Matthew323
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I was reading a post several minutes ago, and something the OP wrote provoked the title of this thread.
First off, let me make this disclaimer..... THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT WHETHER, OR NOT, TO CLEAN BETWEEN SHOTS!!!!
Second, this is a thread about cleaning one's weapons after returning from the range, or from the field.
Third, my background. I got started at 17 in 1971 with a semi-custom, .45 caliber, flintlock longrifle that cost $330. It took a year to pay for, working for minimum wage after school.
I had no mentors. I was self-taught, using the Lyman Black Powder Handbook, and copies of Muzzle Blasts magazines. I made mistakes, GOD was watching out for a hard headed kid, and I learned how to load, and shoot for successive shots WITHOUT HAVING TO CLEAN BETWEEN SHOTS. For up to as many as 75 shots in a row (most ever taken in 1 day).
Fourth, I come from a family of artisans and craftsmen that take pride in what they do. I was taught from the first time I shot a weapon, that you IMMEDIATELY cleaned it when you were finished shooting, unless there were dire circumstances that prevented you from doing so.
Firearms in my family were regarded as finely crafted tools (regardless of their price tag) to be held in the highest regard. To not clean one after shooting it was to be disrespectful to the firearm, and to oneself.
Fifth, I stopped shooting, and sold all of my weapons in 1994. I won't go into all of the reasons here, but suffice it to say I felt my reasons were sufficient cause for my doing so at that time.
I started lurking on various m-l forums about 2010. Here, our sister forum, Frontier, GON, Alaska Outdoors, American LongRifles, North Dakota, Cast Boolits, etc.
Over the past 10 years I cannot tell you how many times I have read the question about when to clean.
Smokeless powder shooters are spoiled rotten. Since the advent of non-corrossive primers, a shooter theoretically does not have to clean their weapon directly after firing it.
For some reason, this has transferred over, apparently through advertising, to the users of all black powder substitutes.
Somewhere along the way, people have gotten the idea that if it's NOT REAL BLACK POWDER, THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLEAN RIGHT AWAY.
I have not yet used Blackhorn209 myself, but it is the only BP substitute that one can get away with not cleaning right away. This is because of it's chemical composition.
My thoughts are these.....
If you pull the trigger on a muzzleloading firearm, not smokeless, then it should be cleaned immediately upon returning home.
If you went hunting, failed to shoot, and the atmospheric conditions permit it; then leave it loaded, tagged with warning tape, until you return to the hunt the following day(s).
Each shooter will have to decide how long they will leave a m-l firearm loaded before pulling the load, or shooting it out.
Real black powder is hygroscopic, which is to say it attracts water. Atmospheric water. So do some of the substitutes.
Personally, 1 week is about as long as I want ANY chemical in contact with the steel of my barrel, and breech. I do not care how corrosive, or supposedly NON-CORROSSIVE that propellant is.
The cost of the primer/percussion cap, powder charge, patch/lubricant/round ball, wad/lead conical, sabot/jacketed bullet is insignificant compared to the possible short term/long term damage that might occur from prolonged contact between a propellant and the barrel.
So. when the Optima V2 pistol finally makes its way back to me after DOC White modifies the stocks, I intend to clean it after EVERY shooting session or hunt. Even if Blackhorn209 is the ONLY PROPELLANT THAT HAS EVER BEEN SHOT THROUGH ITS BARREL!!!!!
I want this pistol to last as long as possible, so cleaning it every time I use it just seems like common sense to me.
I welcome others thoughts.
First off, let me make this disclaimer..... THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT WHETHER, OR NOT, TO CLEAN BETWEEN SHOTS!!!!
Second, this is a thread about cleaning one's weapons after returning from the range, or from the field.
Third, my background. I got started at 17 in 1971 with a semi-custom, .45 caliber, flintlock longrifle that cost $330. It took a year to pay for, working for minimum wage after school.
I had no mentors. I was self-taught, using the Lyman Black Powder Handbook, and copies of Muzzle Blasts magazines. I made mistakes, GOD was watching out for a hard headed kid, and I learned how to load, and shoot for successive shots WITHOUT HAVING TO CLEAN BETWEEN SHOTS. For up to as many as 75 shots in a row (most ever taken in 1 day).
Fourth, I come from a family of artisans and craftsmen that take pride in what they do. I was taught from the first time I shot a weapon, that you IMMEDIATELY cleaned it when you were finished shooting, unless there were dire circumstances that prevented you from doing so.
Firearms in my family were regarded as finely crafted tools (regardless of their price tag) to be held in the highest regard. To not clean one after shooting it was to be disrespectful to the firearm, and to oneself.
Fifth, I stopped shooting, and sold all of my weapons in 1994. I won't go into all of the reasons here, but suffice it to say I felt my reasons were sufficient cause for my doing so at that time.
I started lurking on various m-l forums about 2010. Here, our sister forum, Frontier, GON, Alaska Outdoors, American LongRifles, North Dakota, Cast Boolits, etc.
Over the past 10 years I cannot tell you how many times I have read the question about when to clean.
Smokeless powder shooters are spoiled rotten. Since the advent of non-corrossive primers, a shooter theoretically does not have to clean their weapon directly after firing it.
For some reason, this has transferred over, apparently through advertising, to the users of all black powder substitutes.
Somewhere along the way, people have gotten the idea that if it's NOT REAL BLACK POWDER, THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLEAN RIGHT AWAY.
I have not yet used Blackhorn209 myself, but it is the only BP substitute that one can get away with not cleaning right away. This is because of it's chemical composition.
My thoughts are these.....
If you pull the trigger on a muzzleloading firearm, not smokeless, then it should be cleaned immediately upon returning home.
If you went hunting, failed to shoot, and the atmospheric conditions permit it; then leave it loaded, tagged with warning tape, until you return to the hunt the following day(s).
Each shooter will have to decide how long they will leave a m-l firearm loaded before pulling the load, or shooting it out.
Real black powder is hygroscopic, which is to say it attracts water. Atmospheric water. So do some of the substitutes.
Personally, 1 week is about as long as I want ANY chemical in contact with the steel of my barrel, and breech. I do not care how corrosive, or supposedly NON-CORROSSIVE that propellant is.
The cost of the primer/percussion cap, powder charge, patch/lubricant/round ball, wad/lead conical, sabot/jacketed bullet is insignificant compared to the possible short term/long term damage that might occur from prolonged contact between a propellant and the barrel.
So. when the Optima V2 pistol finally makes its way back to me after DOC White modifies the stocks, I intend to clean it after EVERY shooting session or hunt. Even if Blackhorn209 is the ONLY PROPELLANT THAT HAS EVER BEEN SHOT THROUGH ITS BARREL!!!!!
I want this pistol to last as long as possible, so cleaning it every time I use it just seems like common sense to me.
I welcome others thoughts.
