Cleaning the companion

[Mitchg95]

Hey, I was doing some research and found that vineger works pretty good to clean black powder firearms. What do you guys think?

[TwoGunJayne]

The problem with vinegar, windex, or whatever is that these cheap solutions are cut with water.

Yes, WATER.

The problem is getting ALL of the parts dry before rust sets in.

Your typical vinegar solution cleaning spray is less than 5% of acetic acid. The rest is water. Water.

[Mitchg95]

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I see the problem now

[seeker]

It,s been awhile since I shot Black powder but A Lot of the older guys guy that I shot with washed the BP revolvers in Hot Soapy water, after removing the grips of course, one then used WD40 to get rid of the water, But the others put their guns in the oven on low temp until it dried.
Mind you I never got around to trying that I used Balisol  then light oil..

[TwoGunJayne]

Yeah, I've taken a bath with a black powder rifle before.

It's kinda sad when you have to pay more attention to washing and drying your rifle than yourself.

Hair dryers or hot-air guns are useful.

[redhawk4]

I always found rinsing with tap water was not a problem if I used WD40 to get rid of any remaining water after drying it of as best I could. So if vinegar works to get it clean, a good rinse with warm water, followed by drying it and then spraying with WD40 should suffice.

[1943]

I use canned air available from Walmart on all my guns to remove any liquids after cleaning. As far as Black Powder I use my water as hot as I can get it and that helps it dry quicker.  Just plain old HOT soapy water and then canned air.

[gunfitrip]

Windex works fine for me when I'm not able to go home right away.  DRY WELL.  I carry in my pocket to further dry it out by heating it up.  Put oil in the action and firing pin area like the instructions say.  I also use soap and hot water at home.  Put all the nipples in your hand with soap and scrub your hands together (make sure you have the sink closed or you'll be taking the drain apart to get one or more of the nipples.  I individually turn each nipple in a moist paper towel using the nipple wrench to turn. Then twist the paper towel at the corners and turn the nipple hole onto the paper towel twisted portion to clean out the nipple. These guns are not rust proof but pretty close. I've never had rust form on any of them unlike my Ruger Old Army which has.

[boone123]

Nipples? I forgot to mention nipples in my former post on  cleaning my Old Army in the kitchen sink. Take them out and clean with pipe cleaners in the hot soapy water.
I haven't shot that Old Army Ruger for over 20 years. Maybe its time to relearn black powder.I still have black powder and balls that I cast. The only problem I would have now would be gun cleanup in the kitchen sink. Wife is retired now , so I lost some kitchen rights. It does leave a strong smell in the house, and yes, I always got the WORD when she came home...
I may have to test her one of these days...

[Mitchg95]

I'll have to use the hot soapy water and wd40 next time I go shooting (hopefully soon) my father is talking about maybe going camping before we go to Germany this summer, so I'll be able to put more lead down range with my companion and the ruger mk1