Rust

[Grenadier1758]

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.

WD40 when used as water displacement is fine for muzzle loaders. WD40 is not fine when used as a rust inhibitor. Use Barricade or G96 as a rust inhibitor.

Local water can have some chemicals such as chlorine that can lead to flash rust. The WD40 will also pull out the chemicals along with the water.

 

[n.h.schmidt]

One question .Are you using water from a water softener? Dosn't that have salt in it? Just a idea

 

[Caterpillar Hunter]

Be careful using an air compressor without an inline water remover "trap". When I've used my compressor lately (in our very humid weather), water spits out of the air nozzle.

 

[M. De Land]

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 clean with hot soapy water , rinse with cold water. dry patch, then WD-40 patch, then dry patch again. The WD-40 lifts the moisture out of the groove corners and metal pours. I always finish up with a patch of Gunzilla CLP and I never have any rust at all. I used to get flash rust before the WD-40 patch treatment.

 

[Bad Karma]

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.

Barricade or Eezox as rust preventatives are as good as they get. Clean however you wish, water works for me, and then dry and after that run a patch wet with Barricade or Eezox. Store it and check after a few days.

 

[Mulemauler]

After cleaning and dry patches I run a couple of patches with regular automatic transmission fluid on them. ATF is available almost anywhere and a quart will last for years. Never had any rust form in bore.

 

[rafterob]

Wow, interesting to read all these cleaning rituals. If it works for you, great. A little dawn detergent and warm water followed by a warm water rinse has worked well for me. I swab first with a patch and soapy water. Follow that with a brush to make sure I have got in the edges of the rifling. Flush that with another patch and soapy water. If you can remove your barrel and put it in a bucket of water that is the best method. Then rinse the barrel well and swab with clean wet patch. Dry patch till patches come out clean. Oil well, I have used both Rem-oil and Hoppe's with good results. Ballistol in the barrel did not work well for me, it seemed to turn to a gooey substance that was problematic.

 

[sawyer04]

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

Olive oil

 

[Dude]

Olive oil

Just a swab with olive oil?

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

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

Isopropyl gas line dryer (drygas) is usually 99.9% isopropyl alcohol. Good stuff for drying water residue.

Maybe change your gun oil. I like a product called Fluid Film. It is much easier to find now than it used to be. I just blast a shot into the bore and swab really well. Use the patch to wipe down the exterior metal. Maybe a Qtip in the nipple channel and threads. Just dry swab the bore before loading. The stuff is made exclusively for preventing rust. As said above, make sure the gun is thoroughly clean first.

 

[M. De Land]

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.

I think most of what works in cleaning is using water and then getting the moisture out of the steel pours and groove corners after water cleaning. Climate also has much to do with getting rust in ones bore. What works well in Arizona may completely fail in Alabama or Florida.
It is important to get the WD-40 out as it lifts the moisture from the corners and metal pours and then a good coat of your favorite oil or other protect-ant in the bore.

 

[user 34300]

There is so much superstition and misinformation about muzzleloaders.

To remove water soluble residue in your gun use something that contains water. Like dissolves like. Nothing needs to be neutralized. No significant acids are present.

Leaving water in the barrel is bad. Remove it. I use 100% alcohol in the form of HEET from the auto parts store. Squirt some in, shake it a bit, pour it out. 99% of the water is now on the ground. Dry the bore with patches and blow it out with air if possible. WD40 is a good choice too.

Preserving. Use real preservative oil or grease for goodness sake. Petroleum based product are not a problem, contrary to popular myth. Greasy parts of animals and salad dressing are not good long term rust insurance. I like fluid film, lanolin base, LPS-3, Rig, G96 equally. Lately I have been using a mix of ATF and anhydrous lanolin, just because I have it on hand. It works great. Any proper petroleum based oil or grease is just fine. Lanolin is an exception that also works well.

That is based on 50 years experience with MLs and 30 years experience as a professional scientist with extensive training and experience with firearms and chemistry.

 

[11Bravo]

I have been making "Ed's Red" formula for years. I use it on all my firearms, I make it by the gallon. Two of the key ingredients are ATF and Lanolin. With the black powder it is hot soapy water first, rinse with fresh Hot water, dry and Eds Red.

 

[user 34300]

Ed's red made with acetone would be excellent. Acetone and water mix. That is how scientific glassware is dried, btw. Ed's Red will do double duty as the water eliminator and the preservative. Acetone might mess up your stock finish.

 

[11Bravo]

I didn't want to mention the Acetone because of stock finish. I use my wine gallon jugs to make it, I make it with and with out the acetone as I give my friends only the acetone delete mix. The lanolin I got from New Zealand years ago, still have one jar left. Acetone I use for cleaning before I Tig weld.

 

[sawyer04]

Just a swab with olive oil?

Yes, keep swabbing with olive oil, and wipe down with the same. The bore will not shine like a new rifle, but will turn shiny black, like a chrome barrel with pronounced rifling. I know, probably sounds far fetched, by all the information that has came out for years now, even by some of the old timers, and I am not arguing against the modern methods or store chemicals, just never used them, until lately, I have used an ultrasonic cleaner on a weapon that I was repairing, but assured I dried every part with a heat gun or compressed air. I didn't like the thought of using the cleaner. I used simple green in the ultrasonic cleaner.
My daily carry 1858 is broke down at least once a year and checked for wear and re lubed, but the final touch is the olive oil. The olive oil will get a gummy texture if left over a period of time, but will loosen up after a wipe down and bore swab. I have a few relics that are sitting with the olive oil coating and they have a gummy cover, but no rust The weapons I use don't have a chance to gum up.
Hope this helps, and it works for me over many years back to my great grandfather, when they actually could get bear grease. Am I trying to convince anyone to go this way for caring of weapons, NOPE. I used to shy away from just shooting, but now a days and have the money to buy the fixins I shoot at targets and at 73, just don't have the gumption to stalk the woods like I used too. That is why some of the old weapons are sitting gummed up with olive oil, but they aren't rusting.

 

[1dogdown]

Be careful using an air compressor without an inline water remover "trap". When I've used my compressor lately (in our very humid weather), water spits out of the air nozzle.

That's why I drain my tank.

 

[user 34300]

I did not suggest olive oil because it dries to sticky goop, as pointed out. I have examined many guns over the years that were so gooped with congealed olive as to be non functional.

If you only use it for small jobs, like gun cleaning, the caned duster/compressed air is handy.

 

[Archer 756]

Olive oil what type of salad

 

[Eutycus]

I want to come back to this interesting post later when I got far fewer things to do. My 2 cents, I recently discovered condensed water from the air conditioners.On our usual humid days I collect several buckets full.Our water from the well here is chock full of minerals.