking with some friends that have muzzleloaders, it appears that I may have missed out on some key things when it comes to cleaning them. So, going at it with an open mind, would you please give me some insight on your cleaning practices?

I want to make sure that I'm doing this right so that it lasts me a long time instead of me missing something important and ruining my ML.

Thanks in advance.

[oldrookie]

I am relatively new to blackpowder as well. I also have an optima. After trying several methods of cleaning, I have narrowed it to the following:

pull the breech plug and soak it in cva solvent. while that is soaking, I now use butches bore shine for blackpowder. saturate 3 to 4 patches run them down the barrel several times eachthen dry patch it several times. Once its good and dry, I use couple of patches of birchwood casey lubricant and the barrel is done. Cleanup breech plug from soaker and it done. I also use the birchwood casey around the action and hammer. Spray it down in there and you will be amazed what junk comes out of that area. Wipe the excess and your good to go. By the way, I wipe the exterior down with a hoppes silicone rag before storing.

Not sure if your optima is nickel, if so, wipe whatever cleaning solvent off immediately or it might stain the finish.

[sjsfire]

It's always good to look in your manual to find the proper way to clean your ML. If you didn't get a manual you might contact CVA. I might go over board but here's what I do. When I'm done shooting for the day I run a couple of patches with 50/50 mix of alcohol/windshield washer fluid down the bore. Then I run a patch with CVA Barrel Blaster Gel down. A couple of dry patches. Then I pull my breech plug and put in a small jar with alcohol until I get home. I'll then take a brush and run it down acouple of times and then some more patches of the 50/50 mix. A couple of dry patches till they look clean. Then one more patch with some Rem Oil with teflon. This really only takes a few minutes. Then when I get home I take the fore arm off remove the barrel and clean the heck out of everything, the face around the firing pin, the forearm, everything. You'd be surprised how much residue gets inside the forearm. I usually run a couple more patches down the bore with the 50/50 mix then a couple dry ones then one more with the Rem Oil. I clean all the anti sieze off the breech plug, make sure the flash hole is clean, recoat the breach plug and reinstall it. Wipe the whole gun down with rag and Rem Oil. It's very important to clean anduse anti sieze on that breech plug. It may sound time consuming but your ML will last you a long time if you take care of it.

[Dixon]

Yeah, that sounds about what I'm doing. However, from what my friends are telling me, they all use the hot water and cleaning solution as part of their cleaning regiment.

[slowpokebr549]

I am a traditional guy, hot soapy water is hard to beat. I never understood why some people think that it inconvenient to do so. My guns are all side hammers. I just pull the barrel and swab it out in the sink. rinse and towel dry the outside and put a dry patch down the barrel. I usually cook em in the oven for awhile to make sure the bore is dry. Swab it out hot with some patch lube and viola, ready for action or storage. The first generations of in lines were sort of a pain to clean this way, but lots of them nowadays wouldnt be hard to hot water clean. I have yet to try any commercial solvent that works as well and hot water and dish soap is cheap.

[cayugad]

Hot soapy water is still one of the best cleaners there is for black powder fowling. It removes it, and is cheap to use. It is more commonly used with traditional rifles although I use it as a basic cleaner with my inlines as well. The way described, with the cleaning patches works just as well.

The main thing with what ever method you use, get ALL fowling out of the barrel. From time to time, a bore brush with solvent to remove copper, lead, & plastic traces is a good idea. After you dry patch the barrel and the patches come up clean, coat that barrel with a very high quality gun oil. Now some people use bore butter and that's fine, their rifles. I know a fellow that uses 10W-30 motor oil. He claims it does the same thing. Again, his rifle. I use Birchwood Casey Sheath a.k.a. Barricade, or Rem Oil with Teflon, among some. The main thing is get that metal coated. Also be sure to wipe the outsides off good.

[wabi]

I use cold water for the first stage of cleaning. A few very wet patches through the bore until they look clean. Then a bristle bore brush through the bore a few times. Then patches with a commercial cleanr (I like Butch's bore shine) following the directions on the cleaner chosen.
Then I WD-40 the barrel to get rid of any lingering moisture, soak up the WD-40 with dry patches, then lube with RemOil.

[frontier gander]

i use hot soapy water with my traditional rifles. However, with my stainless steel winchester, i simply use windex. Make sure you clean your breech plug threads that are Inside the barrel. If you go the hot water way, be sure you dry the barrel really good and then lube it. I used to use rem oil when i would lube my barrel after cleaning.

[HEAD0001]

What do you guy's use to clean the threads inside the breach when you takre the plug out?? Just curious-I am looking for a new idea. I use one of the round chamber brushes, I am just wondering if there is a better way. Tom.

[cayugad]

I use a bore brush and it seems to work just fine. Of course I wash my inlines in the sink with hotwater and soap. I like to put liquid soap into the bore and then work that to a nice lather with the bore brush. After that I rinse the barrel out and the threads are nice and clean.