Ballistol.............

ETipp said:

After much research I finally obtained a can of Ballistol. Never used this product before but many ML folks seem to like it. So my question is, how do you folks use Ballistol when cleaning your muzzleloaders?

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If you have not seen the photo, run the test yourself: Clean a small, flat length of steel. Outside, with your safety glasses, carefully burn a small, thin line along the length. Cover a quarter the length with a section of food wrap/thin plastic and then spray the rest with undiluted Ballistol. Uncover. After a week, wipe off a small section of the Ballistol side; look for corrosion...Obviously, you won’t need to “look” for it on the untreated side. You’ll give up checking on it before the Ballistol section shows any rust... That’s why I spray and wipe as soon as I’m in for the day, and why I use it, undiluted to clean and store. I have a 42” .32 poorboy that I built myself. The full length stock can be removed but it’s time consuming and I do not like the idea of water in/on the wood, so I used to remove the barrel...Then a Navy Pilot gave me a can of Ballistol...his wife used it as bug spray in the duck blind we shared; my wife hates the smell. I use it on my leather, as well.

Bucolic Buffalo said:

My paramedic wife says it smells like a dirty old man.

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That’s because dirty old men clean their guns with Ballstol.

I clean my German, Swiss and Austrian guns with Ballistol, My French guns with Armistol, My US guns with Birchwood Casey and my British Guns with Young's 303!

... so they smell "Right"

Don't like the smell of Ballistol?
Try spilling a bottle of Butch' Bore Shine and see how quickly you vacate the room!!

Personally I like Butch's to clean with, followed by Ballistol to finish up, finally a light coat of Barricade before putting away. But first passes are just plain water (stopped with dish soap, no need) and if really bad I run a wad of tow, usually soaked in Ballistol (straight, neat, like my Scotch).

Oh, and I don't bother storing muzzle down either....all my guns will be RUINED in no time!!

Felix and Mad L. never really thought about it until you mentioned it.

How funny, I use water for cleaning a ML, Ballistol and water for cleaning BPCR's and Butch's bore shine for cleaning 6PPC bench rest rifles, probably some other specialized cleaning things as well.

Different strokes for different folks, whoops I mean firearms but it doesn't rhyme!

French Colonial said:

Felix and Mad L. never really thought about it until you mentioned it.

How funny, I use water for cleaning a ML, Ballistol and water for cleaning BPCR's and Butch's bore shine for cleaning 6PPC bench rest rifles, probably some other specialized cleaning things as well.

Different strokes for different folks, whoops I mean firearms but it doesn't rhyme!

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I think I posted this some time back. If you are seeing it a second time, my apologies.
We took Army basic with the M!. When it came time to turn them in at the end of training the DI's lined up a couple of the heavy GI trash cans full of water with gasoline fired immersion heaters. The water came to a rolling boil quickly. Nearly every metal piece of your M! got strung on the operating rod. You got a heavy mitt (MG operator's) and dipped your rifle over and over 'til the DI told you to move on. The hot metal dried almost instantly. Once it cooled we lubed oiled reassembled and gave the armorer very clean M1's.
Telling this not to talk about unmentionables, but to tell something about cleaning with water.

French Colonial said:

Felix and Mad L. never really thought about it until you mentioned it.

How funny, I use water for cleaning a ML, Ballistol and water for cleaning BPCR's and Butch's bore shine for cleaning 6PPC bench rest rifles, probably some other specialized cleaning things as well.

Different strokes for different folks, whoops I mean firearms but it doesn't rhyme!

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Butch offers two version, one for BP and one for unmentionables.
Don't know the difference, didnt ask, I just have both because I can. Love the stuff, HATE the smell but only after I accidentally spilled some - WOW!

I had, and every unit armorer had a can of brake cleaner hidden somewhere. Let me tel you, an M-16 unmentionable is one of the hardest rifles to get spotless……

Sam squanch said:

I had, and every unit armorer had a can of brake cleaner hidden somewhere. Let me tel you, an M-16 unmentionable is one of the hardest rifles to get spotless……

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I keep a couple of cans of the non-chlorinated brake cleaner handy. Works well.

Wearing my serious head..

I tend to separate my gun cleaning into the following groups:

1. Where there is any danger of having used corrosive caps/primers and/or where Pyrodex has been used. In these cases you need to use a water based cleaning regime, preferably hot water, as there is a real danger of chlorine contamination. Old primer mixtures and toy cap mixtures contain potassium chlorate as it was cheap, reliable and has a long shelf life (hence it being used by the military until surprisingly recently!). Pyrodex contains ammonium perchlorate. The residue WILL NOT dissolve in oil based cleaners and needs a water based treatment to shift it. The chlorate residue will end up as hydrochloric acid which will eat your bore within hours! With old guns that have rust blue finishes, boiling water will also reset any blue that is going brown and restore the finish. I generally steam out any of my guns with a rust blue finish every couple of years regardless. If I suspect pyrodex has been anywhere near the gun I always check clean the following day.. been bitten FAR too many times with this stuff (..so have my guns!)

2. When I know that there is no corrosive element present, and only BP fired, I generally clean first with Birchwood Casey "Pink Stuff" and then with a soluable oil such as Ballistol or Young's 303. If I cannot clean immediately, then I gnerally give the gun a soak with WD40 which will prevent anything drastic happening for a couple of days.

3. Anything else gets cleaned out with a solvent cleaner and then finished with the olifactorally correct oil!

For any surface that lies between metal and wood I usually coat with Renassiance Wax.

FTC

Odors to different people is a subjective thing. in my military, police, and daily living experiences, I like everyone else here has experienced numerous good and bad smells. Some odors I had to put up with or tolerate for awhile but others would make your eyes burn and nose run. Some of the smells I didn't want to put up with didn't bother others around me so much. Different folks. Most gun cleaning products don't bother or adversly affect me. Ballistol I find has a repulsive smell that for some reason I can't tolerate. I bought a can once, used it once, and gave it away. Happy me.

I have nothing negative to say about Ballistol, but the smell is not prima and every time I used this oil it made me cough: don't know why, smell or components, go to know what...

I try to mix some Murphy's oil soap in with mine to make it smell better.

I use Ballistol 1-5 parts water for cleaning and also for a range patch lube. There are much better rust protectants out there. I dont trust a lubricant that can be cut with water as a rust preventative.

Took the pre-safety Glenfield .30-30 Unmen out today with some new handloads.

Just gave it a Ballistol bath. Ballistol is great for lever action Unmens.

Spray it all up in there, place a paper towel under the action, and let her drip dry.

Love me some levers. But hate tearing them down to parade rest.

GreenMtnHunter said:

If you have not seen the photo, run the test yourself: Clean a small, flat length of steel. Outside, with your safety glasses, carefully burn a small, thin line along the length. Cover a quarter the length with a section of food wrap/thin plastic and then spray the rest with undiluted Ballistol. Uncover. After a week, wipe off a small section of the Ballistol side; look for corrosion...Obviously, you won’t need to “look” for it on the untreated side. You’ll give up checking on it before the Ballistol section shows any rust... That’s why I spray and wipe as soon as I’m in for the day, and why I use it, undiluted to clean and store. I have a 42” .32 poorboy that I built myself. The full length stock can be removed but it’s time consuming and I do not like the idea of water in/on the wood, so I used to remove the barrel...Then a Navy Pilot gave me a can of Ballistol...his wife used it as bug spray in the duck blind we shared; my wife hates the smell. I use it on my leather, as well.

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I agree with your wife...horrible!! Smells like puke

mushka said:

Odors to different people is a subjective thing. in my military, police, and daily living experiences, I like everyone else here has experienced numerous good and bad smells. Some odors I had to put up with or tolerate for awhile but others would make your eyes burn and nose run. Some of the smells I didn't want to put up with didn't bother others around me so much. Different folks. Most gun cleaning products don't bother or adversly affect me. Ballistol I find has a repulsive smell that for some reason I can't tolerate. I bought a can once, used it once, and gave it away. Happy me.

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Ditto...clean with water--Gunzilla for rust protectant -- was using CLP but switched after reading military field reviews of the stuff. I do love the smell of Hoppes, though, and even have some of their 'hang on the mirror' car odorizers -- only problem is they only last about 2 weeks

Something is wrong with me(ask my wife) I like the smell of ballistol! Then again my sinuses have been roto rootered 5 times. Don't use it so much for cleaning as I do lubing patches or wads. Yes I'm weird!

gunpa said:

Something is wrong with me(ask my wife) I like the smell of ballistol! Then again my sinuses have been roto rootered 5 times. Don't use it so much for cleaning as I do lubing patches or wads. Yes I'm weird!

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I think we all are. For smell I love WD -40. Takes a lot of self restraint not to drink it.

I’m not crazy about the smell of barricade!