Now you have fired it comes the joy of cleaning it!!!!
This is how I do it but I know others have different ways.
If I can't clean it properly within a few hours I give it a good spray with WD40 which should temporarily kill off the corrosion.
You have two problems to overcome. Firstly the residues of the BP explosion are corrosive and secondly moisture.
The residues of the BP are acidic but the good thing is they are very soluble in water.
What I do is to remove the nipple and flush the barrel out with plenty of water, giving it a good brush with a bronze brush. This is best done in a bucket. Next I put some BP cleaning solvent through the gun to kill off any remaining acidity. You can repeat this till the barrels are clean – check with a clean piece of 4x2 on a jag. I then flush through with very hot water and leave to drain and dry. I aid this by blasting compressed air from the air line through the nipple chamber as this is the most likely spot you will get retained moisture. I then usually leave it upright on the boiler for a few hours till absolutely bone dry. It then has a light oiling inside and out, grease the nipple threads after it has been cleaned and replace it, then store it barrel down to allow drainage. Bear in mind that the combustion chamber is normally a smaller diameter than the barrel so you need to get some oil down there to protect it – this could be sprayed oil through the nipple chamber or down the barrel.
There are lots of different ideas about cleaning but if you follow this and use some common sense you can’t go far wrong.
John
