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If I might make a suggestion, pointing the muzzles at a blade of grass or weed to see it move with the caps fire, shows the flash channel is open.

If one is new to shooting and cleaning a BP gun, this can seem a daunting task. This it the method I use & find very simple, and quick. About 10 to 15 minutes is all that is needed. It is messier than cleaning a modern gun due to needing water, but takes less time until finished. A bad-fouling modern rifle can take days to clean. Not so with a Muzzle Loader. Please to not use HOT water. This will cause flash rusting, which is accumulative - especially in twisted or 12L14 barrel steel.

With the loads and methods of loading my 14 bore or any of my guns (except for the 20 bore when shooting shot,) the water is barely a grey-ish colour when finished cleaning. I stick the breech (nipples removed) in the container of cool water I use, a 2 litre stainless pail or 3 pound Folgers plastic coffee can. No need for soaps or other emulsifiers as ordinary water is BP's best cleaner. A tight enough patch is used for cleaning to draw water up to the muzzles, then pushed hard down to blast the fouling and water out the nipple seats. This also cleans the breech cavity of patent breeches very well.

Normally takes 1 cleaning patch per tube, and 4 or 5 drying patches. When the bore/bores are dry the last patch is difficult to pull out. THAT is a dry bore.

After drying the barrels, I spray WD 40 into the muzzle until it runs out the breech, either vent in my flinters or the nipple seat. I then take a dry patch, flannelette doubled being the best I have found. We turn the jags down until we can use doubled cloth. The jag is held in an electric drill in a vice and run against a file to reduce it's diameter, or in a lathe. The thick flannelette patch improves drying as well as easily cleans & dries to the bottom of deeply grooved barrels.

Hope this helps. I find cleaning up a barrel like on my 14 and 20 bore guns, due to the hooked breeches, is about a 10 minute job. I use the oiling patch that I blast out excess lube out the breech, for wiping down the outside of the gun. If you live in a high humidity climate, better rust protection should be used.

Hoppe's #9 powder solvent is one of the better ones. Some guys like Sheath, Break-Free CLP and others. Hoppe's and Browning gun oil are not as good at preventing rust, as the old Hoppe's #9 powder solvent.

BP guns should be stored muzzle down, for at least a few days after cleaning. This allows any excess oil to drain out the muzzles. an absorbent cloth under the muzzles will prevent messes.

Before loading, a dry patch should be run down & back out the bores, before capping and firing that off.

When shooting shot from BP smoothbores, there will be a LOT more accumulated fouling in the tube/tubes, thus VERY black water. Some guys use a new bucket of water for each barrel.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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