FWIW,I do use nothing but NL1000...BUT...I don't happen to buy into or trust the "seasoning" thing.

Any time Ishoot one of my hooked breech rifles, Igo through it thoroughly starting with a 15 minute soaking in a 5gal pail of steaming hot soapy water;

Then a good scrub with patches and bore brush to get it back to bare, raw metal every time;

Then a steaming hot clean water rinse;

Quick dry with patches to prevent flash rust;

5 minute air dry to let residual heat get it 100% bone dry;

ThenI absolutely plaster the bore with several applications of NL1000 so there's no question every square inch is100% heavily coated;

SUMMARY
If a bore is 100% clean...then 100% bone dry...then 100%lubed so the metal surface is insulated from air which contains moisture...it cannot rust.

And this would be true regardless of what lube is used.......however, the main benefit I like from NL1000 is thatthisapproachbasically lets me shoot as much as I want without wiping, loading is simple,accuracy is excellent, etc.

So for me, this is one of those times where I liveby the old adage:
"if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

all i use in my TC flinter........works fine for me.....no oil at all......clean dry bore....91% alcohol patch...few dry patches to be sure......and then a nice butter one.........mmmm love the smell of that stuff!! i thought about using it as tooth paste...kinda smells like it lol..........

I was at the range a few months ago sighting in my 50 cal. Hawken, when the range master took notice. He was an old boy that loves smoke poles and is the regional president of the National Muzzleloaders Association. After some heavy recruiting, he brought out a spray bottle of simply green cleaner. Wetted a cut patch, and told me to use it after each shot to swab out the barrel. Once with the wet patch with the simply green, twice with a dry patch...for increased accuracy and less barrel fowling. He looked at my tube of bore butter and told me to throw it away, then with a wink went back to the range hut. I still use the tube of bore butter, and will until it is gone, and haven't noticed anything different in shooting after swabbing with simply green...but hey...he believes in it and he had some impressive target groups he showed me to prove it...

I only use Natural Lube. I used to use gun oils and had some problems with build up in my barrell. I had been cleaning my rifle the same way for years, hot soapy water followed by a hot water rinse,then dry patching, then oiling.One day I was at the range and started having a tough time getting the patched ball down the bore. I used a spit patch or two and then dry patched it a couple of times. I was able to load only a couple of shots more before a ball got stuck down the bore about 12". I tried pulling the ball, andI broke the ram rod ( I split the rod where it was pinned). I took the rifle home and I had to find a piece of alluminum round bar and a hammer, well I finally got it seated all the way down. I took the rifle out back and fired it into the ground (it's great living in the woods). I then got on the phone and talked to a friend ( this was before Al Gore invented the internet) he told me to plug the nipple and fill the barrel with boiling water and let set for 15 min. then dump it out and do it again. Then I was told to get a bore brush and work it over until I thought that my arm would fall off. Well I got all kind of black hard "coal like " junk out. I cleaned it out for about 2 hrs. He then told me to never use oil again, he had been down this road himself, he told me about Bore Butter. I swabed it in really heavy and have never had a problem as I get it clean and dry and reapplied heavily. I will never go back to oil. This has been about 5 yrs. now. I do use a bore brush every time that I clean to keep it from builing up.

The oil did not cause your dislike for using it! It was your failure to remove the oils before you started shooting. All it usually takes is one 3" alcohol patch (both sides) - then both sides of a dry patch... then fire three caps -- then start loading & firing.

Never shoot any rimfire, centerfire or ML with storing oils in it. Some will evaporate & burn-off... some won't.

Also... modern gun oils of today allow you to make a mistake when you fail to remove all the moisture in the rifling after a water bath. Most are water-soluble & absorb the moisture as you;re oiling the bore. Bore Butter won't do that. It will run over the moisture -- trapping it underneath. It cannot absorb it.

Exactly...and for the future in case you buy a used barrelthat has those streaks of compressed 'tar' in the bore...here's a tip I learned that will save the two hours of elbow grease: Shooter's Choice Black Powder Cleaning Gel

Plaster the bore with gel,let it sit for 10 minutes, and patch it right out...fantastic stuff...

used bore butter for the last 20 years and will probably use it the next 20.

All the years I have owned and shot muzzleloaders, the one that gave me a fit was a T/C Renegade that all I used (was told the story of you have to season the barrel) was bore butter. The accuracy got so terrible with it that I could no longer rely on the rifle for hunting, and forget target shooting.. that was a joke actually. I then used boiling soapy water and a bore brush and welding gloves to hold the barrel as it got that hot. After a lot of scrubbing I started seeing chunks of brown stuff in the water that I was dumping. I am guessing it was bore butter that had rust or fowling with it. Since then, I continued to scrub the barrel with soap and water and a bore brush, but after that I dried the barrel then alcohol swabbed it, dry patched it then used a quality gun oil in it.

The original Renegade barrel that went bad came back to normal after a good cleaning and re sighting in. This same barrel I am now conducting a bore butter test with according to Roundball's method of barrel cleaning and treatments... I have to admit, I am shooting it and it shows no sign of rust, and the accuracy is fine, but then I remember the other one took years before it finally went down hill on me, so time will tell. The one barrel gets bore butter the other rifles get Birchwood Casey Sheath....

Borebutter does work I also use other products as well. As I mentioned on another thread I just shot my Encore for the first time since last fall. It was put away with bore butter on the inside and out and it was fine no rust. I clean out my bores before shooting so I get no build up of gunk.

Just my two cents I like the stuff and yes it smells good too. LOL!

Similar situation...casedmy MK-85 several years ago with the bore heavily lubed with NL1000,finally sold it last year...bore was still like a mirror after all that time