Ballistol - What is it and does it work?

[musketman]

'Course, we only had the four elements back then: earth, air, fire and water.

Five, we had the element of suprise...

As for Ballistol, the kids love it, it took those rusted bike chains (they left them out all winter) and made them flexible again...

 

[noahmercy]

Count me as a fan. Since it emulsifies in water, it's great for cleaning BP residue. I use an 8:1 (or thereabouts) water/ Ballistol mix to clean, blow dry with compressed air, and lube with straight Ballistol. There may not be such a thing as "seasoning" a steel barrel, but the guns that my friends and I have used this stuff on load easier and clean quicker. And it truly does have other uses. I've used it to kill lice in dog's ears, mites on plants, and put it on scrapes and burns. (It was developed for the German Army to clean and protect leather, wood, and steel, and treat minor wounds.) It may smell like black licorice and dirty sweat socks, but the smell doesn't linger. And, as has been pointed out, Ballistol is USDA approved for food service use, so if there's little ones in the house, it's one of the few solvents and lubes that won't have you scrambling for the number to poison control if they get into it. (But you may have to head out to the store for more TP... :

 

[Mr Nick]

I stand corrected. Now a question. Does anyone have a fouling problem when using Ballistor as a lube?

 

[hobbles]

just passin thru


(addin this to my favorites list)

 

[dlemaster]

There was quite a discussion a couple of months ago on a black powder cartridge rifle forum about Ballistol and there was much of the same reaction as I see here. One of the shooters there is some sort of a whiz-bang scientist so he did some testing of various cleaning and rust preventive products. Ballistol rated very low as a rust preventive, although it was a pretty good cleaning solvent. I was surprised that it didn't do a lot better than it did as a preventive.
Any way, it seemed in the final analysis they recommended it as a good cleaning solvent but don't depend on it as a good rust preventive, especially for long term storage. It was noted by those folks that many of the people who were completely satisfied using it as a rust preventive lived and shot mostly in the high plains areas of the country where humidity levels average a lot lower than in the Eastern and Southern parts of the country.
I have never used it myself on firearms (I do want to try it), but we did use it in a machine shop I worked in as a kid.

Regards, Dave

 

[ktw]

Here's another rust inhibitor test I ran across recently. Appears to show show ballistol has good rust inhibition properties, at least compared to the other things tested.

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

Don't know who's correct. Just adding another data point.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Ill try the Lehigh, the rest of them have petro-oil, not in my
rigle

 

[Deadeye]

I've never used Ballistol but have always heard that it was mineral oil. Would some of you that use it try using plain mineral oil and see if there seems to be a difference and report back or maybe someone has already tried mineral oil.

 

[Markwhiz]

Like Lockjaw, I had a SEVERE rust problem with Ballistol as a preservative.
I bought some and used it on every gun I owned one Saturday after a trip to the range. The following Saturday, every gun I owned had rust in the bore - ruined an air rifle match for my son. :boohoo: (Fortunately all the bores cleaned up well with a little J-B's bore paste)

Anyhoo, I no longer use it for such things. However I HAVE been using it lately as a wad lube. I melt some bore butter, parafin, & Ballistol together and soak my homecut wads in it. My Cap & Ball revolver seems noticably cleaner after shooting these wads as opposed to factory-lubed wonder wads. Gonna try the same mix as a patch lube for round ball too with my WallyWorld pillow ticking soon.

 

[buckknife]

Plain mineral oil wont mix with water or even alkey.Has to be hygrenated is my guess.Its a medical grade mineral oil.What ever that is, that most likley has been heavly hyrenated.If that is what makes it mix with water,an im not a chemist by no means.Most cutting oils like nappa water soulable oil contains sum sulfer and possible clorhrine to help in the cutting process,i dont think ballistol would contain any such thingss for it is not a cutting and grinding oil.So it is probably a better moose milk maker than most of the water soulable oils.

 

[Birddog6]

I use the Non-Aerosol version of Ballistol in the bores of the ML's. IMHO, the aerosol is much too thin for bore protection & I just use the aerosol it for lock cleaning, penetrating oil, etc.

:results:

 

[Halftail]

I have been using Ballistol in my Bores for 5 or 6 years now with no problems.Of course I don't let my rifles sit in Storage for too long before they need to be shot. :m2c:

 

[ruger4570]

If you read on in the MSDS sheet, not only is it mineral oil, but it states it will kill small insects too. Damn,,, a miracle product

 

[Bob J]

I've not had any after-rust using aerosol Ballistol for bore protection. However, for INSIDE cleaning, thinking about going to non-aerosol as you don't want to spray that stuff in the house! :shocking: Not only will wife and kids complain, you'll get a headache (even with glass sliders open :

 

[fatboy]

I have used this for about 2 yrs and like it for cleaning and a patch lube. Shooting with this seams seams just fine no adverse reactions I know of dosent get gummy or give you anymore of a carbon problem . Storage wise it seams to do fine swab bore and outside of rifles and it does a good job. I am not going to say that if you plan on long term storage that there arn't better products out there, they are I'am sure. Some of us go over our collection of toys every 4 months or so check and clean the rifles we dont shoot or never will very often to make sure there isnt a problem and of course you need a good storage area if you live in high humidity area. :imo: :results: :m2c:

 

[Mr Nick]

I've read several posts not to use petrolium lubericants. Ballistol is mineral oil, a petrolium product?? How come no problems with it??

 

[rmg]

If I remember correctly, I read some where that coal is used as a raw material. I don't remember where I read that but it went on to say the fellow that came up with the formulation bought some coal mine so he wouldn't have a problem getting getting the coal he needed.
Rich Goshorn

 

[Halftail]

Wasen't it first made in Germany?

 

[fatboy]

Yes Mr Nick your right you dont want to use petrolium products motor oils and most of the gun clean oils and preservatives out there . I am not sure why this is ok Iam not a chemist but I realy cant complain about it I soak my patching in a 7 parts water to 1 part balistol and let dry its not that costly try it out

 

[Rat]

The reason that it's o.k. is because using dyno-juice products to clean a firearm don't cause any problems...some imagine that they do and that's ok, but I clean my ML's with Hoppe's #9+, Kroil and 3-in-1 and experience none of the side effects that people claim petrol-products cause.

Rat