cayugad

TNHagies and I agree on this. Bore butter is a great product. It is an excellent conical lube, even a patch lube for shooting patch ball. As something to protect my bore.. no thanks. Now there are many people that use it to protect their rifles. And all I can say is.. their rifles. Birchwood Casey Sheath a.k.a. Barricade is my favorite gun oil.

Thompson Center started this whole idea of bore butter seasoning the bore. While a lot of people claim this a benefit, I did not. I was a bore butter user. And then I gradually saw the accuracy of a rifle decrease until it was not fit for shooting. I talked to the old man who taught me muzzleloaders and he laughed and told me I was a bore butter shooter. Get that stuff out, and the rifle would return. So I boiled water, plugged the nipple, filled the barrel and then, wearing gloves, with a brass brush scrubbed the bore. The chunks that came out of that barrel to this day still shocked me. Bore butter has never went back in that rifle.

Then a couple years ago, this bore butter discussion was again addressed, so I took one of my rifles, bore buttered it the way they told me would work. And almost every day for three weeks, shot the rifle and bore buttered it up. At the end of the three weeks, I noted no advantage in loading or cleaning, and I had to change the powder charge once to keep the accuracy going. So the accuracy was fading. I then removed the bore butter and treated it the way I treat all my rifles now. Also I was getting some off colored patches when I swabbed the bore. That bothered me.

I clean my bore nice and clean like you described. Then I get a patch good and moist with Sheath and swab that bore in short strokes working down and up the barrel a couple times. This works especially good if the bore of the rifle is hot when you do this. For as the metal cools, it sucks that Sheath into the pores of the metal. I have yet to have a barrel rust when protected like this.

Then before I shoot the next time, take a patch and wet it with isopropyl alcohol. Then swab the bore with that patch. Then a couple dry patches after that. Leave the last dry patch in the bore down in the breech. Then you can test your fire channel with what ever ignition system you use. Pop a #11 cap or what ever and pull that patch. If if shows burn marks, then you are ready to load, as the bore is clean and dry, and the fire channel clear. Your rifle will fire.