The original service method for cleaning your U.S. rifle musket bore

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Posted on: 14/11/2014
 

2kExtracts from: Rules for the management and cleaning of the rifle musket, model 1863, for the use of soldiers with descriptive plates. (Washington, 1863)

After dismounting the barrel from the stock, the soldier had to follow these steps:

„To clean the barrel:

1st. Stop the hole in the cone with a peg of wood; pour a gill of water (warm if it can be had) into the muzzle; let it stand a short time to soften the deposit of the powder; put a plug of soft wood into the muzzle and shake the water up and down the barrel well; pour it out and repeat the washing until the water comes out clear; take out the peg from the cone and stand the barrel, muzzle downwards, to drain for a few moments.

2nd. Screw the wiper on to the end of the ramrod and put a piece of dry cloth or tow round it, sufficient to prevent it from chafing the grooves of the barrel; wipe the barrel quite dry, changing or drying the cloth two or three times.

3rd. To clean the exterior of the barrel, lay it flat on a bench or board, to avoid bending it. The practice of supporting the barrel at each end and rubbing it with a strap or buff-stick, or with the ramrod, or any other instrument, to burnish it, is pernicious, and should be strictly forbidden.

5th. After firing, the barrel should always be washed as soon as practicable; when the water comes off clear, wipe the barrel dry and pass into it a rag moistened with oil.

Fine four of emery cloth is the best article to clean the exterior of the barrel.”

If there was no chance to disassemble the rifle-musket, the soldier could use this easier method as well:

„Put a piece of rag or soft leather on the top of the cone and let the hammer down upon it; pour a gill of water into the muzzle carefully, so that it does not run down the outside; put a plug of wood into the muzzle and shake the gun up and down, changing the water repeatedly until it comes out clear. When clear, withdraw the leather and stand the musket on the muzzle for a few moments, than wipe out the barrel, (as given in the second rule for cleaning,) and also wipe the exterior of the lock and the outside of the barrel around the cone and cone seat, first with a damp rag and then with a dry one, and lastly with a rag that has been slightly oiled. In this way all the dirt due to firing may be removed without taking out a screw.”

And the tools for cleaning:

tools

muksetandaccess

 
Tags : Living history, Muzzleloading, Rifle musket
Posted in: Blackpowder shooting, History

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