What am I doing wrong? (Cleaning)

[Versanaut]

After cleaning I run a patch liberally coated with ATF (Automatic transmission fluid) to coat the bore. Never have any flash rust. It is VERY cheap and a quart will last forever.

I use ATF on my locks. Never thought to use it in the barrel. Hmmmmmm.

 

[hanshi]

Room temp water works for my cleaning; and I do occasionally use green Scotch Brite in the bore. Most good gun oils seem to work quite well in the bore but I eventually settled on Barricade and BreakFree CLP for the bore. I don't use ATF in the bore but I do use Type F ATF on the lock, stock and barrel.

 

[Sam squanch]

Rubbing alcohol is mostly water! Get some denatured alcohol instead.

 

[Whughett]

Would seem to me most oils will float on water so there fore if one runs a patch soaked with what ever oil down a bore that just might have some moisture in it some of that oil may wind up incapsulating water droplets.
A water soluble oil would seem a better product for firearms cleaned with water or a water base product.

 

[sawyer04]

Anyone got anymore popcorn?

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

I quit using my tap water altogether years ago. No matter what I did, I still got flash rust in between cleaning and oiling. An old-timer once told me to make a solvent with plain cheap blue windshield washer fluid and Murphy's soap, 2oz per quart. I make a gallon at a time and dunk my barrel in that (room temp) to soak for a bit. I clean the rest of the gun with Ballistol and water mix, then clean the barrel with just a jag and a few patches. One wet patch down and back then toss it. The next patch, 2 strokes, then with the third one, I do the "pump handle" drawing the solvent up and down many times, like around 20-25 strokes. I feel this blasts out the breech area (of a cap lock). I drain the liquid back into the bucket and then thoroughly dry the barrel and bore with a few patches. I then use fluid film or G96 to coat the bore and wipe down the barrel. I get zero rust, but I have seen some kinds of oils turning brownish over time, as was posted earlier. That, you need to be mindful of.

 

[marcosfal]

New member here. I almost always end up here when looking up muzzleloader information. I bought a CVA Sharpshooter online for around $200. I liked the “pistol grip” stock. After cleaning it up and going shooting the very first time, we were drilling tennis balls at 45-50 yards. .490 balls, .15 spit patches and a 50 grain charge of 3F Swiss.
I was using the tap water by covering the nipple with a piece of rubber and letting it soak several times for 10, 5 and 5 minutes. It cleaned up real easily. I got rust the next day every time. Ballistol that sits in a clear bottle will settle out with some brownish residue. This was rust however. One day I could actually smell the chlorine in the tap water. That’s when the penny dropped. It was so obvious that I couldn’t believe I had missed it. I’ve rust blued enough tools and guns to know what chlorine does to bare metal, especially in a humid environment. I only use plain, room temperature distilled water now. Other than the brownish “Ballistol residue”, no more rust after the initial cleaning after shooting.

 

[TrapperDude]

I was at the range shooting an AK, one day a few years ago, and a guy was shooting competition-grade a flintlock rifle next to me. I got to talking to him (the initial black powder worm started boring into my brain), and when he wrapped up, he showed my how he cleaned his rifle.

He stuck a toothpick into the flash hole to plug it, and then he filled the bore with a mix of Simple Green and Ballistol and let it sit for a few minutes. After that, he pulled the toothpick and pushed a patched jag down the bore, pushing the gunk all out through the flash hole. From there, he followed it up with dry patches and then swabbed it out with Ballistol to protect the metal.

I did something similar with my Traditions Trapper, but I put a little Damn Good Bore Solvent in and followed it up with boiling water. I used padded pliers to hold the barrel because it was so hot. I then pushed a patched jag down the bore after pulling the toothpick, and everything came out nicely. I read a blog before I bought my first BP revolver, and he suggested only natural oils for BP fouling, so I used olive oil to oil up the bore after drying it out with a dry patch, using the downward force of it to push air out of the flash hole, ensuring that no moisture was left.

After my first trip, I did see a brown patina in the bottom of the barrel the next day, so I used a patch worm to spin an oiled patch down there to swab it up. After that, there were no more recurrences. My second (previous trip out), I used Frog Lube, which is also a natural oil. I got no patina after using it.

 

[nkbj]

The persistent rusting could be a matter of your water chemistry.

 

[Sidney Smith]

New member here. I almost always end up here when looking up muzzleloader information. I bought a CVA Sharpshooter online for around $200. I liked the “pistol grip” stock. After cleaning it up and going shooting the very first time, we were drilling tennis balls at 45-50 yards. .490 balls, .15 spit patches and a 50 grain charge of 3F Swiss.
I was using the tap water by covering the nipple with a piece of rubber and letting it soak several times for 10, 5 and 5 minutes. It cleaned up real easily. I got rust the next day every time. Ballistol that sits in a clear bottle will settle out with some brownish residue. This was rust however. One day I could actually smell the chlorine in the tap water. That’s when the penny dropped. It was so obvious that I couldn’t believe I had missed it. I’ve rust blued enough tools and guns to know what chlorine does to bare metal, especially in a humid environment. I only use plain, room temperature distilled water now. Other than the brownish “Ballistol residue”, no more rust after the initial cleaning after shooting.

We have well water here, so no chlorine. Boiling your water I think would remove a lot of the chlorine try that.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Flush with alcohol after water and before lube.

 

[WonkyEye]

Necro post, I ran across this looking for ways to force patina parts. I thought of share what I've learned that prevents flash rust for me.

The short of it is warm, not hot water. soap not detergent, borax rust inhibitor, and a little heat after oiling.

Boiling water, or even really hot water makes my bore flash rust - as in I will be getting red rust while cleaning. I use warm, like comfortable for me to hold the barrel temp. I also use fels naptha soap, I found its less likely to cause rust than detergents. I fill the bore with water and a little soap, run my scraper in and agitated it, and let it soak for 10 mins. Dump, scrub with wet soapy tow, and repeat until clean soapy tow comes out as clean as it went in. I keep a spray bottle with water and borax and use that for my final rinse, borax is an anodic rust inhibitor.
Several squirts down the bore on the mist setting and then attempt to swab out the barrel as best I can with dry patches. After it's as dry as can be, I oil it. I've used ballistol, rem lube, mineral oil from the pharmacy, fluid film, and even my homebrew patch lube (which is a homemade soap and oil mix). they all prevent rust. If it's colder weather or humid, I'll use a hair dryer or heat gun after the oil to warm it up and make sure any leftover water evaporated.