#9 Postby bruce moulds » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:18 pm
macguru,
in lever repeaters, marlins are the easiest to clean as you can remove the bolt easily.
winchesters must be cleaned from the muzzle, which is not as bad as it sounds.
a rod guide on the muzzle is adviseable, and supporting the rifle upside down is also good.
black powder fouling will dissolve readily in water, and if you have 10% cutting oil in that water, 3 passes will clean it thoroughly and protect it from rust as well, just using a pullthrough with a firm fitting cloth on it.
the old barrels were made of much softer metal than modern ones which wear less.
black powder fouling is alkaline, and combines with natural oils and fats (tallow) to make soap in the presence of water.
this in itself aids cleaning.
also the alkalinity cannot cause rust. it takes an acid to make rust.
this can be quite a consuming interest.
winchester, umc, and other companies loaded and sold many such rounds for decades which were most successfully used.
an interesting aside is that if you google the battle of plevna, you will see what the turks did to the russians with such ammo in lever action repeaters.
keep safe,
bruce.