Silicone oil and grease

[robinsroost]

I have heard that you should not use silicone oil or grease in a muzzleloader. Is this true? What is wrong with silicone? Please answer with facts, not speculation or just restating what you have heard from others. I think that RIG is a silicone based light grease. It seems like it would be good to swab your barrel with, for long term storage, would it not? Robin

 

[bpd303]

RIG is an excellent rust inhibitor and can be used in muzzleloaders, however it is mostly petrolatum and should be cleaned from the bore prior to firing. Petroleum products will combine with black powder fouling making a tar like substance, which is difficult to clean (personal experience). As far as I know RIG does not contain silicone.

I think the recommendation to not use silicone as a patch lube refers to the slickness and accuracy is not the greatest with it.

Here is the MSDS for RIG.
https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/get...0027-40045-RIG-Universal-Grease-2012.pdf.aspx

 

[necchi]

The deal is to not shoot the gun with oil or grease in the bore.
I think that's where folks get a mixed message.

The heat and residue from true BP and any of the subs, in combination with the pressure creates a hard tar like substance that quickly fouls the rifling and the fire channel.

By all means use the stuff as a preservative and/or rust preventive measure just don't fire the thing until steps have been taken to remove oils from the barrel.

How much effort that's needed to clean the bore (before shooting) is directly related to how much stuff a guy put's in there.
Some can get by with a dry patch or two, others like myself go through the extra moves and use brake cleaner or alcohol on a few patches first then dry,,

I can't count how many rifles I've got from guys that say it won't shoot well, only to find everything fowled because it wasn't cleaned before shooting.

 

[Billnpatti]

I don't know if this is the answer that you are looking for but a search of the data available on line, I found this info about silicone grease

"Silicone grease is a waterproof grease made by combining a silicone oil with a thickener. Most commonly, the silicone oil is polydimethylsiloxane and the thickener is amorphous fumed silica."

The problem with silica grease in gun bores is that it can break down and the amorphous silica is a very strong thickening agent. This means that it will form some serious gunk in your barrel.

Fouling is a very serious accuracy decreaser. That statement assumes serious fouling. Fouling build up effects breach pressure. Changes in breach pressure will result in changes in muzzle velocity. As muzzle velocity changes, your POI changes. It will also make it more difficult to load and seat your patched ball.

Perhaps someone will take exception to this statement. It happens. So, if you choose to use silicone grease in your gun, that's your choice to make. There are just way too many good lubricants available for me to even consider using silicone greases or oils. I will not use it in any of my guns.

 

[dikman]

I agree, I'm very wary about using silicone products on my guns. I've done a lot of reading about lube products (with regard to guns) - patch lube, bullet lube, cleaning and rust protection. In the case of commercial products I look up the MSDS, while many of the "user" developed products are tried and proven by experienced users. One thing I have never seen used is silicone, nor has anyone ever recommended using it (at least, not that I've found so far).

 

[robinsroost]

Thanks for all of the responses. Just for your edification, I do throughly clean the bore before loading to shoot. I use carburetor cleaner to remove every trace of oil or grease. I soak a patch with it, run it down the bore, then a couple of dry patches. I normally use bore butter to lube my patches for loading or use pre lubed patches. At the range, I would normally use spit patches. Guess I will have to try patches, lubed with spray silicone, to see how it effects accuracy.....Robin

 

[dikman]

Good man, you can be the guinea pig :grin: . I'm sure that many would be curious about the results.

One problem with silicone is that once you get it on something it can be difficult to remove completely - which is one reason it's not going anywhere near the bore of any of my guns.