First time black powder shooter. Need some tips and info!

[ditchtiger]

No one said that you should remove the barrel from the stock. Remove the nipple and place the rear of the barrel in the bucket. Ciean it like you are churning butter. I will clean mine a second time in a bucket of hot water with no soap just to rinse it. A tooth brush works well to clean the nipple.

 

[Bobbygun]

No one said that you should remove the barrel from the stock. Remove the nipple and place the rear of the barrel in the bucket. Ciean it like you are churning butter. I will clean mine a second time in a bucket of hot water with no soap just to rinse it. A tooth brush works well to clean the nipple.

Good point! Without removing the barrel from the stock, you would need a tall bucket!

I usually remove the nipple about after a few churns, so the nipple gets a little cleaning as well. I also lightly oil the nipple threads. the first time I cleaned it, I wondered if my dad had ever removed the nipple because it took a lot of torque to remove it.

 

[RVTECH]

Good advice from all who replied however one thing I would like to add is IF you have trouble finding black powder, and happen to find Pyrodex do not hesitate to get it.

Several years ago I was out of black powder and happened to see a bottle in my local Bi Mart and decided to give it a try.

Quite frankly I was impressed. It shot very consistently, accurately, and seemed to have a sharper 'crack' to the sound when fired.

I also noticed I could shoot a few more shots between bore swabs than with black powder.

Now this is the ONLY substitute I have ever tried and there are several others. I HAVE heard of some trying others with less than positive results and I believe it was because some of the other substitutes are intended for inlines using shotgun primers and they were using them in traditional rifles.

You will still need to clean your rifle soon after shooting, no different than using black powder however I discovered the Pyrodex did not 'build up' as heavy as black powder and was a bit easier to clean.