Cleaning BP residue after firing vintage 1893

Any questions related to guns

Moderators: Regnier (gunrunner), JohnK, Sure-Shot

Post Reply
dpiarussi
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:30 pm
Location: North Texas
Contact:

Cleaning BP residue after firing vintage 1893

Post by dpiarussi »

I have a Marlin 1893, .38-55, manufactured in 1893 and wish to shoot with BP as it was intended. I loaded some cast 25:1 soft 250 grain bullets in long Starline brass with 43 grains of FFF. Ready to fire but...
Q. Is it recommended that I completely disassemble the action to clean after firing?

Or is taking out the bolt, firing pin and ejector and cleaning those and whatever is visible inside the receiver enough NOT to cause hidden salts attracting moisture and rust in internal parts like the trigger plate, trigger, gate, elevator, hammer, etc. Thank you.
User avatar
marlinman93
Distinguished Expert
Posts: 2853
Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2002 1:22 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Cleaning BP residue after firing vintage 1893

Post by marlinman93 »

My experience has shown me that BP will get into everything when shooting it in a lever action repeater! The residue will fall into the action as the gun is cycled, and not only foul the action, but eventually corrode parts and freeze the action up if left unattended! I'd completely disassemble the action after every trip out shooting it with BP.
My first time out shooting BP in my Model 1881 Marlin was halted after about 8 shots fired through the gun. The action got so sluggish during firing that I could barely work the lever without a lot of resistance. I put it in the case with the lever partially open! After cleaning it at home I never shot BP in my pre WW1 era Marlins again! Lots of smokeless powders that will have similar velocities and pressures within safe limits, so I stick with smokeless in mine since then.
Marlin lever actions 1870's-WWI, Ballards, and single shot rifles!
Brent
Sharpshooter
Posts: 307
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:24 am

Re: Cleaning BP residue after firing vintage 1893

Post by Brent »

I shoot bp a lot in my marlin 1893, both for hunting and competing in the NRA Lever Action Silhouette Nationals every year. I have not had marlinman93's experiences at all. I clean simply by pulling the bolt and I have a thumb screw that I bought on ebay to facilitate that. You can see the screw in this picture below. I rarely pull the rest of the gun apart and have never found any corrosion at all, even though I fire several hundred rounds of bp through it every year.

Unfortunately, the photo has too may pixels to display directly but you can click on the url below and it should display for you.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/P ... 0small.jpg
Post Reply