My issue with the Ballistol dry patch

[Dillon W.]

You know, I totally understand the concept, and indeed it does work just fine. And I’ve shot some nice groups with this, But I’ve tried this several times and I’ve noticed when you pour the ballistol into the water (ratio irrelevant), the ballistol doesn’t fully mix with the water. Wether or not I stir it, or pour the water and oil into a water bottle and shake vigorously, it doesn’t completely blend. So what happens, you get a strip of patching that one end has more oil than the other, or the first strip I dunk into the solution is richer in oil than how many other strips I saturate. And it’s visually obvious. Splotches or half or even a whole strip. This is supposed to be about consistency and I am not getting consistency. What am I screwing up here? Should I use alcohol instead of water?

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I use spit or bear grease.

Maybe you are overthinking the concept of traditional muzzleloading?

 

[Dillon W.]

Perhaps you’re right Smokey. But I don’t like gettin whooped and I’m too hard headed to quit til I figure it out lol. Maybe a bit foolish, but I’m just wired that way

 

[hawkeye2]

Try adding 1 drop of dish detergent to your next mix.

 

[Dillon W.]

Alrighty I’ll give that a shot, thank you!

 

[Grenadier1758]

You would want a grease cutting dish detergent to dissolve the mineral oil in the Ballistol. You might also try a mix of Ballistol, rubbing alcohol and water. The alcohol will help the Ballistol blend better in the mix.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I have several mix ratios of Ballistol and water that I keep in regular water bottles. Before treating patching strips, i shake the heck out of them and dump them in a red solo cup then dunk the strips(usually 5) in and let them sit and soak for @ 30min, and i stir them up couple times. I take them out, lay them flat, then let them dry for a day. Once dry, I roll them up and put them in old pill bottles where they stay til they get used.

I dont really think the "not fully mixed" thing "really" matters as much as just being consistent on HOW you do it. Personally I havent found much of an accuracy difference between 5:1, 6:1 or 7:1 mixes. I usually use 7:1 with the .495 ball and .014 cotton patching I've been using because it loads fine. I've tried thicker patching, which is tighter and needs more slickness to load relatively easily.

 

[Enfield58]

About how many shots can you get using the Ballistol/Water lubed patches before needed to swab the bore?

 

[Ben Meyer]

I dont know, as I swab between every shot. I just dampen a patch lightly, run it down 1x then out then load. You pretty much NEED to do this shooting dry patches. If I didnt WANT to use dry patches, I'd use Mr. Flintlocks patch lube. You dont need to swab using it until the area down by the breech gets tight due to fouling(10-12 shots?).

About how many shots can you get using the Ballistol/Water lubed patches before needed to swab the bore?

 

[Enfield58]

I dont know, as I swab between every shot. I just dampen a patch lightly, run it down 1x then out then load. You pretty much NEED to do this shooting dry patches. If I didnt WANT to use dry patches, I'd use Mr. Flintlocks patch lube. You dont need to swab using it until the area down by the breech gets tight due to fouling(10-12 shots?).

Thanks. I've been using 2 parts vegetable oil and 1 part beeswax. I can shoot all day without swabbing the bore. The only drawback is that it's messy but doesn't bother me as I use a rag to wipe my hands off.

I was thinking about trying the Ballistol/water mix.

 

[longcruise]

It might mix better with denatured alcohol.

Originally Dutch's system called for using a water soluble cutting oil fro NAPA. Later he switched to Ballistol because he thought that NAPA had changed the formula. However, a few shooters who were also machinists tried whatever cutting oil they were using at work and had good results.

I'm not sure, but I think all cutting oils are water soluble.?

 

[renegadehunter]

I've used Castor oil (health food store) and denatured alcohol and haven't noticed any issues with it not blending together well, but I use precut patches which wouldn't show inconsistent lube as easily as strips. Don't lube your patches ahead of time too much. It will break down the patch material within a couple of months with this mix.

 

[Dillon W.]

Well, I took my splotchy strip of patch material with me shooting today....


And to my surprise, my GPR shot the best groups it’s ever produced.

I’m still going to take all of your advice next time I lube up a few strips. But my goodness, just unbelievable.

 

[jeff b]

I mixed ballistol and window washer fluid and it separated .

 

[smo]

I think Dutch recommends NAPA water soluble cutting oil in his method.....

It mixed great when I used it.

Oil & Water are kinda’ like Electricity & Water..... unless you got the right oil.

 

[Art Caputo]

I have used the Ballistol/water mix(1:7) and have not had any issues with the consistency of lubrication. The mixture forms an emulsion the stays suspended long enough to soak several 1.5” rolls of patch material which takes well under a minute. Following, Dutch’s instructions of squeezing excess water out of the strips and drying in a horizontal position, patch lubrication continuity when dry is excellent. This dry patch approach is more convenient and has less mess, but I have found that using this method using the same .015” patches Is more difficult to load, and requires swabbing after each shot. I can get comparable accuracy(<2” at 50 yards) for a dozen shots without swabbing using TOTW mink oil, so I have stuck with this method.

 

[thixotropy]

I'm not sure, but I think all cutting oils are water soluble.?

Truly the NAPA stuff doesn't fully dissolve the way the early formula did - I ordered some WSCO from some soviet bloc country from E-bay that was slightly better but still seems to separate. I'm chagrined to hear Ballistic doesn't either because that was my next try.