Two Muzzleloading Must-Have Cleaning Products

About six weeks ago, I was buying a few cleaning products needed for a barrel treatment we're going to test this winter.   I was shopping on Brownells website, and if you are like me, you have to be careful on a great website like that or your shopping cart will get full quick!  On this night, mine did and I spent close to $200 on nothing but cleaning products!  Some I needed, some I just wanted to try, and I'm glad I did cause I found a couple I want to tell you about.

M.A.X. was really started by trying new things, and then passing on what we learn and like to the consumer through our videos.  But now, with this blog, we are able to pass on "must have" things now, immediately!  And this is one of those times.

For those that have read my articles or seen my videos, you know that CLEAN = ACCURACY & ACCURACY = CLEAN.  They both go hand in hand.  And these two items fall well within my guidelines.  They are of high quality and will provide a better clean than you've ever experienced before.  They clean deeper, with less effort, fewer patches and less cleaning solvent.

Have I got you wondering?

The first one I was already familiar with:  the Lewis Lead Remover.  I'm not sure how long it's been around, but I was using it in the early 80's, cleaning lead out of the barrels of my competition revolvers.  Some old timer showed me how to stop fighting caked-on lead by using this tool; now I'm going to return the favor to you.  I ran across it that night on the Brownells website and noticed the Lewis Lead Remover came in a .50 cal model and I immediately knew from my past experience with it what it could do for modern in-line muzzleloading cleaning and accuracy.

This tool is best used by us muzzleloaders after a long session on the bench or after every 20 or so shots, if it's a long session like ours are, but certainly after shooting if you intend to store the rifle for awhile.  It WILL remove any and all powder, primer or sabot residue from your barrel, safely and quickly.  The main part of this tool is rubber jag and is made to screw on a cleaning rod and then brass screens make up the other part of the tool. 

To use, just push your ram rod down the barrel from the muzzle.  Now place one of the screens over the threads of the tool and screw the tool into the ram rod.  Holding the barrel firmly, pull the tool through the barrel. 

On a muzzleloader, there is really no reason to repeat the process, everything that didn't belong in the barrel is now trapped in the screen or laying on the bench.

It will help the tool work, and make it easier for you to pull it through the barrel to loosen the crud up with a few wet patches prior to using the tool. 

One photo shows the patch before use and the other after being pulled through the barrel.  One brass patch has lasted me for 10 cleanings and is still good for more.  Each new tool comes with 10 screens.

At this time, we have found nothing on the market that cleans a muzzleloader barrel this well.  You can find the .50 Cal Rifle Kit on Brownell's website.  It retails for $21.99 (at the time of this publishing) and will last till you loose it.  Replacement screens are around $4.00 a pack.  The only downside is that to use the tool on a 10-32 rod, you will have to buy an adaptor from 10-32 to 8-32 thread.

The other tool is a cleaning jag that I was not familiar with called the "TCS Muzzleloader Patch Jag".  But I'm sure that you can tell how well this jag will work just by looking at it, just like I did.  Because of it's design using  rubber o-rings, this jag allows the patch to be pushed into the corners of the lands and grooves like no other jag on the market.  With this jag, every thickness of patch is a custom fit to your barrel.  You never again have to worry about buying a specific brand of patch you like, or that the brand might change the material that the patch is made of.  It no longer matters. 

I'm not sure if there are replacement o-rings available or how long they last, I just purchased 6 more to have a few on hand.  You use this jag like all others, you just use it less and get better results!  You can find the .50 Cal Cleaning Jag at Brownells where it retails for $10.95 (again, at the time of this publishing).

As we get closer to the end of the year, we are getting close to the end of our big game seasons.  It's time to deep clean our rifles and rid them of all the field use.  We have found these two products to be invaluable at our office and we use these type of items a lot.  These tools have made such an impact on our testing that I'm certain you will see them both in our upcoming video productions  They have both really cut down on my cleaning times and with better results. It would be a great time to add these two tools to your cleaning arsenal. 

Our rifles have served us well all year, it's time for us to serve them.