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flintlock.50 · April 30, 2012, 07:14 PM

Explain this to me. I've been shooting my flintlock using Thompson Bore Butter for years. It often seems like I just can't get the barrel squeaky clean. The patches often look OK, but never spotless. I just attributed the slightly dirty patches to that fact that I don't usually remove the barrel. This weekend I removed the barrel and both poured and pumped hot water through it till the patches came out clean. Still a dry patch always had some dirt on it. So I tried using some Thompson's bore cleaner. I followed the directions and even poured some down the barrel, tilting the barrel back and forth to wet the barrel well. I then let the barrel sit. Here's a picture of a patch I used to swab the barrel with with Thompson's cleaner. The instructions say to swab the barrel with wet patches till they come out clean. I'd say this one looks pretty good; not spotless, but still pretty good.

Now here's what the dry patches looked like. Note that they are picking up some dirt; not much, but they still aren't clean.

I usually quit when the patches look like this, so I decided to swab the barrel with a patch saturated with Thompson's Bore Butter. Here's is what that patch looked like.

Note that this is AFTER lots of hot water pumped and poured through the barrel AND all my wet patches looking pretty clean!

What's going on here? I must have used 25 patches last night and I was still couldn't get a patch to come out clean!

April 30, 2012, 07:14 PM	#1
flintlock.50 Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2009 Posts: 233	Barrel just won't come clean! Explain this to me. I've been shooting my flintlock using Thompson Bore Butter for years. It often seems like I just can't get the barrel squeaky clean. The patches often look OK, but never spotless. I just attributed the slightly dirty patches to that fact that I don't usually remove the barrel. This weekend I removed the barrel and both poured and pumped hot water through it till the patches came out clean. Still a dry patch always had some dirt on it. So I tried using some Thompson's bore cleaner. I followed the directions and even poured some down the barrel, tilting the barrel back and forth to wet the barrel well. I then let the barrel sit. Here's a picture of a patch I used to swab the barrel with with Thompson's cleaner. The instructions say to swab the barrel with wet patches till they come out clean. I'd say this one looks pretty good; not spotless, but still pretty good. Now here's what the dry patches looked like. Note that they are picking up some dirt; not much, but they still aren't clean. I usually quit when the patches look like this, so I decided to swab the barrel with a patch saturated with Thompson's Bore Butter. Here's is what that patch looked like. Note that this is AFTER lots of hot water pumped and poured through the barrel AND all my wet patches looking pretty clean! What's going on here? I must have used 25 patches last night and I was still couldn't get a patch to come out clean! __________________ NRA Benefactor member; NRA rifle and home firearm safety instructor; NMLRA member; NMLRA instructor for rifle, pistol and shotgun A government that takes from Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul's vote!