Steam Cleaner for cleaning Black Powder

I started this over on Castboolits quite sometime ago, i know several guys that got them after my thread and really liike them. I got the idea from a good friend, Pedersoli markets a steam cleaner with their name on it and it is SPENDY, yet does nothing more than my little hand held unit. It is AMAZING how well these things work! This is the one i have, it is called a Gideon, i got mine from Amazon, it only holds about 1-1/2 cups of water but will produce steam for 20-30 minutes on that small amount, my unit is up to full working temp in about 3 minutes, its fast! I find it only takes me about 5 minutes to clean everything. I use mine to clean the snail and Patented breeches, i pull the nipples and point the nozzle in the hole and steam for a few minutes, you need to hold the barrel with a towel or use a glove as the steel gets way to hot to hold. I also pull the locks on my guns and thoroughly clean them with steam, the hammer, and hammer face etc. Nothing in my opinion cleans Blackpowder residue and fouling like the power of steam. I would think this little steam cleaner would be a dream on inlines as well

Here is a link to one of Pedersoli's steam cleaner videos if anyone cares to watch it, they have a couple of videos on their unit, the only difference in theirs is they have a Wand attachment, i dont think it is necessary, my little cheap Amazon purchased steam cleaner does just as good!

https://youtu.be/kYSj92UasZU

Here are a few pics of a Patented breech, one is a cut away from a TC Hawken, and another diagram showing a Patented breech (in the diagram below they are calling it an Ante chamber, you can NOT access this area with a patched jag or brush) But You can see how the steam cleaner will clean the Patented breeches like nobody's business! You are blasting hot steam directly into the Patented breech. After you get done and look in the nipple hole it literally looks brand new inside, these steam cleaners are AMAZING! I have not had a single hangfire since using the steam cleaner, they WORK WONDERS!





Here is the after math of steam cleaning an old TC Renegade that i had as clean as i could possibly get in a bucket of water using a tight fitting patched jag, and then a good bronze bore brush with a little dawn dish soap, after i got the rifle clean and pulling cotton white patches i went ahead and steam cleaned thru the nipple hole, this is what my patches looked like, i kept working on it til they came clean

Thompson Center makes a rounded tip scraping tool specifically designed to get in their Patented breeches, i have one and use it, but i find there is really no need if you steam clean. By looking at the Cutaway of the TC hawken barrel in the photo above you can see how the TC tool is designed to work, here is the TC Patented breech scraper i have

WOW. What a great idea. I just gotta give this a try. :applause: