• 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

Dawn Dishsoap

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
If, like me, you are boycotting Gillette then you may be interested that Dawn is made by the same company, Proctor and Gamble. There is nothing magically different about Dawn. Any dishwashing liquid soap will work but hot water is all I need.
 
I suppose Dawn would cut/remove any "seasoning" in the bbl as applied over time using the Drs. formula.
Any such 'seasoning" is built up fouling mixed with lubrication that is building up to the point that accuracy falls off. Even Dutch tells you to get the bore clean to take advantage of the spin imparted by the twist in the barrel. While Dutch advocates the use of WD40 as the cleaning agent (no soap and water), he expects to remove all the fouling from the barrel and that includes what passes for "seasoning".
 
Last edited:
I think he's reffering to windshield washer anti-freeze.
Or maybe RV antifreeze, but you don't want to use Ethylene glycol, it's poisonous.
RV and windshield washer deicer both contain polypropylene glycol.

Either way I don't use either.
 
Wish Necchi was here to weigh in on that subject.
Necchi isn't here, but I can provide some of my experience.

The use of antifreeze (ethylene glycol) has been used as a cleaner and the rust inhibitors in quality antifreeze have around for a long time. Recently I have talked to some folks that have been using it for more than a decade. Yes, antifreeze cleans well and inhibits rust in the barrel. The big concern is that ethylene glycol is considered a hazardous substance and can't be disposed of in a casual dump. You need to use the ethylene glycol on patches, collect all the patches and burn them. Even that may run afoul of some environmental regulations.
 
I was looking for his insight on propylene glycol as a surfactant.

I did a Google search.

1. Propylene glycol acts as a stabiliser for the dirt-removing ingredients, and, at the same time, helps them to retain their function even at lower temperatures. Thus,cleaning liquids remain crystal-clear at normal use temperatures. Propylene glycol is a safe and efficient enabling agent in these applications.--->>> https://www.propylene-glycol.com/industrial-propylene-glycol/liquid-detergents

2. What is propylene glycol? Why is it safe for cleaning products? --->>> https://www.dropps.com/blogs/spincycle/what-is-propylene-glycol-why-is-it-safe-for-cleaning-products

3. Is Propylene Glycol the Same As Antifreeze? --->>> https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/is-propylene-glycol-the-same-as-antifreeze/


"Ethylene glycol (used in car antifreeze) is toxic because it is metabolized to oxalic acid, which is toxic. As an ingredient in Fireball Whiskey, propylene glycol is safe.” According to Food Insight, propylene glycol is added into items such as: Frostings."
 
Last edited:
Took me this long to read this thread. Couldn't believe it was still current.
My 2 cents. Dawn. I don't use it. I clean them with tepid water. Finish with alcohol. Then a final pass with Barricade.
No worries about barrel seasoning or pitting. And if I'm wrong, and ruin a barrel 20 years from now, I'll replace the barrel. If I had the skill to set the first one I'm sure I can fit a replacement in its place.
 
Lordy mercy!! There are so many ways to clean your muzzleloader, Dawn in water is just one of them. I use it and have for many years. I like it because it has served me well but it is not the only way. If you like something different and it works for you, use it. There just ain't no perfect way of doing it.
 
Carol does not like Dawn but I think it is our water, full of lime, a shower is no suds either even with the water softener. Now a good bore cleaner is Ballistol and it mixes with water. Simple Green works fine too but the easiest is 50-50 anti freeze and water.
PLEASE do NOT put WD40 in or on your fine rifles. The stuff causes rust. If it hardens you will never desolve it with anything. I have seen firing pins frozen solid in bolt guns. I had moisture problems in my garage in Ohio with wood working machines. Painted bases. Dust got all over so I sprayed WD40 on the painted surfaces to clean. Never seen metal rust so fast. The stuff will flush water off but remove it and replace with a good rust preventative.
Cold water is best for BP and then real hot to dry, then a good protectant so rust should never rear it's ugly head. Now a bullet or patch lube might need some soap.
I won't comment on what to use for cleaner, but a locksmith told my brother that the best friend of a locksmith was WD-40 as it brought them more business than anything else. But it did work for one purpose of mine. For several years me and another fellow ran a Junior rifle club thru the DCM program. The storage area for our firearms was a loosefitting steel cabinet and a high moisture area so storage of the firearms-was tough.When WD-40 first came out I thought I would give it a good test, so I took half of the rifles and soaked them with WD-40 and the others with just regular gun oil. When I checked on them a couple of months later, the WD-40 ones had turned pure white on the stocks and on the actions, but I was able to remove it very easily and the stocks just shined and the barreled actions cleaned up easily with Hoppe's number nine. I re-sprayed them and it was probably four or five months later that I had to reclean them as we were beginning our shooting season. I wouldn't know about a long time storage but it sure worked on these guns. There was absolutely no rust though the guns did have a Parkerized finish on the outside which is fairly tough but the bolts and barrel interiors remained rust free. The actions cleaned quite easily with Hoppies #9 any toothbrush. I believe it was the high moisture that turned the guns white as it was also quite close to a strong alkali area.
 
Last edited:
Very hot water and a couple drops of dawn gets it clean in no time. I have always used Dawn when I do a full blown cleaning at home. When I bought my first flintlock the guy I bought it from suggested Dawn for cleaning. It works so I use it.
Most important thing to me is that the water be very hot so it evaporates and does not cause rust. I heat my home with a wood stove so it is very dry in winter. I don't even worry about oiling the bore then. Never have a speck of rust. In summer when the humidity gets bad I have to oil.
 
Remember that browning on a barrel is rust - a controlled-rusting that is actually protective...

Rusting doesn't happen instantaneously, and if the moisture is removed, an essential part of the rusting process is missing. I'd agree that using water would be a problem IF you filled your barrel with water and let it sit for hours - since cleaning with water is a process that takes a matter minutes, the fear is unfounded.

Pretty much spot on but there is an exception to the "instantaneous" rust part of the equation. If you get your hands on the old original TC owner's manual it advises to clean in a bucket of boiling hot water. It definitely gets the barrel clean and the hot barrel drys very quickly. That seems like a good formula, but the eye opener comes when the barrel is cooled and a patch is run in the barrel. Dry patch or oiled, it's going to come out red with rust that formed "instantaneously".

I see mention in this topic by some who clean with "hot water". I'm not sure how hot the water needs to be in order to cause this flash rust but something to consider.
 
keep the anti freeze away from your animals, it is a killer for Shure. kidney failure, with crystals. but if most guys already know this please ignore my bit of info.
 
keep the anti freeze away from your animals, it is a killer for Shure. kidney failure, with crystals. but if most guys already know this please ignore my bit of info.

Yes, for sure. The owner of land I leased for my cattle put out a pan of anti-freeze he had drained from his truck. A prize purebred show calf drank it and died. Big loss. I never understood why he did that, the anti-freeze could just have been dumped in a ditch outside the pasture. Still not good but better than what he did.
 
Yes, for sure. The owner of land I leased for my cattle put out a pan of anti-freeze he had drained from his truck. A prize purebred show calf drank it and died. Big loss. I never understood why he did that, the anti-freeze could just have been dumped in a ditch outside the pasture. Still not good but better than what he did.

Antifreeze is recyclable, If your area doesn't have a place for you to take antifreeze, you might want to consider moving, as every Tom, Dick, and Harry is probably dumping oil and antifreeze into your environment.
 
Most people are aware of the poisinous qualities of antifreeze. And animals love for some reason. I heard it tastes like orange juice to the varmints. A horse was killed several months ago at the San Antonio Rodeo. And I kind of doubt it was an accident. Used to be a person could get by with killing an animal, but not anymore. Animals seem to have more rights than some people.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top