I took my new muzzle loader to the range yesterday and started cleaning it when i got home but couldnt get all of the black off of the breech plug and the bolt assembly. what should i do and what will be a better way in the future? i soaked them in hot soapy water and then scrubbed but just coulnt get it all off

sos pad or just the bore brush always worked on my x-150. An sos pad works really well for the breech plug.

What rifle do you have?

Get some good cleaner like 409 or Simple Green and a Scotch Brite scrub pad. Spray the breech plug down and then use that Scotch Brite on it. Normally that takes all that hard to remove fowling off. Also a good solvent like Birchwood Casey #77 will also remove that. Butch's Bore Shine for Black Powder is another good solvent. Rusty Duck Black Off (sold at Wal Mart) is another good one. All of them will clean that hard to remove fowling.