Howdy Gang,
Thought I'd put together a collection of my Tight Wads tricks fer dealing with the darkside. I've always had to watch my nickles & dimes very closely so I've come up with a few things that are kinda helpful in dealing with the various problems that are sometimes unique to the Darkside. Not everyone will need these tricks, and some might have a few of thier own to add. Please feel free to comment if you have a "cheap trick" we might be able to use!
One of my first problems in being a Darksider was the cost of powder! I found that I could save if I bought the low budget stuff in large quanities by mail order. Unfortunately there is usually a reason that it's less costly! It's usually DIRTY! A trick some powder makers do is to add graphite to thier powder. The reasons for this are not entirely clear to me, but the results ARE! It makes clean up a miserable chore, especially if you, like me, want to clean white patches coming out of the barrel at the end of the cleaning session. That danged graphite makes this nearly impossible! A number of years back, on a muzzleloaders board, Bill Knight told me how to deal with this problem....cheaply! Simply place about 1/4 pound of your powder in a white tube sock, roll the end shut and then, holding it at each end, roll the powder back & forth inside the sock. (hint: don't use a sock with holes in it!) Do this for a couple of minutes, then pour the powder out into a container and do another 1/4 pound, until you've a whole can done. Then you can put it back in the can for later use. This treatment will get most of the graphite out of the powder and even remove some of the "fines" in your powder making it burn more consistantly. One sock is good for a couple of pounds, and you can wash it and use it again in the future. (warnings: do this one outside or in a well ventelated area, graphite WILL get in your lungs otherwise. Also wash that sock by itself, or the little woman will probably scalp ya!)
Next trick:
Easy & Cheap BP Lube! Most recipies fer BP lube call for bees wax and crisco or olive oil in roughly 50/50 proportions. It works and it works pretty danged good, even with several variations in mixture and ingrediants. However Bees wax is not always easy to find nor is it cheap sometimes!. I've found a couple of ways to help here. Number one....find and make friends with a Bee Keeper. In the fall they often have more wax than they need. You may have to clean and strain it by melting it and pouring it through cheese cloth, but it will work! Another alternative that's good particularly for making small batches of lube is canning parrafin! The kind sold in the canning section at your grocery store. This stuff can be used in place of bees wax in lube mixtures. Don't try using any other kind of parrafin because it won't work& you will get nasty, hard, tarry, fouling that is a bear to clean out of your barrel! Canning parrafin is refined much further than the other kinds and the nasty esters and keotones that don't mix well with BP fouling are removed from it.
Cleaning that 92 Winchester:
Ah yes, the ever present and much malighned 92! The action is possibly the worst there is to take apart. My cheap trick here is Don't take it apart...and no you don't need to take it your gunsmith after match either! What I do is clean it like a muzzleloader, with a few minor changes. I simply put a fired cartridge case in the action, close it up and clean the barrel from the muzzle.
If it's a bottle necked case like the 44-40 you need to fill the case with something to keep your cleaning jag from getting trapped in the case with a wet patch, but otherwise it's pretty much like cleaning a frontstuffer. After the bore is cleaned go after the chamber with a short jag and get it good and clean. Now comes the action....I take out the screw holding the butt stock and remove the stock, then I hose the action out with cheap brake cleaner! LOT of it, letting the crud run out onto the driveway! Once it's cleaned out I let it stand for a bit to drain, then hose that sucker down with my favorite lube, put the stock back on and it's done!
Muzzle protectors for cleaning:
The previous trick for cleaning 92 Winchesters means running a rod in & out of the muzzle of your precious rifle, which WILL wear the crown, and create loss of accuracy, unless it's protected. For my .45 I made a muzzle protector from a 44-40 cartridge by cutting off the case head. The neck of the case will slip nicely into the bore and my rod can pass through it without ever touching the crown. I've found that a 30-30 cartridge case works the same way for my .357s! With a bit of work I made one for a friends 32-20 by necking the 30-30 case down a bit before cutting the head off. I imagine it's possible to make one of these for about any caliber with a little thinking and the right cartridge! Hey...it's cheap!
Anyone got some more Cheap Tricks?