A couple of weeks ago I tried out Black Mag 3 for the first time with mixed results. After the range session I went home and cleaned the gun and stored it as usual. Tuesday I went back to the range and when I ran a patch down the bore to clean the oil out, the patch came out with some brown, rust looking stuff on it. I thought back through my previous range session and cleaning of the gun and the only thing that was different was the fact that I had shot some BM3 the last time out. My cleaning procedure was the same as always but I have never seen this brown stuff come out of that barrel. It cleaned out with just a patch or two of solvent and a couple of dry patches and the gun shot as good as ever. Anyone else seen this or have any thoughts about it?

No idea.

Please detail your cleaning procedure?

I cannot imagine anything in BM'3to cause rusting or otherwise a brown substance after cleaning.

I'm working on my 7th pound of BM'3 and just ordered another four pounds and I have never seen anything like that.

Maybe it's something leeching out of the pores from whatever you shot before the BM3??? Clean it up good, shoot some more BM3 and see if it happens again.

Perhaps you didn't fully dry the bore before applying the gun oil. May of been moisture remnants in your rifling. Do you clean the bore - thenapplygun oil with a jag or bore brush?

My cleaning procedure has been basically the same for a while now with no rust issues.

My process:
Before removing the breach plug (on the inline) I scrub the bore with a brass brush soaked in Hoppies no.9 with a patch wrapped around it. I let that soak for a few minutes while I remove the bolt and switch to a cleaning jag. I then run patches through until they come out dry and mostly clean. I then run a couple of patches of brake cleaner down bore to clean the rest of the Hoppies and any left over fouling out followed by dry patches. At this point the patches come out virtually clean. I then run a few patches soaked in Ballistol and let that soak a minute or two. Then a few dry paches to get that out. Then a few more patches with brake cleaner to dry that out. I clean most of the fouling out before I pull the plug to minimize fouling getting into the breach plug threads. I then pull the breach plug and spray it and the boltdown with Ballistol (it seems to take the fouling off better than anything else I've tried)and let it soak while I finish the barrel. I then clean the breach plug area with brushes and patches with solvent and run patches on a jag to get anything that was left in the bore out.I then clean the bolt and breach plug using a brass brush to remove the fouling and wipe them down with CLP before reassembling the bolt. I put antisieze on thebreach plugthreads and reinstall. Once everything is clean, I run a bore mop saturated with Break Free CLP through it for final bore protection, put everything back together and wipe down the outside with CLP before putting it up.

Like I said, I've never had a problem with rust until this incident so I'm not sure what happened. I didn't use any water in it and after running the brake cleaner the bore is so cleanthe patches sometimes squeek as they go down.

I've been using 777 2F for over 2 years now.Using this process to clean, I have not had any crud ring problem and my breach plug comes out with little more than finger pressure even after 30 to 40 rounds. Before shooting, I just run a few dry patches till they come out dry, fire a 209 primer to dry out the breach plug, load and fire. Works every time.

Hoppe's No. 9 is a nitro-powder solvent, NOT A BLACK POWDER SOLVENT!! I have tested it thouroughly for removing BP or other BP-substitute powder fouling from steel, and it DOES NOT WORK satisfactorily! It will remove some, albeit slowly, and leave some too.

You must make sure you get ALLfouling out of your bore, or rust will eat it up in short order.

I have been cleaning mine since 1964 by pouring two quarts of boiling water through the bore, letting it drain out the nipple seat hole (of course, you have already removed the nipple and put it in a glass of hot, soapy water to clean it after you get the bore clean!). If you have an inline, pour the water through from the breech, using a funnel of the appropriate size. After the water has drained out of the bore, swab the bore with four or five clean, dry patches-the heat will dry the boreimmediately, and it is now clean. Once the barrel has cooled, swab it out again with a patch saturated in Birchwood-Casey Sheath. This absolutely prevents a clean barrel from rusting. And it dries out, so you don't have to worry about if you got all the oil out of the gun before you load it up again!Swab all powder fouling off the outside of the gun with a damp patch, and after drying the metal parts, swab them with the patch you used to apply the SHEATH to the bore. This stuff won't hurt wood finish, and keeps all ferrous metals from rusting.

Now, if you insist on using some kind of solvent other than water (water is the universal solvent in this particular universe!!), I have found that the SHOOTER'S CHOICE gel works very well. There are, no doubt, other BP solvents that will work also, but it is my understanding that BM3, like several other substitutes such as Clean Shot, GOEX ClearShot, Pinnacle, T7, APP, etc., are best cleaned out of your bore with just plain water. Try water, and forget the Hoppe's No.9!! After you get ALL the fouling out, use Birchwood-Casey Sheath to preserve the bore. (Yes, that "brown stuff" is as you suspected-RUST!)

I have never had to use anything as harsh as a bore brush in my ML rifles.

I've had this happen before using Pyrodex........always cleaned up...have seen on other forums in the past the same problem.........I wouldn't be concerned.

While I don't dispute your findings in regards to Hoppies, I must tell you I have never used justwater in this rifle (3+ years) and have never had a rust problem. I do use water on my sidelocks since it is so easy to remove the barrel and put it in a bucket. The brake cleaner will take outanything the Hoppies leaves behind. The only thing that was different this time was the use of BM3. The gun has sat at times up to 3 or 4 months between shooting sessions with no hint of rust. This time it had only been 2 weeks.

I have been considering getting some of the BC Sheath as I hear good things about it, plus I'm getting low on CLP and may switch to the Sheath and try it out.

Thanks for all the comments and words of wisdom and I hope everyone gets a shot at whatever you are hunting this season. Good luck and good shooting.

Well, I admit I have never tried brake cleaner, and I can imagine that it just might remove anything in the bore. If so, the only thing you'd need the Hoppe's for is the nice odor... I wish all gun-cleaning solvents had that smell!