Ballistol

[Rifleman1776]

I've never bought it here in town and honestly didn't know anyone carried it locally.

I've ordered the 16 oz. non aerosol can from TOW and at MidwayUSA for $10.99.
Ballistol

North Arkansas Guns on College St.

 

[MosinRob]

Go to the website. Order a case, become a distributer and you get it real cheap. Keep 2 for yourself then sell the rest on craigslist or any forum your on.

 

[David W.]

Mix your Ballistol 7 to 8 parts to 1 with water, let it dry. I'm not sure how long it will last because I don't make too many in advance.

 

[mike alexandre]

Two further points with Ballistol.
First less is more with this - you dont need a lot if its neat - if its cut then you can can leave the patches sopping wet if you need to. I use the spray can as I can get a thin film on the cleaning cloth. With the big cans we decant in to a little pump spray bottle which you can buy empty at drug stores -
Second be careful if you use it as a storage type liquid down the barrel - if will absorb and mix with water/humidity and I have been told of one instance where it caused rusting. Personally I've used it for shooting /storage inside and outside the gun - on wood leather and steel and have not had any problems with it.

 

[GaCop]

Thanks for that explaination!

Tom

 

[GaCop]

Does a nice job of beautifying stock shine w/o affecting the wood fibers integrity.

Tom

 

[Renegade Dan]

I use Ballistol oil to clean and protect my Muzzleloaders. I use it to clean the bore (inside & out) and my stock. For hunting I lube my patches with 100% Ballistol. On everyday shooting or at muzzleloading shoots I use Crisco for my patch lube, it works great and it's a lot cheaper than Ballistol.

 

[Number19]

I haven't had the opportunity to try them just yet -sometimes over the holiday - but I made up some patches using 100% and some using a 1:8 ratio. The 100% patches are really messy. I have started using Ballistol for cleaning and like it better than what I was using.

 

[Billnpatti]

I don't know how long they'll "keep" .

As long as you dry all of the water out of the patches, they will keep for a loooong time. I don't know exactly how long because I have never had any go bad on me.

 

[Greenjoytj]

A patch soaked in 100% Ballistol it not going to dry. It will remain wet for months maybe years.

To control the amount of Ballistol that gets absorbed into the patch cloth try the Dutch Schoultz dry patch method, it really works for extracting top accuracy from your firearm.

To do this mix water into the Ballistol in various ratios. For example I use a 7:1 mix.
That is 7 parts distilled water and 1 part Ballistol. Soaking a couple dozen patches in a short wide mouth jar for 2 minutes, then fish them out with tweezers, shake off the excess in the jar.
Lay the soaked patches on to a cookies sheet to dry for a few days.
What you get is a patch with a controlled amount of oil still locked in the cloth fibres that has a very subtile oily feel at the 7:1 wateril ratio.

Try other ratio's 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1 etc. (4:1 is a good start ratio for a oily feeling patch)

Be sure your patch material has been washed to get out the sizing at it will interfere with the absorption of the wateril mixture.

Be sure you place the patches on a non absorbing surface to dry a cookie tray, plastic sheet, glass.
Don't use wood or cardboard as it will absorb some of the the oil you want to remain in the patches.

For best accuracy less is more, that is less oil is more accurate. I read in these forums lots of people have used spit for a lube and say it works, why? Because spit is a very poor lube it acts like the dry patch system at the 7:1 or 8:1 ratios.

 

[newtewsmoke]

That is 7 parts distilled water and 1 part Ballistol.

does it have to be distilled water?

 

[gunnut1]

Ballistol was orginally developed by the German miliraty as a corrosion preventative and lube oil. It will not harm metal and will stay around for along time. It is a pretty good corrosion preventative. It can be used to clean black powder residue then used a rust preventative.
http://www.ballistol.com

 

[stormcrow]

It is a pretty good corrosion preventative.

Ballistol has taken some criticism here as a rust preventative, but I agree that it is as good or better than most of the other gun oils out there. As good as BC Sheath for storage protection? No. Is it fine for regular maintenance and better than most others, particularly as a CLP? I think yes, based on my experience. It's wood friendly too which is a real plus.

 

[gunnut1]

It is a pretty good corrosion preventative.

Ballistol has taken some criticism here as a rust preventative, but I agree that it is as good or better than most of the other gun oils out there. As good as BC Sheath for storage protection? No. Is it fine for regular maintenance and better than most others, particularly as a CLP? I think yes, based on my experience. It's wood friendly too which is a real plus.

There is only one better corrosion preventative than Ballistol. And that is Corrosion X.

 

[Rifleman1776]

It is a pretty good corrosion preventative.

Ballistol has taken some criticism here as a rust preventative, but I agree that it is as good or better than most of the other gun oils out there. As good as BC Sheath for storage protection? No. Is it fine for regular maintenance and better than most others, particularly as a CLP? I think yes, based on my experience. It's wood friendly too which is a real plus.

I am a relatively new Ballistol user. It has many qualties I like. It may be the best firearms lubricant I have ever used. But, it is far-far from being a good rust protectant. Between monthly uses my rifle barrel had rust using Ballistol. This does not happen using WD-40, RIG, Break-Free or many other products.
I do not reccomend using for rust protectant. :shake:

 

[hobowonkanobe]

good tip there bout the crisco.
I just bought some Ballistol from TOTW after having called them and got a brief history tutorial on it.
I had always used Hoppes No 9 but apparently this is not only not the best, in some ways unlike with modern arms it cld be the worst. It seems that this last bit like so many other thing with MLs is determined by location; rust, corrosion and pitting. Or did I misread these?

 

[necchi]

I do not reccomend using for rust protectant. :shake:

I'll second that.
The stuff is made to mix with water.
In conditions that may have high humudity or temp swing condensation it'll pick up the water and hold it,,
Great lubricant and short term storage but it's defiantly not a long term storage rust preventive type stuff.