T-17 Foaming Bore Cleaner-

[paulmarcone]

Has anyone any experience using T-17â„¢ Foaming Bore Cleaner to clean their rifles?

Does it really eliminate the need to scrub the bore?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[jtmattison]

In my opinion, nothing eliminates the need to scrub the bore when shooting black powder.
There is no miracle chemical out there that can replace good old soapy water for breaking down black powder fouling.
Run a bore brush through it a couple times to break up the fouling and flush it with soapy water.

HD

 

[paulmarcone]

Thanks. Yeah, I use a mixture of hot water and ballistol. It works great, with a bore light my bores are always spotless.

 

[MSW]

Paul, i agree with Dawg- it's pretty much a given that after you fire any weapon, you should clean it, preferably as soon as is practical. So, why spend a bunch of money on a bunch of stuff which might or might not work when there's a perfectly good method already at hand that's works for several centuries.

Warm (not hot) soapy water works fine, and scrubbing (i.e. running a brush over it a few times) is an inevatable side effect of making smoke. If you want to get all P.C., use some flax tow, but the brush will work as well.

I follow up with Ballistol, which is my only real extravagance in the whole mess.

So, the take- home point of today's tirade is to save your money: spend the bucks on more powder and have more fun!

good luck, and make smoke!

msw

 

[paulvallandigham]

Ballistol is Mineral oil and some additives put in it to remove Mercury deposits, from the old Mercury primers used in Modern military cartridges before WWII. Since primers are no longer using Mercury in the compound, there is no longer any need for those additives.

If you really want to cut that " Extravagance " down, buy inexpensive mineral oil at your local grocery or drug store instead of Ballistol. It will do everything for your Black Powder Rifle or Shotgun that Ballistol does, and at a substantial savings.

YOu might look up " Fulminate of Mercury" to see when it was last used in Percussion caps. Its not been in use in recent history.

 

[deanscamaro]

Just a question, Paul, on mineral oil. Do you use it the same as most Ballistol users do; i.e. half and half?

 

[bart_anastasi]

I have a can of it now and used it a few times did not like or the other T-17 products out there.

Gun did not shoot the same meaning not as good. Then reading the can it says contains petroliame based products. Oops

I went back to Bore butter and hot soappy water.

Not sure if t-17 products are compatable with TC's original line of products.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes, and take your lead from Dutch Schoultz's Dry patch lube formula, on what to mix, and not mix with it.
http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/

Other Non-petroleum oils also work, and that included vegetable oils( cooking) olive oil, and Jojoba oil, among others. Peanut oil , grape oil, and other oils generated from plants will work, but are rather pricey. Most traditional BP shooters pride themselve in doing this " on the cheap!" :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[paulmarcone]

For what it's worth, I spray some Ballistol down the barrel, then add hot water. I let it sit for a few minutes, then I scrub with a bore brush.

Then I pour out, pour in fresh hot water, let it sit a few minutes, then pour out. I then keep swapping with dry patches until they come out clean.

I then run a wet patch with Ballistol only down the barrel. Finally, before hanging I spray a little more Ballistol down the barrel (just a little). This has worked fine on my two rifles.

 

[mike alexandre]

I've just used T-17 to clean a long range .451 bore. We suspected it had some powder glazeing fouling. You cant see it and Ballistol and a brush will not move it, you can only feel it with a tight patch. The fouling went in 2 applications. It does not replace good house keeping ie normal after shooting clean up.

 

[deanscamaro]

Paul, I'm somewhat confused. I went to Dutch's website and read his Tips. Below is partial quote from it:
"Didn't use water that night, Cleaned with moose milk, (Very very little Moose Milk.) And then two patches wet with WD-40. Left ram rod in the barrel and went home. A few days later, when I pulled the rod there was no rust but still black stuff on the patching, but not as much. A few more times at the range and after cleaning I didn't pull any black either..............I think that this WD-40 process not so gradually replaces the schmutz and water molecules with the WD-40 and that in time, there is no place for the water or schmutz to congregate. These spaces are tinier than your last pay raise, but THEY ARE THERE. I don't really care what they are filled with so long as it isn't water."

The recipes I have seen for Moose Milk (unless I'm mistaken) had water combined with other ingredients. Is his dry recipe, which you get when you sign up, different than the Moose Milk I have seen and doesn't have water in it?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes. He uses ballistol or other oils mixed with water, to thin them down, and make it easier to spread through the cloth patch strips. The strips are dried, and then rolled up and saved for use at the range. Or, you can cut them into " squares " to use as-is, or cut at the muzzle, as you prefer.

WD40 does displace water. However, when it dries, it leaves a gummy residue, which will eventually dissolve if you put enough WD 40 on it to let it soak a bit, which I found next to impossible to do with the aeresol can of WD40 I had. If you don't get the dried gunk out, it can plug flash holes, and nipples, and gum up lock parts. After much frustration, I finally stopped using WD40 on gun locks, and then in the barrel, and began using NL1000 to coat my barrels between shootings. I check them regularly and hit them again. They are also kept in a very cool, Dry storage area in my home, so rust has not been a problem.

I was given a can of Ballistol, so I currently trying that out as a rust preventative in my rifle during storage. So far, its seems to be holding up. But I still check the barrel and renew the oil treatment every month or so. When its done, I will simply buy a less expensive bottle of mineral oil and use that instead. I use Rem Oil to lubricate my lock parts.

In the winter when I know its going to be below freezing, I generally use alcohol to remove all oils from the action parts, and then put some synthetic oils- just a small drop on critical moving parts. I have a small bottle of teflon oil, and it has been very good for oiling the parts of all my guns when its below freezing. I have not had the guns out shooting below 10 below, the next benchmark, but I am convinced that either bare metal, or just a minimal amount of a synthetic lubricant will do the trick.

There are several syhthetic oils on the market that have been developed for the aircraft industry, because of the low temperature found at high altitudes, even in the summertimes. They were originally developed to keep army equipment functioning in Alaska in WWII, and were quickly adopted by civilian contractors, pilots, heavy equipment operators, etc. for use in and on their equipment all over the Continent.