Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

Field cleaning technique for BPCR as recommended by Bill Bagwell,
conclusion of Ch. 4 of snapshots from the video SMOKE OVER AFRICA:



1. Unload rifle, open breech and blow 4 or 5 breaths into muzzle of rifle and 3 or 4 more breaths into breech end of rifle.
Bill demonstrates this directly from his lips to his rifle, almost like he is kissing it on both ends. No jokes about that please.
(Edit: The censor function catches nasty slang, on the site.)
A blow tube might be handy except for having to carry it around in the field.

2. Dry cotton patch about 1.5" to 1.75" square: Push one dry patch down the bore from breech end using your wiping stick.
The BP fouling wetted by moisture from your breath clings to dry patch and is mostly removed by one patch.



3. Use a second patch that has been wetted by saliva from your mouth. Stick patch in your mouth and hope you are not too dry to get some spit flowing.
The wet patch is pushed through with wiping stick and removes all the fouling you need to get out.

4. The third patch is dry, and will feel a little grabby going down the bore from breech end on wiping stick.

5. The fourth patch is soaked with olive oil from a tiny plastic bottle in your pocket or field cleaning kit.
Push it from breech to muzzle with wiping stick.
This oils the bore, prevents any trace of hygroscopic BP fouling from attracting water vapor out of the air.
The not-too-clean barrel will shoot to desired precision with next shot.
Grease-groove bullets might be lubed anyway with olive-oil and beeswax 50:50 mix.
Paper-patch bullets clean the bore with each shot.

This field cleaning is good for hunting use after several shots, or if putting the rifle away for a week or two.
Do a more thorough cleaning and lubrication for longer term storage of the rifle.
Then you will need to get it properly fouled to shoot straight.
That is how I remember it from watching the video,
Hope I got it right: 4 patches, some spit, some olive oil, and a wiping stick.