Best way to season a bore?

[bpbrs]

I don't consider the yellow stuff a bore lube. It is a bullet and patch lube and it works well as drill bit & saw blade lube too!
After loosing a barrel some years back following the seasoning advice I quit recomending it as a "bore protectant" to my customers.

BPB

 

[Zonie]

I also use it (or the same stuff marketed by Remington and a few others) for a patch lube.
I also use it as a Minie' ball lube (even though it is a little messy) and it works great as a lube and to keep the fouling soft.
It just doesn't work for long term storage protection.

 

[Jblk]

Seasoning any metal is nothing more that filling the pores of that metal with carbon.All metal has pores to some degree.The blacksmith used the oil finish on his work to prevent rust and give a plesant color.This requires heating the metal until hot, and plunging into oil.I have done this with springs without hurting the temper.The cast iron skillet, especially the newer ones have large pores that are almost impossible to use without seasoning.This seasoning is done with lard or any animal fat that doesn't contain salt.Sure you can wash cast iron without removing the seasoning.If you can't i've been doing something wrong for the last forty years.How seasoning would effect the accuracy of a barrel is something that I don't have sufficent experience with, but necessity has always been the mother of invention.The next time you see a piece of real wrought iron, look for rust.Bet you won't find any.

 

[Sherlock]

I have never been able to get one of those rifle barrels made out of that legendary "iron skillet" steel. But then,I've never had to buy seasoning for one either. And I go back to the days of US made skillets. But unless you get your Grandma's skillet, or are as old as me it's not likely you have a US iron skillet. No matter, they have been making them in taiwan, and now in red china for a long time. Those are the ones needing seasoning. Skillets need cooking, rifle barrels need shooting. Both need a bit of oil when the cooking & shooting is over. Wonky

 

[50cal.cliff]

IMHO first you go get a big cut of fatback the fatter the better. Get you skillet over the fire,......... Oh, wait a minute you said barrel! :youcrazy: Sorry my mouth was already waterin for some good ole fatback and turnip greens!!!!!!!!! :rotf: :rotf:


Seriously I think this is a term in which the translation has been lost. When you talk about seasoning a skillet you are trying to get the skillet where it cooks well without sticking. Not necessarialy the same translation to a barrel. I think by seasoning of a barrel it mens getting the barrel shot enough to polish up any perfections in the rifling of the barrrel. Furthermore I have to question how much this really applys to today's barrels. I think the quality of today's steel combined with a better rifling job probably produces a barrel which far exceeds the quality of a barrel "back when".
I'll probably get alot of flack for this but, I think all you are doing when seasoning one of tody's barrels is honeing the barrel. The wear of shooting and cleaning the first 100 or so rounds polishes any imperfections out of a barrel. Thinks of these imperfections as being minute steel particles that have an undesired effect on the bullet. Once worn down the rifling can properly do it's job. Now I am not going to say in some barrels it doesn't help considerably. Seasoning the barrel just doesn't mean the same thing as seasoning a skillet. IMHO

 

[Claude Mathis]

I'll probably get alot of flack for this but, I think all you are doing when seasoning one of tody's barrels is honeing the barrel. The wear of shooting and cleaning the first 100 or so rounds polishes any imperfections out of a barrel. Thinks of these imperfections as being minute steel particles that have an undesired effect on the bullet. Once worn down the rifling can properly do it's job. Now I am not going to say in some barrels it doesn't help considerably. Seasoning the barrel just doesn't mean the same thing as seasoning a skillet. IMHO

I think you have summed it up very well. It's really that simple. :thumbsup:

 

[BrownBear]

I kinda had my hat handed to me on the seasoning bit. I was real proud of the dark color of the seasoned bore on my 54 GPR. I didn't realize how dark it was till I cleaned a new 50 cal GPR barrel with brake cleaner. Man, that thing gleamed like a new silver dollar when I was through.

I started going back and forth with a friend who was pretty loud in claiming my "seasoning" wasn't doing a darned bit of good.

Tired of listening to him, I took brake cleaner to that perty 54 bore. And yup, it too gleamed like a new silver dollar by the time I was through.

Out to the range I goes, inviting him along and pointing out my shiny bright bore. Too bad he was there, cuzz I'm still hearing about it. Shot just as well. Loaded just as easy. Didn't foul any more or less. Didn't shut him up either.

The only thing I notice really different, I have to be a whole lot more careful about my cleaning/drying/lubing after a shoot. It's a lot more prone to faint rusting than when it was "seasoned." Maybe I just didn't notice the rust before, but that's my impression.

In that sense anyway, there may be some value in "seasoning" a bore, just like a seasoned cast iron skillet isn't near as prone to rusting. Idle theory, cuzz I'm tired of testing and old enough to be set in my ways.

 

[J.D.]

I have never been able to get one of those rifle barrels made out of that legendary "iron skillet" steel. But then,I've never had to buy seasoning for one either. And I go back to the days of US made skillets. But unless you get your Grandma's skillet, or are as old as me it's not likely you have a US iron skillet. No matter, they have been making them in taiwan, and now in red china for a long time. Those are the ones needing seasoning. Skillets need cooking, rifle barrels need shooting. Both need a bit of oil when the cooking & shooting is over. Wonky

I like the way you think, Wonky. :rotf:

Do you know a big ol' boy from Morganton who hangs out in the Linville Gorge? He likes to take folks through the devils cellar to properly welcome them to the Gorge. Ever try rock climbing wearing primitive gear and carrying a full load? It's interesting. :hmm:

 

[Pork Chop]

Well, since just about everyone has chimed in, I guess I will throw in my two cent's worth. The title of this thread is "Best way to season a bore?", and I know the answer. You have to take it out for Deer season, Hog season, Rabbit season, Squirrel season, Bear season, Racoon season, Opossum season and just about any other hunting season you can think of. Do that a few times, and it will be a well seasoned bore. :wink:

 

[worker11811]

Okay, my turn...

I think the idea of seasoning your rifle bore is actually referring to something I call "beneficial fouling."

I think everybody understands that rifles of all types, be they muzzle loaders or modern guns, shoot most accurately after being freshly cleaned when they have had one or two "fouling shots" run through them.

The common understanding is that powder fouling, lead and bullet lube coat the inside of the bore and allow the bullet to slide down the barrel and to engage the rifling better because some of the microscopic imperfections have been filled in.

So... If one is referring to beneficial fouling as "seasoning" then, fine. So be it. I agree.
(Even though my theory doesn't stand 100% up to scrutiny, it is a commonly held belief which MOSTLY holds up.)

But if you are saying that "seasoning" is some kind of permanent or semi-permanent coating that protects the inside of the bore and improves it's performance then I vote "Malarky."

To season a frying pan, you must heat it to a high temperature and HOLD IT THERE for a fairly long time period so that the oil and fat molecules carbonize and bond to the surface.

1) The metal of a gun barrel doesn't ever get hot enough to carbonize the oil.

2) The metal doesn't stay hot LONG ENOUGH.

3) What are we doing putting that much OIL down a gun barrel?

Some guys who shoot .22 cal rimfire with me are absolutely freaky about barrel fouling. Some guys swear that their barrels must be perfectly clean to shoot well but others are just as adamant that cleaning a barrel takes all the accuracy out of it. Me, I'm somewhere in the middle. I'll clean it after I'm done shooting but I don't clean after every shot, either. I'll use a BoreSnake if I think the gun is getting too dirty to function well.

I know that black powder guns need a different cleaning regimen than modern smokeless powder guns but, in terms of the beneficial nature of a MODERATE amount of fouling in the bore, I think there is a lot of transferable information.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

rabbit03 seems to have the same idea I do. BP is coated with graphite which for some reason will adhere to the bore of a rifle if you use only hot water to clean with (near as I know this what the mm's did). the BP 'fouling' will be washed out but a clean patch run thru the bore will still come out with black on it.
I experimented some years back just using hot water to clean and wipe down the lock area with, then grease when dry. no or very little rust occured even tho a patch would be tainted black from I suppose the graphite. added soap would remove more of the graphite and other solutions removed most if not all of it. I now use warm windsheild washer fluid to clean with - really brings the gunk out. and off the lock area also.
I wonder if any 'seasoning' isn't the result of lube atop residual graphite?

 

Best way to season a bore??? There's no hard and fast answer however, you would season it same as you would season a sow, just season to taste. BTW, it's spelled "boar".