You'd be surprised. I clean my sidelock " old one" in 5-8 minutes. Just take the barrel out of the stock "2 wedge pins" put the nipple end in the hot soapy water, get my ramrod with the cotton swab and pump the water through the barrel. Follow up with dry swabs, clean/dry the outside and you're done. Just remember that no muzzleloader is easy. Your best bet is to buy a cheap muzzleloader and build your skills off that until you're ready and want to update to a more appealing model. Cleaning your muzzleloader IMO is the best way to learn about it and take notice of how everything works.