Sharp Shooter

On Saturday I bought a new cleaning rod because my T/C alluminum pack rod broke last time I used it and the tip keeps coming off of my rod on my gun so I had no rod to clean with!!(I need to glue those). The rod I got came with some 50cal brushes but I gave those to a friend who has a 50cal. The rod is really thick and made out of solid brass. It breaks down into 3 pieces. The rod worked really well and should hold up really good. It also came with a bore guide thing that sits on the muzzle and helps keep the ramrod strait.

To the cleaning part.... I went thru several buckets of HOT soapy water because they kept getting really dirty. I ran several patches thru it pumping that really hot water thru the bore. I have a 54cal and decidedto get out a 20ga bronze brush. It was tight but it scrubbed every square inch of that barrel. I used that several times after every so many patches. I think it really helped. I think I am going to start using 58cal brushes in my barrel instead of 54cal or 20ga. I might use a 20ga every once in a while when I want a good scrub. I suggest trying the next caliber up brush in you muzzleloaders. After several buckets of nasty water I finally got to where the water stayed clean. I think I really scrubbed all of that junk out of my barrel so it should shoot better now. I still want to get a GM 58cal barrel for elk hunting so I can have that extra power!

jaybe

SHARPSHOOTER: What was that junk that came outta the barrel? Certainly it wasn't rust, was it?
Do barrels just accumulate burnt powder or lead or (?) over the years?
This is pretty interesting to me.

eldeguello

Not if you clean them correctly each time after shooting!

Sharp Shooter

I did get some rust out but it was not all rust. Alot of it was bore butter that got built up all of the years my grandpa used it. I do not know what all of the crud was but those were some of things it was. It is amazing what can build up in your bore. That it is important to clean it really good. The oversized brush helped a lot!!!

cayugad

Was the crud a brownish almost ear wax looking stuff? If it was, it's old bore butter. And yes, I would bet that is an accumulation of years of use. That's why the bore butter users I've noticed keep insisting to scrub that barrel back to bare metal before they reapply the bore butter again.

You might be very pleased the next time you take it out shooting with the accuracy. I had the same thing happen to me many years ago. And after that I stopped using bore butter. I've also often times used the next bigger brush size in bores. Especially when they get worn down a little from the other bores. Then they fit and work real nice..

Sounds like a real nice range rod you got there.

Sharp Shooter

The color was just like what you described cayugad. Must be bore butter. My bore butter days are over! (Few weeks). I hope I get good accuracy.

sproulman

i also use a .54 cal bore brush in my .50cal.you almost cant tell difference.as for crud, for 35 years ,i very seldom ever used a bore brush in my hawkins .50cal.i always cleaned gun with warm water/soap after shooting it. i think thats the reason i neve, to my knowledge had any build up.i still use bore butter with rb and on my patchs.makes seating ball a lot easier.i dont use it for storage even tho i never had rust all those 35 years.this is truth from a hunter that is out in all kinds of weather.

sproulman

sharp, trust me , bore butter is fine for patch lube and lubing bore for rb /conical. they only problem i had with it is in winter down below freezing.i use hoppes blackpowder patch lube now in WINTER.just dont store gun with it but i did for 35 years and no problems. i use sheath now.if you clean gun after you come home, no way that bore butter is going to build up.its only if you dont clean gun and that stuff dries and builds up ,then apply more on top.

sam52

Be careful about using a over sized bore brush.I did the same once and I spent about two hours trying to get it back out.
It was a new brush,most likley a cheap one now that I look back on it, but I pushed it all the way down and on the return stroke it would not budge so I gave it a twist and it snapped.
I spent 2 hours trying to get it back out.
The final method that worked was loading the barrel up with WD-40,tying a fishing hook to my .22 cleaning rod and snaggng it.
I will never do that again,lesson learned.

lemoyne

Sharp Shooter,A 28 gage works really well for me ,if you go to big it causes the wires to lay to flat to clean the bottem of the groves. Lee