Hey guys, my new Mongrel flintlock is here, and I have a cleaning question. My .45 percussion had a hooked breech, so it was easy to remove the barrel for cleaning.
The new flintlock is gorgeous, and I don't want to mess it up. What's the best way to clean it when the barrel is pinned and ya don't remove it?
Also, does every rifle get a name? How do you name it?
i always use a cleaning/loading jag that will push a WET patch down and pull it back up. i like using really hot soapy water and or mean green. then hot clean water til patches come out clean. a few dry patches to mop out excess water then a patch or two soaked in 92 percent rubbing alcohol (have used good shine while in the field, shed a tear for the jug), alcohol eats water. then an oil patch (non petro based, olive oil works). warning do not use a dry patch on a dry barrel. again see last statement, been there save yourself the headache. mite want to plug the vent or nipple hole to prevent dirty water from leaking out. on a percussion rifle through cleanin of the drum and channel is a must. hope this helps.
Everybody has their own ideas widget, here's mine. I pull off the lock, makes it easier to clean & oil it. Then plug the vent with a round toothpic. For years I've been using windex, cheap & easy to come by. Scrub bore with a few patches until it is shiny & clean. Use a pipe cln'r to clean out vent. Oil with 3 in 1 or lite machine oil--Litely. My bore lite tells me I'm doing o.k......Tom
I have two with pinned barrels and I remove them from the stock just like the others. The only real differance is you also have to remove the tang bolt(s).
I cheat a bit. I also remove the barrels for cleaning but turned special pins with a head to grab so that I do not have to drive them out each time. I do have headless pins from Mongrel for times that need to be PC.
Thanks, guys, that's just the kind of info I was looking for!
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Another word of caution if you decide to remove the barrel. I clean in a 5 gallon pail and had the experience of driving the tang through the bottom that just happened to be over a crack in the deck and so had no support. Not a big deal but had to donate another pail. I am not sure but I believe that you can also cause distortion of a thin tang. I started using a block with a hole for the tang in under the breech plug to keep the tang from contacting and give better control.
Pinned barrels are no more difficult (for me) to clean than hooked breech barrels. I don't like to remove pinned barrels.
I cleaned my hooked breech barrel much like Blackfeet described.
Hanshi, my concern with the pinned barrel is to clean it without messing up or doing any damage to the beautiful curly maple on the .36 that I just got from Mongrel. How do you go about cleaning without creating a mess? Maybe I'm overly concerned, but this rifle is really special and I'd like to keep it looking fine.
Words of wisdom?
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AZ : If I was you I'd name her "Fancy".
guess I`m just a bit warped ;D but with all that striping I`d call her tigger !
So whats the deal with naming a rifle? Do yours have names, and how didja come up with them?
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My .50 Southern gun "Pox",Birdseye maple stock,look's like she has "The Pox". my.40 smoothbore,"Ole Wormy"worm eaten stock. .32 Southern gun,"Ugly Betty",Very crudley made stock,not refined at all,but she has a GREAT personality.
Your gun wil let ya know what she want's to be called. Dont rush it. Most of us get real attatched to our favorite gun's,hence the names. I currently have 3 smoothbore's and 12 rifles that are my "favorite",but Pox is #1,the Bess is #1 smoothbore. The Bess hasent let me know her name yet.
Her names Bess, that's what she told me late last nite......he-he....Tom
A rifle doesn't "need" a name, but it may earn one.
One of my rifles was named Armbreaker because it was so heavy when I made it that I could barely hold it up. I shortened the barrel which changed the balance and it no longer has a name. Another one is my favorite, but it still has no name even tho I have been shooting it for at least 20 years.
How to clean the purty one? VERY CAREFULLY! blah
My GPR .54 is Big Kobuk, when I change to the .50 he's Little Kobuk. These are two dogs I've had in the past. Big 'buk was grampa to Little 'buk.
I used to do competion weight pull with little 'buk(little meaning 75 lbs instead of the 145 lbs his grampa weighed). I was looking for a name that fit
a rifle with 2 barrels and Kobuk jumped out at me one day. Kobuk in Yupik Inuit means "Big Dog" and that sure fits my .54! That and doing everything
I ask of it is just what my 2 old boys (now gone on) did! I don't have a Kobuk in my dog yards right now, but I have one in my gun cabinet!
Thanks for the cleaning tips that can be used on my longrifle.
my .40 cal southern rifle , has a curly cherry stock . it`s long sleek and pretty as a picture , its name is emmylou ! named after my favorite country singer !
Oh where to start....
The pratice of naming a gun is something some do and others do not... I have not seen the necessity of naming any of my modern guns, but when I got my first M/L ( a cabella's 54 cal hawkin knock off) It was a present from some friends in the Colorado DNR... The rifle was in the possesson of a feller caught poaching elk so it was named Poacher... just seemed right at the time....
"Patience" got her name when she arrived at my house from TVM on a cold sleeting day and I was ready to take her outside and test her out in the cold misserable damp, but as I held her in front of the fireplace for pictures I am sure she whispered "Patience, I am here and we will be together for the rest of your life..." And No I was not drinking at that moment!
of course Bulldog lady has taken the bait also and named all her M/L's too....
I'm really enjoying all the rifle naming stories, and I promise I'll take my time coming up with a name. Otherwise she'll be called "Oh Crap" for the first ball I shoot and miss the target!
Gonna have to consider naming my flinter, for some reason I'm leaning towards Ol' Betsie. She's a little plain, especially compared to some of your beauties, but I'm starting to grow quite fond of her.
my first custom gun was a J.P.Beck 44 swamped rice barrel builder sealed stock although he does not favor wd 40 take fine nozzle and run down both sides of barrel will seep in and help protect bottom of barrel.As for name..... Beckie my first love
My guns never say anything to me except, BOOM!.
Quote from: Hanshi on February 05, 2013
My guns never say anything to me except, BOOM!.
And mine speak to the deer and elk, but all I hear is the BOOM when the sights are right! ;D hntr
There are little gadgets you can buy that consist of a fitting that replaces the vent liner to which is attached a piece of plastic tubing (like aquarium pump tubing) three or so feet long. You submerge the end of the tube in a bucket of water or whatever mix you use and it allows you to pump the cleaning solution in and out of the barrel. These allow you to flush the barrel, particularly the breech end, pretty effectively. With the proper fitting, they can replace the nipple on a caplock with non-removeable barrel to accomplish the same end. Track of the Wolf has them in sizes for several rifles and I'm sure they are available from most large suppliers.