What are you using to preserve you muzzle loader barrel?

[.38 Special]

I used Wonderlube for decades without trouble. Then I switched to Ballistol, without trouble. Lately I've been using beeswax and lamb tallow, without trouble.

I try to avoid petroleum products with bp guns in general, but other than that, I suspect most of the common products will do the job...without trouble.

 

[hawg]

I used Wonderlube for decades without trouble. Then I switched to Ballistol, without trouble. Lately I've been using beeswax and lamb tallow, without trouble.

I try to avoid petroleum products with bp guns in general, but other than that, I suspect most of the common products will do the job...without trouble.

If you get petroleum products in the bore you need to make sure it's all out before you load it.

 

[9x56MS]

I bought a Thompson Center 50 caliber Hawken in 1987 and have used nothing but bore butter in the barrel. It has never exhibited and sign of rust.

 

[Paul R Zartman]

I have cotton swabs set aside that I only use Pledge spray wax protectant with them, same thing I use on the wood and metal on the outside of the gun. After my final cleaning and the barrel is nice and dry, I spray some wax on the swab and make a few passes, wipe the outside with my Pledge rag, then put it away. Do that to all my guns every couple months here in this salty humid environment.

 

[Scout21]

WD-40, inside and out. It's the only thing that I've found will last a while. Gun oil, motor oil, paste wax, and everything else I've tried needs to be promptly reapplied after every time I take my stuff out into the field. WD-40 lasts much longer, sometimes I won't need to put more on after a whole week of dewey morning hunts. Stuff works great.

I take care to keep it off of wood and plastic, though. I've had it melt paint before and don't want to push my luck.

 

[doubleh]

Living in new Mexico.

I do and did a test with ground bright steel using various things to prevent rust including WD-40 once upon a time. It came in about the middle of the pack by showing rust after four days and nights of being outside in the weather. It did not rain during that time period. I use the same oil, Mobil 1, that I use on all my cartridge guns. Seems to do the job as I have suffered no rust in any of the guns.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Im from and live in the jungle of the appalachian mountains. Smack dab inside the "blue ridge mountains - great smokey mountains" park area in NC.
I live at a very high altitude and its also very humid. All of my BP revolvers get treated the same way although not all of them obtain rust as easily as their peers.
My older ASM guns seem more suseptible to Rust then my newer piettas and Ubertis.
I dont know if its the different make-up in the steel from the 1980's ASM or what, but they sure seem to rust more easily then my newer BP revolvers.
To try my best to prohibit this I use ballistol and the occasional spray of Rem Oil.
Im a Big Fan of Rem Oil though i know many act like its forbidden to spray on a BP revolver.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Ballistol. Even the third Master Gunsmith (now ret.) of Colonial Williamsburg uses it.

 

[hawg]

Im from and live in the jungle of the appalachian mountains. Smack dab inside the "blue ridge mountains - great smokey mountains" park area in NC.
I live at a very high altitude and its also very humid. All of my BP revolvers get treated the same way although not all of them obtain rust as easily as their peers.
My older ASM guns seem more suseptible to Rust then my newer piettas and Ubertis.
I dont know if its the different make-up in the steel from the 1980's ASM or what, but they sure seem to rust more easily then my newer BP revolvers.
To try my best to prohibit this I use ballistol and the occasional spray of Rem Oil.
Im a Big Fan of Rem Oil though i know many act like its forbidden to spray on a BP revolver.

I use Rem Oil on the insides. I have tried Ballistol but I can't get past the smell.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

I use Rem Oil on the insides. I have tried Ballistol but I can't get past the smell.

@hawg I love Rem Oil brother, its so quick and easy to spray the gun down it almost seems criminal not to use it!

I hear alot of guys getting their panties in a wad about Rem oil but ive used it for years now and have 0 complaints.

Your gonna hate me for saying this... I Love the smell of ballistol! its a great multi purpose oil. I buy it in the big non aerosol bottles and use it on everything from smokeless only revolvers to my bp revolvers.

 

[hawg]

@hawg I love Rem Oil brother, its so quick and easy to spray the gun down it almost seems criminal not to use it!

I hear alot of guys getting their panties in a wad about Rem oil but ive used it for years now and have 0 complaints.

Your gonna hate me for saying this... I Love the smell of ballistol! its a great multi purpose oil. I buy it in the big non aerosol bottles and use it on everything from smokeless only revolvers to my bp revolvers.

You probably like licorice too. I don't and Ballistol smells like licorice to me.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

i hate licorice but i love the smell of ballistol!

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

For me its the smell of coffee, hate the stuff, smell makes me want to find a bag of popcorn, weird ain't it?

 

[hawg]

For me its the smell of coffee, hate the stuff, smell makes me want to find a bag of popcorn, weird ain't it?

A pot of coffee brewing will cover up any odor. I can tell when somebody has been smoking pot as soon as I enter a room. I don't care how many air fresheners you have or how many cans of Febreze you use. Nothing covers it up except coffee brewing.

 

[Chicken-Farmer]

Ballistol/water “moose milk” to clean and prevent rust.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

When I am done cleaning a revolver,rifle, or shotgun that has been fired with cartridges loaded with Black Powder I soak a patch in Ballistol, then run it through the chambers and bore of a revolver, or down the bore or bores of a rifle or shotgun. I follow up with a clean dry patch to soak up the excess. This leaves a fine coating of Ballistol in the chambers and/or bore.

As has been mentioned, Black Powder fouling is hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from the air. But if the fouling is soaked with oil, it cannot absorb any moisture out of the air, just like a sponge soaked with water cannot absorb any more water.

In antique rifles and revolver, which have pitted bores I do not try to remove every last molecule of fouling. Some will always remain in the bottom of the pits. Soaking the bore in Ballistol this way prevents the remaining fouling from absorbing moisture and causing any corrosion. I have been doing it this way for close to 20 years, it really works.

By the way, I find the odor of Ballistol to be pungent, and it causes me to sneeze, but it is such a good product I put up with the sneezing.

Any oil will work, I just like Ballistol.

WD-40 is a Water Displacement formula, it was never intended to be a lubricant. It probably works fine for this, but I prefer Ballistol.

 

[woodnbow]

Howdy

When I am done cleaning a revolver,rifle, or shotgun that has been fired with cartridges loaded with Black Powder I soak a patch in Ballistol, then run it through the chambers and bore of a revolver, or down the bore or bores of a rifle or shotgun. I follow up with a clean dry patch to soak up the excess. This leaves a fine coating of Ballistol in the chambers and/or bore.

As has been mentioned, Black Powder fouling is hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from the air. But if the fouling is soaked with oil, it cannot absorb any moisture out of the air, just like a sponge soaked with water cannot absorb any more water.

In antique rifles and revolver, which have pitted bores I do not try to remove every last molecule of fouling. Some will always remain in the bottom of the pits. Soaking the bore in Ballistol this way prevents the remaining fouling from absorbing moisture and causing any corrosion. I have been doing it this way for close to 20 years, it really works.

By the way, I find the odor of Ballistol to be pungent, and it causes me to sneeze, but it is such a good product I put up with the sneezing.

Any oil will work, I just like Ballistol.

WD-40 is a Water Displacement formula, it was never intended to be a lubricant. It probably works fine for this, but I prefer Ballistol.

WD40 was never intended to protect metals from oxidation either. In the short term it can but there are much better products.