I tried bore butter as a patch lube and was not impressed, though some may like it. I would never grease the bore when storing. I lightly oil and before shooting run a dry patch down to remove any excess lying in the grooves or on the breechplug. No matter how lightly you oil a little can run to the lowest point and settle. And if you stand the gun when storing, that means the breech area. When I go to the range or hunting, I want to start shooting, not spend a half hour de-greasing. Now, if I was storing a gun for a very long time in a damp climate or burying it to hide it from the feds I might grease 'er up real good! :grin:
[/quote]
I completely agree with both of these Gentlemen! A very short story: At a big Boy Scout Camporee I was in charge of the Range. My job was to "demonstrate" black powder rifles to over 200+ Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. Each of the boys got to try their hand at loading & firing one of the three rifles I had at the Range. A .45 cal loaned to me was so jammed-up with bore butter that I had to remove the nipple and run water down the bore to remove the "gunk", then completely dry the thing, thoroughly clean the nipple and snap a half dozen caps to dry-out the flash channel BEFORE I could load it again. The owner (another Scout Dad) thought that he was doing me a favor by lubing the bore with the bore butter...my first patch down the muzzle made bore butter come out of the nipple! I knew that I was in for a major cleaning job before I could get the thing to be as reliable as my two .50 cal Trade Rifles!
As far as what to do after cleaning: I soak my bore with Birchwood Casey Barricade. That's one of the ones that undergoes a salt water test by exposing various metals to salt water spraying! I mean that I really SOAK it: I squirt the Barricade down the bore (with the nipple screwed on, in place) and then thoroughly wet two patches with the stuff, and using a range rod with a worm on the end, I push the two wet patches down the muzzle with the nipple pointed into a deep sink (in the laundry room) and watch the excess Barricade come squirting out the nipple as I pump the spray into the deep sink :shocked2: . That gets EVERYTHING wet with the stuff! I store the rifle muzzle-down on a paper towel, and the bore keeps what it needs and the rest winds-up on the paper toweling.
At the Range or woods one dry patch down the muzzle (on my wormed range rod) and two #11 CCI Magnum caps and I'm ready for a full day of uninterrupted fun
Not a single miss-fire :grin: .
So HOW you store the rifle AFTER you clean it makes ALL the difference IMHO :wink:
Good luck with your endeavors, and make lots of SMOKE!! :thumbsup:
Dave [/quote]
I agree Dave! How you store it makes a BIG difference.
Last month I did my own salt water test with various lubes. WD-40 failed miserably. Total rust after about a week.Hoppe's gun oil did bad and bore butter didn't do well either.The winner in my test was Olive Oil. Just took a peek at the nails, and the olive oil nail is still rust free.
I use it as a patch lube, and gun lube after cleaning. (It's cheap too) :wink: