I've so far just been shootin' in the back yard so I have a lot of cleaning options available to me.
I have been starting with Driftwood Johnson's empty in the chamber and push a windex soaked patch down on a loop. I'm shootin' GOEX fffg and JP 200's so there's plenty of soot to clean up. It usually takes me 3 or 4 patches to get it clean-ish.
Then I soak the forend of a Boresnake with Windex and pull it through a couple of times and I'm satisfied it's clean.
Then a couple of times through with a mop soaked in EEzox and I'm done....with the barrel
I just ordered some .454 PRS 250gr boolits from Slim so we'll see how that works on the carrier area.
Willy
WBB, and all y'all others - Howdy!
I'm afraid the BigLube boolits - as sold by Springfield Spring, who also happens to be MY supplier, won't help the residue issue on the follower. The extra lube carried by those excellent boolits helps primarily in the bore. I - we still have a load of gunk to clean off the carrier. This comes primarily from the blowback - which happens in EVERY round you can shoot. The type of case and the load itself will regulate this, however. 44-40 shooters enjoy less blowback than most straight-walled shooters because the mouth of the case is thinner than others. Shooting full-powered loads will help the brass expand and seal the chamber better than lite loads. There are many different factors that effect the amount of blowback, and I certainly don't know all of them.
What I have found interesting in this thread and the many ways others clean their rifles. There's a lot of good info here and a LOT of experience is shown. I have also found one common ingredient in the cleaning formula ...
water. ALL the successful "recipes" for favorite cleaning solutions include a lot of
water in some formula or another. Murphys includes Hyd. Per.- which is 97%
water. Windex contains mostly
water. (and the NO ammonia warning is a good one, by the way) MooseMilk = 1 part Ballistol and anything from 4 to 10 parts
water.
OK - I'll quit - but you see what I mean? Water is what is needed to neutralize the hygroscopic residue which comes after firing. I personally like the wetted boresnake as Slim mentioned, but you need to wash those boresnakes periodically or you'll be dragging a dirty, gritty apparatus through the barrel of your firearm. I have one of those mesh bags sold for washing ladies dainty unmentionables and every so often I throw all my boresnakes (I have about a dozen - or more) in the bag and then into the washing machine. I use a lot of soap and wash this either by itself or with any oily rags I clean my guns with, and make sure they rinse well. DON'T wash anything delicate with the bag of BoreSnakes or "the Boss" won't be happy at all!