Waxing your barrel/bore

[coloradoclyde]

Pure wax inside the barrel would be near impossible....you have to cut or mix it with oil or some other fat......so that the consistency is spreadable...I cut it with olive oil, so one could argue which is doing the job. ( the olive oil or the wax). Using it inside is not the best application but it is possible.....it doesn't have any advantages commercial products.

I only did it to see if it would work.....and it did. it is not my S.O.P.
I do occasionally still use it when hunting.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Do you ever get wax blocking the touch hole/vent?

I haven't .....If you do, you used to much .....same as any other product....

Just to reiterate...I am not advocating this as a "better" method of protection. How a person cleans and stores their gun is far more important than what preventative measures you use.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I haven't chimed in before on this simply because I don't see much of a point to using wax inside the bore. It would be hard to clean out and, depending on what type of wax, might leave nasty and stubborn residue if shot.
Only reason to use it, IMHO, would be when a rifle is put away for long term storage. Or for preservation of an antique.

 

[coloradoclyde]

That's it in a nutshell.....unless maybe you run out of everything else.. :wink:

 

[Gene L]

Preservation is the reason for putting anything down your bore. I think wax would do a great job preserving, a thin coat of course, since it's protected cars and .22 rifle bores for a long time, but I might be wrong. Oil has its own problems, although these problems can be overcome.

I'll check it out to see if there're any terrible side affects, or any benefits. I'll report back eventually.

 

[Swede50]

I would think mixing burnt black powder with the WAX in a barrel might be a PITA to clean and might cause the barrel to rust due to any small amount of burnt black powder left inside the barrel. But this is only my ramblings maybe someone will agree with me or not :idunno:

 

[necchi]

I would think mixing burnt black powder with the WAX in a barrel might be a PITA to clean and might cause the barrel to rust due to any small amount of burnt black powder left inside the barrel.

I think I said that was my take on it too, if it don't rust, it could plug up the rifling like too much bore butter.
I figure if it was a good idea,, we'd all already be doing it.
It's not like carnuba wax was just made yesterday.

 

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

A good carb or brake cleaner down the bore will remove anything that's not wanted.

I won't wax my bores though.

Keep it simple.

 

[19 16 6]

Why not try Johnsons wax as a patch lube & then come on back here & tell us how it worked & cleaned up.
O.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Mineral spirits or turpentine will dissolve wax too. I'll stick with oil for short term, or RIG for long term storage though.

 

[Black Hand]

Wax the outside - leave the bore alone.

 

[Gene L]

Wax the outside - leave the bore alone.

Why? If wax protects the outside, it should also protect the inside.

 

[hawkeye2]

"Why? If wax protects the outside, it should also protect the inside."
[/quote]

It probably will protect the bore. A major reason that no one will recommend it is that none of us have any idea what it might do concerning fouling and accuracy. Another reason is that there are lots of things available that do a super job of protecting the bore and have been tested by black powder shooters. A lot have settled on a product and routine and see no reason to change. Over a lifetime I have owned a very very large number of guns and have while I have waxed the outsides of some I have never felt the need to wax the insides. I still have the first gun I ever cleaned and that was back about '55 (19, not 18 :grin: ) and the bore is just as nice now as it was back then. The only things that have ever touched the bore were Hoppes #9 and gun oil, sewing machine oil or 3n1. I may be a Luddite :grin: but traditional works fine for me.

BTW .22 bullets are not waxed, they are lubed. They are a carryover from the black powder cartridge era and are outside lubed just as many of the early cartridges were. They just worked so well no one ever saw a reason to change it.

 

[Gene L]

The bullets I have are lubed with wax. Ely match ammo has a different kind of lube on it that may or may not be wax.

Info on waxed bullets is available on Rimfire Central. You're right on target with early bullets being outside lubed.

The terms "wax" and "lube" are general terms. .22 bullets are heeled, too, which may be another reason they're "lubed" outside.

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I tried a silicon spray. The dried silicon would serve as a lubricant. It didn't seem to prevent rust as well as good ol' WD-40. However, I still use silicon on the internals of the lock.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've used wax on all sorts of things...
Knives, chisels and other tools, saws, shovels, snowplows, toboggans, boots, canoes, airplanes and yes guns....and ammo.
The possibilities are endless.... :grin:

 

[SgtErv]

I experimented tonight making up a fixin wax. I actually started with a leather treatment but figured it would work on the exterior of my rifle, too. I used about 3 parts mink oil tallow to one part beeswax, melted down by double boiling. After cooling, it buffed on easily and dried clear. Water runs off a little bullet bag. It leaves a nice luster on the leather and the maple stock.

Thanks for the tip

 

[Black Hand]

Wax the outside - leave the bore alone.

Why? If wax protects the outside, it should also protect the inside.

The outside isn't subject to temperatures up to 1400C (~2500F) from burning powder (wax melts at temperatures far below that). It is also very unlikely that wax will survive shooting, and what does will probably serve as a place for fouling to stick. If you have done your job, the oiling/lubrication applied after cleaning protects the bore while in storage.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Beeswax is a major component in dozens of bullet and patch lube recipes, both commercial and DIY...
They all go in the barrel and are subject to extreme temperatures.
Beeswax has over 300 industrial lubricant uses...including drilling and machining some of the hardest materials..

On page 7 of "The chemical news and journal of industrial science volume 2 1860"
The problems associated with using tallow on Enfield cartridges are discussed and the resulting corrosion of the bullet that they caused. various trials for a remedy found that beeswax was superior.

Though so very dissimilar to the substances generally used as lubricants, it's cleansing properties of the barrel of an arm are remarkable; it produces a beautiful glazing or surface upon the metal, which prevents the adhesion of any of the residue.

 

[Black Hand]

Beeswax is a major component in dozens of bullet and patch lube recipes, both commercial and DIY...
They all go in the barrel and are subject to extreme temperatures.
Beeswax has over 300 industrial lubricant uses...including drilling and machining some of the hardest materials..

On page 7 of "The chemical news and journal of industrial science volume 2 1860"
The problems associated with using tallow on Enfield cartridges are discussed and the resulting corrosion of the bullet that they caused. various trials for a remedy found that beeswax was superior.

Though so very dissimilar to the substances generally used as lubricants, it's cleansing properties of the barrel of an arm are remarkable; it produces a beautiful glazing or surface upon the metal, which prevents the adhesion of any of the residue.

But the poster isn't talking about using wax to lube bullets...