Rust stopping oil

isopropanol alcohol will do, get the 91% + stuff. I like denatured alcohol as it lasts a little longer in the bore. They both dry out nicely and leave the bore free of moisture. No need for any solvent, even windex is mostly water and will not fully remove moisture, plus it bubbles up and leaves a mess in the breech. Plus alcohol is cheap. Also as pointed out above, some cleaners will harm your stock finish. Alcohol has never turn anything I've owned.

Frontier's said:

isopropanol alcohol will do, get the 91% + stuff. I like denatured alcohol as it lasts a little longer in the bore. They both dry out nicely and leave the bore free of moisture. No need for any solvent, even windex is mostly water and will not fully remove moisture, plus it bubbles up and leaves a mess in the breech. Plus alcohol is cheap.

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Interesting, I have been using windex for inbetween wipes for many-many rounds fired, never saw it bubble up or leave a mess. Maybe you should try not using a sopping wet patch......

Ok think on this... My point to using alcohol is to get something into the patent breech to remove standing water after cleaning. Not swabbing between shots.

Frontier's said:

Ok think on this... My point to using alcohol is to get something into the patent breech to remove standing water after cleaning. Not swabbing between shots.

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Ah, I see where you are now. This topic has bounced around from cleaning to protecting to prepping.
For the act you are pointing to, I just use a quick shot of brake cleaner, not HC-PC but rubbing alcohol would not be either, but - it is certainly effective for the purpose.

Sunbeam said:

Why alcohol and would IPA Isopropanol Alcohol do?

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Alcohol removes the water. Using 70 percent IPA from the store already contains 30% water. Kind of defeats the purpose.

I'm partial to denatured alcohol, or methanol. If i'm reenacting, then it's Everclear.

Nothing worse than a tiny bit of water trapped under your barrel preservative.

People all over the world use all kinds of things and methods to clean their muzzleoaders.
The bottom line is, if your gun rusts, you did a poor job at cleaning, preserving or storing .

Griz44Mag said:

I just use a quick shot of brake cleaner, not HC-PC but rubbing alcohol would not be either,

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I would not use chlorinated brake cleaner, and ethanol is very period correct.

Carbon 6 said:

People all over the world use all kinds of things and methods to clean their muzzleoaders.
The bottom line is, if your gun rusts, you did a poor job at cleaning, preserving or storing .

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The amount of effort I got through when I clean would be considered by some (at my club) to be well over the top. However, as you say, I've been doing a poor job in as much as I've not found the correct products that work for me, where I live and method of storage.

This is why I have asked the question, as I need to find a method that works for me. I clearly do not want to do a poor job at cleaning my brand new Hawken, hence why I bought a quality gun and worried about the rust I found last night.

So my new system will be :-

Wash bore with warn water with a dash of dish soap,
Dry bore with patches,
Wipe bore with alcohol,
Wipe bore with birchwood casey rig grease.

Agree with Loyalist Dave 100%
I have never had any rust on any Muzzle Loader in over 30 years

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I was talking to an old ML shooter and he told me about mixing Murphy's Oil Soap with regular old blue windshield washer solvent. I think it was a couple fluid ounces soap to a gallon of fluid. You "washed" the bore with that instead of hot water. Hot water just causes more rust in the bore and burns your hands. I laugh when anyone suggests boiling water and pour it down the barrel. What a shame so many shooters now-a-days think that it is needed to break up BP fouling. Well I tried the blue wash and it works great. I put the barrel in a small plastic pail and pour some down the bore to soak the nipple and breech area. After a few minutes, I take out the nipple and put about a quart of wash in the pail. Then I use the pump action to swab out the bore. It only takes a couple of patches and about 2 minutes of "pumping". I dry with a couple of patches being sure to get down into the breech, Qtips in the nipple area and let sit for a while to dry. I like Fluid Film and I spray a shot into the muzzle and run a patch down and up a few times to coat the bore. I put that patch on a worm and run it down to wipe in and around the breech. I put antisieze on the nipple threads and install the nipple. Wipe down the barrel and put it in the gun, Put the gun away. No rust this way!

Frontier's said:

Ok think on this... My point to using alcohol is to get something into the patent breech to remove standing water after cleaning. Not swabbing between shots.

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Alcohol is your best friend for swabbing and both cleaning and pre-cleaning if you have a patent breech, especially the CVA Traditions style.

Windex contains alcohol.

N.Y. Yankee said:

. I like Fluid Film

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Me too, and G96

My method:

1. Clean the bore with patches and tap water.

2. Swab the bore with a patch wet with WD-40 followed by a dry patch.

3. Swab the bore with a patch wet with Militec 1.

Before loading the bore is swabbed with Break Free Powder Blast followed by a dry patch. Powder Blast is very volatile, it removes all the oil.

I had poor luck at keeping rust away from my rifles bores when I used Ballistal.
I switched to Birchwood Casey Barricade Rust Protection and never had a problem with rust after doing it.

Birchwood Casey Barricade drys after a few hours and forms a barrier against moisture that lasts for months. Because it dries, it does not need to be wiped out or removed before loading the gun. Good Stuff.

Carbon 6 said:

I would not use chlorinated brake cleaner, and ethanol is very period correct.

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Ethanol - corn liker????? That could serve a couple as a multi-purpose chemical for sure..
Oh, and I don't care if brake cleaner is hc-pc- or FDA condemned.. - or not. It cleans oil and junk out FAST.
A half second burst - it does a breech good....

I failed to mention in my cleaning method post that I, too, pour a bit of denatured alcohol down the bore (after soapy water cleaning and then patching it dry) and make sure it goes through the patent breech. I then push a dry patch down to the breech and give a shot of air through the nipple opening.

Kenneth Springs said:

I was taught 30+ years ago that you need to neutralize the fouling after the shot. Think about it, Sulfur and Potassium Nitrate burn (oxidize) to Sulfuric and Nitric acids.

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Actually I think they turn into sulfur and nitrogen oxides and dioxides. They become acidic when water is introduced. Having a lot of high ph soap (Dawn)in the water or using MAP with Murphy's oil soap or something equivalent acts as a buffer to neutralize the acids.

So you want to use soap, clean with lots of water and clean your gun immediately before moisture in the air can convert the dioxides to acid.

I had an interesting discussion once with a PhD Inorganic Chemist about gases being imbibed into solid steel. His answer that "everything" is porous if the pressure high enough. I asked him if exploding black powder gasses could be forced into a black powder barrel. "Yes, of course". Just like CO2 in your Coke. So the bottom line is, do you want these gasses to eat steel? or something else. That's why we use some type of oil. A sacrificial chemical to react with a slowly outgassing barrel.

For the last 20+ years I have had excellent results using a mixture of 6 parts alcohol(91%), 6 parts Peroxide(CVS medical grade), and 4 parts Murohy’s Oil Soap. I plug my flash hole or nipple, pour a few ounces down the barrel, cover the end of the barrel with my thumb and invert the barrel a several times for about a minute or two. All residues will have been absorbed into the solution which can then be posted out and discarded. Wipe the bore out till dry with a few patches. then a patch or two with alcohol, dry, and apply Ballistol (or other rust preventative). Total clean time is about five minutes. I prepare the solution in 16oz batches and use brown plastic bottles(same as Peroxide is supplied). Peroxide will oxidize when exposed to light.

I use olive oil or neatsfoot