Tried Balistol / Water today

[TrapperDude]

I have a bottle of my water-soluble oil and water. I prefer to use a damp patch to keep the fouling soft. With the dry patch, I found the fouling getting hard and crusty quickly. Since I wipe the fouling out between shots, I find I remove more fouling on the patch rather than pushing hard fouling to the breech. Of course, taking proper care of the bore while shooting will also keep fouling from filling the breech and flash channel.

I use a bit of olive oil on a patch between shots, followed by a dry patch. That does a good job at keeping everything clear like your method, too. It really is important, as you said, to manage the fouling consistently during a range session.

 

[DuncNZ]

I tried the dry lube method to start with using water soluble machinist oil , I found the dried patches tended to fall apart after a few months storage , that is why I tried Ballistol , no rot problems there .

 

[Bebop Cowboy]

Tried Balistol Water dry patch today. The first pic shows a 3 shot 35 yard group using 15 grains Swiss 3F a .010 patch and a .315 swaged ball using the dry patch method and a 7 to 1 water/Balistol mix. The second pic I use 15 Grains Swiss a .o15 Patch and a .310 swaged ball. For this target I aimed sitting the 1" orange dot on top of my front sight. Posted a new target for Pic #3 and shot the .010 and .315 Patch and ball combo again. Then for #4 I shot the .015 patch and .310 ball again. These two groups I aimed dead center cutting a 2" dot with my front sight. The .315 Ball and .010 patch loads nicely with out requiring a short starter while the .310 ball and .015 patch was tighter and required the short starter and was tight loading with the ram rod. Both loads shot equally well but I decided to see how long the accuracy lasted without any swabbing. At this point the barrel had not been swabbed for 12 rounds. I reposted target #1 with the 1" dot and went back to sitting the dot on the top of the sight. I fired a total of 18 more rounds using the .315 Ball and .010 patch combo so the final target has a total of 24 rounds in it with no swabbing. I really liked the results of the dry patch. No greasy oil on my hands or gun, Fouling was not a problem, Both combos produced good squirrel accuracy and the .315 ball and .010 patch loaded with no short starter so 1 less thing to carry in the woods. I am going to try this again in the next couple of days using Goex 3F for comparison but like what I am seeing so far.

That's pretty interesting using dry patch. Thanks***

 

[kopelli]

After pre-soaking and drying a new batch of patches (the first batch of ballistol patches were not uniformly soaked and I did not shoot using them) using ballistol on .015 ticking. I went to the range and fired off a few, starting with the 4:1 ratio mix. I was shooting 70 gr of 2f 777, and was difficult to find the patches because they were so badly burned. I did not even try any other/dryer mixtures. However, I have not completely abandoned the idea of using ballistol patches with my 70gr load.

I plan to soak the patches using a 1:1 ratio, a 2:1 ratio and a 3:1 ratio. In addition, I plan to use a felt/wool wad between the powder and the patch. We shall see.......

 

[necchi]

After pre-soaking and drying a new batch of patches,,

There is specific technique while doing this.
Ya don't just soak/m, squeeze'm out and dry'm. That don't work.
It's the squeezin part that makes it fubar.

The idea is to have the fabric retain the oil of the mix when/as the water evaporates.
If the solution (what-ever the mix ratio), is wrung out of the fabric prior to evaporation, the oil is wrung out with it.

Make your mix (I use a quart jar), toss a pre-cut strip or 2 in the mix and allow them to saturate.
Then I gently run a strip through my fingers to remove excess mix and lay the still saturated fabric flat on a non-porous surface, (plastic, foil, a cookie sheet) to dry.
Then I go put in my 8hr shift, or I go to bed,, when I get home from work, or when I wake up, I flip those strips. then I wait till the next day.
This is a 24-48hr process
When I began this, there were struggles/ and learning curves too. But once ya get it,, it became easy to apply to every gun I own and VERY successful.
I've had my best results between 1-5 and 1-7 with a heavier patch +/- .020-.022

 

[DuncNZ]

I use Schuetzen powder and have had to go from 1/7 to 1/5 as the weather warmed up because the fowling gets so dry I need an oiler patch .

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Shooting a cloverleaf at 25 yards tells you nothing.

Most smoothbores can achieve that.

Only at 50 and preferably 100 will you really see how accurate your rifle is.

 

[renegadehunter]

I have tried both ballistol / water and castor oil / denatured alcohol to make pre-cut "dry lube" patches. I tried several ratios, 6:1 was best in my rifle for both types. I got better groups with castor oil / denatured alcohol than I did Ballistol / water, for whatever reason.

I've tried Hopped BP solvent and patch lube, and Birchwood/Casey #77 as "target" lubes (patch is left just damp). I could reload both easily without swabbing. The Hoppes gave me better groups for whatever reason. With both, accuracy would drastically suffer if I didn't run a cleaning patch every 2nd or 3rd shot though. No matter what lube I try, my rifle simply likes to be swabbed (TC Renegade with factory shallow groove 1:48 twist).

"Hunting lubes", I've tried several. Bore Butter, TC Natural Lube 1000, TOTW mink oil, Frontier's anti-rust and patch lube, homemade olive oil and bees wax, straight olive oil, coconut oil, and the above Dutch S. style "dry lube" concoctions.

The Hoppes (left damp), mink oil, Frontier's, and the Castor oil / denatured alcohol have gave the best groups...as long as I swab between shots. I have gone to just using mink oil, I apply it very lightly by hand, patches don't deteriorate (haven't yet anyway), and I believe it would put them all in the same hole at 50 yards if the one loose end involved could get it right (me).

 

[ElkStalker]

I have tried both ballistol / water and castor oil / denatured alcohol to make pre-cut "dry lube" patches. I tried several ratios, 6:1 was best in my rifle for both types. I got better groups with castor oil / denatured alcohol than I did Ballistol / water, for whatever reason.

I've tried Hopped BP solvent and patch lube, and Birchwood/Casey #77 as "target" lubes (patch is left just damp). I could reload both easily without swabbing. The Hoppes gave me better groups for whatever reason. With both, accuracy would drastically suffer if I didn't run a cleaning patch every 2nd or 3rd shot though. No matter what lube I try, my rifle simply likes to be swabbed (TC Renegade with factory shallow groove 1:48 twist).

"Hunting lubes", I've tried several. Bore Butter, TC Natural Lube 1000, TOTW mink oil, Frontier's anti-rust and patch lube, homemade olive oil and bees wax, straight olive oil, coconut oil, and the above Dutch S. style "dry lube" concoctions.

The Hoppes (left damp), mink oil, Frontier's, and the Castor oil / denatured alcohol have gave the best groups...as long as I swab between shots. I have gone to just using mink oil, I apply it very lightly by hand, patches don't deteriorate (haven't yet anyway), and I believe it would put them all in the same hole at 50 yards if the one loose end involved could get it right (me).

My results with my Renegade are identical to yours. Small amount of mink oil and it shoots really well, if I swab between shots. I can get 2 without swabbing, but a third either requires a hammer or it goes wide - probably because it’s deformed from hammering. Lol. I haven’t tried the ballistol dry patch method yet. I’m wondering if lightly spraying with ballistol and letting dry for a few days wouldn’t accomplish the same result. Or maybe it would remain too wet. I may have to to experiment. A dry patch would sure be easier for follow up shots while hunting.

 

[renegadehunter]

My results with my Renegade are identical to yours. Small amount of mink oil and it shoots really well, if I swab between shots. I can get 2 without swabbing, but a third either requires a hammer or it goes wide - probably because it’s deformed from hammering. Lol. I haven’t tried the ballistol dry patch method yet. I’m wondering if lightly spraying with ballistol and letting dry for a few days wouldn’t accomplish the same result. Or maybe it would remain too wet. I may have to to experiment. A dry patch would sure be easier for follow up shots while hunting.

The "dry" patching method by Dutch S. is for getting an exact amount of lube on every patch. Ballistol sprayed on a patch would not need to set out to dry because there's nothing that will evaporate.
The drying part refers to mixing Ballistol with water, in a specific ratio such as 6 parts water to one part Ballistol, shaking the heck out of it, and then dipping patches into it (I squeeze excess out after dipping them). Then they are set out to let the water evaporate off so just the Ballistol remains, and you are left with a bunch of patches that have a very uniform amount of Ballistol on them. (Patches curl up something fierce IME).
I have tried the same with Castor oil and denatured alcohol (castor oil won't emulsify with water) and had good accuracy results, a bit better than Ballistol/Water, but patches left for too long lubed this way started to break down after just a few months. Fresh patches lubed this way shot very well for me and recovered patches looked good. Patches lubed this way that had sat around for several months shot much worse groups and recovered patches showed holes and tears. The lube was breaking down the fibers of the patch.
There is so little lube on the patch that they work fine for a hunting lube that will sit on the powder for a while. Dutch once told a story that he wanted to send off some patches to someone. I can't remember specifics, but Dutch meant to send them unlubed patches. It turned out that he had sent them lubed patches, his point was that there was so little lube on them that you could barely tell they were lubed. He believed that less lube on the patch meant the PRB would sit in the bore until a bit more pressure built up behind it in comparison to a heavier lubed patch before it would start moving up the bore, something he believed yielded more accuracy.

 

[ElkStalker]

The "dry" patching method by Dutch S. is for getting an exact amount of lube on every patch. Ballistol sprayed on a patch would not need to set out to dry because there's nothing that will evaporate.
The drying part refers to mixing Ballistol with water, in a specific ratio such as 6 parts water to one part Ballistol, shaking the heck out of it, and then dipping patches into it (I squeeze excess out after dipping them). Then they are set out to let the water evaporate off so just the Ballistol remains, and you are left with a bunch of patches that have a very uniform amount of Ballistol on them. (Patches curl up something fierce IME).
I have tried the same with Castor oil and denatured alcohol (castor oil won't emulsify with water) and had good accuracy results, a bit better than Ballistol/Water, but patches left for too long lubed this way started to break down after just a few months. Fresh patches lubed this way shot very well for me and recovered patches looked good. Patches lubed this way that had sat around for several months shot much worse groups and recovered patches showed holes and tears. The lube was breaking down the fibers of the patch.
There is so little lube on the patch that they work fine for a hunting lube that will sit on the powder for a while. Dutch once told a story that he wanted to send off some patches to someone. I can't remember specifics, but Dutch meant to send them unlubed patches. It turned out that he had sent them lubed patches, his point was that there was so little lube on them that you could barely tell they were lubed. He believed that less lube on the patch meant the PRB would sit in the bore until a bit more pressure built up behind it in comparison to a heavier lubed patch before it would start moving up the bore, something he believed yielded more accuracy.

All of that makes sense. Thank you!
As far as small amounts of lube, I have noticed similar with using mink oil. Only a small amount and I have excellent accuracy. On patches that I lubed up like store bought lubed patches,during testing, accuracy went to hell in a hurry.

 

[renegadehunter]

All of that makes sense. Thank you!
As far as small amounts of lube, I have noticed similar with using mink oil. Only a small amount and I have excellent accuracy. On patches that I lubed up like store bought lubed patches,during testing, accuracy went to hell in a hurry.

I had the same thing with mink oil. When I first bought some I rather generously lubed up several patches with it, nice and thick like you see the pre-lubed store bought patches look. They didn't shoot very good at all for me and I actually put the mink oil away for several months and just used Castor oil / denatured alcohol style.
I finally occurred to me that light patch lube kept being repeated by a lot of folks on here, and my 6:1 ratio with castor oil / denatured alcohol was very light, so I dug the mink oil back out and hand lubed it on one side only with barely enough that I could get it to go clear out to the edges. They shot really well for me, as well as anything else I've tried. Amazing how much simply the amount of lube on the patch can change groups at 50 yards.

 

[Omega Vision]

Tried Balistol Water dry patch today. The first pic shows a 3 shot 35 yard group using 15 grains Swiss 3F a .010 patch and a .315 swaged ball using the dry patch method and a 7 to 1 water/Balistol mix. The second pic I use 15 Grains Swiss a .o15 Patch and a .310 swaged ball. d. Both loads shot equally well but I decided to see how long the accuracy lasted without any swabbing. No greasy oil on my hands or gun, Fouling was not a problem, Both combos produced good squirrel accuracy and the .315 ball and .010 patch loaded with no short starter so 1 less thing to carry in the woods.

Ballistol works well as a patch lube, barrel cleaner, wood stock protectant or short-term barrel lubricant.

Thanks for the post.