[Wildwilley]

Fella's I'm whats called an Experimental Archeologist.
My time period in research is the 18th century frontier of Pennsylvania/Virginia. (The Northwest Territory)
What all this means is that I spend upwards of a weekend to two weeks at a time doing research on what a frontiersman would have had with him on the frontier. I have helped build forts, log cabins, and lean-to's dressed in funny cloths using hand tools that most people havn't used for a hundred years.
But what is really great is that when you start doing this you build your kit from historical refference. (Diaries, journals, and written accounts.)
My flinter is a 1760's style Marshall log rifle. It's one of the first Pennsylvania type rifles built in the tradition of the Jeager rifle, but with a longer barrel and smaller caliber. (54 cal. as comparedt to a 62 cal.)
The first thing I'll tell ya is that gun is always loaded. They never cleaned much and when they did clean well it was for hunting or a shooting match. When I clean in the field I use tow. This is comed flax that has an oil in it. I use a tow worm that looks like a cork screw and wrap this around it till its a little bigger than a 54 cal ball. Usually one or two passes and then I load again. I rely on knowing where my gun shoots when it has a little fowling and how it shoots clean. To speed load I use a thinner patch and can accuratly hit a large target that way at 100 yards.
The only time you really have to worry is when it gets really damp out. that is when you gotta clean well. Water introduced to the black powder is what will pitt steal.
The tendancey on the frontier was to shoot and load right away. If you wanted to clean well you pulled the ball and re-cast it. Remember an empty gun is a club and that was very true on the frontier. By the 1770's two barreled guns start showing up and many of these are documented. Simon Kenton, Tim Murphy, and Jacob Wetzel all had one. There is one on display at the Jason Humbrick Museam at Rosco Village in Ohio. But most of the frontier guns didn't last. They were taken in raids by Indians and just plain wore out. The guns we see in museams were stuck in corners or passed on after the introduction of percussion guns and cartrige guns. After the Indian threat was over, some of those guns never saw use again.
Within the last two years, friends of mine have found two flinters stuck in between the walls of a log cabin. Now I ask you guys, do you not no where all your guns are?
So when you see all these really nice guns in museams remember that they still shoot as well as they did back then. They were just put away and forgot about. If you guys are interested Tennessee University is starting coarses in Experimental Archeology.