Keeping it shiny and handsome

[lastchip]

Just purchased a 1855 springfield repro. Its the first gun I've ever owned with so much non blued metal surfaces, barrel, bands, but plate, lock..etc. Is there something I can coat the metal parts in, too protect against surface rust and discoloration that I see on so many springfield 55s and 61s at re-enactor events.



1595

[Maillemaker]

Keep the firearm clean and oiled.

Steve

[Southron Sr.]

Funny you made that post! I just finished doing a "C & R" [Springfield Armory Lingo for "Clean and Repair/Restore] of a replica Fayetteville I built 15 years ago today.

Figure on making this an "Annual Event:" Completely disassemble the arm and clean every speck of dirt, rust, powder fouling, etc off of each and every part.

Also, have several sheets 600 Grit Emery Paper (obtained from the local hardware store) to "burnish" the bright metal and remove all traces of rust.

When I re-assemble the lock, I use some 3 in 1 Machine Oil to oil the parts and for the rest of the arm, especially the bore, I use "Break-Free" spray on oil that can be obtained at the Sporting Goods/Firearms counter of the local Wal-Mart.

This is just a personal quirk of mine, but I HATE the plastic stock finish (or whatever it is) that comes on most of the Italian replica muskets. I remove it and replace it with a Linseed Oil Finish, "Tru-Oil" by Birchwood Casey.

Back in the old days, Springfield "finished" a stock by simply dipping it in a batch of Boiling Linseed Oil and then set it aside on a rack to dry. In the interest of "uniformity," apparantly some dark colored dye was added to the batch of Linseed Oil because the musket stocks came out almost black.

But, back to my point: With a Tru-Oil finish, when it gets looking a little ragged, simply disassemble the arm, remove all of the metal parts from the stock and then wash it using a mild detergent.

After the stock is thoroughly dry, you can apply another coat of Tru-Oil and let it dry. It will make your stock look "Brand New" again.

Just make it a hard and fast habit to ALWAYS CLEAN YOUR GUN JUST AS SOON AS YOU CAN AFTER SHOOTING IT. More black powder guns have been ruined because someone forgot to clean it after a shooting session-just put it away until the gun became a rusty "Object-de-Art."

[Mike Stein]

I've owned my Armi Sport '55 since 2008 and have kept the preservation of public property so it is still Navy Dept. bright and shiny in spite of events here in the Pacific NorthWet. 11 months of precipitation broken by one month of sunshine.
First things first is being able to take it apart. You will find the tang screw on NIB A/S muskets to be extremely tight. There is no shame in having a gunsmith loosen this as they have accumulated enough stuff to disassemble without bunging up the screw slot. This and the hammer screw should be the only things you may need professional help in the first time disassembly. Make or buy a screwdriver that fits the hammer, tang and lock screws. Brownells book 'Gunsmith Kinks' is a great resource for learning to shape and fit proper sized screwdrivers and many other things. Best modern made 1855 musket tool is available from Nick Sekela as it is of proper hardness and will not twist out of shape as the imported ones do. It will still need to be ground until it fits your screw slots. I reshaped mine over several evenings using a sharpening stone and adult beverages.
Lock removal is put the hammer at half-cock. Unscrew by 1/2 to 3/4 turn on one screw then the other, bump both screws and repeat until the lock falls from the stock. This is to prevent unnecessary tear out. The lock screw escutcheons may be loose enough to fall out so beware.
The process of barrel disassembly is 1) tompion in the muzzle, 2) remove the ramrod, 3) remove the lock or place lock on half-cock, 4) remove barrel bands, 5) remove tang screw, 6) holding the barrel secure in the barrel channel, turn it upside down, place the muzzle w/tompion installed on the ground and have the breach/tang fall from the stock first to prevent stock damage.
The barrel bands can initially be very tight and may need persuasion and three hands. You will need a block of wood and a hammer. Place block at band where barrel and stock meet, depress band spring and strike wood block. Repeat on other side of barrel to walk it off. This process may need to be repeated for several tear downs until the stock compresses enough to do by hand. You may find a small ridge in the barrel channel running from bottom ring to breach. A/S makes two passes with the router leaving this ridge in the middle. Removing or reducing this ridge will reduce the pressure on the barrel making the lower band easier to remove. Expect barrel band springs to need tuning so they properly spring out and engage the band edge.
Inspect the musket cone. New A/S musket cones seem to uniformly come with a burr on the flash-hole. Drill off the burr or get a replacement.
A/S lock tumbler and sear has a very thin layer of hardness. A sign that you are through the hardness is when the lock begins to catch at half-cock. I now take these things to my gunsmith for hardening immediately after purchase. You can buy a hardening compound from Brownell's, find a hardening recipe and process on line or send lock and stock to Tri-L and Rob Lewis will apply cobalt to all the appropriate parts.
Plan on a replacement one piece ram rod. Sources include Dixie Gun Works and Lodgewood. The Italian made ram rod is two piece and has a reputation of separating. Ram rod separation in the bore can escalate to breach plug removal to remove the obstruction. One piece cleaning rods are available from multiple sources and should be the one you use. Get a worm as sometimes patches go down but don’t come back up.
Common metals, finishes, and powders have changed over the last 150 years. A regular soldier, sailor or Marine was expected to daily attend to his weapon and maintain it as issued in spite of conditions. Your musket will need more attention than your Remington 700 to stay ahead of the field bronze (rust). Make a habit to look it over monthly even during the off season.
From this point you need to decide if you are a skirmisher or a reenactor. Skirmisher like good sight picture with point of aim, tuned locks, and limitation of stock movement caused by weather, climate, humidity. A higher front sight, relined bore or replacement barrel and glass bedding will be on their to-do tuning list within N/SSA rules. Only accurate muskets interest them.
Skirmishers will use steel wool, wet and dry silicon carbonite papers, modern metal polishes (Flitz is popular), 3-in-one oil, Ballistol and many other things for exterior care. They will be particular in the care of muzzle and bore so will use a muzzle protector on their cleaning rod. They will have a barrel break in and seasoning process.
Reenactors are trying to relive the 1860’s and may use the above, go old style, use a blend or give a long winded cover story of why their weapon appears to be sadly neglected. Reenactors mount bayonets which limits front sight height. The musket is more prop then weapon.
Shine old style is sweet oil (any cheap olive oil, real sperm oil is illegal, DGW makes a soy based fake), flour of emery, rotten stone, crocus cloth and soft cloth like commonly available cleaning patches. Steel wool is the application of lathe scarf to cleaning and polishing and it will be discovered several years after the American Civil War.
I use my musket for reenacting. I use water to clean the bore and cheap olive oil for bore protection. I plug the flash hole with a match stick, half-gill of water, swish several times and pour it out. I repeat until the water comes clean. I run patches until a dry one comes out and then oil the bore. I remove the clean-out screw from the bolster to make sure the flash channel is coke free. My bore remains rust free. I’ve found sweat to be more corrosive then rain water and at times have had to use very fine emery on a cleaning patch with olive oil to remove and clean a sweat stain from the bright steel. I keep an (olive) oiled cloth and regularly wipe my musket. I try to tear down my musket right after events at reenactments but sometimes only get the evening one.

[Ron/The Old Reb]

I have both a Euro Arms Two bander and a Carbine with bright shinny barrels. When I am thorough shooting I wipe the barrels down with a little Hoppies No9 on a patch and then with an old T shirt that I treated with silicon. Sometimes I just spray silicon over the whole musket and then wipe it off. The barrels never rust and stay shinny. Never put it in a gun case if it is damp or on a hot human day especially a hard case with a foam lining. If you do the next day when you open it up you be greeted with the horrors of horrors, RUST. Had it happen to me.

[Southron Sr.]

I "converted" my Armi-Sport '55 into a "2 band Mounted Infantry Rifle."

I sawed off the barrel at 33" and also the stock tip. Then I dovetailed for a front sight and installed one I had milled out on a mill. Then I took the ladder off of the Long Range Rear sight and threw it on the mill. I converted the "Semi-Buckhorn" rear sight blade to a flat topped "Partiridge Style" blade.

When I sighted the musket in, I tapped the front sight back and forth in the dovetail until the "Windage" was "Zero." I then soldered the front sight in place.Then I filed the front sight down until when the ladder was laying flat in the rear sight, it was "Dead On" for 50 Yards.

[Muley Gil]

"Partiridge Style" blade.

Patridge

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Naval Ordnance instructions directed armorers to protect small arms with a lacquer coating, consisting of a mixture of 13 pounds of beeswax, 13 gallons of spirits of turpentine and 1 gallon of boiled linseed oil. The mixture was heated and then applied to all exterior surfaces of gun parts, and the same coating is typically found on Army small arms as well as heavier ordnance. Perhaps if you wished to follow this procedure and conducted some tests to see how well the mixture holds up to use, as well as whether it tends to darken with age, others might benefit from your experience.