The unsung hero of muzzleloader maintenance

[Confederate rifleman]

A quality flashlight. I like my MagLite LED pro.
Especially for rifles that don't have ( easily) removable breech plugs, they are life savers. They will show you how good, or bad your cleaning was and are useful for the post cleaning checks a couple days later.
Although you should use the rammer for checking for a loaded barrel, a flashlight is good for that too.
So include a flashlight in your kit. For REALLY checking out a bore, they are far superior to a drop in bore light.

 

[ported45]

I still have a working bore light that drops into the barrel from the old days before removable breech plugs. Excellent for inspecting the bore of a prospective buy, too!!

 

[Confederate rifleman]

Yes indeed. BUT, you can't see all the way to the breechplug. Lots of gremlins lurk thereabouts...

 

[Dave951]

If you really want to see how nasty your muzzleloader is after "cleaning", get one of those cheap USB endoscope cameras. I got one off Amazon for about $15 and downloaded the app for my Android phone. Here's a pic of the chamber of my 1862 Colt Contract. Yeah, it's clean.

 

[GoexBlackhorn]

For being 157 years-old, that bore is remarkably clean.
Happy July 4th to all members here.
RIP Cayuga (Dave)

 

[Dave951]

It's a repop. Even so, that's after I got done cleaning it from a match where I went through about 65 rounds.

 

[Confederate rifleman]

Poor man's bore scope! Gotta get me one of them.
R.I.P Cayuga Dave. Too soon gone and sorely missed. <):

 

[KTK]

Flashlight has nothing on that. Awesome idea, Dave. Headed over to Amazon now.