Bore Butter and Rust

[ronrryan]

Off bore topic a hair, but as to temperature, in midstate New York (Madison county, etc) I have often sat on my frozen stump in 20 degrees with snow going by horizontally, considered that uncomfortable but pretty normal, better than freezing rain. So far shot plenty deer with shotguns, still hoping for one with a flintlock if I can only walk in one more time. Good smoke, Ron in Fla

 

[Sharp Shooter]

Why do you take bore butter hunting? My patches are pre-lubed.

 

[marmot]

Back when I still worked on fishing boats (youthful insanity at its best! :youcrazy: ) I would be gone three to six months at a time, halfway around the world from my guns... which led to a lot of worrying the first few trips! The routine I settled on, which worked very well, was to throughly clean them (usually with hot water followed by good old Hoppe's #9), dry them, and let them sit for a couple of days with a coat of WD-40 in the barrel (a bit sprayed in each morning, since it seems to all run out the bottom or evaporate quickly), reclean with alcohol and dry patches, then absolutley saturate the inside of the barrel with bore butter, including putting glob on the face of the cleaning patch so it was forced out the touch holes or nipple; heavy coat on the lock and barrel too. Now I'll admit that this is overkill for a gun that you shoot every couple of weeks, but the bore butter was very effective in preserving my guns 'till I got back home to them again, and it is still my main rust defense, albeit in lighter doses. Based on my personal experience, I have a great deal of faith in the stuff, as long as the gun is clean and dry in the first place - as is probably true for most anything you choose to use.

Just my two cents worth on bore butter... I like RIG too, but generally reserve it for modern guns...

marmot

 

[roundball]

"...as long as the gun is clean and dry in the first place..."

And I think thats a very important point, possibly more so when using bore butter than any other lube, because I don't believe bore butter 'displaces' anything, or works itself 'underneath' anything.

If bore butter is used as a bore lube, I believe it puts a premium on ensuring the bore is 100% clean and 100% dry before plastering the bore with it..."plastering" being an important point as well.

I don't believe we can just use a store-bought lubed patch and run it up & down the bore once or twice like we do with modern rifles...store bought patches don't have enough lube on them IMO...need to put a lot more bore butter on a patch and apply it into the bore multiple times.

If bore butter manufacturers could do anything better, it would be to point this out more clearly in their instructions on the label for when we start out as newbies...I'm convinced the problems some people have had with bore butter are a result of the 'process' used, not the 'product' itself...my .02 cents.

 

[CrackStock]

Sorry, I did not even consider that you were using Pyrodex. I retreat completely. I never use it since it gave me bad accuracy when I first started shooting MLs and I found rust in my bore. I have no further experience with it since discovering the joys of real BP.

CS

 

[arcticap]

I do understand better now though. Since Pyrodex P & RS is only labeled as the BP "ffg & fffg equivalent", most likely there isn't any graphite added to Pyrodex at all.

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Hard to believe no one weighed in on this subject about using GO-JO hand cleaner as a patch lube and cleaner. Use the regular not the pumice powder added type. Works great as field cleaner upper too.
I tryed original Maxi-Lube, Improved Maxi-lube(more liquid) and then Natural Lube 1000 as a replacement for the lard/crisco I had been using, which worked good as patch lube (other stuff did too) but got a notion to try GO-JO one day after cleaning up from work. First took it with me when going on a camping trip and taking cap&ball revolvers with me. Cleaned after shooting with it and three days later got home to plenty of hot water for a thorough clean but there was no significant rusting to clean up.
Using it for patch lube was a suprise, and using it to clean up with was easier/faster than hot soapy water method. And wiped the bore down with it also, no rust, this stuff really brings the black out when cleaning with it.
Claims to have lanolin in it, and I guess some sort of soap as it starts to lather a bit when using to clean your hands with.
Cheap too, 1$ a tub on special at Auto Zone compared to 5-6 $ a tube 4 the other stuff which has set in my cabinet ever since I started using this stuff.
I'm getting a Lee REAL mold so may have to use something else if it doesn't work with them

 

[Tim Clark]

Well, ....what the heck. I've used bore butter, and I've used Ballistol. I have no bad thing to say about bore butter, I have just found Ballistol to be superior to everything else I've ever used, literally. It blends with water (where "MooseMilk" comes from!), and remains on the wood, leather, or steel after the water goes. Once I started with Ballistol-only on some guns, I noticed that those were the only ones that never had "residual rust" after cleaning and storage. So, now all guns, BP, centerfire, shotguns, all, get Ballistol. Non-petroleum. Been around for 110 years or so. And my uncle - Ballistol was all that could be found with his guns, in his tool shop, in his garage... Another thing - no need for a fouling shot, I've noticed --- it seems to have zero effect on point of impact. And that, interestingly enough, is also in the company's printed literature.

I still have bore butter and the T/C bore cleaner liquid, and bore butter coated patches, but I don't use them. I plan on giving them away if ever the opportunity arises that I meet up with someone that wants them. Yeah, Ballistol has a FAR less pleasing odor than the other stuff, but I kind of like it... but don't take that as a glowing testimonial, heck I even like skunk smell.

In case it needs to be said, I do NOT sell Ballistol, I do NOT represent that company or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, or associates, nor am I in any way related to any of the above, that I know of. I just love the stuff. It is one product that, when they make a claim or claims, it absolutely does it and then some. And it'll even take rust off if left slathered on the barrel, so take that under consideration and use lightly on bluing. It also removes copper (dissolves it, they say) and leading QUITE well. Takes the mildew off leather, and (unlike petrol products) will not only not hurt the leather, AND wood, but it's actually good for both. One of my Marlin lever guns has only Ballistol as a wood "finish," although a finish it's not, more like a good preservative that doesn't leave a shine, but the water beads right up on.

Okay, I truly do apologize and in no way meant this as a plug for the stuff nor to "hijack" this thread, but it is after all the convert that sings loudest in church. Use Bore Butter, WD-40, Hoppe's, whatever works. But I highly recommend and strongly suggest the use of Ballistol on firearms, and most especially black powder, for which it was originally developed. If you order it from the U.S. distributor, be prepared for a poop-load of associated literature.

 

[barebackjack]

I hear ya. Opening weekend here can be 80 and sunny, but the next year be -30 with 30 inches of snow.

I love it.

Im gonna try mink oil this year. The stuff Track sells.

 

[Slake]

very interesting all of this....I like bore butter and I use it...I get the slightly brown patch after it sets a spell but my bore does not appear rusty...My bores look sweet and pristine and I have some rifles that were not well taken care of before I got them. If I was going to leave a rifle unattended for many months I would oil it and tag it to warn that it was oiled.
I don't go very many weeks without shooting them all {I only have five so it's easy}
I go boatin during the summer months so in between the spring shoot and the fall shoot a month or two could go by and I have bore butter in them. I get some brown patches but they come clean quick and I shoot fairly well I think. I've always thought that some of the brown is the butter breaking down and not necessarily rust.
The go jo hand cleaner thing...wow...haven't tried it.

 

[Lone Carabiner]

It's cheap so can't hurt to give it a try next time your'e plinking. Out camping I heat water up to get the black rinsed out/off then use the GO-JO, then dry, then GO-JO again. Keeps it from rusting, I left a cap&ball revolver for 4 days before I got home and no significant rust, if I had used more care and hot water from my coffee pot in the woods it would have been fine to store as it was.
:grin:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I can't say enough bad things about bore butter.
I have no idea why some of you tote it like it's the best thing sence sliced bread,
I to have used it after I completly washed my barrel, patched it until my patches were clean than bore butter, less than a week later my barrel is rusty, the stuff sucks.!!!!
There was a lube test done not so long ago and the best lubes for your barrel were wd40, ballistol, and kroil.
If any of you want info on the test to see how your lube stacked up with the rest I can ask coyote Joe where the thred was where he read it.
The only thing bore butter is good for is making your gun stink in the woods :youcrazy:

 

[roundball]

I can't say enough bad things about bore butter.
I have no idea why some of you tote it like it's the best thing sence sliced bread,
I to have used it after I completly washed my barrel, patched it until my patches were clean than bore butter, less than a week later my barrel is rusty, the stuff sucks.!!!!
There was a lube test done not so long ago and the best lubes for your barrel were wd40, ballistol, and kroil.
If any of you want info on the test to see how your lube stacked up with the rest I can ask coyote Joe where the thred was where he read it.
The only thing bore butter is good for is making your gun stink in the woods :youcrazy:

It's not a product problem...it's an end user problem...if it was a product problem all my muzzleloaders would have been ruined by now after using it for 15+...as would the 10's upon 10's of thousands of other people who have used it for a couple decades.

Stink in the woods? :rotf:
Sounds like you don't do much deer hunting...it didn't seem to bother either of my Flintlock 10 pointers last fall :rotf:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

thats good roundball but I don't beleve it :bull:

 

[roundball]

thats good roundball but I don't beleve it :bull:

What don't you believe ??
PS: Any breeze floating odors of oil, bore butter, etc, would be floating human scent right along with it...

 

[Greenmtnboy]

The issue was not can a gun can kill a deer lathered with bore butter.
The issue is , does borebutter rust , dry non oiled barrel, and yes roundball it does.
Borebutter is rock hard at 50 degrees and liquid at 75, not what I look fore in a patch lube.
I built my first muzzleloader in 1983 and used borebutter and coulden't figure out why, after I cleaned my gun to a white patch than used borebutter every time I went to shoot, my pre load cleaning patch was rusty.
I asked our local gunsmith who informed me that he to experenced a rusty barrel.
He than showed me ballistol and I never looked back.
I run a lightly oiled patch down my barrel than patch out any excess.
When I load a clean barrel I know that my inpact point will be the same as when I benched my rifle.
Oh and by the way roundball I am a true hunter and grew up that way always being very careful of my sent and keeping my hunting wools in a bag with indigenous flora.
Borebutter smells like bengay and any fool hunter knows better than to go into the woods smelling like that. :youcrazy:

 

[roundball]

"...Borebutter smells like bengay and any fool hunter knows better than to go into the woods smelling like that. :youcrazy:..."

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: you're funny...and here's what's obvious from your posts:

1) You're not a successful deer hunter;
2)You don't know how to successfully clean/dry/lube muzzleloaders;
3) You can't carry on civil adult conversations without name calling.
People who behave like that have deeper issues they're struggling with and will never be able to have rational conversations with other adults until they resolve those deep seated issues.



But never-the-less, Natural Lube 1000 does not cause rust...rust is caused by the end user's improper cleaning, drying, and lubing techniques.
Bores must be cleaned 100%, then dried 100%, then lubed 100%...if all three steps are completed 100%, there can be no rust, period...it's very simple.
You apparently had a rust problem due to negligence and are trying to deflect responsibility and blame a product...sorry...a simple tube of Natural Lube 1000 does not cause rust problems...how firearms are cared for cause rust problems.

For you to be more successful with your firearms, fix your methods and stop blaming NL1000.
For you to be more successful as a deer hunter, fix your methods and stop blaming NL1000.

NL1000 obviously doesn't bother deer...and all my 15+ year old bores still look factory new...plus...this "fool hunter who use NL1000" has filled all 4 of his buck tags every year since 1990, and both of his doe tags every year since 1990 except one...all the while using Natural Lube 1000.

So you see, your anti-NL1000 rationale has no merit what-so-ever.

 

[Rebel]

OK you 2, play nice. :grin:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

OK you 2, play nice. :grin:

No doubt, It's like talking to wall!!
being a true american, my granpappy always said, us Blanchards will allways defend to the death someones right to be wrong.
say what you want about me but don't ever!! accuse me of neglecting my rifles

 

[Kentuckywindage]

ive used bore butter in my rifles after ive cleaned them and the next week i go to swap the barrel out to make sure its clean and i just pull out a filty rust covered patch. I wont use it anymore. I only use it on my patchs. I like to use Rem oil. Never had any rust issues with it.