bore butter

I can never figure out the flash rust, on my two 50 cal. CVA (1970's) hawkens sometimes I get flash rust and sometimes I don't. Done of my other firearms get it. Used to boil water but now just hot water from tap. Works just as good. And same thing, sometimes rust sometimes not.

In response the the OPs original question. I made a Vincent in 45 cal. I have had a large build up of fouling that blocked the drum after about 100 shots. I used damp patches with a Leigh Valley spray lube. I WAS cleaning with moose milk after the shoot. I oiled with Fluid Film and stored muzzle down. I now remove the nipple and pump water back and forth. That helps the buildup. The fact that the drum accesses the side of the chamber ahead of the plug contributes to the problem. Crud gets back there and is had to remove.

renegadehunter said:

I have now gotten a tin of TOTW mink oil and hopefully will find that cold water cleaning and rinsing yields clean patches a little sooner. Perhaps the mink oil will also be sticky if no hot water is used, we'll see. I wonder why some see flash rust with hot water and some don't? Has to be the difference in barrel metal I would think?

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I switched over to TOTW Mink Oil from BB a couple years back, based on the responses I encountered on this forum. I have not seen the same brown, or flash rust, with the Mink Oil, that was guaranteed to happen with the BB, in three different barrels from different sources. I use the similar dish detergent recipe, (any detergent), and flush with boiling water. That leaves the barrel hot enough to dry any remaining water present after a plain cotton patch or three. Then I run a couple greased TOTW patches through the dry barrel before storage. The other day, I pulled out a rifle that doesn't see a lot of use, and ran a clean patch down the barrel stored in Mink Oil. It pulled out a tiny bit of "something", and that was it. No brown at all.

I have used hot almost boiling water and dawn dish soap to clean my rifles for almost 40 years now and don't get flash rust. Might be because while it is still almost to hot to handle I run a few patches of kroil down the bore and let it cool. I have rifles made all different times of tc production and all seem to work just fine with my system YMMV

Would there be an issue with first drying the water out of the bore with a denatured alcohol flush, then a dry patch?

Bucket of hot soapy water then rinse with hot tap water then pore a little alcohol down the barrel to rid it of left over water. dry patches then a oiled patch. Works good for me. No rust.

I have been cleaning the same barrels in hot tap water for years and I have seen flash rust with some home brew cleaning solutions and not others. I have used Dawn in hot tap water for a long time now with no flash rust. Since I'm cleaning the same barrels and using the same water I would have to believe some of the ingredients I have cleaned with encourage flash rusting.

I tried most methods as found on the www. Some barrels would flash rust if cleaned with water some would not. Settled down to use Ballistol (I guess any soluble oil would do but this I had from before). B milk is 1 part Ballistol to 8 of cold water. Cleaning patches are soaked in B milk and pressed almost dry. I clean until most foulness is gone, never go mad. I dry with few patches of paper kitchen towel, sturdy one that do not disintegrate. I immediately follow with neat Ballistol patch, not milk patch. When out and about, without neat Ballistol, B bore butter patch would be the last one instead. B bore butter is ½ lard, ½ beeswax and few spoons of Ballistol to adjust for the season. I used WD40 few times, when pressed, no adverse effects found. But I do not trust WD40 for more than few days storage.

I would suggest you test any method suggested, like mine, on an old car pannel, that steel rusts like no other.

I tested alcohol, it evaporates and leaves the surface still wet, until water evaporates as well. Wet steel rusts far faster than dry steel. So you should dry it immediately, and grease it immediately. Stuff like Ballistol would soak away any water left behind dry patch and slow down rusting. But any BP friendly fat would be better than none.

Remember Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps.

Been using it for years in the last production rifle I had, and the current home made one, with no ill effect.

Not once, or twice, but several times in the last 10 years Ive been at rondies and several shooters have jammed a ball in the sludge, or broke their ramrod from trying to push it down the barrel with petroleum products in the barrel.

To keep the line going down the trail, I volunteer to let them use my rifle to complete their score cards.
That 2 or 3 shooters, shooting my flinter up to 25 times each.
75 to 100 shots, NO cleaning, and I could do more.

If you use oil based products with black powder, you are flat wrong.
Powder, cleaner, and butter are all water based, dont make a salad by adding oil.

I only use TC 1000+ products in the barrel since it came from Rice.
My barrel is a 1/60 slow twist barrel with .014 grooves and round corner. All kinds of places to get stuff stuck in.

It seem to me that each round self cleans the one before.
The bore butter has to be used sparingly, and the number 13 clean is water based to you want to dry the barrel well before coating it.

renegadehunter said:

I then swab with damp patches and dry patches, then do a final patch with alcohol, and then store with Hoppes gun oil. I swab it out with alcohol and dry patches when getting ready to go shoot again.

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This is close to what I do, too. For long term storage, I use CLP, and liberally swab with alcohol before a shoot to remove all petroleum residue.
The exception is that last time I lubed the barrels with EVOO. That seems to have worked as well as the CLP.

This last time I cleaned I used straight Ballistol last for storage rather than my Hoppes gun lube. Last night I ran a dry patch down it and it came out dirty looking, not rust but some black on the patch and some waxy looking substance, like maybe the Ballistol is softening some of the Wonderlube that I'm not getting out. I ran a few more patches until they were coming out clean and then recoated with Ballistol again. The next cleaning I'm going to actually heat some water up pretty hot, put in a couple drops of dish soap, and also a bit of Ballistol. Hope to have it hot enough to get ALL of the Wonderlube out of the bore for certain. I will rinse in hot water with a little Ballistol again to see if that stops any flash rust, and will immediately start running dry patches through the bore after rinsing to see if I can get it dry before it starts to cool very much. I normally empty out the bucket while the barrel is standing up for a couple minutes before getting to swabbing with dry patches. I will then store with Ballistol again and check it every couple of weeks. I really think I must have some hard, burnt wonderlube stuck in the bore that isn't releasing during my cleanings. May just have to get some Choir Boy and give it a really good work over with that to see what comes out. I check it after cleaning with a bore light and it looks smooth and shiny with that method, but realize that isn't near as good as using a bore scope to really see everything well.

Try patches w/SPG, not as messy & will work.