Ballistol Substitute

[Throwdown58]

You can clean with regular dishsoap and water, then use the gun version of corrosion x. It was developed for aircraft and there is nothing even close.

 

[Crow-Feather]

Amazon two 16 ounce non aerosol bottles of Ballistol with a sprayer $41.00 . More money? Yes. But a 100+ year track record on not just firearms, but military weapons in hard use.

I agree with you that BALLISTOL is a great product. Good on leather wood and barrel cleaning. I used it as a patch lube for the last couple of years. I have found that it is getting harder to clean the black streaks out of my bores lately. I do not blame Ballistol, I have strongly defended it in past posts. But I am retrying my original moose milk with cutting oil to see if there is a change in cleaning results when I hot water etc. clean.

 

[OhioHawkeye]

....You can order it here from the USA seller that's in Kitty Hawk, NC :

Ballistol - The Original CLP - Cleans, Lubricates, Preserves

Yup, but is normally cheaper from other sources If you live close. I used to ship it, but I haven't got back up to full business. It is a pain to ship as it is required to double box and Fed-Ex Ground is the only carrier who will handle it. (if a seller is honest about the content)

remember, the 2nd weekend of June is the NMLRA Spring Nationals at Friendship, IN. Mike Eder/Flintlocks Inc, and Log Cabin are to be there. I noticed others sometimes sell it in the sheep sheds.

I won't be on primitive hill this year due to having spin surgery in March...it sucks not being able to drive or do stuff.
What I do carry is here: Ballistol Sales Note, my prices are much lower than what I have posted.

Flintlocks LLC is on FB only: Just contact Mike Eder. (His booth is the first corner of the sheep sheds inside the front gate) Log into Facebook

Log Cabin Shop: Search - ballistol

 

[renegadehunter]

If wanting to find a substitute for making Dutch S. style "dry" patches, you can also use Castor oil and mix it with denatured alcohol (CO/DA). Exact same method, mix your preferred ratio, shake well, dip patches, and let them dry. My rifle shot a bit better groups with it than when I tried Ballistol/water.
I did find that patches prelubed with CO/DA would break down the patch fibers fairly quickly. I don't have an exact time frame but had one time I went to the range with some patches that had been prelubed for around 3 or 4 months and found that my groups were much worse. Recovered patches showed why, they had holes/tears in them. I'd make sure to use any patches lubed with it within a month of lubing or less.

 

[Musketeer]

Interesting topic. I've been using Ballistol for quite a while and it works great, but something in it doesn't agree with me and I go into coughing fits every time I use it. Once I have my patches made up and am actually shooting I have no issues and no signs of contact allergy on my skin or anything, so I guess there's just something in it that's irritating to my airways when I'm around it in large amounts. It's more a minor annoyance than anything, and the coughing stops after a couple minutes of fresh air, but it would be nice to find something with similar properties that is totally non-irritating.

 

[nhmoose]

IMHO Ballistol = wrung out sweat socks by the smell.

 

[user 34300]

Balistol is mostly mineral oil, baby oil, aka drugstore mineral oil. Balistol's other ingredients evaporate easily. For dry patching you could use a solvent like mineral spirits or charcoal lighter instead of water with baby oil or mineral oil and get a similar patch as ballistol and water.

I recently did this with food grade beef tallow and mineral spirits. It worked great and I shot my highest score to date. When I make more I will use charcoal lighter. Any oil will probably work to. I may try it with mutton tallow.

Mutton tallow is on page two of the link. Favorite Fats | US Wellness Meats

For water based lube I have been using straight murphy's oil soap.

 

[Sam squanch]

I like ballistiol, but it’s getting too expensive. And it makes me cough and gag too...

 

[user 36911]

Balistol is mostly mineral oil, baby oil, aka drugstore mineral oil. Balistol's other ingredients evaporate easily. For dry patching you could use a solvent like mineral spirits or charcoal lighter instead of water with baby oil or mineral oil and get a similar patch as ballistol and water.

I recently did this with food grade beef tallow and mineral spirits. It worked great and I shot my highest score to date. When I make more I will use charcoal lighter. Any oil will probably work to. I may try it with mutton tallow.

Mutton tallow is on page two of the link. Favorite Fats | US Wellness Meats

For water based lube I have been using straight murphy's oil soap.

They have Pemmican. Now, there's an old mountain man food they used to survive on. I'm going to buy some and then when i'm on the elk hunt with my Lakota friend I can hand him some. He'll be surprised but love it.

 

[Rfp10000]

Any comments on experience with using the aerosol version versus the straight stuff with the spray nozzle?

 

[user 36911]

I've read it's not as good.

 

[Rfp10000]

I've read it's not as good.

I heard the same but the aerosol seems to spread over parts better with less waste.
the undiluted spray seems to use way more and cover less area.
I use the undiluted to make moose milk but I thought I’d try it as a spray and it hasn’t seemed to work that well for me so far.