Tinker- I read a letter sent to a double-gun collector friend of mine on the proper care of his double black powder shotguns and rifles. Holland & Holland wrote the letter and said to use cold water only for cleaning with a water displacing lube applied after drying with patches. Theor reason ws that cold wter softened and disolved black powder fouling almost instantly, whereas very hot water would cause the fouling to glaze, then not disolve. They said if you want to speed drying, use tap-warm water, but be aware if too hot, can cause flash rusting which starts the pitting action, which is accumlative. I've cleaned my ML's and ctg. guns with cold tap water ever since and have never rotted a bore. They are so brilliantly gleaming inside you cannot look at a 60 Watt bulb through them. This, of course, is the result of the lapping that takes place with many thousands of shots through the bore along with proper cleaning, of course.