Black Powder Residue Cleaning

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I have 2 Raptor systems that I've yet to test. Still have the original cylinders for both. Found some 1/2"-20 to 3/8"-16 stainless adapters I plan to use for testing. Local bike shop has bins of 16? and20? gram cartridges (Leland marked, for whatever that's worth these days) for maybe a buck and a half each?
 
That's exactly what scares me with the whole C02 thing. Too many potential failure points..
 
I recently purchased a Raptor CO2 ejection system. It works great and keeps the rocket very clean. However, the same isn't true for inside the Raptor housing. There is quite a bit of BP residue on the charge cup, plunger, spring and inside the housing. It is really hard to get clean even after just a few hours (ie. after I get home from the launch). I was thinking of soaking the parts, but not sure what to use. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jeff
BP muzzle-loader shooters face the same problem. Soap and water works but there are other solvents especially made for cleaning BP residue in muzzle loaders. But you have to clean up before the residue hardens. Extreme long range BP shooters in 45-70 "Quigley Down-under" competitions blow their moist breath into the breaches of their rifles between shots to keep the BP residue from hardening.
 
BP muzzle-loader shooters face the same problem. Soap and water works but there are other solvents especially made for cleaning BP residue in muzzle loaders. But you have to clean up before the residue hardens. Extreme long range BP shooters in 45-70 "Quigley Down-under" competitions blow their moist breath into the breaches of their rifles between shots to keep the BP residue from hardening.

How fast does the residue harden? From your post I'm afraid I couldn't recover my rockets fast enough to keep that from happening. What are some of the solvents that you mentioned?

Thanks,
Jeff
 
For motor case and bp cleaning I sometimes use ballistol. It seems pretty gentle and works pretty well. It is slightly alkaline.

For stubborn things on cases and closures a soak in vinegar helps. I think this is less gentle and is obviously acidic which can attack metal. It works really well.
 
From my muzzle loading rifle experience, Triple 7 was not really much easier to clean. It had a bad habit of developing a crusty residue that took some effort to remove. Regular old blackpowder cleaned very well with hot water and dish soap. Swiss powder tended to burn a little cleaner.
The cleanest BP substitute is Blackhorn 209, but it wouldn't work well in rocketry.
 
From my muzzle loading rifle experience, Triple 7 was not really much easier to clean. It had a bad habit of developing a crusty residue that took some effort to remove. Regular old blackpowder cleaned very well with hot water and dish soap. Swiss powder tended to burn a little cleaner.
The cleanest BP substitute is Blackhorn 209, but it wouldn't work well in rocketry.
I agree that Triple7 in a muzzle loader wasn’t much different in cleaning than BP.

The best for me is Blackhorn 209. My inline 209 uses it an I can go weeks during the hunting season or 20 shots at the range and its not very dirty at all.

But this is a rocketry site, not a shooting site, so I won’t go on.
 
Back
Top