I do not water clean my muzzleloader inlines so I guess the answer is every time. On my inline rifles, I use the alcohol/washer fluid combination and swab out all the fowling I can get at. After that I like to take a brass bore brush and wrap a patch around it, soak it in Butch's Bore Shine and work up a real lather (it will foam up when you use it) and really scrub the bore. After that I put back on the cleaning jag and run a couple patches of Butch's Bore Shine through the barrel, again working up a lather if possible. Usually by now the barrel is really clean. Then if you run some dry patches through the barrel, and look through it, that barrel will really sparkle. After I'm sure all the fowling is off, I run a Birchwood Casey Sheath patch through the bore and oil it good. After I clean and reassemble all the parts, I wipe the rifle down with oil and it is down.

On my sidelocks I give them a water bath. After that I runa Butch's Bore Shine patch or two down the bore. Rusty Duck Black Off is another good one. Then I like to run the bore brush down them with a patch wrapped around it. After that I run some alcohol patches and then dry patch it until the bore is dry. Then I oil the bore down with Birchwood Casey Sheath, put a cleaned nipple back on it, and wipe the rifle down good.