Bore Seasoning

[Woodwright]

I have never believed you can "season" a barrel. Metal does not absorb lube, it just sits on top.

 

[Josephg]

BORE BUTTER!

 

[Spaxspore]

I make my own lamb tow mix with beeswax for my sniders

For muzzleloading i use bore butter and clean with ballistol mix. Never had a problem.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

A pinch of cayenne, a sprinkle of thyme, and a twig of mint on top of 92.5 grains of Goex and a pure lead round ball.

 

[azmntman]

I have one gun that will not shoot a group with anything other than borebutter pine scene. 6" down to 1". Next best was like 3" and this is at 25 yds for a CVA bobcat .36. Super thin patch and PINE scented bore butter or leave it at home. And ya, I really did try everything out there, had it 15 years and was ready to have Hoty rebore when by accident I showed up in the woods with NOTHING but super thin cotton material and this stuff! Thought WTH and VIOLA!

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

Seasoning a muzzleloader bore is probably the biggest misinformed, most quoted myth there is in the muzzleloading sport, followed closely by the "you cant weigh black powder with a scale, you have to weigh it with a powder measure" BS. Fortunately, most folks here have given up the bore seasoning belief and are now preaching the truth.

 

[Eutycus]

What exactly is one trying to accomplish when "seasoning a barrel's bore"? Most shooters know there is no such thing but there are those who keep trying to reach that evasive goal.

 

[Clark Badgett]

What exactly is one trying to accomplish when "seasoning a barrel's bore"? Most shooters know there is no such thing but there are those who keep trying to reach that evasive goal.

I’ve gotten a couple of dudes on another forum that have gotten “road rage” mad at me for stating the fact that a film of baked on oil is not something you want in a rifle bore. In some circles it is as pervasive as the boiling water myth.

 

[BadDaditood]

There is definitely seasoning cast iron, which is quite porous with lots of interstices to hold ”lube”.
Ask anyone from pre Teflon days who scrubbed Ma’s favorite frying pan with hot water and detergent wrecking her seasoning job. Back then she was allowed to clobber the kid upside the head with said frying pan.
Yes, once upon a time kids did the dishes in the sink. Ahhhh…. The Good Old Daze.
Barrel steel is much denser than cast iron and won’t hold grease, but you still need a thin coat of oil inside and out after cleaning.
I quit using Bore Butter because it spewed all over in summer and in winter I had to park the truck on top of the tube to squeeze it out.
Besides, when asked why I used that junk I mentioned “bore seasoning” to which they threatened to throw me out of the Club.

 

[waksupi]

If you are getting a 3" group at 25 yards, I'd turn the barrel into a tomato stake. It sure doesn't shoot.

 

[kipcarter]

If you use bacon grease it tends to bring the bears in. I prefer duck fat.

Yep, duck fat in a shotgun!! That should bring them in close.

 

[Ed C.]

In some circles it is as pervasive as the boiling water myth.

And what is that? Hot water and soap is a good cleaner for most everything BP.

 

[waksupi]

And what is that? Hot water and soap is a good cleaner for most everything BP.

In my experience, hot water used initially sets the fouling harder, requiring more scrubbing to clean the bore. The other down side, is flash rusting.
If you do use hot water, I recommend a first flush with room temperature water. The bore will clean easier.

 

[Ed C.]

In my experience, hot water used initially sets the fouling harder, requiring more scrubbing to clean the bore. The other down side, is flash rusting.
If you do use hot water, I recommend a first flush with room temperature water. The bore will clean easier.

I use hot water, dawn, and a dash of ballistol. Cleans up real quick with just patches. Blow dry with compressed air and throw it into the oven on warm. The ballistol coating avoids the flash rusting. Works for me, but I also run a few dawn/ballistol patches at the range before I leave.

 

[Clark Badgett]

I use hot water, dawn, and a dash of ballistol. Cleans up real quick with just patches. Blow dry with compressed air and throw it into the oven on warm. The ballistol coating avoids the flash rusting. Works for me, but I also run a few dawn/ballistol patches at the range before I leave.

I use cool water without anything added. Once clean, Ballistol. Takes roughly 5 minutes.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Some 35 years ago, I was using bore butter in my percussion, a friend I worked with, that is now deceased, made-up some patch Lube using mutton fat and neat foot oil, and said, here try this I think it's pretty good. Well I did and it seemed to shoot fine, left my rifle loaded for about four days as I was hunting a big white tailed buck. A knew where he would be come Sunday afternoon, so I snuck up over the face of the dam, he stood up and of course all that shot was the cap. Well don't you know I didn't have a nipple Ridge with me which didn't make any difference because he was long gone anyway, so i had to walk a half a mile back to my pick up to take the nipple out and put some powder in there to make the gun shoot that load off. I think all that was wrong it was a little too loose and I didn't use a barrier between the powder and the round ball, but now I'm back to using whatever eastern Maine puts on their premium patches and I have the best accuracy that I've had for years.
Squint

 

[Relic shooter]

Rendered bear grease !!!

 

[Patched]

Lots of chitty chatter on this “seasoning” topic…. I wasn’t actually there at the time but ”barrel seasoning” went outta vogue about the same time that leeches and bloodletting ended as medical treatments….It made a small comeback as a marketing ploy to sell somebody’s tubed patch goo.

 

[Winterhawk]

First I heard about "seasoning" a bore with Bore Butter was in an article by (I believe) Sam Fadala around 2000. It was in a muzzle loader hunting magazine which I forgot the name of and it hasn't been printed in many years. Dang, this getting old is the pits! I can't remember anything anymore, it seems. I grease my cast iron pans well, wash them with hot water and that is about as "seasoned" as they get. I doubt if anything like that happens with my ML rifles!

~Kees~

 

[45man]

Just let my wife clean your barrels, you wuill be sure it is not seasoned. All I need to convince is a look at our cast iron! The woman up the hill used sand from the yard to clean her frying pans and of course she had cats!!!