Jim .
your right about pyrodex still being more corrosive that 777or gorex ,but my inline shots better groups with it .I clean it after every range session or if I shoot it while hunting .I use just dawn and hot water and give her a good scrubing .After hunting season I then use Shooters Choice, that stull really cleans out the plastic fouling and I have a tool that a guy here in .va. invented that matches the lands and grooves thats made to help get the plastic fouling out of your smoke pole if you shoot sabots or plastic based bullete like the CVA Power Belts .
And yes it does have a removable breech plug .The bore on the gun looks just like it did brfore I ever shot it .Nice,bright and shinny, but I take care of my guns .
My CVA Hawken has never had anything but Pyrodex shot in it and it's has at least 1,000 rounds through it ,but I clean it real good too and again the bore is still nice and shinny. I shoot T.C. 395 gr Expanders conacals pure lead bullets in it .It's a .54 cal and I load 90 gr of powder in it and that thing is a deer thumper .I've never has one go more than 30 or so yards and most drop like a rock when I hit them with it .I take the bbl off of it and let it soak in hot water with dawn in it for about 10 minuites and then clean and oil her up good .
It still has the same Hot Shot nipple I bought for it when I bought the gun in 1992.Again I take good care of my guns .My Dad was a Sergent in the Army and drumed weapon maintance into me .
I'm almost done wjth my .45 Flintlock kentuckey rifle build and that will only have Gorex FFFg shot through it .I use a Mortous & peatal to grind [very gengelry] the FFFg into a real fine powder for the flint,can't see the sence in buying a whole pound of FFFFg that would go bad before I ever used all of it .I just make enough to keep my Priming horn full[not much at all] and I'm set .
That thing it surprizinglly accurate .I use .440 pure lead pound balls and.15 patches over 90 gr's of powder and at 50 yards if I do my part it will shoot an inch group from the rest for 3/4 shots then she starts to fall off becauce of the fouling, but with that gun I'll load feash loads every day I hunt with it so she'll get a good cleaning every night that I use it .
I'll tell ya , that flintlock is a lot of fun and even more so with that than the percushion cap Hawken you really gotta make the first shot count when hunting with it .
If I can't get a real clean shot just into the back of the shoulder ,right at the front of the lungs ,the deer walks .I won't take a chance on wounding an animal.You bust up that shoulder and clip the lungs and that deer ain't going very far .The Hawken is a differnt story it hits so hard the a shot anywhere in the kill zone and ,like I said most times the drop right there .
Thanks for the tips on cleaning i'll try it out and see if it's faster than the way I've been doing it .
your Friend,
lou
