Rust

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

I'm relatively new to percussion and am really struggling with rust prevention.

My cleaning regime is pretty much few wet patches in a bucket of luck warm water, then bronze brush with soap, then dry patch. Then I do wet patch again and dry patch.

I then oil it with browning legia oil heavily and put it away till next use.

Without fail it pull rust when I take it out and to be honest while I'm cleaning it as soon as I start dry patching I pull rust. I've tried a few different methods including blasting the fire channel with a steam cleaner which does seem to loosen off more rust colour in subsequent patches but I can't seem to get it to stop.

What concerns me most is after shooting and as I clean I cannot stop pulling rust coloured patches, it actually seems to get a coating of rust on the bore as I clean. I just finished now, looked down the bore and can see rust colour. I'm at a bit of a loss as to what is going on.

I just use olive oiled patched round balls and real FFG powder. Always cleaned within hours of shooting.

What am I doing wrong?

The black one and two below it are the first three with fouled bore. All other rust coloured patches are after soaping stage.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

After cleaning

 

[French Colonial]

Others will have different opinions but for me the absolute best stuff for preventing rust is R.I.G. (Rust Inhibiting Grease) from Birchwood Casey. Years ago in extremely hot humid conditions we tried to never touch our guns by anything metal as the next day rusty fingerprints were visible. Started using RIG and no more problems. Its the only thing to use for long term storage. YMMV

 

[NorthFork]

Here is my 2 cents, not adjusted for inflation.

You have not said what powder you are using. Pyrodex can be, at times, a bit more troublesome to fully clean out to prevent rust.

Two things I got from your post. One, you stated warm water. I have difficulties with warm/hot water and flash rust. Two, I did not see you say that you are using any water displacing solvents such as WD-40 or alcohol. Patches alone will likely not dry the barrel unless the water was extremely hot. But then you may run into the flash rust issue.

Also what is browning legia oil?

 

[Archer 756]

Use G 96

 

[Bassdog1]

My opinion only. After cleaning and drying as dry as you can Spray some WD 40 through flash Hole and let run down inside barrel. I then blast air through with compressor to blow it and any water out then a couple dry patches. This is for water removal only. After that a good oily patch and I put a couple of drops in flash channel and another blast of air. I then sit the barrel Muzzle down over night and run another oily patch the next day, another oiled patch 4 or five days later then every two or three weeks when not in use. May be overdoing it but I had the same situation with a used gun for a while and this put an end to it.

 

[nkbj]

Water chemistry is another factor.

 

[LME]

I'm relatively new to percussion and am really struggling with rust prevention.

My cleaning regime is pretty much few wet patches in a bucket of luck warm water, then bronze brush with soap, then dry patch. Then I do wet patch again and dry patch.

I then oil it with browning legia oil heavily and put it away till next use.

Without fail it pull rust when I take it out and to be honest while I'm cleaning it as soon as I start dry patching I pull rust. I've tried a few different methods including blasting the fire channel with a steam cleaner which does seem to loosen off more rust colour in subsequent patches but I can't seem to get it to stop.

What concerns me most is after shooting and as I clean I cannot stop pulling rust coloured patches, it actually seems to get a coating of rust on the bore as I clean. I just finished now, looked down the bore and can see rust colour. I'm at a bit of a loss as to what is going on.

I just use olive oiled patched round balls and real FFG powder. Always cleaned within hours of shooting.

What am I doing wrong?

View attachment 81945

View attachment 81946
The black one and two below it are the first three with fouled bore. All other rust coloured patches are after soaping stage.

I had the same problem when I started out shooting Black Powder in the seventies. No internet and no books that I was aware of and very little knowledge of the subject! I experimented with a lot of ideas on how to alleviate the problem of flash rust to no avail. My father was a machinist and he said clean it well, dry it well and oil it. He also said check it a few days later to be sure it was clean of rust. His method worked. I may have mentioned this before but a friend ended his problem with rust by cleaning ,drying and then he poured melted shortening down the barrel. When he was ready to use the rifle again he warmed the barrel up poured the shortening in a container wiped it out and loaded it? He used the shortening and cleaning method when he returned.I must say that I have never tried his method but it sounds interesting?

 

[BS]

I use "Break Free clp" spray it in the barrel and on a cleaning patches. Use a little or a lot, what ever make you happy.
It has a rust inhibitor.
I use to use "RIG" grease on a patch. Just takes longer to remove, but works well.

 

[Steel Guitar]

I'm sure that my method is not the only good way to clean and prevent rust but it is, like me, the lazy way! Windex, regular or vinegar. Bp fouling is acidic. Both types of windex are basic. (I tested the vinegar windex at work on pH papers and yes it's basic. So, these neutralize the fouling back to neutral, hence no flash rust. Lube with whatever you want and check every few weeks to see if more lube is needed. If you have one that shows a little rust forming in a week then lube again. Some bores are much more prone to rust than others and the explanation of that is above my level of chemistry edumacasion!

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Water, alcohol flush to displace water, dry patch, lube with Ballistol.

 

[deermanok]

I sometimes clean up with windex. No problems with creating rust.

 

[Steel Guitar]

And with windex one usually doesn't have that rotten egg smell. I dry patch then hit it with hair dryer, then lube with crisco or good ole Ballistol which is good to get rust out of a bore with a brush.
Good luck and like I said there are many ways to clean. Some of my friends season their bore by using solvent to get down the bare clean metal. Then lube with alot of bore butter type lube and put in oven at at around 300 degrees for 30 minutes? They clean with water and that's all. I'm too lazy to do that and I can't get the barrel in my oven!

 

[dave951]

Windex. Follow with isopropyl alcohol, strongest you can find. Patch dry. Oil. Done.

 

[sawyer04]

I use absolutely no water, Olive oil, Don't have any bear grease or tallow. The old residenters in my ancestry did not use water, sometimes they didn't have enough to drink, let alone slurping out their pea shooters.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I use warm water to clean, followed by first 91% alcohol patches, then wd 40 patches, followed by a light coat of three in one oil. plug both muzzle and nipple with oily rag,store muzzle down -no problems! When ready to shoot again clean bore with alcohol soaked patches. to remove oil.

 

[Dude]

I use absolutely no water, Olive oil, Don't have any bear grease or tallow. The old residenters in my ancestry did not use water, sometimes they didn't have enough to drink, let alone slurping out their pea shooters.

So how do you clean without using water, olive oil, bear grease or tallow?

 

[ZUG]

My cleaning method varies depending on different factors but here is my basic method.
Flush barrel with warn water with a few drops dish washing soap then swab with same until patches comes out reasonably clean. Swab with dry patches then spray WD-40 into barrel and on a clean swab and swab again a few times. Swab with a few dry patches then blow air into vent or nipple hole (without nipple being installed). I then put a GOOD rust preventive oil on a patch and swab the bore a few times. I then put the rifle away for a few days then I take the rifle and swab the bore with a few dry patches and if I don't see any light brown streaks on the patch I will get a clean patch and put some oil on the patch and swab the bore a few times and put the gun away. If I see and rust streaks on the patch I take 4/0 steel wool and run that in the bore for about 3 to 5 strokes and then oil a patch and swab the bore and put the gun away.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

Thanks all for the suggestions, I read somewhere once that WD40 was bad is muzzleloaders but enough people here are using it maybe it's worth a try. Pretty sure I have a full can in the shed.

I'm still not sure what I've done to create the flash rust, the water I used last night by the end was room temp if not on the cold side.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

One time I forgot to flush with alcohol and got some rust next day, but since then I don't forget it and never had an issue.