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Vic
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Cleaning a Ballard after black powder
Jul 30th, 2005 at 10:24pm
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I've got a relatively new Cody Ballard in 40-50 SS.  I use black powder in it, and wonder what I should be doing after shooting, besides the usual barrel cleaning and wiping down all the exposed metal.  I dribble a fair amount of oil down the sides of the action to try to displace any of the Thompson/Center No. 13 black powder bore cleaner which may get into the action while swabbing out the barrel.   

When cleaning the barrel, after a few wet patches, I'll send through a couple dry patches, then finish up with T/C Bore Butter before storing the rifle.

I'm not sure if I should periodically take things apart a bit to do more thorough cleaning, or if there are particular spots you need to be careful about to avoid any corrosion getting a foothold.  Any advice would be appreciated.   

Vic
  
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Dale53
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Re: Cleaning a Ballard after black powder
Reply #1 - Jul 31st, 2005 at 12:36am
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The Ballard is quite well protected as far as the action is concerned. However, a punctured primer could possible allow corrosives to enter the trigger area. Since I have never had a punctured primer while shooting BPCR, I doubt that will pose much of a problem.

My BPCR's are a couple of Browning's and one Sharps. They have been shot, literally, thousands of shots. They are still like new.

I use a popular "home mix" bore solvent that is used extensively at Friendship during the NMLRA matches - that is "Friendship Speed Juice". It consists of one pint each of Rubbing alcohol, Murphy's Oil Soap, and Hydrogen Peroxide. You can find all ingredients at your neighborhood super market or drug store. It is quite inexpensive. It absolutely dissolves black powder fouling on contact. Two or three wet patches and then a couple of dry ones and the barrel is clean. You MUST then follow up with a wet patch of your favorite protectorant. If you use a commercial product I can recommend Birchwood Casey's "Sheath" or "Break Free". I, personally, use another home mix product, "Ed's Red". I then wipe off the whole rifle with my protectorant being careful to keep it and the previous solvent off the wood (most good bore cleaner's will tend to soften wood finish if left on the surface).

The full story on "Ed's Red" can be found here:

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As an ex-soldier during the corrosive ammunition years (yeah, I'm that old), the old army directive of visiting your rifle three days later with another wet patch of your protectorant (in my case, Ed's Red) is a good idea.

It is not a bad idea to also run a few drops of protectorant along side the breech block and operate the action a couple of times to distribute it.

Browning recommends that you spray WD-40 into the action after the cleaning process. Probably not a bad idea, either. However, you do want to be careful to NOT oil or solvent soak the wood. This will lead to the early demise of your stock - NOT GOOD!

Dale53
  
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38_Cal
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Re: Cleaning a Ballard after black powder
Reply #2 - Jul 31st, 2005 at 9:13am
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Unless WD-40 has changed dramatically over the last twenty years, DON'T use it to spray an action's guts!  When I worked in a retail gunshop, I generally had two or three guns a year come in that were gummed up to the point of uselessness by WD-40.  The carrier evaporates, and the light components eventually evaporate, leaving behind a varnish-like goo that will glue the parts together.  In addition, any spray cleaner/oil will migrate into the stock and eventually damage the wood.  Great if you're in the business of selling replacement stocks, horrible if you're a shooter!

David Kaiser
Montezuma, IA
  

David Kaiser
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Dale53
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Re: Cleaning a Ballard after black powder
Reply #3 - Jul 31st, 2005 at 9:49am
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David, I did warn about potential wood problems with spraying the action. An easy solution would be to simply remove the wood (on a Browning) before you spray. Then let it drain overnight before re-installing the wood. If you only do it a couple or three times a year, it shouldn't present a problem. I have a number of rifles that I would not be interested in removing the wood due to the possibility of "wearing out" the wood threads in the stock. However, a Browning has a thru-bolt and this should not be a problem. If you flush the action two or three times a year, even that shouldn't gum up anything. 

Naturally, if you do the "spray once and never re-visit" I would expect to get exactly the same results that you have experienced.

YMMV
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PETE
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Re: Cleaning a Ballard after black powder
Reply #4 - Jul 31st, 2005 at 12:11pm
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Vic,

  When shooting my Ballard with BP clean-up is very simple. Just clean the barrel like you would with smokeless. I use Hoppe's #9. A coupla wet ones pushed thru the barrel followed by four strokes of a brass brush, and both sides of two more wet patches and I'm done for the present. If you're gonna be shooting it within a day or so just leave your barrel wet with the Hoppes and run a dry patch thru just before shooting. The first shot will usually be right in the group. If you're done for a while then I'd dry the bore out and coat it with WD-40...... But as mentioned, absolutely, positively, do not put the WD-40 into the trigger mechanism. It's the perfect preservative for long term storage but will eventually dry into a gum, or varnish, that will really screw up the works.

  If I'm shooting the gun every day or so I don't bother dropping the breech block out, but will do so once a week or so. If you're gonna store it for any length of time then you'll want to drop the block out and go over it. As Dale mentions there shouldn't be anything but some powder smoke residue on the breech face which shouldn't cause any problems with rusting. But, I spray ALL my BP & smokeless SS actions down with brake cleaner and blow them dry and then give them a shot of any of the newer gun oils and blow or wipe that off so it doesn't run into the wood. A very thin film is all you need on them.... just like on a modern smokeless gun.

  The Ballard is especially easy to take down. Drop the lever and take that screw out. Pull the lever down slightly so you can get at the extractor. Pull that down slightly and pivot it about 90 degrees till it comes out and the breech block will then come out. While the breech block is out make sure all the recesses around the barrel are clean. The extractor slot tends to get fouled up a bit so pay careful attention to that.

PETE
  
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