Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Bringing Smokepole back from the dead

I wouldn�t use Hydrochloric acid .
Might try a good solvent . Maybe simply green . Rems ��.
Past that would not know .
I tried T7 when it first came out . Once I experienced the first clean up , I called BS to the manufacture claims and went back to BP .
I wont even shoot T7 in the guns I use Pyrodex in

Pull the barrel, and soak with the breech end down in a bottle/can of soapy water first would be my approach. It should not take long. If that fails drain the water, plug the nipple and fill the barrel with Hoppes. Soak...pull, slip back in a dark room and repeat....1,000 times...

"Lord Black is king. All others are imposters beset by demons and chemical sophistry. There are good reasons skilled woodsmen, long range shooters and other wise old men go afield only with the holy Lord Black."

As an aside, and apologetically not germane to the discussion- I couldn't help myself when I stumbled onto this pic- while living in Burkittsville, MD, at the foot of South Mountain, I found some unusual mini� balls whilst metal detecting- a handful of .58 Gardner bullets scattered out across the field. Some time later I was allowed to metal detect along the old stone fence at the foot of the mountain (below Crampton's Gap- a part of the Battle of South Mountain) I found a small pile of the same bullets, unfired, about 6-8" down in the ground. That spot was directly in line with where I found the fired Gardners out in the field. I like to think that a Virginia boy was positioned there along that wall and got off a bunch of shots at the Yanks as they assaulted his position. His abrupt retreat back up the hill probably caused him to leave behind his stash of cartridges. Elsewhere along that same wall, friends had found similar stashes of unfired .577 Enfield bullets. Those earlier finds of .577's led us to assume that the Virginia regiment positioned there were armed with Enfields. Evidently at least one of them carried a Springfield, and had been issued Gardner cartridges that day.

(I lived on an adjacent farm, and found buttons, bullets, and a U.S. belt plate. Said farm was a staging area for Union troops assaulting the mountain gap.)

Gardner bullets/cartridges were a great idea, but in practice not so hot. The big complaint from guys in the field was that the naked greased bullets picked up all manner of flotsam when carried in pockets, haversacks, and cartridge boxes. Anybody who has ever dropped a greased .22 round in the dirt will know what I'm talking about.

Well, I tried 2 hours of boiling with Dawn and Simple Green to no avail. It's still stuck as tight as ever. Next stop: Hoppes.

Question: I have 3X 1 lb cans of GOEX, purchased in 1988 that has been stored in a 30-cal ammo can. I probably have not opened it up in this century. Is it still good, or is it petunia food?

Good as the day it was packed,....run it.

"Subsitutes" SUCK

You'd better watch that talk, somebody from Hodgdon may hop a flight out to Texas and kick your butt!

Just so y'all know. I had a pair of suede crocs that I picked up on sale from Bass Pro. I used to wear them down here at Deer Camp with white tube socks early in the morning. I'd sit at the Thoughtful Spot and drink coffee until I was properly awake and motivated, and then go in and change into proper work clothes and get Girlfriend up to make breakfast. However, I never had my picture taken in them and they went into the burn barrel after about 8 years of service. If I had been photographed in them, I sure as hell would have taken it off Facebook before y'all could have gotten hold of it.

There, I've made my confession. I hope we all can be friends.

You mean to tell me that in 24 years , that oh so corrosive BP hasn�t eaten through the tin cans
WOW!!!!! Un heard of ����LOL�����
Sorry , just yanking your chain .Your Black powder will still be good .

Well, it's been a week now marinating in Hoppes. So far, no budge.

Pull the breech plug...

I was talking about this with a neighbor yesterday and he asked me why you hadn't tried soaking it in brake fluid?

I guess I looked at him funny, he grinned and asked me if I knew of anything else that would creep under grease, oil, carbon, paint, primer, galvanizing, and rust?

It may be worth a try...

Ed

While your problem may be different than mine...... here is what I do. I put a pair of vice grip pliers on the end of the ramrod, pour Kroil down the barrel, wait a couple of minutes and have someone who is at least as strong as you are hold the barrel (or put it a vise well padded) and pull. Mine always comes out. I guess I should tell you it usually ruins the ram rod and don't pull it so hard it breaks it off inside the barrel or you will have to get a really long drill bit or pull the plug. Don't ask your wife to help it will just cause a fight.

If I were in the Shaman's moccasins, or his suede crocs, I guess I'd just make a trotline sinker out of that stainless barrel.

I hope that his many years of wisdom and patience pay off and he is able to once again resurrect the smokepole.

I feel yer pain Shaman. I loaded my T/C .45 Hawken yesterday and when I pulled the ram rod out the brass tip stayed in the barrel.

It appears to be seated pretty damn firmly on top of the ball and won't come out.

See, you're not the only one doing the dance of displeasure because of a BP rifle.

Well, it's been a while. I pulled on the rod last night (sounds kinda kinky, huh?) NoGo.

I have a friend who's both an ex-marine and a PhD Chemistry. He said nix to the corrosives. He suggested freezing the barrel; the brass and the steel will shrink at different rates.

If you're of a mind,.....send that barrel back out here,....I'll sleeve a tool with some brass or hard copper, and MILL that mess out of there.

Remember the observation about "fins" on the rifling ?

That barrel needs to be lead lapped, before going back into service.

GTC

if its that stuck , just have a gunsmith remove the breech plug and knock the jag out.
i would point out again that there is no possible way that if the patch is gone from the jag , that the jag can stay in the bore , unless the jag was the same size as the bore to begin with . simply put , there is NOTHING that can hold the jag in the bore but fouling . if you soaked that fouling away then the jag will fall out.
More then likely the patch is still there . Eather wadded up around the back of the jag or the jag is probably driven part way through the patch after trying to get through the T7 gunk ring and thus letting pressure escape around the jag .
Unless you have buggered up the rifling , there is no need to re lap , drill out the jag ��..
Just pull the plug and knock the jag out . Then replace the plug .
Im thinking that you might be best to have someone else do it though

Cap, I had a CLOSE look at that barrel, while it was here,.....Nicely done but there were still residual fin like TEETH in the edges of the lands,.....and Shaman had commented that it rips patches,......

A little judicious Lead lapping CANNOT hurt that thing,.....only improve it.

cant hurt , but if thats whats holding the cleaning jag in the bore , then its going to take alot more then just lapping .
have him send th barrel back to you . take out the plug , knock the jag out and replace the breechplug .

Good advice welcomed and taken under the utmost, and respectful consideration.

I've got one of Dick Trenk's "Simple Bore Scope"s,....and in an application like this one it excels,.....

When things get silly,....I go borrow a friend's Hawkeye.

I think you're bang on,......there's still a big chunk of patch wadded up in there with the jag.

Oh, I agree. I saw the patch. It came out of the barrel on fire with the center missing.