A question about Ballistol...

[Flint62Smoothie]

I use Ballistol as a patch lube but I use Barricade as a rust preventive. Ballistol is great stuff but it is not a good rust preventive.

Same here, use and LOVE both!

 

[stone knife]

It looks like I need to try some Barricade.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I think I remember that now. Stored in a basement?

Well....yes...no...sorta but not really. :grin:
My house is on a hillside, the lower level might be called a basement. Most of it is finished. My 'shop' is an extra long room with a one car garage type door at the ground level end. The room is heated and dry. My wood working shop is there and I do not have a rust problem with them. When the weather is nice, which is most of the time here in Arkansas, the garage door is open allowing lots of ventilation.
My gun safe is on the same level but in a completely heated/air conditioned room.
And, from that, we can conclude.... :idunno:

 

[Dphar]

I have just recently started using Ballistol. When working up a load for my Mowrey I used it for patch lube and after my usual cleaning with hot soapy water and drying the bore I coated the bore with Ballistol.

The next day when I wiped the bore prior to another shooting session the patches came out dark reddish brown, just like they would in a rusty bore. The bore is like a mirror with no rust.

When I used 3in1 oil after cleaning the patches came out clean with only oil on them. Is this normal with Ballistol?

Given its ingredients I consider Ballistol something like a snake oil salesman would sell out of the back of a wagon in the 1890s when it comes to rust prevention.
Its mineral oil, vegetable oil, some various alcohols, one of which surely has some water in it. Its water soluble they say which means to me its useless as a rust prevenative.
Water cleans BP (or even Pyrodex) better than almost anything. A good PRESERVATIVE oil that actually can prevent rust will, well, prevent rust. When things start getting mixed into an "all in one" product nothing gets done right since it has to be a COMPROMISE.
People that clean BLACKPOWDER fouling with tepid or cool WATER then DRY the bore, then OIL the bore with something that prevents rust and has no WATER in it have no rust problems.
One problem that leads people down the path of using a oily/petroleum bore solvent is that they get black on dry patches at the end of the drying cycle. This, if the bore has been CLEANED is iron oxide being rubbed off the bore by the dry patch. If the barrel is clean with a tight WET patch its clean. If these dry patches with black on them are placed in a dry area, like on a shelf in a shop, the black will convert to RED IRON OXIDE over night. Black powder fouling will be black or grey.
When the maker tells you its good for cleaning BP because it neutralizes acids you KNOW they are either clueless or lying. BP fouling is NOT acidic. Probably more alkaline that the stuff they are promoting.

Dan