T/C's lube process?

[Gobner]

Hello ya'll:

I was wondering, because I am fixing to try it, if anyone has tried T/C's lubing method. No petroleum products, just bore butter for shooting and their #13 bore cleaner after the shooting session. T/C claims you can shoot all day without swabbing the bore. After shooting, immediate cleanup is not necessary, but it should be done when you can. Anyone tried this program?

 

[jtmattison]

In my opinion, it's a bunch of malarkey.

I've heard nothing but bad things about the #13 cleaner.

Bore Butter is a good product. Shoot all day without swabbing...yes and no. Depending on many factors like patch material and thickness, ball size, bore condition, and even weather.

Bore seasoning is also nonsense.

Many others will chime in with their experiences.

Welcome to the forum!

HD

 

[Trench]

I'd like to hear what kind of problems people are having with #13 cleaner. I've used it solely for my last two cleanings. I usually use water but I thought I'd try something else for a change.

 

[roundball]

"...if anyone has tried T/C's lubing method. No petroleum products, just bore butter for shooting..."

Yes, have used it for years...but how much you can shoot without wiping between shots depends a awful lot on the humidity...the amount of moisture in the air to keep the fouling soft.

In the summer time here I can routinely shoot 50 shot range sessions every weekend without wiping between shots because the humidity is so high...{80-97%) and as soon as the shot is fired, moisture is sucked out of the air by the fouling in seconds which keeps it from drying and it stays soft on the bore walls.

Then the next patched ball you seat wipes off that one shot's worth of fouling and pushes it down on the top of the powder charge where it is expelled with the next shot, and a single shot's worth of fresh fouling is again deposited on the bore walls...and the cycle keeps repeating basically as long as you want to shoot.

In the late fall and winter here the humidity drops and it's so dry I can't shoot more than just a few shots without wiping the bore clean because the fouling dries quickly and hardens...NL1000 patches are not wet enough...need more liquid in the bore to substitute for humidity. During those times I squeeze a couple squirts of liquid lube into a bag of NL1000 patches and can then shoot 50 shots without wiping just like I could in the summer time.

and their #13 bore cleaner after the shooting session.

#13 is an outstanding cleaning agent...it leaches everything out of a bore for sure...but its expensive and hot water & dishwashing detergent does precisely the same thing and is practically free;

..."After shooting, immediate cleanup is not necessary..."

I have never trusted and never tested that statement...so when I come home from the range or hunting, I spend 30 minutes in the garge getting my muzzleloader showroom ready again.

 

[jtmattison]

I'd like to hear what kind of problems people are having with #13 cleaner. I've used it solely for my last two cleanings. I usually use water but I thought I'd try something else for a change.

I've never used it myself but have heard that when it is used as directed rust is the end result.

I haven't given it a second thought because I use dish soap and warm water.

HD

 

[Kelhammer]

My experience is dated, but I used bore butter and liked it a lot. I have left my Hawken dirty for weeks and still have a spotless bore. I'm not recommending it however. Truth is I'd deer hunt, shoot a deer, reload the gun, and keep hunting untill the end of season. I'd just smear some butter on a patch and lube up the barrel above the loaded round, and have never seen any signs of pitting/dammage. I hear people alway talk of how corrisive BP can be, but have never understood why? I always use bore butter in my barrel after cleaning, instead of oil. It's just easy for me, as I can always find it (still looking for the legs on my oil can) My Hawken is now 22 yrs old, and still looks like new, except for being "well carried" as my Father calls it. Just minor nicks and dings from use in the field. As for the #13 cleaner, I have never used it, just soap and water.

 

[Zonie]

I got a bottle of #13 Bore Cleaner when I bought a used muzzleloader because the guy was including all of his muzzleloading stuff.

I thought, "Boy, I haven't tried this. I wonder if it works better than soap and water?"

After shooting two of my C&B's I brought them home and used the #13 bore cleaner.

It did remove the black powder fouling very well but before I could run my first dry patch thru the bore to dry it it caused the bore to develop flash rust.
This happened on two pistols in a row!

I read the instructions to make sure I hadn't screwed up and, no, everything I did was per the bottle.

I then wiped the bores until all traces of rust were gone and reapplied the #13 followed quickly with a dry patch.
The results? More RUST! :cursing:

I came to the conclusion that the stuff works too well. It removes all traces of any protection plus there must be something in it that causes RUST.
I live in Phoenix where the humidity is rarely above 15 percent and perhaps 30 percent on a damp day. There is no way the humidity in the air would have rusted the bores that quickly.

It will be a very cold day in Phoenix before I even begin to think about using that stuff ever again. :cursing:

 

[roundball]

I pre-saturated a stack of cleaning patches with #13 for a range trip where I was going to do some load testing and wanted a clean barrel for each shot...that's when I discovered that it leaches everything out of the bore...there was a slight but noticable POI shift for shots after wiping with a #13 patch vs. wiping with a Hoppes No9 PLUS BP patch. Once I learned that, it seemed to do fine if I immediately followed that damp patch with a NL1000 lubed patch before the next shot.

I have several bottle of #13 left in the case of a dozen bottles I bought some time back...have no problems using it at the range given what I learned about using it but I won't buy any more.
I've stocked up on Hoppes No9 PLUS BP...a couple squirts into a bag of NL1000 patches is just an outstsanding year round patch lube/bore cleaner no matter how dry the conditions around here seem to get

 

[leslie]

I agree.Over the years I have tried just about all the magic elixers out there and have not found anything better than warm water[ or cold] with a little dish detergent for cleaning and spit patches for shooting.A little Hoppes No9 for wiping.All that other stuff is just costly and no better if as good.If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Years back I did a rust test on plates of cold-rolled steel that had beed wiped free of mill oils with acetone and left to sit under a roofed car-port. The plate with T/C #13 rusted faster (starting within 1/2 hour) than the two control plates with nothing on them and the plate with plain well water.

On the other hand, the Bore Butter (Natural Lube 1000) did very well to prevent rust and worked very well for me as a lube.