Ballistol Warning

[painter]

You forgot Preparation-H !!

What "black" can??

Not an attempt to get you, but your statement sounded like made up speculation. The attachment was a screenshot from the Ballistol website Firearm Cleaning Oil & Lubricant - Ballistol and ‘likely’ legit. Scroll down and it’s there. Or just look on the back of one of your cans of the stuff as @Hawken suggested. Same info is there as on the website.
View attachment 56945

The one in that attachment.

 

[SDSmlf]

Let me clarify. I use Ballistol I shoot every possible type of firearm you can imagine. I have been doing so for close to 70 years. I have been shooting in muzzleloader matches going back to 1970, centerfire benchrest matches back to 1972, I have placed in the Top 20 in national matches, I am currently shooting in club rimfire matches. I started on Ballistol straight out of the can when I found that a shooter had won a very prestigeous (sic) match with a rifle that had over 100,000 rounds through it, using this product in the way you would use Hoppes.....good enough!
I'm no scientist, maybe some of the responders here ARE. Have any of you ever blown a head gasket in a car engine....did you then see what comes out of the crankcase? It's a churned up combination of oil and superheated water and it ain't pretty. Ballistol contains mineral oil. Just hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of oil and water, but then I'm older than dirt lol.
I clean my Hawken with soap and boiling water, and when I'm through there's nothing but squeeky clean steel in the bore.

Cool. Looks like you have a few more years at it than I do. First shot a muzzleloader in the 1960s (first was an original Brown Bess) and got serious with muzzleloaders around 1980. Have used Ballistol oil for a long time, just didn’t write down date first used. Find it great for a lot of things, except long term rust protection/storage. Learned a long time ago that what I think really doesn’t matter. Comes down to what works.

 

[SDSmlf]

What fun! Lets tell WD-40 stories now. I worked in a small town bank most of my working life. We always carried heat. My buddy chose a Colt 1911 and he always doused it with WD-40. Now and the we would go to the reange on lunch hour just to make sure they went bang. One time I shot my old Colt .380 and it worked fine. When it was his turn it went "pop" and the .45 slug landed on the ground 10 feet in front of us.

First heard that urban legend years ago, but with a slight twist. The gun was a desk jockey’s that had not fired his gun in decades. Always heard that soaking a loaded cartridge, cap in ball cylinder or a muzzleloader’s charge in a any liquid was an effective way to kill a charge and make it safe.

 

[Sam squanch]

I’m now going to try ballistiol as a deodorant......

 

[SDSmlf]

The one in that attachment.

Don’t know the age of the can of Ballistol that I posted a picture of, but it came from a case or cases of it I purchased a while back. Took a quick look and all the cans I current have show the same info on the back as the one originally posted.

 

[Sam squanch]

Anyone use it as buck lure?

 

[SDSmlf]

Anyone use it as buck lure?

Don’t know, but would likely attract curmudgeonly muzzleloaders.

 

[Sam squanch]

I did have a mouse problem in my gun locker. Took a small can ,punched holes in it, soaked a rag in ballistiol to put in it. The mice left.

 

[painter]

Don’t know the age of the can of Ballistol that I posted a picture of, but it came from a case or cases of it I purchased a while back. Took a quick look and all the cans I current have show the same info on the back as the one originally posted. View attachment 57069

That picture shows the labels to be dark green. The other looked black. The cans I have are brighter like what Bart posted.

 

[rodwha]

I’m now going to try ballistiol as a deodorant......

I feel it smells quite nice and I don’t care for licorice.

 

[SDSmlf]

That picture shows the labels to be dark green. The other looked black. The cans I have are brighter like what Bart posted.

For what it is worth, the actual can labels are printed on paper. Imagine lowest printing bid could come into play. Or possibly they were exposed to sunlight? Maybe we should rank the shades of green. And don’t forget black. Plenty of shades between black and grey. And don’t dismiss the lighting when the photograph was taken. Regardless of all the drama that the printed paper label can create for some, with its fifty shades of green, black and grey, let alone how bright it is, the stuff in the container is what I am interested in, and it has not changed. Wait a minute, believe I see a change in the print font.......

 

[Musketeer]

That picture shows the labels to be dark green. The other looked black. The cans I have are brighter like what Bart posted.

SDS's cans are just an older style with the darker green labels and a rectangular border around the name. The newest cans are a brighter green and the rectangle around the name is concave on top and bottom now. Same exact stuff inside. I'm not sure why they changed the mixture from 50/50 to 25/75, but if you notice the older can says "Increase water as desired," which leads me to believe they decided the 50/50 mix was a bit wasteful of Ballistol and decided to go with a lower number when they updated the design.

 

[Grumpa]

Always heard that soaking a loaded cartridge, cap in ball cylinder or a muzzleloader’s charge in a any liquid was an effective way to kill a charge and make it safe.

I can tell you from experience, that I once "killed" a loaded flintlock's charge by spraying heavily through the vent hole and down the bore - so much so that the powder and ball pulled out as a solid plug, wet and drenched with WD-40. A friend touched a match to the powder and it went off immediately.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[TreeMan]

I don’t trust any preservative in the bores of my muzzleloaders. I’ve used a bit of everything to oil the bore after cleaning. I go back a week or so after the initial cleaning/oiling and run another oily patch down the bore. Most of the time it comes back clean, sometimes there will be a tinge of orange. Regardless of what you use go back and oil again every so often. Sometimes we may not clean as well as we thought. Sometimes maybe different barrels have a more or less propensity to rust. Once a barrel is ruined it’s pretty much ruined. Ballistol mixed with water is NOT for oiling your bore after cleaning and for storage.

 

[mooman76]

A Cop I worked with in the Air Guard years back told me a story of someone he worked with. He pulled his gun on a kid he was chasing that pointed a gun at him. He tried to fire and the gun didn't go off. He used allot of WD-40. Turns out it was lucky because the kid only had a pellet gun. Years back I had a 22 and kept a can of WD-40 in with the 22s. I was going down a gravel road and every time I hit a good pump, I heard a psst. Turns out of coarse it was the WD-40 spraying. It ruined about half my 22s. It does seep into things.
I have nothing against WD-40, it's good when used properly and for what it is designed for.

 

[Hawken]

I clean my Hawken with soap and boiling water, and when I'm through there's nothing but squeeky clean steel in the bore.

That's what Ballistol is, it contains a form of "soap" or surfactant, combined with a water miscible and corrosion protectant mineral oil and w/penetrating oil. Say what you want about the fv&@$ing Germans, they know their chemistry and coal tar and dyes and all that stuff.

 

[Hawken]

Ballistol mixed with water is NOT for oiling your bore after cleaning and for storage.

That's the beauty of Ballistol is designed to clean the bore. It's also designed to oil the bore. Sure it is. That's exactly what it was designed for. I know it's difficult for some to wrap their mind around, but it works. It isn't a separate product to be used in addition to or in lieu of something else before/during/after, it is a cleaner/lubricant/preservative.

Now, I wouldn't depend on any thin oil for long term "storage" depending on how long you define "storage".That's what grease or cosmoline, heavy aliphitic stuff is for.

 

[TreeMan]

That's the beauty of Ballistol is designed to clean the bore. It's also designed to oil the bore. Sure it is. That's exactly what it was designed for. I know it's difficult for some to wrap their mind around, but it works. It isn't a separate product to be used in addition to or in lieu of something else before/during/after, it is a cleaner/lubricant/preservative.

Now, I wouldn't depend on any thin oil for long term "storage" depending on how long you define "storage".That's what grease or cosmoline, heavy aliphitic stuff is for.

It is designed to oil the bore in its pure form, not once it’s mixed with water. I’ve been using ballistol for decades for different uses. I use the Dutch method of patch lube using the ballistol/water mix. If you want to use it that way then have at it.

 

[Art Caputo]

A Cop I worked with in the Air Guard years back told me a story of someone he worked with. He pulled his gun on a kid he was chasing that pointed a gun at him. He tried to fire and the gun didn't go off. He used allot of WD-40. Turns out it was lucky because the kid only had a pellet gun. Years back I had a 22 and kept a can of WD-40 in with the 22s. I was going down a gravel road and every time I hit a good pump, I heard a psst. Turns out of coarse it was the WD-40 spraying. It ruined about half my 22s. It does seep into things.
I have nothing against WD-40, it's good when used properly and for what it is designed for.

I think it’s that same ability to penetrate into very tight seams that makes it an effective penetrant for the muzzleloaders breach plug area, a trap for water/residue.

 

[Billy Boy]

I recently found out that Ballistol will heavily corrode brass and possibly etch or damage chrome and nickel plating on firearms. I had used a wiping stick to swab my gun barrel with 7:1 water and ballistol. Took the patch off and tossed it in the trash, slid the stick into its protective tube for storage and left it. When I took it out again this past weekend, the brass end was covered with heavy green corrosion. I was able to clean it off with Brasso, but was quite surprised. When I checked the ramrod I had also used with the solvent, it was also corroded with green. Again, Brasso cleaned it with some rubbing. It appears Ballistol is good for steel but not on brass. Some other forums also warn of using it on chrome and nickel finishes. Just be careful.

Only trouble I have ever had w/gun solvents is Hoppes No 9 will damage nickel plated finishes. Haven’t really seen a big problem with anything else, so far.