RE: New to muzzleloading - need cleaning advise.
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.