RE: Looking for an easier way to clean barrel..
The water method is a good way to clean your rifle, but as nchawkeye mentioned, you can plug the nipple with a tooth pick and simply swab the barrel clean. It might take some time, but stick with it. The patches will come oout clean.
Many of the old style rifles do not have a barrel that comes out of the stock without some major pin removal. They make a flush kit that you can put in place of the nipple or in the case of a flinter in the vent hole, and then the other end into a pail of water and basically water bath the rifle without removal from the stock.