Newby Cleaning Question

I am new to ML. Raised on guns, fishing, outdoors, reloading, casting, and most outdoor things. I have never had any rust appear in my bores or on the outsides of my firearms. As a young kid some 50+ years ago, I thought about black powder guns, but was afraid of the horror stories of all the rust, pitting, etc. Wash in warm water, soap, etc. Messy, etc.

Now, I read about the substitutes and stainless guns, as well as special hunting seasons for ML, and have become interested enough to begin to purchase all the wares it will take to begin this trip down another rabbit hole. I’m excited! My own 50 cal!
I have watched videos, read forums, etc. on how to properly clean a ML. Lots of little differences. I want to keep my new Optima V2 as clean and 100% functional as possible.

My question is this: Following manufacturers instructions on cleaning the rifle, using White Hot pellets, regularly cleaning and oiling the rifle, is Rust/Pits just part of it, or will it stay shiny/new if properly cleaned? Trying to figure out what my expectations should be.

Thanks and appreciate you guys having me!

keep it clean and forget about the rust/pitting.
neglect it and you will be familiar with rust and pitting.
that said sometimes there is no rhyme or reason as to rust/corrosion etc.
i have a CVA mountain rifle i gave to my brother 30 years ago to use as a prop in his Photo Shop. his son fired it once somewhere along those years and didn't clean it. swabbed it out when i got it back last year and it was fine. go figure.

Thank you sir, appreciate the response. I’m a stickler for keeping a weapon clean and oiled.

On another note, I received my new rifle yesterday and got it out to clean and mount a scope today. It took 13 patches to clean a new rifle. It’s kinda funny that the factory shoots the rifle, and being black powder and providing instructions for ‘clean asap’, doesn’t clean the rifle very well. I did get it clean and the bore is shiny. I guess I’m overthinking this cleaning thing?????

Thank you Mustang…

Stainless WILL rust depending on the alloy. Your Optima is an easy rifle to clean. Take off the forearm open the action and remove the barrel and the breech plug. Swab the bore with a good black powder solvent/cleaner. I like to use Baristol 1 part to 15 parts water. Dry and I usually run a swab of alcohol thru the bore then a dry one. Then coat the bore lightly with quality oil. Brush and clean the breech plug thoroughly and apply antisieze to the threads. Oh yeah clean the threads in the barrel too. Use an old toothbrush or similar on the receiver and get in the nooks and crannys. Finally take a screwdriver and remove the firing pin bushing, firing pin and springsounds complicated but you'll hqve it all done in just a little more time than it took me to write this.
Jut remember to remove the oil from the bore before loading. Also, I like to store my rifle muzzle dow for a day or two after cleaning to let any residual oil flow out the muzzle.

Your Stainless Rifle will most definitely stay Shiny as new if Properly Cleaned, Cared for That said, Remember that Stainless is NOT impervious to Corrosion, “Stainless” is exactly what the name Says, it Stains Less It is Definitely more Durable to Corrosion than Say Blued Steel, But Stainless stil has to be Properly Cared for

I have cleaned as stated with a solvent, brush, and dry patches. I have read about Barricade and picked some up locally. After barrel was cleaned, I sprayed a patch with Barricade and ran it through the bore. It picked up additional ‘junk’, so I ran another one and all was good. Barricade should leave a dry film over the inside of the barrel and it has been said you can shoot over it.

That pretty much what Barristol does as it also leaves a film. But being "old school" I run an alcohol patch to remove it and use a product call Montana Extreme Cowboy Blend.  Like your Barricade I always get one maybe 2 dark patches of residue then a clean one and follow that up with a patch of Montana Extreme Bore Conditioner.

Cleaning blackpowder firearms with hot, soapy water is easy, not messy.

My inlines are only cleaned with Baristol as mentioned above. My sidelocks are a whole other animal and they get a hot soapy water clean so I'm sure to get the flame channel cleaned out.

Cleaning inlines is a cinch...CVA has some videos on youtube on it...I follow their instructions...brush to break fouling, breechplug and firing pin assembly into parts bath. Foam down the barrel...Super easy. The thing with the sidelocks that throws me off cleaning wise is the flame channel path from nipple to drum to breechplug...I cannot see a way OTHER than water to get into that part of the gun.

i acquired a tiny steam cleaner that was made to steam wallpaper off.
i don't nor does my wife have wall paper, so i use it to clean my muzzleloaders.
recently was in hospital with the kung fu flu and when i came home was on O2 for 2 months. got rid of the O2 finally and had about a mile of nice plastic tube left over
the coupler from the O2 machine fits the wand on the steam cleaner perfect, so i figured it was meant to be!
i run the tubing to the breach and steam comes out the flash hole or nipple hole in the drum or bolster depending on which it is.
i incline the barrel with muzzle down and cut a coffee can to sit under the muzzle. from the guck that comes out i can tell how clean its getting.
after no more chunks of carbon are coming out i swab the bore with a swab coated with a paste hand cleaner.
then steam it again .
when i run drying patches in they usually come out wet but clean.
one alcohol swab and then a ballistol patch. done.

Sounds like a good method deerstalker but I prefer to use soap as it neutralizes the black powder fouling stopping its corrosive ability. Then a rinse with hot clean water removes the soap residue.

you are right about the soap. that is where the hand cleaner i use comes into play. it is just basically jellied and concentrated Dawn dish soap. i used dawn for years until i scored this stuff at an estate sale of a mechanic. it gobbles carbon like a piranha.
there are as many formulas for cleaning muzzleloaders as there are shooters i suppose.
i am always on the lookout for the easiest and most efficient way.
used to clean in the kitchen sink. soap and pump action with a kettle of boiling rinse from the tea pot.
dropped a 1 1/8 inch 45 cal barrel and chipped the Kohler porcelain. you would have thought i was killing baby seals!
ever see a angry Scot's woman with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the garage. never knew lips could be drawn so thin!

deerstalkert wrote:you are right about the soap. that is where the hand cleaner i use comes into play. it is just basically jellied and concentrated Dawn dish soap.  i used dawn for years until i scored this stuff at an estate sale of a mechanic. it gobbles carbon like a piranha.
there are as many formulas for cleaning muzzleloaders as there are shooters i suppose.
i am always on the lookout for the easiest and most efficient way.
used to clean in the kitchen sink. soap and pump action with a kettle of boiling rinse from the tea pot.
dropped a 1 1/8 inch 45 cal barrel and chipped the Kohler porcelain. you would have thought i was killing baby seals!
ever see a angry Scot's woman with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the garage. never knew lips could be drawn so thin!  

DS I know exactly what you mean. My wife's Irish so both ours pretty much have the same trigger weight!
I was doing something similar in our sink and chipped the edge of the granite countertop at the sink...
Fortunately it was basically black granite so some JB Weld and a drop of black paint and I was able to repair it to where it blends in perfectly. Its been there for 10 years and still looks good.

amazing how the hot breath on the back of our neck 50 years ago was read as passion, whereas today it causes a vision of Dracula! or a Spanish inquisitor! "What are you hiding?, now what did you break?"

i joke about my wife, but the truth is she has literally saved my life on two occasions. and has given me 56 years of undying love. though she still always catches me coming in with a new rifle, she just smiles and mutters "old fool"