Cleaning barrels with soap and water ????

[Goo]

Thoughts ,Advice and Opinions Please:  I had a neighbor some years ago when i was much younger who cleaned all his BP guns with dish soap and water so I unquestioningly followed his methods.  Now that I am back into BP and shooting I see others on the forum use plain water for cleaning without soap.   I do experience residual gunk and light surface oxidation in the bore ( but not on outside surfaces) which I spend time cleaning up at one to two day intervals.   My neighbor also would not use any pertroleum based oils. He claimed that those would cause "gummy impossible to remove" fouling. When I wipe down the bore and surfaces after cleaning with soap and water I have been using vegetable oil and bees wax/animal fat mixtures.

[Black Hand]

Water, sometimes soap and lube with bear grease...

[Hungry Horse]

Some petroleum based oils will polarized under the heat of the burning powder, causing a crust to form in the barrel, where the patched ball rests on the powder. This is also true of some waxes such as bees wax, and paraffin, and Vaseline. I am a firm believer in venison tallow with a little bear grease blended into it to make it more user friendly. This mixture also has a very high flash point, making less likely to ignite and start a wildfire.

  Hungry Horse

[Maurice]

I used to use hot soapy water followed by a hot water flush, pumping the column of water in the bore up and down. I found that I would need to use mass quantities of oiled/lubed patches to remove what appeared to be rust in the bore after this cleaning. After researching this forum about cleaning I found that there were numerous ways (hundreds). Some used no water at all. Tried it. Worked well.

Now my routine is: Clean as much as possible at the range with a production bore solvent. Follow that with WD40 soaked patches. At home I dump about .5 oz of solvent in the bore - touch hole plugged with toothpick - then use a breech plug brush to scrub the face of the plug. Remove the tooth pick to drain. Follow with patches soaked with WD-40. Final swap with a production "bore butter."  Have not noticed any consequences using the WD40

Overall I thing the most important thing is to have the discipline to clean immediately regardless of what method provides you with a clean patch at the end.

[hanshi]

I normally pre-clean at the range and finish up at home.  I use tap water with a drop of Dawn, dry & WD40, alcohol patches then Barricade.  No complaints.

[TommyG]

I second Hanshi on the drop of Dawn.  Just a drop in cool water, then flush with plain water.  Denatured alcohol patches, dry patches, then lube w/ CLP.  Before I reload for shooting or hunting, I run a patch w/ denatured alcohol & dry patch to remove any CLP from bore.

[wattlebuster]

Water, sometimes soap and lube with bear grease...

+1. Been working for yrs. I have not saw a need to reinvent the wheel

[bgf]

Cold water in a bucket.  Occasionally i find some buildup, likely residual WD40 combined with fouling that causes me to add some dawn to the first bucket.

I'd be careful about partially cleaning bore with wet patches before taking gun home to clean.  Water seems to activate the fouling, whereas dry fouling is relatively inert.  I usually clean as soon as getting home, but have had to wait overnight due to injury, for example, and the bore cleaned just like always.  But I don't do anything after the last shot, i.e. no wiping. 

[Daryl]

I have never had to use anything but cool or cold water, whether I was shooting oiled or greased patches, bullets of whatever - cold water works fine for me - no soap, no solvents, no brushes, just

water.  Pumping in and out with barrel breech submerged in water. Been doing this since 1977 or so, after reading Holland and Holland's (33 Bruton Street, London W1J 6HH) letter to Wil Thompson

about the proper care of his antique side by side black powder shotguns and rifles- used with oil and greased patches and wads.

If you are getting residue from oils and greases, perhaps your patches are not tight enough.  I go no buildup of anything except for some powder fouling buildup in the breech where the patch or

 lubed bullet does not touch.  That comes out with cool or cold water.

[David R. Pennington]

I am with Daryl. I use nothing but plain water (unless its below freezing, then a little alcohol). I always clean in the field as soon as I am done shooting. Just soppy wet patches till clean, then dry patches then bear oil. I do think the bear oil tends to season the barrel some making cleaning easier. The solvents will remove this seasoning. I normally take the lock off and clean and oil it as well. I don't remove a barrel unless there is a problem or the gun gets really wet, like hunting in the rain.

[Elnathan]

James Kelly has opined several times that at least some detergents contain salts, which don't do anything (or anything positive, anyway) for the bore. Don't know about that myself, but it seems worth looking into.

[David R. Pennington]

I really have simply not found anything that works better, and water is PC. When I was using solvents I could never seem to get clean patches. It finally dawned on me that the solvent was leaching out the never seize I had on the breech threads.

[Black Hand]

James Kelly has opined several times that at least some detergents contain salts, which don't do anything (or anything positive, anyway) for the bore. Don't know about that myself, but it seems worth looking into.

You're not leaving the detergent in the barrel...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detergent - the presence of Sodium ions doesn't mean a detergent contains "salts" (salt as in Table Salt, which could be damaging to metal with EXTENDED contact).

[hanshi]

Pumping a bore with the breech placed in a can of water does clean really quickly.  However, I have only one rifle with a hooked breech that can be easily removed.  I don't like to remove pinned barrels since it is much too easy to damage the stock pin holes and other risks.  I remove them only if the gun gets wet or every year or two for a check.

[J Henry]

  I use a small rubber hose, pushed over the nipple, and placed in a can of HOT water and soap and as you plunge the barrel the water and soap are sucked into and forced back out of the barrel

[Daryl]

All my barrels come off for cleaning, as does Taylor's as well as the barrels on most everyone's rifles he's made guns for as that is how he teaches people to clean their bores. 

Pins or wedges, hooked breeches or screwed on tangs - no matter.  All it takes is a bit of care & 5 to 10 minutes to clean a barrel!

After drying, WD40 is sprayed into the bore, then a patch is run down on top of that and blasts WD40 out the nipple seat or vent - up and down a number of times, then a fresh patch is placed on

 the jag and that is run up and down to removed the excess WD40.  If you live in an area that requires MORE rust protection, use what is necessary. Around here, there is no need due to relatively

low average humidity.

[longcruise]

I use water with a bit of soap added.  Sometimes hot tap water that is cool enough to immerse my hand into.  It cools off pretty quick after being pumped up and down in the barrel a few times.  No flash rusting as you get with extremely hot water.  But usually I clean at the range or in the field before going home.  I have a large jug of water with me and it serves as drinking water and cleaning water.  If soap is used, I finish off with a clean water rinse.

[smylee grouch]

I have been in the water flush camp for about 35+ years now and have had great luck with the method and most times I take the barrel out of the stock. I have tried those clamp on flush tube gizmoes and have had mixed results with those but now with Dave C's suggestion of using the strong magnets I will try one of those rigged up with a flush tube. This sounds like a good idea and it would save some time and I would still be flushing like I want to.   

[Daryl]

I have one of Track's flushing gizmo's hanging on a nail above the bench.  It has not moved in 10 or so years. I tried it a couple times - easier to simply remove the barrel, pins and all, than attempt to get a seal & put up with the super slow pumping/flushing with the gizmo.