# Cleaning Black Powder



## LEfriend (Jun 14, 2009)

Have a brand new Traditions inline 50 caliber, blued rifled barrel. With my old Thompson percussion I used the hot water soap cleaning and then the Thompsons bore butter seasoning for a lube inside and out. Worked great. With this new gun with the mounted scope, it will be harder to do the hot water bath.

Traditions recommends their wonder lube seasoning...but I have found it hard to find in stores and don't want to wait to order. I am also reading some Sabots don't work well with seasoning lubes and to use a non natural cleaner to remove the seasoning. But I am reading that some petroleum based cleaners like Thompson's 17 don't work well with the natural lubes and seasoning approach. So, would you stick with the Thompsons #13 and the natural lube products, or go to the petroleum based cleaners and lubes. Is their any difference in the Thompsons or Traditions seasoning. I already have Thompsons. Are they basically the same...can you mix and match them, i.e. use what I have then switch to the Traditions. Also, I plan to use Triple 7 powder and read some cleaners work better with that than others?

Interested in your experiences. Thanks.


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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

In my experience with the 777, very little cleaning is needed. I used the 777 primers also.

I only used Thompson products. Cant remember what cleaning solution I used but its whatever is commonly found in the stores. I also used Thompsons Bore Butter and never had a problem shooting sabots. I shot the Thompson Shock Wave sabots.


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## crappiewacka (Apr 7, 2009)

I have a MDM muzzleloader w/scope, and use hot soapy water every time.
It's a break open, so I disassemble and just leave the muzzle end in the bucket and push and pull a .50 cal brush then a swab up and down thru the barrel, pulling the solution up to the breech, never really bothering the scope.
Take it out and use my air compressor to blow it dry.
I also use T7, it's still dirty but not as much as black powder, I almost think pyrodex is a little cleaner yet. However, pyrodex contains sulfur T7 does not making it less corrosive. T7 burns carbon from the sugar family, not from wood (charcoal).
I shoot crush rib sabots and never lube my bore w/anything, the ribbed sabot makes for easy loading having less contact/friction.
Regular 209 shotshell primers are extremely dirty so make sure to clean the breech plug/touch hole well. The beef against T7 has been the nasty, hard, slag-like fouling crud (the 'crud ring') that forms in front of some, but not all 209-fired breechplugs.
I also would use the T7 primers, they were designed for this set back.


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## FISNFOOL (May 12, 2009)

Mix up a batch of Ed's Red. I have been using it on ALL my guns for years.

I mix 2 batches. One without Acetone and one with. Ed in the Ed's red is C.E., "Ed" Harris a gun, bullet. and bullet lube expert that at one time wrote for the N.R.A. magazines. 

I added labels to the file to include both types. The small label fits a Hoppe's bottle.

He created the original formula when he worked for a gun maker and decided they were spending too much on gun cleaner. He knew there had to be a better way. You can and a scent to it that can be found for oils at Pat Catan's.

Since I order my lanolin wholesale I use the scent the supplier has. They ship free if the cost of your order is $30 or more. I use lanolin in my bore butter recipe too.

*NOTE FROM ED ABOUT HIS CLEANER:
*
I have determined to my satisfaction that when Ed's Red is used exclusively and thoroughly, that hot water cleaning is unnecessary after use of Pyrodex or military chlorate primers. However, if bores are not wiped between shots and are heavily caked from black powder fouling, hot water cleaning is recommended first to break up heavy fouling deposits. Water cleaning should be followed by a flush with Ed's Red to prevent after-rusting which could result from residual moisture. It is ALWAYS good practice to clean TWICE; TWO DAYS APART whenever using chlorate primed ammunition, just to make sure you get all the corrosive residue out


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## FISNFOOL (May 12, 2009)

I have not tried T7 yet but FYI Pryodex is treated Black Powder so it is not explosive like BP is. That is why the cleanup has the same problems. Blackhorn209 is a powder I am going to try.

Some of the shooters I know swear by this powder but it is expensive compared to others. Blackhorn 209. Does not need water for cleaning. http://www.blackhorn209.com/

From another web site:
*Black Powder Substitute Powders:*
There are black powder substitutes, which are designed to be used in place of real black powder as a muzzleloader propellant because they are much less smokey, corrosive, and are not classed as an explosive. The 3 common substitutes are Triple 7, Pyrodex and Blackhorn 209, with Pyrodex and Triple 7 being by far the most popular however Blackhorn 209 is the cleanest and most energetic.
http://www.gunnersden.com/blackpowder/

.


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## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

I use carburetor and choke cleaner with a bronze phosphor brush to clean my barrel and then a light oil patch to prevent rust until next use. When ready to load, run a dry patch through, fire one cap to ensure clean touch-hole in the breech plug, and then load. Works for me.


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## LEfriend (Jun 14, 2009)

crappiewacka said:


> I have a MDM muzzleloader w/scope, and use hot soapy water every time.
> It's a break open, so I disassemble and just leave the muzzle end in the bucket and push and pull a .50 cal brush then a swab up and down thru the barrel, pulling the solution up to the breech, never really bothering the scope.
> Take it out and use my air compressor to blow it dry.
> I also use T7, it's still dirty but not as much as black powder, I almost think pyrodex is a little cleaner yet. However, pyrodex contains sulfur T7 does not making it less corrosive. T7 burns carbon from the sugar family, not from wood (charcoal).
> ...


Thanks crappiewacka....question...do you swab between shots or between hot water cleaning and if so with what?


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

T7 is cleaned with soap and water. It does leave a crud ring and can be a bit of a pain in some guns. I have switched to another powder but I did swab between every other shot and had good results. Just a spit patch will do the job.


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## Ozdog (Jul 30, 2007)

I shoot black powder and clean with soap & water. Really, no matter the powder you still have to clean these rifles within a reasonable amount of time after each use. Scoped rifles I follow the bucket of soapy water cleaning form the plug end. I just use a tooth brush for the breech plug threads and just patches for the bore. I alway's season the bore with bore butter. My black powder mentor had a grudge against using any petroluem products in the bore. 
The Ole renegade on the other hand I just throw the whole barrel in the tub!


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## crappiewacka (Apr 7, 2009)

LEfriend said:


> Thanks crappiewacka....question...do you swab between shots or between hot water cleaning and if so with what?


About every 5 or 6 shots (or hard loading whichever occurs first) I will run a cleaning jag and some patches thru, dry usually, occasionally Hoppes #9 if really fouled.
I only use the swab w/soapy water when cleaning to put away.
Reminder: Don't forget to put anti seize on the breech plug threads!


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## fireline (Jun 14, 2007)

My inline doesn't have a removable breech plug, so I unscrew the nipple and screw in a brass fitting with a 18'' rubber hose into a hot bucket of water with a patch soaked with T/C bore cleaner, run it back and forth till the barrel is hot, switch the water and a new patch a few more passes then a dry patch then one with T/C bore butter. Scrub the primer area the hammer and the nipple with a tooth brush and hot water, put a little T/C bore butter on the nipple threads and a light coat on the hammer and put it back together, the barrel is hot enough it almost dries its self


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