Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
People have been using soap and water since black powder guns were invented and some of those old rifles can still be used. They used water to clean cannon barrels as well and some of them are still being shot. If it was good enough for them, it is good enough for me. No copper of plastic has ever seen the inside of my flintlock barrel.
And they didn't always have soap and water available. Seems as though I read somewhere at some point in time, that the Mountain Men were prone to urinating down the barrels of their rifles as a crude form (if you will) of flushing them. Especially in the dead of winter when streams, rivers, and lakes were locked up with ice and procuring water by any means other than melting snow was difficult.
BPS