SRY - my mistake.
Once I get home and after some time, decide to clean the rifle or smoothbore, I remove the barrel (and it's nipple on a cap gun) and lock and set the stock leaning between the pegs sticking out from the side of my bench so it
or they cannot fall over.
I grab a handful of flanellette patches, WD40 can and cleaning rod with jag, along with a couple old towels used specifically for drying the barrel and wiping off the lock.
I fill a stainless bucket about 3 quart size & head with water from the cold tap out to the lower basement entry in the carport, wet everything down, lean the barrel or barrels against the door jam, pick up the old toothbrush
(lock cleaning toothbrush) on the step beside the door and wet then brush off all the fouling from the lock. Once the lock is clean, I blow of the excess water with either my own breath, or
compressed air., give it a shake or two, blow it off again then set it in the sun if THAT is shining, to dry further.
I shove the barrel, breech-down into the bucket of water. Wet a patch in the water, then double it and place it over the muzzle. If I am cleaning the 48" barrel, I step up on the second step -
makes it easier to reach the muzzle with the patch pumping water. After about 15 to 20 strokes allowing the water to come into the bore all the way to the patch at the muzzle - you can hear it
sucking into the bore through the vent or nipple seat and feel it bump against the jag when it hits the patch, then push down hard, flushing the water out of the vent or nipple seat, up/down
/up/down - 15 or so times. The water, if you are using a tight-enough ball and patch combo will only have a little colour - grayish. Now, if you've fired 50 to 100 shots without wiping, there will be
more accumulated fouling in the 'chamber' area that the patched ball never touches. Because of that, the water will be darker. Once I am satisfied the barrel is clean - it will or should be after 15
or 20 strokes if it is a smooth barrel, without pits. If it has pits, you will see the patch losing it's integrity from wear cause by the pits. It will be 'ratty' on the sides. This will show with an old
barrel, or perhaps one that has been shot with Pyrodex. After removing the rod and cleaning patch from the bore and setting the rod aside, I put my thumb over the muzzle, pull the barrel out of
the bucket, turn it around and let the water inside pour out of the muzzle into the bucket. I then use a towel to wipe down the outside of the barrel and set it aside. I then go get the lock out of
the sun give it another wipe down if there is any moisture on it, then spray it all over with WD40 so the excess flows off the lock into the water bucket. I give it a shake and set it down on one of
the towels. I then dry patch the barrel with doubled flannellette patches - even after the first sometimes, and definitely after the second, you can feel the patch starting to drag on the way out.
This shows the bore is almost dry. 4 patches are usually used and there will be gray normally on these patches - never any red. If you set these patches out overnight, they will show red in the
morning or by the next day due to the iron oxides pulled off the dry bore by the patch. The last one, whether it's the 4th or 5th, will be very hard to pull out due to the dry bore. Some barrel
steels I have noticed, show more oxides from the bore than others. Once the bore is dry, I spray WD40 down the bore using the red straw that comes with each DW40 can - liberally sprayed. I
then run a clean doubled patch down the bore hard, forcing the excess WD40 in the bore to blast it out the vent or nipple seat. This spray will last for 2 or 3 "pumps" - remove the patch and it is
still as clean (no colour added from the bore) as it was going in - it is only wet with WD40. I wipe down the outside of the barrel, then dump the bucket of dirty water, pick up the parts and head
inside with the bl. and lock (and cleaning stuff). I wet a cleaning patch with water or shooting lube, and wipe the fouling from the stock/s around the lock area, then use the WD40 barrel patch to
wipe over the tang it the barrel is hooked. I check the lock for excess oil and if there is some, wipe and blow it off. Reinstall the barrel (wiped down with the WD40 patch) with keys or pins.
Reinstall the lock and wipe the stock off head to toe with a clean towel. I then store then muzzle down in the rack, in the gun storage room.
Man - takes a long time to type it out - cleaning a rifle barrel and lock - all of the above, takes about 10-15 minutes tops to accomplish. The shorter the barrel, the less time it takes due to shorter
strokes and easier handling. I think my Musketoon(1861 Enfield) takes perhaps no more than 6 or 7 minutes to disassemble, clean and reassemble.
