What the heck, rust?

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Budwell

32 Cal
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What happened here? After shooting half a dozen shots with Pyrodex, I swabbed the bore with some lubed patches before leaving the range. Once I got home I swabbed the bore with four T17 lubed patches (I flipped them over and used both sides). Between the 3rd and 4th patch I ran a .54cal brush down the bore. It was looking good so I set the Lyman aside while I cleaned some other rifles. I let the T17 soak (just a very light coat) and was going to finish up and protect the bore later.
The next day I pulled out patches 5-8. What the heck? Temp in the shop was 67F overnight with 45% humidity. The T17 bottle says right on it "contains a protectant that inhibits rust".
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Clean with water, let it sit muzzle down in the corner. Clean you lock, nipple, and whatever else. Couple of dry patches down the bore, then one with dubya d 40 or denatured alcohol to displace any water, one more dry patch to make sure, then saturate a patch with Birchwood Casey's Barricade. Works for me anyway. Good luck with her👍
 
Pyrodex can cause rust much faster than real BP. Do as snakebit described above , clean well with water pumping a patch on a rod, dry patches till dry and clean, then alcohol to remove any traces of water, a few dry patches then a well oiled patch. Before shooting again swab with an alcohol patch to remove oil.

Water has been the preferred bore cleaner for 400 years.
 
n.h.schmidt said:
I shoot Pyrodex and have no rust problems at all. Use home made corrosive caps too. I usually clean the same day using room temp water and window cleaner. Dry well and slop in Ballistal. The cap spray does go all around the breach ,lockplate and hammer and need cleaning off or bad things happen.
Click to expand...
Exactly my regimen with pyrodex too, luckily the home made caps / pyrodex film on everything is disgusting so it encourages immediate action
 
kyron4 said:
Pyrodex can cause rust much faster than real BP. Do as snakebit described above , clean well with water pumping a patch on a rod, dry patches till dry and clean, then alcohol to remove any traces of water, a few dry patches then a well oiled patch. Before shooting again swab with an alcohol patch to remove oil.

Water has been the preferred bore cleaner for 400 years.
Click to expand...
Water worked for me for over 30 years so it is back to water I go.

Thanks for all the replies!
 
In my opinion, when shooting Pyrodex you need to do the bucket of water cleaning method twice. Pumping water through the barrel with the patch on a jag, maybe even also using a brush. Then after the barrel is clean use a second bucket full of clean, plain water and pump it through the barrel to rinse the residue out of the bore. Pyrodex fouling needs to be diluted and flushed out otherwise you get those kind of rust stained patches.
 
n.h.schmidt said:
I shoot Pyrodex and have no rust problems at all. Use home made corrosive caps too. I usually clean the same day using room temp water and window cleaner. Dry well and slop in Ballistal. The cap spray does go all around the breach ,lockplate and hammer and need cleaning off or bad things happen.
Click to expand...
I have used a lot of Pyrodex as well and never had a problem? I have one rifle I bought in the eighties and it is all that has ever been used in it and the barrel is fine? I use water, soap with patches made from old tee shirts. I lay the barrel over two burners on our cooking range and get it very hot to drive away moisture. I then use 3in1 oil and wipe the bore real good. The next day I run a patch down the Barrel to remove the oil and reoil it! If I see the least bit of rust I will run multiple patches down the barrel and re oil again. I think it is lack of cleaning or waiting to long to clean that is the problem. Black powder will cause a barrel to rust if not cleaned as well.
 
LME said:
I have used a lot of Pyrodex as well and never had a problem? I have one rifle I bought in the eighties and it is all that has ever been used in it and the barrel is fine? I use water, soap with patches made from old tee shirts. I lay the barrel over two burners on our cooking range and get it very hot to drive away moisture. I then use 3in1 oil and wipe the bore real good. The next day I run a patch down the Barrel to remove the oil and reoil it! If I see the least bit of rust I will run multiple patches down the barrel and re oil again. I think it is lack of cleaning or waiting to long to clean that is the problem. Black powder will cause a barrel to rust if not cleaned as well.
Click to expand...
Iv'e never seen Pyrodex or any such just black powder not in sixty five years shooting MLs & BLs . I did once put oil of wintergreen down a barrel to save washing it out that day it caused rust. Its not a record (Their round flat things with a hole in the middle ) Rudyard
 
pchwcf50110 said:
In my opinion, when shooting Pyrodex you need to do the bucket of water cleaning method twice. Pumping water through the barrel with the patch on a jag, maybe even also using a brush. Then after the barrel is clean use a second bucket full of clean, plain water and pump it through the barrel to rinse the residue out of the bore. Pyrodex fouling needs to be diluted and flushed out otherwise you get those kind of rust stained patches.
Click to expand...
I know that soap and water will clean a B.P. rifle . I think we can all agree on that? What is an enigma to me is if the barrel is clean of all debri how can what was down it make a difference in whether the barrel will rust or not after cleaning? The only logical explaination I can come up with is the barrel isn't actually clean in the first place?
 
That rifle has a hooked breech, corrrect? Remove the nipple, pull the barrel and dunk the breech end in a bucket a wata.

I do the pump-n-scrub with plain water. Change water and patches until everything stays clear and clean. Evacuate water, a couple more patches with @Mr. Flintlock 's bore cleaner. More dry patches until they come out clean. Desiccate with 99% isopropyl alcohol. A few more dry patches for effect, then a down and up pass with a patch saturated with your rust preventative of choice.

Most "black powder bore cleaners" are overpriced and underwhelming.
 
Last edited:
n.h.schmidt said:
I shoot Pyrodex and have no rust problems at all. Use home made corrosive caps too. I usually clean the same day using room temp water and window cleaner. Dry well and slop in Ballistal. The cap spray does go all around the breach ,lockplate and hammer and need cleaning off or bad things happen.
Click to expand...

This method is quite right because Pyrodex is actually more corrosive than BP. The substitution chemical used to make Pyrodex burn slightly different so that it can be stored like modern powder at a gun shop instead of the special storage for BP needed by most jurisdictions, makes Pyrodex more corrosive. What's happening in Mr. Schmidt's procedure above, is he's not only diluting the acid with water, but using window cleaner, which normally has a chemical that's a base (like ammonia). That neutralizes the acid in the Pyrodex residue. After drying well he adds a layer of Ballistol, which seals off oxygen from any trace molecules that might have escaped his cleaning, and voila... no rust. :thumb:

LD
 
Loyalist Dave said:
This method is quite right because Pyrodex is actually more corrosive than BP. The substitution chemical used to make Pyrodex burn slightly different so that it can be stored like modern powder at a gun shop instead of the special storage for BP needed by most jurisdictions, makes Pyrodex more corrosive. What's happening in Mr. Schmidt's procedure above, is he's not only diluting the acid with water, but using window cleaner, which normally has a chemical that's a base (like ammonia). That neutralizes the acid in the Pyrodex residue. After drying well he adds a layer of Ballistol, which seals off oxygen from any trace molecules that might have escaped his cleaning, and voila... no rust. :thumb:

LD
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me! It might be a bit quicker than my method?
 

Loyalist Dave said:
This method is quite right because Pyrodex is actually more corrosive than BP. The substitution chemical used to make Pyrodex burn slightly different so that it can be stored like modern powder at a gun shop instead of the special storage for BP needed by most jurisdictions, makes Pyrodex more corrosive. What's happening in Mr. Schmidt's procedure above, is he's not only diluting the acid with water, but using window cleaner, which normally has a chemical that's a base (like ammonia). That neutralizes the acid in the Pyrodex residue. After drying well he adds a layer of Ballistol, which seals off oxygen from any trace molecules that might have escaped his cleaning, and voila... no rust. :thumb:

LD
Click to expand...
Loyalist Dave is right. Pyrodex has an acid based corrosive action while BP has salt which generally is more neutral. Water easily dissolves salts but dilutes acid. Even diluted acid will over time etch barrels.
 

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