• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades
  • Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Rust...

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Running the last patch or two with 91% isopropanol and ballistol helps prevent flash rust. That's been my procedure for a while and I've never had barrel rust. I even have a little spray bottle with 91% iso that I spray in all the cracks and crevices to help pull the water out. Alcohol is a fantastic drying agent, and can be used to carry oil into tight spaces.
 
Those that use petrol based oils in their black powder FIREARMS are going down the wrong path.
Just use a solvent to remove the oil befor shooting.
there are several oil treatments to use that prevent rust for long periods availableand easy to find, a bit more pricey than the usual gun oil but worth it.
paint thinner cheap and good for removibg oil from firearms, even available now without an aroma.
Blitz
 
water+metal = rust! i never put water on my guns! i use Windex with ammonia to clean. it melts the bp off. then i oil. i never get rust. if Daniel Boone would have had Windex i am sure his picture would be on the bottle right now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
Windex is mostly Water! Read the ingredients on the label. The highest percentage ingredient comes first.
And it also has ammonia in it, so it evaporates almost immediately. I just used it to clean a barrel before using Jax Black yesterday with no flash rust. Several folks on here use various glass cleaners for degreasing/cleaning. I use a moose milk of Ballistol and water for all of my cleaning and have for years with no rust. Only time I get any flash rust is when I'm using straight water and I get sloppy which I just did last Friday and left spots on my .58 smoothy. I suppose it's patina but grr just the same.
 
It takes me 8-12 minutes to clean my gun ...after cleaning bore with water I swab with oil ( been using motor oil last 12-15 years ) inside and out . That light weight modern gun oil doesnt seem to work as well as motor oil... I dont do it every time , but I should .... Its a good idea to run clean patch down the bore the next day after shooting and cleaning , and if needed an oil patch down and out . I dont know the reason but some times ive seen a bit of light rust the next day , just a B.P. thing I guess .... not always but , go figure . No need to repeat after the " day after oil patch " ..... No big deal for me as the gun is handy hanging over the door . I hate when folks clean a Muzzleloader then put it in a safe and dont touch it for 6-8 months or longer ....not a good idea .
 
Last edited:
It takes me 8-12 minutes to clean my gun ...after cleaning bore with water I swab with oil ( been using motor oil last 12-15 years ) inside and out ... I dont it every time , but I should , but its a good idea to run clean patch down the bore the next day after shooting and cleaning , and if needed an oil patch down and out . I dont know the reason but some times ive seen a bit of light rust the next day , just a B.P. thing I guess .... not always but , go figure . No need to repeat after the " day after oil patch " ..... No big deal for me as the gun is handy hanging over the door . I hate when folks clean a Muzzleloader then put it in a safe and dont touch it for 6-8 months or longer ....not a good idea .
Meeehhh!!! I have guns in my safe I haven’t touch in a few years and I can guarantee you there is no rust in them, but then again, I am not petroleum adverse!! Synthetic oils seem to work the best for me. The bottom line is if you clean well, dry well, and lube well you shouldn’t have a problem. And petro based products and black powder mix just fine, just don’t mix them, Kinda like a condom, put it on when you need it, take it off when you don’t!! There is still lots of new in the box TCs out there that’s been around for decades without a speck of rust, guaranteed they didn’t use bear grease to lube them when they shipped them, just saying!
 
It flash rusts while you're cleaning it. What I've had to do to prevent this is to clean with a very light emulsion of water-soluble oil. Ballistol or soluble machine oil about one part to ten of water is enough to prevent it rusting while you're cleaning.
Room temp water , not hot solves most flash rust problems ./Ed
 
Meeehhh!!! I have guns in my safe I haven’t touch in a few years and I can guarantee you there is no rust in them, but then again, I am not petroleum adverse!! Synthetic oils seem to work the best for me. The bottom line is if you clean well, dry well, and lube well you shouldn’t have a problem. And petro based products and black powder mix just fine, just don’t mix them, Kinda like a condom, put it on when you need it, take it off when you don’t!! There is still lots of new in the box TCs out there that’s been around for decades without a speck of rust, guaranteed they didn’t use bear grease to lube them when they shipped them, just saying!
Uhmmm ....... Good .
 
I talked to Jason from Rice barrels at Kempton about this subject. He uses motor oil in his barrels. Think I might try it as I really struggle with rusty patches like the op.

I’ve tried everything too. WD, bear oil, ballistol and barricade. It’s really frustrated me. I talked to an old timer at the club the other week. He was cleaning his rifle before going home. I asked him about getting a rusty patch a couple days after cleaning. He said “yep”. It didn’t bother him at all. 🤷‍♂️
 
Nothing about muzzleloading rivals rocket science in it's complexity. IMO: Most incidents of rusting are caused by using hot water. Some of the stuff that looks like rust is not rust.

Hint: Way back when shooters/hunters did not use bear grease, unsalted lard, tallow and other stuff because it worked well. They used the stuff because it's what was available. i've owned dozens of old original muzzleloaders: The bores of 75 percent were trashed and the breeches were pitted and rusted from firing.

i use synthetic motor oil on my guns. My guns don't rust.
 
As a mechanic I can give a bump to the guys that use engine oil as their storage lube/preservative. Among the many things the additive package in the oil does. The detergents break down carbon deposits and sulfurs from various sources and can contain more than one rust/corrosion (oxidation) inhibitor(s).
 
I never use hot water, but a couple of mine rust quickly as in while cleaning. Like I said, a weak solution of Ballistol and water controls it while drying the bore with clean patches and then I oil it. I use a full-synthetic crankcase oil (real, group IV polyalphaolefin synthetic, not the IIIa wannabe "full syn" garbage) and don't have any rust issues.
 
As a mechanic I can give a bump to the guys that use engine oil as their storage lube/preservative. Among the many things the additive package in the oil does. The detergents break down carbon deposits and sulfurs from various sources and can contain more than one rust/corrosion (oxidation) inhibitor(s).

Engine oils contain base additives to neutralize combustion acids, detergents to keep varnish dissolved, dispersants to keep the particles in suspension so they can be filtered out rather than settle out and form sludge, anti-oxidants to keep the oil itself from oxidizing, anti-corrosives to help prevent internal parts from rusting, pour point depressants, and viscosity modifiers (long chain polymers to thicken oil asbit gets hot). Also some boundary lubricants, typically a metal compound. Basically good stuff for guns of all types.
 
Meeehhh!!! I have guns in my safe I haven’t touch in a few years and I can guarantee you there is no rust in them, but then again, I am not petroleum adverse!! Synthetic oils seem to work the best for me. The bottom line is if you clean well, dry well, and lube well you shouldn’t have a problem. And petro based products and black powder mix just fine, just don’t mix them, Kinda like a condom, put it on when you need it, take it off when you don’t!! There is still lots of new in the box TCs out there that’s been around for decades without a speck of rust, guaranteed they didn’t use bear grease to lube them when they shipped them, just saying!
I appreciate the "just don't mix them" metaphor.
While I choose to use ballistol or olive oil and bees wax personally, using a quality gear oil or synthetic motor oil for rust prevention is fine. One needs to clean that out before using.
Thanks for that post.
 
Engine oils contain base additives to neutralize combustion acids, detergents to keep varnish dissolved, dispersants to keep the particles in suspension so they can be filtered out rather than settle out and form sludge, anti-oxidants to keep the oil itself from oxidizing, anti-corrosives to help prevent internal parts from rusting, pour point depressants, and viscosity modifiers (long chain polymers to thicken oil asbit gets hot). Also some boundary lubricants, typically a metal compound. Basically good stuff for guns of all types.
I greatly simplified my statement. Been turning wrenches for over 25 years, well versed in the lubricant game.
 
Back
Top