Ballistol

[OhioHawkeye]

Ballistol is indeed excellent. I use it on steel, wood and leather.
So good in fact, is why I carry it as a dealer.


The primary ingredient is in fact Surgical Grade Mineral Oil
In Europe, it is approved for some medical use.
I know I have used it on myself as a quick cut salve/rinse...with a cloth bandage.
The wound healed surprisingly fast and I don't have a scar.
In the USA, it is an off label application so I cannot recommend it.

Here is the MSDS if anyone is interested. Take note, it is for the aerosol version of the product.
Ballistol in liquid form is Non-Toxic and is not a carcinogen.

Ballistol 10:1 with water for cleaning? Yea or nay? How about Murphy's?

I use liquid Ballistol mostly. The aerosol I use when finished cleaning and inside locks. The liquid, I use 50/50 mixed with water to let the barrel soak, then at 100% on patches to clean. When all is finished, I wipe down all metal, wood and leather with 100% Ballistol. Yes, it does darken leather a little, but is as good as bear oil and doesn't go rancid.

 

[Scota@4570]

Mineral oil is a petroleum distillate, really. Bore butter contains petroleum, no kidding. The idea that any petroleum product will create sludge or tar is myth. The idea that no petroleum product should ever touch a ML wrong. The non petroleum products often used a very poor lubricants and rust preventers. The muzzle loading hobby attracts lots of folklore and odd notions. This is one example.

Ballistol stinks, at least to me. I won't use it on that basis. Buy a small container at first and see what you think.

 

[French Colonial]

And I LOVE Ballistol, in the BPCRS crowd I used to run with it was the only lubricant that would guarantee that your first shot was at your same point of aim after cleaning between banks of animals. All other products would take two to three shots before returning to point of aim. This saved time so you could start shooting for score ASAP.

Kept using it when I returned to my muzzleloading roots, as a cleaner cut 10-1 it works great, and as a rust preventative for short term (weeks not years) it works as well (R.I.G. for long term storage). I tried it as a patch lube the other day and it seemed to work but this lubricated patch thing is new to me, I believe I tried lubed patches back in the 70's but do not remember what I tried, some liquid in a squeese bottle. I have used mutton tallow in the past if I was going to leave the rifle loaded for a while like when hunting and spit patches for targets.

I have went through a couple of gallons of the stuff I would guess and never had a problem with it increasing fouling, if anything just the opposite, I have used so much of it I think it smells pretty good, can't seem to get the wife to try it as perfume for some reason.......

 

[user 36911]

Mineral oil is a petroleum distillate, really. Bore butter contains petroleum, no kidding. The idea that any petroleum product will create sludge or tar is myth. The idea that no petroleum product should ever touch a ML wrong. The non petroleum products often used a very poor lubricants and rust preventers. The muzzle loading hobby attracts lots of folklore and odd notions. This is one example.

Ballistol stinks, at least to me. I won't use it on that basis. Buy a small container at first and see what you think.

'
Ballistol is pharmaceutical mineral oil. It's far removed from petroleum that shouldn't be used with black powder.

No idea about bore butter other than it's crappy. Where did you find the ingredients?

 

[Scota@4570]

"Mineral oil is the collective name for a range of byproducts of crude oil processing and refining. These compounds are mixtures of different weights and grades of hydrocarbons containing between 15 and 40 carbon (C15 to C40) molecules. Mineral oils undergo further distillation to remove contaminants such as sulfur, lead, vanadium and more complex hydrocarbons such as benzene to produce cosmetic-grade, food-grade and pharmaceutical-grade mineral oils. The final products are colorless, odorless liquids or opaque waxes. They are commonly known as paraffin, liquid paraffin, white oil, petroleum jelly or waxes. They have numerous applications in medicine, cosmetics, food manufacture, scientific research, wood conditioning and machinery lubrication."

I was a scientist for 30 years. Part of my training was identifying various accelerants used by arsonists. Things that we think of as oil are a mixture of various long chain hydrocarbons. The difference with mineral oil you might ingest is in how the contaminants are removed . Crude oil is a mix of all kinds of stuff. It is distilled to separate the components. You then get the petroleum products we think of from LP gas to road tar. Certain cuts in the ranges specified above are specially cleaned up to make them safe for ingestion.

Your gun does not care if there are traces of contaminants or not. It is all oil and works the same.

Has anyone actually tried to use 3 in 1 or drugstore mineral oil as a patch lube? I know from experience that ATF causes no problems. I have no reason to take a deep dive into it but would not anticipate any serious problems. Ballistol is so similar I see no reason to expect a different result.

 

[user 36911]

The ingredients in bore butter?

 

[user 36911]

One more question.

Motor oil doesn't mix with water.

Ballistol does.

How are they different and how would the difference affect how they would react with black powder?

 

[Crow-Feather]

I used a Ballistol mix for moose milk. I found my barrels harder to clean. I went back to a water soluable cutting oil mixed with water. Barrels are now super easy to get clean. The statement that there is oil in this and that may be true, but it is the amount of oil etc. that means anything. There is humidity (water) in the air but it doesn't do a hell of a lot to our barrels.

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

Anyone worried about petroleum products in the bore, just don't pour motor oil in the bore when you are shooting!

For the rest of us, you certainly can oil your bore with a gun oil (Ballistol). Simply swab it out with isopropyl alcohol before you load it. Put a bottle of 100% Iso dry gas in your range bag with a few extra patches. I swab my bore before I go hunting so I don't have to do it in the field.
It takes about a minute.

 

[user 36911]

Anyone worried about petroleum products in the bore, just don't pour motor oil in the bore when you are shooting!

For the rest of us, you certainly can oil your bore with a gun oil (Ballistol). Simply swab it out with isopropyl alcohol before you load it. Put a bottle of 100% Iso dry gas in your range bag with a few extra patches. I swab my bore before I go hunting so I don't have to do it in the field.
It takes about a minute.

The only thing that goes in my bore is bear tallow/oil but i'm curious about Ballistol and would like some answers that might help others.

 

[NorthFork]

@MtnMan

There must be an emulsifier in Ballistol that allows the water and oil to stay in suspension.

 

[Scota@4570]

The ingredients in bore butter?

According to an authority it is repackaged chap stick with wintergreen odorant added.
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/ingredients-in-chapstickVaseline and mineral oil are in there, both petroleum products.

"Motor oil doesn't mix with water." Add Dawn dish detergent and it will. Detergent is an emulsifier. Emulsifiers are in ballistol to allow it to mix with water. Those include exotic alcohols and detergent like substances.

 

[fishmusic]

https://dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667
Here is a link that THOROUGHLY tests water displacement, smell, lubrication, corrosion inhibitory, and material compatibility, properties of 46 different products. Ballistol being one of them.
It's one of the most comprehensive tests I've ever seen.

I read this article with interest since, as he says, we are all invested in keeping our stuff rust free and well lubricated.. Kudos to the thought that went into this and the conclusions he came to. I see the take away, especially since board three has been sitting in a not so extreme environment that all of the products are working well. So after the long hunt, a day at the range or whatever activity you have engaged in, go ahead and use your product of choice for cleaning, drying and lubricating and you will probably be satisfied with the result.

 

[user 36911]

According to an authority it is repackaged chap stick with wintergreen odorant added.
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/ingredients-in-chapstickVaseline and mineral oil are in there, both petroleum products.

"Motor oil doesn't mix with water." Add Dawn dish detergent and it will. Detergent is an emulsifier. Emulsifiers are in ballistol to allow it to mix with water. Those include exotic alcohols and detergent like substances.

Yes, i've posted that BB is chap stick. We must have read the same article.

I learned something new about adding detergent. I thought it would be more complicated. Thanks.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I am having real good luck with Ballistol as a lube after cleaning.

 

[wb78963]

Ballistol and water 1:10 is my choice for cleaning and have had good success with it.
There those that like it and those that don't. If you don't like it just don't use it simple enough.
All I know is it works for me and I shoot a lot at least three times a week with something since my range is in my back yard.
Shooting a lot means cleaning a lot so I get in plenty of experience with what works and Ballistol does.
Hold Center
Hit Something
Look Happy
Bunk

 

[Musketeer]

Has anyone actually tried to use 3 in 1 or drugstore mineral oil as a patch lube? I know from experience that ATF causes no problems. I have no reason to take a deep dive into it but would not anticipate any serious problems. Ballistol is so similar I see no reason to expect a different result.

Yes, I used shooting patches with regular drugstore mineral oil for years and they worked fine.

 

[LeadShark]

I just use soapy hot water for cleaning. A patch with a bit of ballistol on it comes afterwards.

 

[OhioHawkeye]

Anyone worried about petroleum products in the bore, just don't pour motor oil in the bore when you are shooting! ...

Thank you..

These anti oil of all sorts likely use W440 also which causes a lot of problems. Not to mention the various engine lubricants and such mentioned. No, Oil is not all Oil and just saying Petroleum based does nothing to describe the actual oil itself.

I wonder what the anti petroleum folks are doing to prevent rust, or for long term storage? I guess vegetable based oils because animal based has salts which causes oxidation = rust. But then vegetable oils have a ton of issues in themselves. No, I'll stick with my Ballistol, and other products which do happen to come from the Oil industry. Why? because they work, and despite the claims further up in this thread, do not gum up the barrel or cause clumping if the weapon is properly cared for in the first place.

 

[oncewas]

Funny my can of Ballistol says to use a mix of 25% Ballistol to 75% water for black powder cleaning. That's what I use and it seems to work just fine, but I real new to BP so I could be wrong.