How to Care for an Antique Musket

If you're lucky enough to come across an antique musket, you need to learn how to care for it properly. They can rust without proper care, resulting in damage and loss of value. Follow these steps so learn how to take care of your antique musket.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Keep your antique musket clean as a first step in proper care. If dirt and dust is allowed to build up on your musket, it can cause rust and cause it to function improperly. Dismantle the musket, flush it out with hydrogen peroxide and hot water, scrub it out with a solvent then oil it and reassemble.
2. Store your antique musket in a gun cabinet. This will prevent it from collecting dust and being mishandled. Dust can result in rust developing on your musket.
3. Coat your antique musket in oil. It doesn't need to be soaked but just have a slight oily coating. This will prevent the development of rust which can lower the value of your musket.
4. Re-blue your musket if it is blue. Take it to a gunsmith to have it re-blued using a hot process. Do not re-blue it yourself because you risk damaging and devaluing your musket.
5. Register your antique musket with the National Rifle Association (NRA) so you don't have it seized. You can't care for your musket if you no longer own it.

Tips & Warnings

• Always keep your musket out of reach of children. This is true even if you have never fired your antique musket nor ever intend to. Children's curiosity can get the best of them resulting in an unintended disaster.