What'd I do?

sixtysevensg

sixtysevensg

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So, me and "The Boy" were out pawn shopping today and this guy walks in with a rifle wanting to sell it. So he starts explaining to the girl behind the counter that it's a muzzle loader. She looked confused until he told her black powder. She promptly tells him that they don't deal in black powder, so the fella turns around dejected and starts heading for the door.

Enter me. I was listening from the other side of the store, and had heard what he wanted for the rifle (about the cost of a couple import Kershaw's), so I caught him at the door and asked to see it. I don't know anything about muzzle loaders, but it seemed in pretty good shape. We stepped outside, handed him the money, shook hands and I am now the owner of a CVA Deerslayer .50 cal carbine with Holden Ironsighter look through mounts and a Tasco 3-9x40 scope.

So, how do I clean this thing? It looks like there is some rust in the barrel, so I'm gonna try and get it as clean as I can and maybe, one day, I'll shoot it. If nothing else, I can sell the scope and mounts and hang it over the fire place.
 
I use soap and hot water to clean black powder. I make sure I get all the black out the lube it up with almost anything.
sixtysevensg said:
So, me and "The Boy" were out pawn shopping today and this guy walks in with a rifle wanting to sell it. So he starts explaining to the girl behind the counter that it's a muzzle loader. She looked confused until he told her black powder. She promptly tells him that they don't deal in black powder, so the fella turns around dejected and starts heading for the door.

Enter me. I was listening from the other side of the store, and had heard what he wanted for the rifle (about the cost of a couple import Kershaw's), so I caught him at the door and asked to see it. I don't know anything about muzzle loaders, but it seemed in pretty good shape. We stepped outside, handed him the money, shook hands and I am now the owner of a CVA Deerslayer .50 cal carbine with Holden Ironsighter look through mounts and a Tasco 3-9x40 scope.

So, how do I clean this thing? It looks like there is some rust in the barrel, so I'm gonna try and get it as clean as I can and maybe, one day, I'll shoot it. If nothing else, I can sell the scope and mounts and hang it over the fire place.
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I suck as a photographer.
 

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So the bore looks fairly rusty. Like he didn't clean it after he shot it. I've got a brass bore brush and some Ballistol. Think it'll help?
 
Congrats, Very cool. Ill let other people with way more experience give you advice, but congrats on the new gun, I'd like to get into blackpowder myself.
 
Get in touch with Tim, he has a lot of experience with BP and may be able to point you in the right direction.
 
sixtysevensg said:
So the bore looks fairly rusty. Like he didn't clean it after he shot it. I've got a brass bore brush and some Ballistol. Think it'll help?
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Yes very much...at this point I'd go harsh, brass or stainless bore brush, tight as hell, try shotgun brushes, ballistol would be my go to then other solvents

Once clean and then fired with black powder, go to is hot soapy water, I place in a gallon container and draw into barrel with patch and rod from flash hole...

Have fun..btw black powder may be tough to find...
 
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So I went pretty aggresive with a 20ga brass bore brush and 91% isopropyl alcohol (I figured I couldn't do any worse than what was already done). It looked like muddy river water coming out of the muzzle! I scrubbed and scrubbed, wet patched, dry patched, then a coat of Ballistol and let that sit for a few hours whilst I went and made another rediculous purchase (guitar related this time). Scrubbed, wet and dry patched some more. Gonna let it sit overnight and let all the alcohol flash off and then lube it again.

In the end, the barrel looks pretty pitted. The lands and grooves are still there, but again, pitted. I'm not real heavy into it and could get my $ back out of the scope and mounts I'm sure. Would the pitting make it unsafe to shoot? And where would one get balls, powder, patches and caps? I'll probaby have a lot more questions for y'all about this thing.
 
Since it is pitted you may have better luck shooting sabots with pistol bullets.
 
sixtysevensg said:
So I went pretty aggresive with a 20ga brass bore brush and 91% isopropyl alcohol (I figured I couldn't do any worse than what was already done). It looked like muddy river water coming out of the muzzle! I scrubbed and scrubbed, wet patched, dry patched, then a coat of Ballistol and let that sit for a few hours whilst I went and made another rediculous purchase (guitar related this time). Scrubbed, wet and dry patched some more. Gonna let it sit overnight and let all the alcohol flash off and then lube it again.

In the end, the barrel looks pretty pitted. The lands and grooves are still there, but again, pitted. I'm not real heavy into it and could get my $ back out of the scope and mounts I'm sure. Would the pitting make it unsafe to shoot? And where would one get balls, powder, patches and caps? I'll probaby have a lot more questions for y'all about this thing.
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Rebore to .54.
 
Good thing about muzzle loaders is the barrel is very easy to change :) cva barrels can be had fairly cheap on eBay....btw shooting it may help with the cleaning process and you may find it doesn't shoot to bad...
 
Just shoot it.

Use a tight fitting patch - pillow ticking is my preferred - and I doubt you'll notice the pitting. BP is low pressure, so I wouldn't be worried about it blowing up.

If you're going to use real black powder, pick up a can of Goex FFg and load with 70-80grains (by volume, not weight). You can pick up a measure same place you get your powder.

Pour in your powder, grease/lube/spit on the patch and lay over the bore. seat the ball on top of the patch and drive the ball in until it's just below the bore (use a 'short starter' tool for this). Trim the patch across the bore.

Drive the ball down the barrel until fully seated.

Prime and fire.
 
As was mentioned above....for cleaning nothing beats hot soapy water. Remove the barrel and stick the breech end in a bucket of HOT water with some mild dish soap. Pour a little water into the bore and run a couple patches through it. Let the hydraulic action of the patch moving up and down draw the soapy water in through the nipple (remove the nipple if you can). Scrub until patches come clean.

Pull it out of the bucket and run a couple dry patches through it. This is where using HOT HOT HOT water above comes in handy as most of the moisture will evaporate right off the hot steel barrel. Once it's completely dry inside and out, apply some lube/oil.

If I'm going to let it sit for a while - months - then I'll use a heavily greased (RIG grease, by habit, use what you have) patch to coat the bore. Just remember to clean that grease out before you shoot.

I'm not a chemist, but the reason for using soap and water it to neutralize the corrosive salts found in black powder. If you're using fake BP - then shame on you and don't ask me what to do 'cause it's blasphemous.
 
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Depending on how pitted it is, it may shoot just fine. At worst, it may tear up the patches a bit, but with a heavy lube it should be fine. You can use Pyrodex just fine in these... I always used Pyrodex RS (rifle-shotgun) before I went to real BP exclusively. You can find everything you need at some of the big stores... Bass Pro and Cabelas even carry real BP but you have to ask for it. You'll need a .490 lead ball, patches of between .010 and .020", Pyrodex RS, or for real BP, FFg or FFFg, plus No. 10 or 11 caps.

As mentioned before, you can swap out barrels easily, and perhaps even find a used barrel in other calibers. They made these in .32, .45, .50 and .54, if I recall correctly.
 
I'll say it again because you don't seem to be hearing, HOT SOAPY WATER and a wool shotgun mop. Rinse with hot (boiling) water then oil.
 
Just throwing this out there.... there is some disagreement about whether boiling water is best, or just warm water. Many observations have deduced that boiling water can cause flash rusting. Warm water, with a bit of dish detergent, works quite well. Be sure to dry REALLY well, use dry patches till they come out dry, then give a good coat of gun oil or Ballistol. Be sure to swab the bore with dry patches before you shoot it, as any oil residue will increase fouling considerably.
 
J R Green said:
I'll say it again because you don't seem to be hearing, HOT SOAPY WATER and a wool shotgun mop. Rinse with hot (boiling) water then oil.
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I've heard what others were saying about cleaning it with HOT SOAPY WATER after shooting to neutralize and remove the the corrosive salts in black powder, but if you would read the posts instead of just coming in here, skimming a couple of posts, and then posting. This gun had sat for a long time without being cleaned after shot and the bore was RUSTED. Not just dirty, RUSTED. That's why I used what I did to clean the RUST out of the bore.... And it seems to have worked.

Im probably going to give it to my BIL as a gift, and I'll make sure to tell him HOT SOAPY WATER.

And thanks to all for the help and constructive posts.
 
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I always use hot soapy water. I also put RIG grease on the threads of the nipple it’s a lot easier to get out the next time.
 
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