Ballistol ?

[DuncanSA]

I have been shooting various weapons for more years than I care to think about and have occasionally heard Ballistol mentioned but have never used it.

I bought a bottle of "Neo Ballistol" from my gunsmith recently and was amazed at the many things the label said it could do. I looked it up on the web at the Ballistol home page and found that it can apparently dissolve lead and copper fouling, prevent corrosion, remove black powder residue and do many other wonderful things such as healing wounds, curing cholera and improving the efficience of internal combustion engines!

Is it really such a miracle fluid? A bit of exaggeration in adverts is expected but I find some of these claims a bit unreal. Your comments please.

 

[Phantom Captain]

Love Ballistol and have used it for years.

On both modern and Black Powder guns. It's all I use anymore. It works great on lots of things as advertised! I've never had any rust in anything of mine that was cleaned and lubed with Ballistol.

Plus it's non-petroleum based so works fantastic with the Holy Black.

I still clean my BP stuff with soap and water but then oil up with Ballistol.

It's good stuff. I think you will like it!

 

[KevininPa]

Do you think this stuff could be used on felt to make your own " wonder wads", or would it stay wet? Just an idea, good or bad, at least I'm tryin'


Kevin in Pa

 

[hildo]

It is a little 'thicker' then regular gunoil, or WD40 for instance, but it protects very well.
Just has one downside for me. The fumes are exeptionally strong. I have no allergies but I think I may be allergic to ballistol. Just can't stand the smell of it.

 

[Phantom Captain]

Do you think this stuff could be used on felt to make your own " wonder wads", or would it stay wet? Just an idea, good or bad, at least I'm tryin'


Kevin in Pa

I think it's still too oily to be used for a wad, I mean it is oil, not like a bore butter or wax or anything. It would be messy and get all over everything I would think. I've heard lots of guys actually mix it with water (like 1 part ballistol to 6 parts water or something) and use THAT for a cleaning solution for BP. It's supposed to work really well that way.

It does have a VERY distinct smell, very strong at first but it doesn't bother me at all. The smell also goes away after a short time.

Now I don't use it for all the claims made on the site etc, only gun stuff and leather, wood stocks etc.

 

[Bad Flynch]

I am very fond of Ballistol. Mostly, I use it in the form of Ballistol Milk, a takeoff on Moose Milk. One can mix an ounce or two with about 10 ounces of distilled water and shake; that is all there is to it. Besides, it makes a gallon of Ballistol go a long, long ways.

Some time ago, I allowed a cap and ball revolver that had been fired with black powder to simply sit in my shop, uncleaned. I inspected the bare, unblued cylinder face for traces of rust at irregular intervals. After just 3 days in the shop (air conditioned and dehumidified) there were traces of orange on the cylinder face.

I did the same but simply sprayed the revolver with Ballistol Milk and let it be, checking it, too, at irregular intervals. Well, after a day all there was was oil because the water had evaporated. Then after several day there was still no rust. Then I cleaned it using only new Ballistol Milk, swabs, and cloths. That is all I do now for cleaning, except for once-in-a-while when I strip and really clean the revolvers.

Ballistol Milk seems to take care of business quite nicely, thank you.

About that odor: Ballistol has a strange plant extract in it and it gives the oil a faint odor that is reminiscent of sour baby poo. Nevertheless, it is not objectionable and dissipates in decent order.

 

[Gunfixr]

Ballistol is virtually all I use, especially on BP guns. If you don't feel like cleaning when you get home, just spray them with a light coat, making sure to get everything wet, and they will wait as long as you want. They won't rust one bit. When you're ready, a few dry patches will remove everything and your guns will be clean and spotless. You can clean both smokeless and BP with it. I have a friend whos wife put some on her house plants to get rid of bugs (didn't kill the plant) and put some on her sunburn once. She said it helped. Personally I clean with soap and water mostly, but sometimes on trips I will use a mixture of Ballistol and Hydrogen Peroxide. Between the Ballistol and foaming action of the peroxide, it's like a turbo cleaner. I have it in both aerosol and non-aerosol.

 

[Mark whiz]

I avoid Ballistol like the plague.

I used it one time on just about every gun I owned (black powder, centerfire, air rifle) after an extended trip to the range. Within a week, every one of those firearms had surface rust in their bores. It wasn't fatal as I was able to clean them all up properly with bore paste - but it did ruin a competion for my son with the air rifle. I don't know what caused it to happen, but I won't give it a 2nd chance to ruin my firearms again.

That said, I have been using what I have left to mix a lube for my homemade wads............basically using a dab of Ballistol with some bore butter and parafin (or beeswax when I can get my hands on some). So far I have had no ill affects from this combination.

 

[sm]

If you will allow someone that is not a BP shooter to reply.

I grew up with Mentors & Elders that used Ballistol for not only BP and Corrosive ammunition in other guns, also Regular guns such as Model 10 revolvers, 1911s, and the like.

It used to be on all the shelves around here, then as time passes, Mom&Pop Gun, Hardware, Bait Shops went out due to retirement, more and more newfangled lubes in newfangled "big stores".

I had forgotten about Ballistol until a few years ago, until Lee Lapin reminded me of it.

Non-Toxic.

We had kids we were assisting with single shot .22 rifles.
We had some Adults going through various Cancers, and Families & Friends with those going through Cancers.

Non-Toxic is what I was looking for, for these persons.

So we ordered some, and folks are very happy with it.
Not only guns, also other uses and being Non-Toxic fits a niche.

Polymer Guns are /were used by some of these Folks with Cancers [some of these have passed on], and some of the kids guns have synthetic stocks.

Ballistol does not hurt the Polymer, and easy to clean, maintain and lube these guns too.

Non-Toxic is what I was looking for, Ballistol is what I forgot about and still works great for all sorts of uses, all sorts of firearms, made of all sorts of materials.

 

[hildo]

Mark Whiz had a bad experience, but I suspect something else that that caused the rusting.
I used it once on my original 1777 model flintlock on a western weekend. The musket is totally bare metal, no blueing or other protective layer, apart from oil.
The first day I used regular gun oil and the next day I could see that rust had appeared on the wet/moist gun (early in the morning, grass, cold, dew, and in a wet cheap tent...).
Then I cleaned the gun, and oiled it with ballistol. It is thicker and much more protective. It did not start to rust again.
Because of the little higher viscosity of ballistol I did find guns not to go off if you use too much on the inside of the cylinder or in the barrel of my musket. don't overdo it with ballistol on the inside where the powder goes. Regular gun oil is a little more forgivingly in my optic.
Ballistol will not harden I think, very good for longer storage. Once tried sunflower oil, will not do that again. It hardens and the gun feels sticky and hairs and dust sticks to it.

Regarding the Ballistol odor, said to be not too bad by everybody.
Guess that is right cause I don't know anybody either that has a problem with it, apart from myself. It is a physical reaction and litarally takes my breath away when used inside the house. Must be an allergic reaction of some sort, although I am not allergic to anything else. Outside where the fumes can escape it's no problem when I stand downwind.
Overall great stuff though.

 

[armedandsafe]

I use Ballistol on my BP and have been very happy with it. I didn't notice the odor until I read about it on the web. One advantage to being a smoker, I guess.

I was delayed once getting back from a shoot and couldn't clean my Hawkens for 3 days. I had sprayed them with Bmilk at the end of the shoot. No rust, fouling was soft and they cleaned up very nicely. This was in a house cooled with evaporative swamp coolers.

Pops

 

[geim druth]

I've been using it for a couple of years and never had a problem with rust, not even on tools stored in a humid garage. Seems to work well on most metals, wood and leather also.

I have to say, I actually like the smell of the stuff.

 

[DuncanSA]

When I initiated this thread I had just cleaned and lubed (is this really a word?) 2 C&B BP .44 replicas, a BRNO .308 rifle and a 9 mm Astra pistol.

Checking them today, the BRNO and Astra were fine. Some small black deposits had emerged in the bores of the C&B replicas. These were easily removed with a bronze brush and a couple of patches.

Were these the result of Ballistol dissolving lead residue? - copper does not come into the equation here.

 

[Mark whiz]

I have a hard time believing that anything in Ballistol is strong enough to break down lead. It is rated as a food grade cleaner/lubricant and I'm really not sure I would WANT to be possibly ingesting something that could break down lead.

If what you cleaned out was lead, it should have been identifible as lead, i.e. silvery in color.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I have really good results with Ballistol on both smokeless and black powder guns. It's the best thing I've tried to keep a C&B revolver running, instead of binding from fouling on the base pin.

For me the only downside is the smell --- like stinky feet.

 

[DuncanSA]

Mark whiz
I agree that anything capable of dissolving lead is hardly fit for human consumption! I am neither supporting nor knocking this stuff and only seek information, but their website does say "removing and dissolving lead and copper residue". My one and only use of Ballistol seems pretty OK -could there have been other factors in your bad experience with it?

 

[Mark whiz]

I really don't know what happened on my experience with Ballistol Duncan. I'm always real "anal" when it comes to cleaning all my firearms. I cleaned them all on the back porch back in FLA, so you know the humidity was high, but my usual practice is to swab the bore with some denatured alcohol after cleaning and before patching with a final protectant oil to make sure I don't trap any moisture in there. That is what I did on that occasion, cleaned as usual, ran an alcohol patch through the bores and then a Ballistol patch as a protectant. and the arms were all stored inside under HVAC so no problems with moisture there. A week later they all had light surface rust in the bores. It's a good thing I saw that after a week, if they had set for a month - they would have all been ruined.

I've only heard of a couple people having similiar experiences on all the forums I visit, so I guess it must be just an odd set of circumstances that can lead to what I had - but even so, I just can't take that chance again and I figure everyone else should at least hear the story before they make up their minds on the product. Anything I can do to help out my fellow shooters, hunters, etc is in all of our best interests.

 

[VAshooter10]

Mark,
Alcohol will absorb and hold water. If you wipe out a bore with alcohol it will absorb the water and then evaporate leaving the water to do it's damage. I would not recommend wiping a bore with alcohol.

Your experience with Balistol does seem unusual. I've used it both as a black powder cleaner (mixed with water) and as a protectant (straight) and found it to work well. I've never had any problem with rusting on any firearm treated with Balistol. I don't use it on modern firearms but I don't know why I've never tried it. I think I'll try it on modern powder residue to see how it works.

Doug in Virginia

 

[Jamie C.]

I have a hard time believing that anything in Ballistol is strong enough to break down lead. It is rated as a food grade cleaner/lubricant and I'm really not sure I would WANT to be possibly ingesting something that could break down lead.

Sulfuric acid will eat up most metals, and your own stomach produces tons of that. Also, ammonia will break down silver and a few other metals. Sweat and urine both contain that.

So, an organic substance... like, say, vinegar or lemon juice... can pretty much wreck many metallic compounds with no problem at all, but still be safe for human consumption.

So the real question is... what will break down lead to a certain degree, but is harmless to both steel and humans? ( Actually, you don't have to act on the lead it's self, just the bond between it and the steel. )

Anybody have any ideas?


J.C.

 

[Ranger 40]

Alcohol displaces water, it does not hold it. The water is removed with a patch or in dry air it evaporates. The 98% Alcohol works much better than water in cleaning followed by a light oil. Try putting alcohol in a Dixie Cup of water. does it hold it and then let loose a flood?

 

[Jamie C.]

Ranger, alcohol actually slips in between the molecules of water. You can see this by taking 2 containers of equal size, and filling one of them 2/3 full of water, and the other 2/3 full of alcohol, then slowly pouring one into the other. The container won't over-flow, even though it is now holding what was once 4/3 container of fluids.


J.C.

 

[Guncrazy45]

I've been using Ballistol to lube my guns for over 10 years, and I've never had problems with them rusting. I also use it sometimes for cleaning, when I don't want to break out the Hoppes.

I have a five gallon bucket, into which I've poured 32 oz of Ballistol, and filled halfway with water. I clean all of my handguns by field stripping them, dunking the parts in the bucket, and scrubbing them with with bronze or nylon brushes. The parts come out and are set on a newspaper to drain for a bit. Then the gun is reassembled, shaken and dry-fired a few times, and left on the newspaper again to dry.

The process is the same for my long guns, except that have to pour the mixture over the barrels, using a smaller plastic cup.

Once the guns have dried, they're put away in storage, or loaded for carry.

I cleaned my AR-15 this way, and stored it in a closet for about three years. I took it to the range, shot about 300 rounds through it with no problems, and found no signs of rust when I field stripped it afterward.

Other guns I've treated this way include:

Three Glock 19s
Two SA XD-45s (Melonite and stainless)
S&W 340PD
Kimber Ultra Eclipse
Kimber Pro Carry
Ruger 22/45
Ruger MkII
Ruger 10/22
Walther P22
Mech-Tech CCU
Winchester 1100
Mossberg 500
H&K USP 45
H&K USP 40
Two Norinco SKSs
Two NEF 12 gauges
NEF 20 gauge
Two Beretta 92FS (blued & stainless)
KelTec P32
Colt MkIV Officer's
Colt Defender
Glock 30
Ruger P89
H&R .32 S&W

 

[Bad Flynch]

A couple of things need straightening out.

First off is that black powder fouling has been analyzed and has been shown to be strongly alkaline, not acidic, in nature. I know that the products of combustion should make the anhydrides of sulfurous and sulfuric acids available, but those are overshadowed by the much greater quantity of alkali left over.

Where does the alkali come from? Funny you should ask. Most of the Potassoium Nitrate (Salt Petre, KNO3) is converted into Potassium Carbonate and into Potassium Hydroxide (Caustic Potash and Lye) and those are very strong alkalies, indeed.

Both Potassium Carbonate and Potassium Hydroxide are very soluble in water and poorly soluble in most alcohols. Therefore, water is a better solvent for the stuff.

Basic chemistry 101: Acidity and Alkalinity are measured by the concentration of Hydrogen ions and that is expressed as pH. Since the measurement is by concentration, then it stands to reason that by reducing the concentration or boosting the concentration towards neutral is a good way to neutralize a problem. That is best accomplished by diluting the problem away with water and alcohols are a poor substitute, for the most part. In other words, unless you remove the basic fouling with water, the stuff will remain and cause rust.

Some bottles of cheaper alcohols contain a great deal of water, sometimes as much as 30%, so occasionally people report good results with alcohol when the results were really due to the water.

Some people claim wonders for Hydrogen Peroxide Solution, but then it is 97% water; the peroxide simply makes the water expensive.

Ballistol Milk works because it is 80% distilled water and when the water evaporates, it leaves a protective oil film behind. Hot soap and water followed by a water-displacing oil work well, too.

 

[DuncanSA]

This is really a fascinating discussion and I have learnt a lot from it. After a day on the range yesterday I have again lubed my guns with Ballistol and will probably stick with it. It would seem that the use of alcohol on swabs is not a good idea.

 

[Gunfixr]

I actually started using Ballistol on modern guns shooting smokeless powder. After getting the gun clean with Hoppes, which I had sworn by for many years, the Ballistol would remove more. I was getting into CAS, and soon switched to BP. If I come home from a shoot and don't feel like cleaning, I just spray them down with Ballistol, making sure to ge a light film on everything, and they will wait. I once came home from a shoot and my wife got sick, turned out she had appendicitis. I completely forgot about my C&Bs in the gun room for about 3 months, but they were fine, as I had sprayed them down. Three dry patches down the bore, and the third was clean. Usually I clean with hot, soapy water, then lube with Ballistol. This seems the best. I made a mixture of Murphys oil soap, alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide on the recommendation of a fellow shooter as a good cleaner, but found it lacking. It got them clean, but not protected. The Murphys was supposed to protect the metal but all it did was leave sticky rust. I haven't made the Ballistol/water mix, as soapy water just works too well, or I can clean with straight Ballistol.