Wildirishman

Would like to know how often one should clean a muzzleloader (traditions 209) and how? I clean mine with barrel butter and then send a coating of oil. Had three misfire trying to unload after the hunt. Thank God deer weren' t around me I might of had a nervous breakdown!!! Help!

Jorgy

Your barrel shouldn' t have anything in it when hunting. If it is oiled when you put your powder down it, your powder will get soaked with the oil. Barrel butter, you shouldn' t be using that either as far as I' m concerned. It' s more of a bullet lube, it is not a rust stopper.

To clean you ML you can use either just good ole plain hot soapy water, or some type of blackpowder cleaner. When hunting, I use cabela' s ML cleaner since hot water is a pain in camp. When at home, I use the soapy water.

Wildirishman

How often do you clean yours? I sighted my gun in the other day and was running patches down the tube every shot? Should I not use any oil in the barrel at all, how does a ml prevent rust build up? Thanks and look forward to your reply
Sean in KY

Ballistictip

When sighting mine in I will clean after every shot with Thompson Center number 13 cleaner and then using dry patches until I' m sure the barrel is completely dry. I' ll go through about 8 to 10 patches per shot. Never ever put any oil in the barrel before loading it. Oil will cause hang fires or no fires just about every time. Like Jorgy said, bore butter is a bullet lube and is not for preventing rust. I' m guessing with an inline you' re using sabots so there should be no need for any bore butter at all. After M/L season is over I clean it using T/C #13 cleaner heated boiling hot in the microwave, then after getting it absolutely dry put a heavy coat of oil in the barrel before putting it away. I' ll usually pull it back out in April and give it a good cleaning and re-oil to prevent rust. When season rolls back around it' s time for another good cleaning to get all the oil back out of it.

Jorgy

Like Ballistictip does, I clean after every shot when sighting in. I run 1-2 patches with my cleaner (slightly damp) then run patches till they are somewhat clean. Don' t run a really soaked patch down either or you will end up with cleaner that will foul your load.

When I store my ML, that is when it get oil. Make sure when you go to shoot though, that you completely clean it again before you start shooting, get all oil out of barrel.

Under any normal hunting conditions you aren' t going to have to worry about your ML getting a rusty barrel. When I am hunting though I do cover the muzzle with electrical tape, just as I do with all of my center fire rifles. Keeps bad stuff out of the barrel and just blows off when you shoot.

Jorgy

By the way, I would run a wire brush up and down your barrel to make sure you get that barrel butter out of your grooves.

Tomster

I only use bore butter in the barrel when I' m seasoning it. Also I use some oil in the barrel when I' m not using it and will run a dry patch prior to shooting it, or shoot a primer to dry out the barrel. The barrell needs to be dry and free of oil prior to adding powder. If shooting with a flint, put some pan powder in the pan and shoot out the barrel. Then run a dry patch down the barrel and remove gunk.

Good luck....

Tomster

sr.corndog

I shoot a Knight 50 caliber
I have a stainless steel barrel I clean with dawn liquid soap and hot! water. Then I use deer fat I have cooked down to swab the inside and outside of my barrel. Before I load I always fire a primer to clean out the oil. Then I shoot 5 or six times run a brush down to knock out the power flakes. I use 777 pyrodex power. Then I continue until my shoulder can stand no more then I clean it thorough I have killed many deers with my big 50. My 280 is collecting dust in the vault! there is nothing like the rush and the smell of black power and a clean kill!
charlie
I have never had a misfir only a click since Knight has a double safety! Thank goodness the deer stood and waited for my to cock and shoot!

1950KID

Wash the barrel with hot soapy water
rinse with hot clean water
dry thoroughly
WD-40 thoroughly
I do this after every shooting session
When ready to shoot again wipe out the barrel well with clean patches
Fire off 3 percussion caps in an empty rifle
load the rifle to shoot.
wipe after every shot with a damp patch, then a dry one
that' s what I do.