When it comes to black powder rifle cleaning methods, systems, tricks and tips abound -- some good, some not so good. It's important to realize that cleaning a black powder firearm calls for quite different techniques than cleaning a modern, smokeless-powder cartridge rifle. Yes, after shooting your muzzlestuffer, you can forget the Hoppe's No. 9, Outer's or any other standard bore solvents. While some of these old standbys will work wonders cleaning your favorite smokeless cartridge rifle, they should not be used to clean a black powder firearm. One reason is that most standard gun-cleaning products contain petroleum distillates that have an adverse reaction when they encounter the potassium nitrate contained in black powder. I recently tried to Microlon Products' Black Powder Cleaner, Lubrication and Conditioning Kit. As advertised, the kit contains a four-ounce bottle of Black Powder Magic Bore Cleaner; a one-ounce jar of Ultra-Blue Black Powder Lube; a one-ounce jar of Microlon Gun Juice; and two threaded end bore swabs. While the name "Gun Juice" has a rather humorous connotation, Microlon Products, founded by Bill Williams in Sterling Heights, Mich., in 1964, have been used by the Federal Aviation Administration since 1979, and Microlon gun products were used by the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army pistol teams in 2006. Using Microlon's Black Powder Kit, unlike other products on the market, calls for a bit more work, but work that is said to pay off in easier cleaning and increased accuracy and is said to eliminate "Short Load Syndrome." To begin, Microlon's gunsmith adviser, John D. Lovio, a former law enforcement gunsmith, said the technique calls for heating the barrel with a hair dryer or heat gun. Only the bore is heated, not the outside surface. (Most muzzleloading rifle barrels are quite thick and nearly impossible to heat through). Barring a hair dryer or heat gun, Lovio said the barrel can be heated by firing a shot or two just before cleaning. The idea of heating is to allow the barrel steel to absorb the Microlon products. Cleaning begins by running several patches soaked with Black Magic Bore Cleaner through the bore. This should thoroughly clean the bore, which is then dried with several dry patches. The Gun Juice comes next. Lovio said it is important to shake the bottle well,for at least 30 seconds before using, to suspend the solution's resin. After swabbing the bore with the Gun Juice using one of the two swabs supplied with the kit, let it dry completely on its own, then repeat the procedure several times. The barrel must be kept warm -- not hot to the touch, just warm. The final step is to use the second swab to coat the bore with the UltraBlue Black Powder Lube. Exterior metal surfaces may be given a light coating of either Gun Juice or UltraBlue Lube. Some may wonder what short load syndrome is. I learned about his years ago from a Reading, chemist named Bill Knight. Bill was the official tester for Elephant Brand Black Powder and now tests new batches of Schuetzen Black Powder for its importer, Petro-Explo of Arlington, Texas. Bill, however, termed the problem "ringing," which may be a bit more descriptive of the problem. Short load syndrome most often occurs with in-line muzzleloaders that use shotgun primers to ignite the load. Basically, a "hot" primer can push the bullet off the powder just before the powder ignites, thus creating a potentially dangerous space between the projectile and load -- dangerous because such a condition can raise internal pressures. When this happens, a "ring" is created by a build up of power that burns in the empty space. As the ring builds up, properly seating a projectile on the powder load becomes nearly impossible. However, Bill Knight said that ringing can also occur in a flintlock muzzleloader if too a fine powder is used in a large caliber bore. Bill, and his friend, Dr. Bill Mende, a physician whose avocation is building blue-ribbon winning custom muzzleloading rifles, said that, for example, 3Fg powder should never be used in bores larger than .45 caliber. According to Knight and Mende, .50 caliber or larger bores call for 2Fg granulation, and very large bore muskets, .69 or .70 caliber, can use the very coarse 1Fg granulation. It is interesting to note the Swiss Black Powder offers a 1 1/2 Fg granulation, which should be ideal for .54 or .58 caliber guns. Such rings not only prevent a patched roundball load from being seated on the powder, but the ring that is created is a magnet for rust and corrosion. The condition only worsens over time. However, the proper application of Microlon's Black Powder Magic Bore Cleaner and Black Powder Lube are said to eliminate such rings and prevent them from forming. Although the kits may be considered by some to be a bit pricey -- suggested retail is $24.95 -- I believe the degree of bore protection and longevity they offer make the price and effort worthwhile. It's worth mentioning that Microlon also offers UltraBlue Choke Lube to coat threads on shotgun chokes, and UltraBlue Penetrating Gun Lube, in a refillable 3cc syringe, that is the ideal lubricant for semi-automatic military weapons, shotguns and handguns. Gun Lube will enable weapons to function under such extreme temperatures from minus-100 to plus-725 degrees and helps prevent rusting. All the company's products may be viewed on Microlon's Web site: www.microlonproducts.com.

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