Greetings All,
I have a storage suggestion for those with hooked chambered-breech firearms.
I would like to suggest that these guns NOT be stored "muzzle-up" in a safe, cabinet, closet, etc.
I recently bought a rifle that was 20+ years old, and appeared truly unfired. The owner was a collector, not a shooter.
The rifle was stored muzzle-up, and the bore protectant oil migrated down into the chambered breech and flash channel. The oil decided to take up residence there, and set up like a petrified La Brea Tar Pit. Egads!
The rifle would obviously not fire. Daryl and Taylor kindly suggested that I soak the breech in paint thinner, and flush it with the same. I did this several times and got the gun shooting. That said, it had persistent problems after 2 or 3 shots were fired. It ended up going back to its original maker who un-breeched it. It turns out that even after all of the soaking and flushing, some lacquered-on oil was still in the breech and flash channel, and had to be polished out. He also discovered the mainspring wasn't strong enough to hold the hammer down against the pressure of firing, and some blow-back was clogging the flash channel as well.
I have noticed that some "name brand" oils break down and form sticky messes after a relatively few years. My dad used some oil back in the '70s and '80s that set up like contact cement. Some of his took soaking in CLP to get them moving again. Three-In-One oil is notorious for creating an epoxy-like mess over time. Also be careful of mixing lubes. For example we discovered that Tetra-Lube Synthetic grease becomes rust-colored sticky glue when in the presence of traces of Hoppe's No 9.
Soooo....all of this said, you can see why I'd encourage those with chambered breeches and cross channels to store your guns flat or muzzle down. Flat breeches can be cleaned well enough, but I'd still store muzzle down. I'd also store modern guns muzzle down to prevent oil migration into the wood and flattening of rubber butt pads.
I hope this helps someone in the future. Best wishes and God Bless, Marc
