Black powder when it burns leaves behind a thick black oily residue commonly referred to as "fouling". This fouling will adhere to the inner walls of your barrel and vent. This will continue to build up the more you fire the weapon. If left alone and not cleaned it will eventually dry and form a crusty surface that can promote rusting and pitting of your barrel and can lead to blockages in the vent that will lead to misfires. The part of the weapon where the nipple is and the segments inside underneath it is the "Vent". When you pull the trigger and the hammer falls on the percussion cap, the fire is forced downward into the nipple then passed down into the vent and vent hole that leads to the interior of the back of the barrel thus firing the piece. This small hole can easily get fouled and blocked, causing misfires because the fire from the cap can’t get into the barrel. This sometimes can lead to dangerous situations as a misfire or even worse a delayed fire. When the line is firing multiple volleys and with all the smoke you may not notice that your weapon did not fire, even though the cap went off. Repeated loadings on top of the other unfired charges is extremely dangerous and if it does finally fire off it may damage the weapon or burst the barrel, which can severely injure the person firing it and others around him. So to prevent such risks, clean your weapon properly after each segment or battle of an event. It only takes a few minutes to do, and the girls hanging around at the sulter tents will still be there when you get there.
Many think that you have to lug around a large cleaning chest of materials and it takes hours to do. Field cleaning the weapon between battles only really needs a few simple items, many of which you already have with you. Some feel they have to completely field strip the weapon to clean it, which isn't so. A conditioning cleaning for prolonged storage or through the winter months is a little different. What I'm covering here is "field" cleaning your musket at an event.
Needed:
• Hot water: used to dilute and break up the fouling in the barrel. You can heat up the water in your cup or boiler, or use a pot or coffee pot if available to heat up the water when you get back to camp.
• Ramrod, most times you can use your own, Enfield ramrods have a threaded jag lug on one end and on the top end has a hole for use of cleaning patches. If you don’t have this type, you can get a regular piece together gun cleaning rod from most sporting stores that can easily be broken down and stored out of sight during the event. Remember that you will need to find one that is at least about 40 inches long for the standard 3 band musket, the majority of the regular hunting rifle types only go about 30-34 inches or so, so you have to look around or buy two of the cheaper ones and combine them
• Cleaning patches: You can get regular cleaning patches from the sporting goods store, but most of these are small and round for use in modern guns. I’ve found it just as easy to use scrap cloth materials
The best to use is cotton cloth, because its more absorbent, old t-shirts or even old socks can be cut up and used, the thicker and rougher the material the better.
• Nipple wrench: You can get the small authentic ones from the sutlers for about $5-$7, that can be carried easily, or you can use the modern made "T" handled type.
• Vent pick: This is the little straight wire with the curl on one end that most have in a side sleeve inside your cap box, most sutlers carry them also and are fairly cheap.
Optional items:
• Small tin funnel, to help your aim when putting the hot water in the barrel.
• Gun oil: To use for wiping down the outside of the gun, especially if it’s a rainy event, and also to lubricate. You can sometimes find little small tin containers with a screw lid to carry it in.
• Black powder cleaning solvent. Helps to break up the fouling if available. Can be bought in little bottles at any sports store. Caution because this substance is petroleum based therefore its flammable, so be careful in handling around the campfire. Also the use of anything in glass. Get a tin container.
• Wire brushes: These can help clean quicker and break up the fouling better, but the normal commercial ones available normally don’t work on our equipped ramrods, but can be used on the modern ones.
• Worm: These are the little metal devices that have the two twisted spiral wire or bend metal ends.
• The intended use of this is to remove foreign objects from the barrel or to pull a bullet out of a misfired weapon. The period reproduction ones will normally fit on the jag end of your ramrod. It can be a lifesaver if you loose a patch down inside the barrel.
• Breech / Barrel scraper: These are the little brass made items that have a flat center part that protrudes out. It somewhat resembles a very large screwdriver head. The use is to scrape the sides of the barrel and also the back of the barrel at the breech plug, that’s normally hard to reach. The back end will screw onto a cleaning rod or the jag end of your ramrod.
Ok let’s get started!!!
First thing you do when returning to camp after a battle segment, and instructed to clean your guns, is stoke up the fire and put some water on to heat up, while your dropping your gear and take a breather.
If you didn’t leave the last cap you fired on the nipple then put another one on it and push firmly in place and leave it there for now. This is to prevent the water from running out the nipple as well as carrying the fouling down into the vent.
Get your hot water, it doesn’t have to be boiling, but should be hot. Carefully pour the hot water down into the barrel until it’s full, then lean it, barrel upwards against something stable and let it sit a few seconds. Caution the water is hot and it will also heat up the barrel quickly, so only grasp the weapon by the wood parts. The hot water will break up and dilute the fouling, making the cleaning much easier.
After a few minutes carefully invert the weapon and allow the water to run out the barrel. You will see just how dark and nasty the water is coming out of there. Repeat filling the barrel with water, and so forth till the water coming out is nearly clear again.
Fill it again about a quarter or third full of hot water, take your ramrod with a small patch and inserted into the barrel. (If the barrel is full of water the displacement of the ramrod will squirt water back at you, so don’t overfill it!!. Also remember to use a smaller patch than normal because if you use one too big it can create a vacuum when it gets in the water and may be hard to get back out. Slowly insert the ramrod & patch and run it up and down the length of the barrel a dozen times or more. Dump the water and do it again with another patch. If you have the wire brush you can do it at this time also. All of this will help break up what fouling remains that the water was unable to dissolve the first few times.
Once you have done this a few cycles and the water is mostly clear coming out, then pour out what remains and then turn your weapon upside down (barrel down) and let it set for a few moments to allow the water to run out, and the hot barrel will help dry it out also.
After a few minutes, take a clean patch and work it up and down inside the barrel to get whatever water may remain. Change the patch and continue to do so till it’s dry or nearly so. Taking a patch a little longer than usual and draping one end up and over the end of the ramrod, then insert it in and go all the way down to the bottom of the barrel in one motion will help get the water that is sitting at the very back of the barrel at the breech plug that is not normally reached with a patch in the regular fashion. You know the residue that will always show up on your ramrod at weapon inspection time !!!. You can also use the breech scraper if you have one, to make sure that all the flaky stuff and sludge is off the breech plug too, which can do a little better than the swab-patch alone.
If you have some powder solvent that you wish to use, this is the time to do so. Place a clean patch on your ramrod and then saturate the ends with the solvent, run it into the barrel in the normal fashion. Then go to a clean dry patch and follow up on it and continue till the patches come out clean and dry.
At this point its time to go to the nipple end. Take the last dry patch on your ramrod with the end over the top of it and insert it in your barrel to the back and leave it there. This is to catch any water that may drain out of the vent back into the barrel. Hold the weapon securely and bring the hammer to half-cock. Take your nipple wrench and unscrew the nipple from the vent. Be careful not to strip the outside of the nipple. Once removed take an old patch and dry out the inside of the vent. Take the Vent Pick and clean out the vent and the vent hole to make sure that it’s clear. Check the nipple and make sure its clear. Scrape inside with the nipple pick and through it, also blow through it to help get any water inside.
Carefully replace the nipple making sure that the threads are properly lined up, don’t rush !!. A small drop of oil on the threads of the nipple will help prevent it from getting rusty or freezing up inside the vent next time you try to take it out. Remove the ramrod and run a patch in the barrel making sure it’s still dry and clean. If not drop another one in. Now you’re done! Onward to the sutlers and watching the hoop skirts running around or other duties as assigned.
There is a common trend in the hobby that all that’s needed to "clean out" the nipple end is to pop off a few caps to dry it out and that’s all's needed. Yes it may "dry out" the vent. But it also does so by blowing all the water and crud that was in the vent back out into your clean barrel, it also doesn’t remove the residue and crusty material that accumulates in the vent that leads to blockage and misfires. The pick alone without removal of the nipple, usually only can reach through the nipple itself, not down into the vent hole normally. I recommend removing the nipple and cleaning the vent out.
There are a variety of opinions in this hobby, and handling and cleaning weapons is just one. Some parts of my training guides may seem too elementary or lengthy to some members, but its geared and focused so that anyone from the first time reenactor can easily understand and follow and the veterans may learn a few pointers as well or at least a good review. I do not profess that my techniques are the "only one" or the "only right way" to do something. But I will say that after 23 years of extensive experience in the historical community as a historian, researcher, writer, professional living history interpreter as well as a reenactor, I have found that these methods that I established years ago, have been proven to work very well and the best that I have been able to muster together.