# not cleaning the muzzle loader



## TimR (Oct 11, 2006)

A buddy just called me and said that he wants to go shoot his muzzle loader tomorrow....problem is, he fired it last year about this time and never cleaned it.

I told him it was probably ruined but I'm not a muzzle loader guy...what do y'all think?


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## duckbill (Oct 11, 2006)

Not good, but not necessarily a total loss.  The corrosiveness has probably caused rust.  The best thing to do is completely take it apart.  Soak everything in cleaner ot find out where the rust is.  The barrel is going to be rusted.  I've used Kroil and wire brushes to get most of it out.
It will take a long time to thoroughly clean everything, but it's worth a try.


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## CAL (Oct 11, 2006)

Being durty this long didn't do it any good that's for sure.All I can suggest is a good cleaning with a good brass brush and some solvent.He might just have lucked out and it clean up.Shoot it then and see if it is accurate.Good luck on quite a problem.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 11, 2006)

At the very least, there will be some pittin` in the barrel.


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## leoparddog (Oct 12, 2006)

Do a search in this sub-forum for "Kroil".  It worked for my buddy Bill who was in this very situation.


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## duckbill (Oct 12, 2006)

leoparddog9 said:


> Do a search in this sub-forum for "Kroil".  It worked for my buddy Bill who was in this very situation.




Ah Yes!  Amatuer muzzleloader was seeking help and found wisdom here on Woody's.  Amatuer learned well from his mistakes and passes on his knowledge.


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## Hunting Teacher (Oct 12, 2006)

My brother did the same thing last year, but luckily it was 777 and not black powder. It still required a couple of hours for my nephew and me to get it back clean enough where I felt comfortable with it.
The good news is after we finished, we put a scope on the gun ( a Knight) and in three shots it was zeroed at 25 yards. By the time we left the range, he was shooting one inch groups at 75 yards with it.
So you can bring one back to life with time and elbow grease.
Teacher


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## DYI hunting (Oct 12, 2006)

I can tell you what we did with M-16's and 50 cals in the Army.  I have done it with a muzzleloader once when there was no other choice.  

It will possibly remove some blueing, so only do it as a last resort when the breach is seized up and you are about to give up or there is no other hope. 

1 - Go get a cheap can of shaving cream (the stuff that comes out as white foam), a can of WD-40, and a can of Break-Free (CLP).  

2 - Soak the muzzleload in HOT water in the bath tub for 30 minutes or so.

3 - Take it out and fill it up full of the shaving cream, filling the barrel and covering all the metal parts. 

4 - Let it sit for 20 minutes or so.

5 - Dip it down into the hot bath again.

6 - More shaving cream, let it set a couple of minutes then take a towel and start scrubbing down any rust spots.  If you can remove the breach plug, do so and run a wire cleaner down the barrel with the shaving cream still in it.  Remember to go with the direction of bullet travel.

7 - One more hot bath dip to remove all the rust, grim, and left over shaving cream.  Leave it in the bath for a few minutes.  You might also try running the shower over it to wash as much as you can out.

8 - Take a can of penetrating oil (WD-40) and soak everything down, especially the action and anything froze up.  Let it sit for an hour or so.  You may want to recoat it several times during this hour to make sure you get it in every nook and cranny.

9 - Start your heavy cleaning with some CLP.  It will take some elbow grease and losts of scrubbing.  Wire brush the barrel a few times, then a soaking patch with CLP, then the wire brush again, repeating till the barrel is clean and purty again.  

10 - Leave a heavy coat of CLP on the entire gun and let it sit till just before you decide to use it.  Do not put it in a padded case since they have a habit of drawing mosture.  When you are ready to use it, wipe down the excess CLP.

You will have some pitting and the finish might not be in the best shape after this routine, but that is life.  It will at least free everything up and allow you to use it again.


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## jav (Oct 13, 2006)

heres and old mechanics remedy. find a container large enough to completely cover gun, add about four gallons diesel fuel and about four quarts transmisson fluid, let set about two days. we use this to unlock siezed rings in blocks and valves in heads


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## TimR (Oct 13, 2006)

DYI - I don't know if a $99 CVA is worth all that effort.. 

....As it turns out he was shooting 777 pellets last year so it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.  It cleaned up pretty good and when we went to shoot it, everything seemed to be ok....We will find out for sure in the morning - but I am crossing my fingers since I'll be sitting next to him with the video camera.


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## whitworth (Oct 17, 2006)

*Muzzleloading black powder rifles. . .*

not cleaned, eventually turn into rusted pieces of junk.


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## Hawken2222 (Oct 18, 2006)

If he had been shooting Black powder that thing would be ruined.  Black Powder is terribly corrosive.


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## dixie (Oct 18, 2006)

I don't know if this is still on the market, but some stuff called naval jelly eats rust, we used it a lot way back when!


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## stiletto (Nov 1, 2006)

dixie said:


> I don't know if this is still on the market, but some stuff called naval jelly eats rust, we used it a lot way back when!


Naval jelly is simply phosphoric acid.  It reacts with rust and converts it into a protective coating.  It strips bluing! However, NJ is not magic.  Whatever metal has been lost to rust, is gone forever.  Naval Jelly helps prepare whats left for the future and cleans up any rust that is there.  Works good.


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