does anyone know how to make a good black powder solvent ? there has to be a good recipe out there!
A little soap and a lot of water. I used to use Windex with vinegar mixed 3 parts water 1 part cleaner. Worked wonderfully. But they have gone "Green" and I think they now have too much vinegar.
The plain old blue window cleaner works well too mixed. A mix of windshield washer fluid works well too.
A lot of soap in not needed. Jut enough to make the water a little wetter. I use oil for patch lube so I like something that has a little soap in it.
Excess soap, like too much dishwashing liquid produces too much subs. A drop or two in a quart of water is plenty. This the advantage of low foaming cleaners cut with water. The suds are a PITA.
Anything with any soap in it needs a clean water rinse to remove the soap.
Anything more than this is just over thinking the problem. BP fouling sucks up water like a sponge and will liquifiy. Add all sorts of other ingredients, water soluble oil, petroleum distillate etc etc just gets in the way and may actually increase cleaning difficulty.
I wipe mostly dry then dose heavily with WD40 or some other water displacing product. Being sure to shoot some through the vent with the muzzle down. Wipe with one patch then set muzzle down while I clean the lock. Dry patch a time or two then a wet patch with a good protectant gun oil.
Dry patches as the bore dries that come out black are often black iron oxide. If you allow the patches to dry for a few hours this will convert to red iron oxide and the patches are rusty looking. BP fouling will stay black or grey is the humidity is low enough. Trying to get all the black out is virtually impossible if its iron oxide off the barrel itself.
Simple green at high concentrations it hard on some traditional stock finishes.
Dan
