Muzzleloader cleaning and protection

[cybball]

Last spring I picked up a new TC Triumph. I love the gun so far as it's a tack driver. I picked it up yesterday after a few months of sitting and ran a dry patch through it. It had a light rust color to it. The breach area looked a little corroded. I cleaned it thoroughly, shot it some yesterday, and cleaned it again. I cleaned it really well the last time I used it. What is a good method of cleaning and storing so rust won't form? I'm using the soapy water method. The last time I used bore butter in the bore, but this time I put a light coat of rem oil in there as that seems to work on all my other guns.
Suggestions?

 

[Shredder]

Best bet is to use the regular cleaner and let it dry really well. Forget the bore butter for storage and use a good oil instead. Problems that happen is the user uses the soapy water, then immediately uses the bore butter which will trap some water in the pores of the metal. Sets up a good environment to rust. I ruined an older encore blued barrel with that and this was the suggestion someone gave to me on here.

 

[Shovelbuck]

Dry well and oil. Shredder nailed it with the bore butter. You should be good with the Rem oil. I recommend swabbing the bore with alcohol to get rid of oil before loading.

 

[cybball]

Sounds good. I made sure to dry it well before applying the oil. I'm guessing the last time at the range, I must not have gotten it clean enough, then covered it with bore butter, which trapped crap in there. I'll swap alchohol before shooting. Figured the oil wouldn't be that great for the first shot.

 

[oldgene]

I don't use soap and water to clean my TC, I use the TC cleaner (#17 or something) then run a dry patch and then use bore butter. I have had my TC omega for a number of years, gets stored in the basement in a gun sack and I have never had a problem. But I have never had a problem with my other guns that I use oil on. The reason I don't use water is I'm always afraid I won't get it dry.