As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
One of my favorite adventures is to scrounge around in old books and learn how people used to do things when they had nothing at all. Gunners or people who used shotguns used to have black powder which was caustic in rusting firearms, and had to use water to clean them out from the fouling, and then deal with rust in dampness in drying them, as one can write about boiling water and evaporation drying, but who had boiling water eh?
I found this interesting bit of advice in the expert said to soak just the muzzle in water, and as it got caked, and then continue shooting it, and it was fine. No one apparently blew a barrel out, but all that water just seemed to me to be a burst barrel just waiting to happen.
In any event, here is the expert's cure.
"When black powder was used so generally, in wild fowl and pigeon shooting, it was customary to dip
the muzzle in water when one was shooting, or souse the muzzle in a pail of water which was kept conveniently near.
The question has often been raised, if it is not injurious to use water in gun-barrels. No injury can arise from its use provided proper care is taken of the gun afterward. Water, as all know, will create rust if it is left on a surface of iron or steel. It should therefore be wiped off, not leaving a trace of it, for dampness will make rust almost as quickly as water. There is no necessity to use water except to clean out the muzzle, which may have become caked, on a hot day.
After the muzzle has been dipped into the water the gun should be fired before the gun has become thoroughly covered with water which might be left in spots or rivulets inside the barrels.
When one is through shooting and is ready to put the gun away for the night, it should be wiped carefully out until all traces of foulness has disappeared. If lead adheres at the breech or muzzle, it can be removed with a wire brush, and if it sticks too much, a little benzine ' or kerosene will remove it effectually. After the gun has been cleaned it should be wiped out again, using a flannel rag which fits tightly in the barrel. A friction will be created by rubbing it back and forth through the barrel.
This friction will make sufficient warmth to completely dry the barrel, when a rag thoroughly saturated with oil should be run through.
The question often is: What is the best lubricant to use ? The author has tried every known one, and he formerly believed I vaseline to be the best, but now Burr's gunoleum has superseded all other lubricants and he finds it superior to vaseline, and a preparation which completely supplies the want of a lubricant and rust preventive."
William Bruce Leffingwell. The Art of Wing Shooting: A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Shot-gun
I found it interesting that when people were moral, Vaseline or petroleum jelly was the best lubricant, for I assume the inside of a barrel, as this is such a sticky mess, not as horrid as Cosmoline, but all the same it was once just the thing where it is now the the thing for sodomites up the rear.
I do not know what Gunoleum is, but linoleum is a plastic floor covering, so I assume it is some type of petroleum based product of grease type manufacture. As I doubt it is of the market, and other things are much better, starting with Julian Hatcher's gun cleaner and lubricant, that all can make from automatic transmission oil, descented kerosene, synthetic oil and whatever else you care to throw in there, this is a last century formula, and it still is one of the best all around cleaners and protectors of firearms.
I am not going to get into my formulas for gun cleaners and lubricants, as that is not what this is about in teaching that subject, it is instead seeing what was in use back in the day.
You will find that not that much has changed really, and while ridiculed the old Hoppes #9 is still as fine of cleaner, lubricant and rust preventative as anything out there in being basically benzene in the original with K 1 or descented kerosene.
What is it WD 40 which is not that effective, is but kerosene spray with an aromatic in formula 40.
Another thing to just keep in mind, like for 30 bucks if you have it, might make you a long gallon of lubricant and cleaner for fishing reels, guns, doors and whatever that will last till Jesus returns.
nuff said.
agtG
