Cabelas/Investarms Rifle Question

[tx50cal]

My new Cabelas/Investarms Rifle should arive any day. My question is Do they put the same rust preventative on the lock parts that they put in the bore? Do I need to remove and clean the lock assembly prior to shooting? I know that a few of you guys have these rifles out there, Thanks for the help.

 

[jdixon]

I bought one several years ago, still have it. You should be ready to go out of the box, just swab out the barrel some. After you start to shot and clean it every time, begin laying the Bore Butter to it, in the barrel bed, under the lock, down the barrel. Eventually this will season the metal parts pretty well. That gun is pretty low maintenance, hooked barrel makes it easy to clean. I believe you will like it!

 

[Rebel]

As i recall the lock doesn't have the same grease as the bore. The lock should be ok as is, but the grease in the bore needs to be removed BEFORE shooting, or it bakes on. I us spray brake parts cleaner to break down the grease and make it easier to remove.

 

[faw3]

I cant remember who told me to season the barrel with bore- butter 15,20 yrs ago butits the one smart thing Ive ever done, that and John Hs teflon patchs. Fred :hmm:

 

[tx50cal]

Thanks for the help guys. I was thinking of useing carb cleaner to remove the grease from the bore. Just have to be careful, I don't know if it will remove the blueing.

 

[deerstalker07]

Will WD-40 work?
Also, I have the bore butter, and after I clean out the grease that is in my barrel, I put it in the barrel, or do yall mean just put it on the patch/ball?
Thanks....Travis
I'm not up with trhe terms, so what does "season" mean when they said season the barrel w/ borebutter

 

[jdixon]

The general opinion about cleaning solvents and lubricants on black powder guns is that those compounds that are petroleum based are not the best. Petroleum based residues in those places where fouling collects have a tendency to bond with that fouling making a goo that is difficult to remove. Seasoning with Bore Butter - again based on what I have been told and observed over the years, Bore Butter or similar compounds (non-petroleum based) will coat the metals with residues that ease the removal of fouling. An old-timer I meet up at Friendship told me once that with cap and ball revolvers he purchases new, he completely disassembled them, laced all of the parts liberally in Bore Butter, put the parts on a cookie sheet and put it all into a warm oven for an hour. This was done to expend the metal and draw some of the Bore Butter into it. I have done this with my revolvers, can't say if it is worth the effort but, I can report that I do not seem to have the same fouling problems that others report.

 

[shmrck1]

mrfishnhunt,
My advise: The weapon is completely
disassembled when you get it from Cabela's so
wipe it down and clean the barrel as if you had
just fired it 10 times without swabbing it.
Now whatever you used to clean with stay with it.
At this stage I prefer Hoppe's #9plus. Great
cleaner, but personaly I think there are A

lot better
lubes. Moose snot and Bore Butter 1000,for just
two. Ox-yoke patches work great also IMO
snake-eyes

 

[harryo]

Will WD-40 work?
Also, I have the bore butter, and after I clean out the grease that is in my barrel, I put it in the barrel, or do yall mean just put it on the patch/ball?

WD-40 works great as a solvent for cutting the packing grease in the bore. Spray it in liberally, let it soak for a while and it should loosen the grease up so you can swab it out. It is important to remove all of the packing grease before you shoot or it will bake in the bore and give you all kinds of problems.

Bore Butter is a good patch lube but,, IMO the seasoning claims are pure bunk. There are also varied opinions on using it as a patch lube. Some have claimed that over time, it has built up in the bore and caused accuracy problems. Others have had claimed it doesn't provide them with adequate corrosion protection for storage.

For what it is worth, I have used Bore Butter as a patch lube and have not had problems. I haven't used it to protect my stored rifles so I can't comment on corrosion protection. However, I don't now use it as a patch lube because there are homemade lubes that I find better, much less expensive and which are more accurate in my rifles than Bore Butter. If you want a good commercial lube, Lehigh Valley is one of the best, IMO.

 

[faw3]

I have used it on ML rifles in storage for over 10 years and its worked great, I dont know if its bunk or not because I havent not done it to a bore in 15 years or more. WD 40 does build up a wax after a lot of use.Fred :hmm:

 

[Idaho Elk Hunter]

just like a cast iron skillet....you season it real good with lard or something like it and you never wash them with detergent....this is what I have been told anyway. Wash only with warm or hot water and not detergent. Makes me wonder about our guns. I personally use Bore Butter very generously before during and after especially on new barrels. On new barrel, I swab bore butter after I have loaded the barrel and I clean with hot water (no detergent) and generously swab bore butter in barrels while still fairly warm so as to disperse the bore butter evenly and this way it gets into the metal.....my opinion anyway. My old grandmother told me that detergent would cause rust on cast iron skillets....if seasoned properly, no rust!
Jim in Idaho

 

[harryo]

I have used it on ML rifles in storage for over 10 years and its worked great, I dont know if its bunk or not because I havent not done it to a bore in 15 years or more. WD 40 does build up a wax after a lot of use.Fred :hmm:

The question about WD-40 was not about using it for corrosion protection in a bore, but about using it as a solvent to cut the packing grease in the bore of a new barrel, which it will do quite well.

 

[harryo]

just like a cast iron skillet....you season it real good with lard or something like it and you never wash them with detergent....this is what I have been told anyway.

But rifle barrels are not made of cast iron. Cast iron is a very porous metal and when you season it you are actually filling the pores with what is essentially carbon, burnt oil, and also leaving a layer of it over the surface of the pan. The steel of a rifle barrel is not porous and has no pores to fill. I know some say it this happens on a microscopic level but I don't buy that either.

Look at it this way. Compare a new cast iron skillet with a well seasoned one. There is a big difference in appearance. The new one is bare metal and the seasoned one has a definite layer of carbon built up on it. Do you want your rifle to have this black layer built up in the bore or do you want it clean? Do you believe you will get better accuracy with a clean barrel, or one with a layer of carbon built up in the bore? Do you think a so called "seasoned" barrel would offer better corrosion protection than one that is cleaned thoroughly, to a like new, bare metal state and then coated with some type of rust preventative? Finally, if Bore Butter actually "seasons" a barrel, and a "seasoned" barrel won't rust, why do you put more Bore butter in the bore after cleaning?

 

[faw3]

Thats just what it tells you to do on the tube, must be why I havent had a speck of rust and even the 15 yr old guns load slick as new, I dont know that it does anything , but I do know all load , are easy to shoot over with out swabbing evry shoot, kind of like that $25 a qt of oil I put in the Shelby Turo Dodge, it may not work but the thing runs a 1/2 second faeter 12.66 115 mph not bad for a old 4 cyl, Id like to try it in a rifle some time since it DOES cut wear down a bunch( Ive pulled it down twice and mikd the parts) But for now Im happy with the teflon patchs,one thing at a time. How to "season " is on the back of the tube of bore but. Fred

 

[Idaho Elk Hunter]

you misunderstood my intent to explain seasoning...just used skillet as example, my barrels are perfect and no carbon buildup like a frying pan that you alluded to in any of them..

Of course I know the barrels are not cast iron, but on a microscopic level you do need to season them the same, period as all steel has a certain amount of porous surface whether super hard or not!!! I broke in a brand new airplane engine in 1998 from Lycoming and they told me same thing, I used a break in formula from them to coat and season the cylinders as all metal is porous to a degree.
I quit using detergent years ago, just plain hot boiling (almost) water and while still fairly warm run a patch with liberal amount of bore butter after drying thoroughly with dry patches and heat, or any good well known natural lube and while hot it disperses the bore butter into the entire area of the barrel, just works for me and I have never had a problem with rust whatsoever. I only use Goex BP and all the fouling comes out with water only....NO Detergents. I have noticed rust after using detergent almost immediately and on my own I decided to quit using it years ago.

I also spray generously T/C #13 (aerosol can) oil not the bore cleaner, but the #13 oil in aerosol can in a rifle that I am not goiing to shoot for awhile and put patch between hammer and nipple to catch excess drip of oil, if it is new barrel then I use the bore butter and I check barrel several days later and take care of it if there is a sign of rust or anything off color. I read a military manual that said to clean fouling from BP rifles with plain water and it didn't have to be warm either as water alone will remove fouling.

Respectfully,
jim

 

[jdixon]

Correct on the water, the temperature is really not important to the cleaning process, what the hot water will do for you however is heat up the barrel and in so doing evaporate more water than a cold barrel. Of course, the removal of water from the barrel warm or cold can be greatly assisted by using a water dispersant like WD-40 or my favorite - denatured alcohol.
This discussion on the Bore Butter is very interesting. I use it, seems to work fine, never really thought about why, been interesting to see the opinions of others who have looked into this far more than I have.
Here is another little Bore Butter trick I use on my cap locks. When putting them up for long term storage in the safe, I take a cleaning patch, pretty well lubed with Bore Butter, fold it up and place it atop the nipple. Then I drop the hammer on the patch, this wedges the patch into the hammer face and top of the nipple giving these venerable areas an added layer of protection.

 

[gmww]

I guess I'll be the odd duck on this one. I used Bore butter for lubing bullets (sometimes). I'll also use it for roundball patches. However, I will clean my rifle of the stuff at the end of the day. First using Buck's BP bore shine and then eventually like I would clean my modern rifle. It leave it with a thin film of gun oil and not the Bore butter.

Why? I used to do the boiling water treatment and finish with bore butter. Accuracy after a number of years started to decline in my .54. I read on another forum about how some claimed it was because of the bore butter. I did what they suggested and brought the bore back to bare metal via rigorious cleaning. Gun got accurate again and has stayed that way. Was it because I got rid of the bore butter or the seasoning? Not sure but since it worked, I've stuck to this routine.

 

[gmww]

Sorry meant to say Butch's BP Bore shine not Buck's. Also the gun I was talking about is a Cabela's Investarms .54 Hawkens.

 

[Zonie]

As this post is turning into a cleaning post and many of you folks are new to the forum(compared to an old Far* like me) I'm creating a post in the Accessories area (where cleaning is normally discussed) called LUBEWARS REMEMBERED.
I think you will find it interesting.

 

[faw3]

Zonie you must at one time or other read the back of the Bore Butter about how to season ,..sooo what do you think? Fred :hatsoff: