Perhaps an odd cleaning question.

[Daryl Crawford]

After shooting my .62 smoothbore I clean it using warm water with a little dish detergent in it. I take off the lock, plug the touch hole, fill the barrel with the water. I let it sit while I scrub the lock. I pour the water out, scrub the barrel with tow worm loaded with raw wool. I put a bit of water in the barrel and scrub several times. I empty the barrel water between scrubbings. After the first I use my scraper on the breech face.
After wool looks clean, I run patches to dry the barrel. Once clean patches come out (sometimes use coffee filter patches) I run one saturated with ballistol.
My issue comes after a few weeks when I pull the gun out to check it over, patches I run down the barrel come out a bit dirty. I run many patches until generally clean, ballistol the barrel again, but find a slightly dirty barrel after a few weeks.
Is the ballistol removing lead fowling? Drawing it out of the metal? Should I be using a mix of ballistol and water when I finish the barrel instead of 100% ballistol?

 

[Carbon 6]

Is the ballistol removing lead fowling? Drawing it out of the metal? Should I be using a mix of ballistol and water when I finish the barrel instead of 100% ballistol?

My opinion,
Could be, "Ballistol dissolves traces of copper, zinc, lead and tombac and can, therefore, be used to clean brass, bronze and silver."
Is your barrel made from leaded steel (12L14 )?

Try a different rust preventative or just leave it as is, as long as you aren't getting any rust.

Do not add water to the Ballistol if you are using to protect your barrel.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

I actually have no idea if the barrel is leaded. It iS a modern barrel on a Larry Cordray fowler. I wasn't aware modern barrels might have leaded steel.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Get some bees wax, melt it add olive oil.
Alternately get some beef fat and gently heat it to extract the oil. Add olive oil.

Use boiling hot water. Warm water will not dry the barrel out for you. Ideally you want no trace of water present even if it is only a vapour, that's where energy in the form of heat is beneficial via using boiling hot water.
Certain fats do go through an oxidisation process that can result in a change of colour.
I only worry about washing the corrosive salts out. Any black carbon still present I don't worry about much at all.

 

[smo]

Does the barrel have any pitting?

You might try a bore brush along with the breech scraper... I brush the bore and scrape the plug before adding the water to clean.... it seems too save a few patches and time.

 

[Spikebuck]

Could be that the ballistol is working on some residual lead fouling as it sits there. I know that on my smooth rifle, which I usually use for small game with lead shot, I can clean that thing with soapy water and have white patches come out sparkling clean. Then, if I put a patch down with JB Bore paste, which removes lead fouling, the patch comes out almost black!

I don't use ballistol because the minute I'm around it my eyes start to burn and I start a hacking cough, but if it's a metal remover, I would assume that what is happening in your case might be similar to mine except perhaps JB Bore paste is more aggressive more quickly in taking the lead fouling out since your first ballistol patch doesn't seem to indicate that there is still some kind of "fouling" in your barrel.

You could try a product that is perhaps faster acting on lead fouling and use that after your water cleaning routine and see what the result is. I don't think you can beat JB Bore paste for the job, but Gunzilla is also very good at removing metal and plastic fouling quickly and is all natural.

 

[Britsmoothy]

If you use boiling water the temperature lifts the lead off for you.
I never get any lead build up.
I get strips of lead in the sink I repeatedly empty the barrel in to.

Did they have all these magic substances in 1770?

 

[Historian]

Use straight Ballistol for preservation and the water/Ballistol mix for cleaning with in the field or at home. I also use hot water with a little drop of blue Dawn when required. I would advise if you are having lead shot fouling issues in your smooth bore to switch to using Nickel or Copper plated lead shot. I shoot bismuth which does not cause me any fouling issues but if I shot pure lead shot I would definitely use Nickel or Copper plated shot. For removing the pure lead fouling you really need a good bronze brush with a patch around it or use it straight with pure Ballistol, JB Bore paste or one of the Hoppes #9 cleaners. Ballistol when used in the bore straight after it sits a while (months) will gum up some and come out looking a little brown but it is not rust. I use it all the time because it will not hurt the stocks.

 

[renegadehunter]

I saw the same thing when I used Ballistol for storage. I would run a clean dry patch down the bore a couple days after cleaning to discover that it came out somewhat dirty looking. I would just patch until they were showing clean again (usually only a couple) and then apply a thin coat of Ballistol again. I didn't worry about it until one time after I'd done this I didn't shoot for about 3 months and then discovered some very slight rust when I ran a patch down the bore again. I switched to Barricade after that. I still see a slightly dirty follow up patch sometimes a couple days after cleaning, but no rust has been discovered as of yet so I don't worry about it. I'm with BritSmoothy, the corrosive salts have been removed during water/dish soap cleaning so as long as the bore is for sure dry I don't sweat it.

 

[hanshi]

Plain tap water cleans my guns just fine, even without a drop of Dawn. Barricade is the workhorse for rust prevention with BreakFree CLP doing a fine job as well.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Thanks all, I appreciate the comments and advice. Might run some patches again, put some Rem Oil on the inside of the barrel and test it to see if anything lifts in a week or two. Might look into other long term rust inhibitors. The odd thing was that I don't get the same result with my rifle. That's what made me think it was lead fowling. Might be time to try shot cups to reduce some fowling.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Does the barrel have any pitting?

You might try a bore brush along with the breech scraper... I brush the bore and scrape the plug before adding the water to clean.... it seems too save a few patches and time.

I've seen no pitting as of yet.

 

[Carbon 6]

If it's lead fouling that you have, a copper pot scrubber on a jag works like a charm.

 

[smo]

I think it's the lead remaining in the barrel ,if there is no pitting.

I run a brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool in my bore to remove lead, seems to work ok.

I'm sure they're many effective methods for removing lead ,just as there are for cleaning.

 

[Carbon 6]

I'm sure they're many effective methods for removing lead ,just as there are for cleaning.

I think I have a secret formula filed away somewhere.

 

[smo]

I think I have a secret formula filed away somewhere.

I have a couple myself ......

 

[Historian]

Arey

I saw the same thing when I used Ballistol for storage. I would run a clean dry patch down the bore a couple days after cleaning to discover that it came out somewhat dirty looking. I would just patch until they were showing clean again (usually only a couple) and then apply a thin coat of Ballistol again. I didn't worry about it until one time after I'd done this I didn't shoot for about 3 months and then discovered some very slight rust when I ran a patch down the bore again. I switched to Barricade after that. I still see a slightly dirty follow up patch sometimes a couple days after cleaning, but no rust has been discovered as of yet so I don't worry about it. I'm with BritSmoothy, the corrosive salts have been removed during water/dish soap cleaning so as long as the bore is for sure dry I don't sweat it.

Just curious if you are sure what you saw was actual rust? I have a 6 foot bore scope that I check my guns with and have never found rust using straight Ballistol. If I did my part in cleaning everything was fine and some of my guns have set for 6 months without shooting. If you use the Nickel or Copper plated shot you will not have the leading issues. I used to use Magnum Grade lead shot but was still having leading issues. Copper or Nickel shot fixed that issue.

In the end it is what works for you my friend. Good shooting to you!

 

[Britsmoothy]

Remove the Rem oil now!

 

[JeffG]

My routine for cleaning is day-of shooting, day-after shooting, three days later....if I haven't shot it, three weeks later. I just ignore the patches till they come out clean.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

My routine for cleaning is day-of shooting, day-after shooting, three days later....if I haven't shot it, three weeks later. I just ignore the patches till they come out clean.

LD