Bore Lube

[greenrivers]

After having the Bore Butter build up in my barrel, I decided to go with "sweet oil" (olive oil) as a patch and bore lube. My initial testing proves good things and I just would like to find out if any of you are using it as a bore protector after cleaning. So far it has only been used in the .36 but this afternoon it will be used in the .54. If that danged sight ever gets here, I can stop playing and start working up serious loads for both.

[Semisane]

I use whatever light oil is handy - gun oil, 3-in-1, PB Blaster, etc., and swab the bore with an alcohol patch before loading.

[quickdtoo]

The test results should help you decide what bore protectant works good and what doesn't. 

Tim

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/corrosion/corrosion.html

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/corrosion/corrosion2.html

[Rock Home Isle]

I use a home made lube that is commonly called Moose Milk as a Bore Lube for shooting. It works very good in warm and mildly cold weather. For extreme coild winter shooting I'll fall back to Beeswax and Tallow bore lube or a commercial product.
 
To preserve my bore between shooting sessions I use a surplus military oil that was designed to be used with corrosive powders.
 

 
This product is what I have used for the last 30 plus years. Its not as easy to find as it once was, but it is so good at both cleaning the bore and seasoning a new barrel.
 
-aim small miss small-

[BUGEYE]

I always used natural lube 1000 in the yellow tube and never had a speck of rust in the barrel.
I could shoot all day and never have to swab the barrel.

[Swampman]

I used natural oils for years in muzzleloader barrels.  I've found Break Free CLP to be 100 times better for storage.  I was the first person I ever knew to use olive oil as a patch lube.  It has since become pretty popular.

[keith44]

Moose Milk is a dilution of water soluable oil, sometimes it also contains a small quantity of detergent.  Knowing that I use a concentrated water soluable oil for storage. 

[Nobade]

For shooting I use either moose milk or spit, depending on the gun,  but for storage I wet the bore with Ballistol. No rust at all, even my Dixie squirrel rifle which rusts while you look at it if you give it a chance.

[lakota]

Plain old WD-40 for me. Havent ever had a problem with rust. I have also taken to leaving a patch soaked in WD40 on the end of the rod in the bore during storage. When I go shooting I do like do swab the bore out with alcohol before the first shot. Sometimes I remember to do it and sometimes I forget. It seems like I get easier loading for a longer time when I swab it with alcohol. I should put a bottle of alcohol in my range box.

[Swampman]

I like WD-40.  It's an excellent product IMO.

[lakota]

Another thing I do after every range session is remove the lock and scrub it with an old toothbrush and hot soapy water then rinse with plain hot water and then flood the lock with the WD-40. Works great. Keeps the lock internals looking shiny and new.

[Glanceblamm]

For shooting I use either moose milk or spit,

I was waiting for the spit patch to come up
 
For hunting, this changes to a thin smear of either bore butter or some maxi-ball lube.
 
For storage just about anything works and I will usually have some Rem oil around.

[P.A. Myers]

I have been using pre-lube cut patchs. I like the thin ones, accuracy has not suffered.

For storage I apply a thin coat of ATF. Great rust inhibitors, wont turn into varnish like motor oil and others. WD-40 is a great cleaner and water flush, but it does evaporate rather quickly and leaves no protection.

Olive oil for patch lube? Does it foul the powder? Seems like it would creep.
Soluable oil, good stuff. Where do you get it?  I ran out a few years ago and no
longer have a source. Is there a brand name?

                        P.A.

[Nobade]

Ya, spit patches work great in my small caliber rifles, but the 12 bore has such big patches that I don't have that much spit!

For hunting, greased patches using some sort of BP lube like I would use on bullets is the way to go. Emmert's, NASA, SPG, whatever you have works fine.  Wouldn't want to use wet patches for hunting, you'd end up with a ring of rust and probably a slushy powder charge, at least some of it. But on the range the wet patches clean the bore each shot so you never have to wipe it out until you get home.

Soluble oil can be had at machine shop supply houses, NAPA, or I use Ballistol. About 20% mixed with water makes good moose milk, and bore cleaner. Plus it has that "interesting" aroma that goes with the black powder smell so well! 

[bagdadjoe]

For shooting I use either moose milk or spit,

I was waiting for the spit patch to come up
 
For hunting, this changes to a thin smear of either bore butter or some maxi-ball lube.
 
For storage just about anything works and I will usually have some Rem oil around.

"Spit patch to come up"....(sound effect, please Arthur....) that sounds like a hairball to me
 
Back to the subject.  I use olive oil+beeswax patch lube and wipe the bore out with a thin layer of it after it's clean and dry.

[Rock Home Isle]

For shooting I use either moose milk or spit, depending on the gun,  but for storage I wet the bore with Ballistol. No rust at all, even my Dixie squirrel rifle which rusts while you look at it if you give it a chance.

I have an old smoke pole that does the same thing. 
 
I sprayed it with Break Free CLP and all my rusting problems went away. But before that,,,it was amazing how that gun would rust so quickly. I once even saw my finger prints as a rust pattern on the barrel...

[keith44]

P.A.Myers, I use Ballistol, look up  http://www.ballistol.com, or most of the sporting goods stores are carrying it now.
 

[P.A. Myers]

Ballistol, sounds good Thanks.  P.A.
 
 
 
ps; I ordered some tonite.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I use WD-40 for storing.  But I seem to be the only one who uses deer tallow as a patch lube.  And for cold weather I'll mix deer tallow & crisco.
 
Dutch Schulz was the one who got me interested in WD-40.  I then asked The Mad Monk whether this would cause problems with BP since it's petroleum based and MM said "No".  Been using it ever since.

[Swampman]

I've used deer tallow as a patch lube with good results.  In winter I add some olive oil to keep it soft enough to use.

[lakota]

If I forget to swab my bore out with alcohol to remove the WD-40 before I shoot my rifle will foul heavily after just 5-6 shots. But I have had that problem with just about every bore preservative I have tried.

[Rock Home Isle]

Here's the recipe that I use to make Moos Milk. Its a great patch lube and I've gotten very good results over the years.
 
Napa water soluble cutting oil (if your local napa store doesn't have it in stock the part number is 765-1526 for 1 pint)
Murphy's oil soap
1 liter storage water bottle
water
rubbing alcohol (Cold Weather Formulation)

Fill the 1 liter storage water bottle half full with WARM water. Add 2 oz. each of the Napa water soluble oil and the murphy's oil soap. Shake well and the solution should turn white. This indicates that it is well mixed; and once mixed it won't come back out of solution and it should remain white. Fill the remainder of the storage bottle with water, shake thoroughly, and enjoy.

If you enjoy those cold winter hunts where there are alot of sub-zero temps, just replace the water portion of the formulation with rubbing alcohol. Alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water.
 
-aim small miss small-

[Rock Home Isle]

For a good blackpowder Cleaning Solution...here is my cleaning formula:

1 Liter Storage Bottle
1 Cup House Hold Ammonia
1/4 Cup Dawn Dishwashing Soap
 
Fill the 1 Liter Storage Bottle 1/2 full with warm to hot water. Add 1 cup of House Hold Ammonia and then 1/4 Cup of Dawn Dishwashing Soap. Mix well and top off the liter bottle with warm water.
 
When I clean my gun at the end of the day, I swab the bore a few times with a pacth that has been wetted with this cleaning solution. I also use it to swab the bore while shooting at the range if I notice that there is a lot of fouling in the bore. The ammonia in this solution neutralizes the acidic compounds that form when  buring blackpowder and there is nothing better than Dawn for scrubbing out a dirty bore.
 
After a patch or two, I then run a dry patch down the bore. The dry patch should come out with a greenish tint with little or no black rubbed into it. If there is a lot of black, then run a few more patches wetted with the cleaning solution. Once I'm satisfied, I finish cleaning the firearm with a fine WWII military oil that was originally designed to be used with the very corrosive Cordite Powders of that age.  This military oil is great for use on Blackpowder firearms.
 
Once the bore is cleaned, and the flash-hole/nipple has been cleaned, and the lock has been cleaned and oiled, I then wipe down the outside of the stock & barrel, being careful to wipe away any residual powder residues. Once done in this fashion, your firearm will be clean...it will not rust...and you don't have to boil water. 
 
-aim small miss small-

[Swampman]

Alcohol will ruin your stock finish.

[greenrivers]

It has been a couple of months since both the .36 and .54 were cleaned and put away. I checked them and found the olive oil to be working fine so far. With the humidity we have had this year it will be a good test. I stopped using WD-40 for any of my guns after noticing a build up of film on the outsde. I had been using it for both protection and on a rag to wipe guns down after handling them. No more.

[Rock Home Isle]

Years ago when I 1st started shooting blackpowder, I used to use WD-40 as well to help clean and maintain my firearms. But one day I went to shoot my .54 and the percussion drum was so blocked with a dried residue from the WD-40, it took me over an hour to get that fine rifle to where I could shoot it again. That was the last gun that I ever cleaned by using WD-40.
 
In all the years that I have used Alcohol in a patch lube solution I have never seen it ruin a stock finish on a firearm...I've even used alcohol to help remove cosmoline off the stocks of some prime vintage WWII firearms that I have acquired over the years. Course I've never lit the alcohol while using it....

[Swampman]

The stock finish was already ruined by the Cosmoline.

[Co. Batguano]

have any of you guys tried liquid dish soap, or soft margerine?  I would think just about anything would work that makes things slippery in the bore.

[lakota]

I would worry about the soap fouling the powder charge. The surfactants in it might make it easier for the water to creep into the powder.
 
the margarine might work. Its mostly vegtable oil anyway.

[keith44]

bore lube has two jobs, one is to, as the name implies, lubricate the bore, via patch or lube groove(s).  In this function any thing that makes the bore slippery will work.  The second job is to keep the bore from caking up, or fouling beyond use.  This requires a black powder solvent of some sort.  Moose's Milk (oil, water, and sometimes soap) is the best compromise of the two jobs.  I have seen people advised to use dish detergent (liquid soap) and they have reported good results.  Like any patch lube use just enough to get the job done, too much can cause powder charge issues.