Seasoning a barrel ??
 

When I was checking on a gun at my local gun shop, one of the staff asked if my barrel was well seasoned? Then befor I could ask waht he ment, he had to help some one else. Dose anyone know what he ment?

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

LnWolf

"Conventional modern day wisdom" says you can not really season a modern day steel barrel as you might season a iron barrel of the old days.... If you have seen the old black iron frying pan - one thing old timers, and myself, would would be to season the pan so that it would not rust and things would not stick to it. The fact is you very seldowashed it with soap and water you just wiped it out and set it aside til the next time.

Again"conventional wisdom" says NO!, but since I am not all that conventional in a lot of things - I think you can, to a certain extent treat, your bore so that is less suseptible to fouling.... All metal have pores and if you get those pores open you can fill em... I beleive everytime you touch a powder charge off you are filling to some degree the pores in the barrel with powder residue as this residue build it creates fouling.

The staff member you encountered was probably referring the "seasoning" as a process of treating the bore with something like bore butter, natural lube 1000, lard, or any other non-oil based product.

Hope this helps a bit....

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Thanks sabotloade, I Haven't been back into blackpowder long and was a whole lot confused. I think I understad better now. Thanks again.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

On the other hand, there are dangers of seasoning your barrel with products like bore butter. You must know what you are doing.Failure to season the bore correctly andyou run the risk of the barrel rusting, also those that do not apply it right develop a build up of the product in the barrel and because of that a decrease in accuracy is very possible.

The reason this rustinghappens is during the cleaning process, misture can be trapped between the bore butter and the metal of the barrel. You hear of people talking about "tobacco" stained colored patchs coming out the bore. I have yet to really figure out what is the cause of that, but I have seen them in my rifles when "I was a bore butter user in the past." The build up is simple. Apply coat after coat of wax to your car and see what happens... same thing in your barrel.

I find it much easier to clean the barrel of the rifle back to metal like I would any other rifle. Then I apply a coat of quality gun oil in the bore of the rifle. Before I shoot I remove the oil in the bore and start my shooting on a clean barrel.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

So using bore butter to break in my new 54 barrel is probably not the best idea? I wanna do this one absolutely right as I plan on using it from now on.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

If you use the bore butter the way Sabotloader uses it, there should not be any problem. I just find it too much of a hassel doing the bore butter anymore. And I am always wondering if I did it right. With an oil like Birchwood Casey Sheath, I swab the bore and know there will be no more problems..

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

i never heard of seasoning a bore untill i joined here. Ive never done it in muzzleloaders or centerfires and never had any problems. When i buy a new ml'er i just take them apart and make sure theres no flaws and then start with a small load and shoot untill im on paper and then start working on hunting loads. i really wouldnt even worry about seasoning your barrel unless you can see by the naked eye that its rough inside.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

My grandpa used Bore Butter in his muzzleloader. It was not used for 30+ years when he stopped using it. When he gave it to me accuracy suffered. Bore butter will build up and accuracy will go to crap. One day I sat down and scrubbed that barrel really really good. Next time I went out to shoot I had good groups. If I were you I would not use bore butter.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Sounds like your grand pa knew what he was doing if after 30+ years there was no rust.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

this is the one place cayugad and I go stray in our thoughts...

i dont know if "seasoning" the bore does any good...but this is how i clean:

Ill start in the wash tub full of HOT HOT water. put TC #13 bore cleaner on a patch and the breech end of the barrel in the water. swab it and fill the barrel with water and keep pumping it in and out. change patches a couple times till its clean and no black water comes out the touchhole.

then after i know its clean and the barrel is HOT the whole way through...usually to the point i dont wanna hold it bare handed...ill pull it out and quickly get clean dry patches in there..i hold the barrel upside down to make sure i get all the water out. i pump it hard to try to force it out the touch hole...i can hear when its out of the breech area where i cant reach with my patches.

then when its DRY and my patches are 100% clean(drying patches should always be clean or start over!) ill run a 91% alcohol patch down the barrel. i dont know how much it works but alcohol is used in gastanks that got water in them and makes the water go away so i use a patch with it hoping to get rid of any possible moisture. then ill run another dry patch or 2 through to MAKE SURE. 91% alcohol dries very quickly naturaly and also leave no residue..thats all i use at the range.

after that ill put bore butter on a patch and swab the barrel. the metal should still be pretttttty hot if your water was hot enough and you heated it through with the water. the metal of my barrel is thick so when its hot all the way through its hot a while. it melts the bore butter and i think it gets in the pores of the metal..to test the idea of my theory working i started doing the same thing to the outside of my barrel. i have no speakable rust and ive let the rifle sit that way a few months at a time. i make sure the touchhole is clean and free of bore butter...then when it all dries and is cool ill whip the outside down with a clean rag and run a clean patch through the bore to remove extra bore butter. i let the barrel cool upside down so i dont get a buildup of it in the breech area...

thats how I clean...now..weather or not it does much good i dont know. i dont have no rust ever..no brown patches ever...accuracy is GOOD...and i can shoot patch and ball all day and never NEED to clean. accuracy is still there AND fouling never gets bad enough for me to NEED to.

not saying my method is the best...or it even works..but i dont have problems doing it that way. i believe it was Matt/PA that taught me that..he had some other steps and such but thats where i picked up the basics of my method i believe

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I have a new Pro Hunter & the DVD that came with it from TC goes into a whole review of how and why to "season a barrrel". THey recommend Bore Butter.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Mauser06,
I do exactly what you do exceptI never thought of the alcohol. That makes perfect sense for evaporation. I only use that procedure on side hammers blued/browned barrels. TC bore butter imho is excellent. The older TCmanual as I remember states most of the same things. Since they have doing castings and have a full metal engineering staff their procedures must make sense. When I'm done for the season I bore butter all my bores and wipe all my rifles down too. I have yet to put a petroleum bases product down my Hawken barrel but it did take about 250 rds before it shot right. The reason for this was my ignorance. I started back in early 80's w/ RS/ RS Selectand #11 w/ conicals and it just would not shoot right. Evently I switched to Goex BP and the first 3 shots grouped like what you would expect a real rifle to do. After that whenI use # 11's I only use BP. I save the substitutes for 209's. Never tried the musket caps.
I think that brown patch dealmight the barrel wasn't totally devoid of alpowder and not totally dry before application. When that barrel is so hot to touch all mositure dissappears and then when you recoat w/ butter it stays sealed like the cast iron pan and very slick.....
Just my take on blued barrel seasoning.
Not sure what really happens w/ plastic fouling in SS barrels. So far I have used a bronze 50 call brush and scrubbed hard to remove plastic w/ Hoppes #9. Don't know if it really helps for not. My older Omega is a great shooter and have only scrubed it hard twice in 4 yrs. Probably have shot 400 rds out of it. Never keep records except on the bottom of targets. I do wipe the bore @ the end of the season w/ bore butter just out of habit.
Curious what you all do on the SS barrels!
SHills

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Thompson Center sells bore butter. I think it would only make sense that they promote it as well. Again, if you use bore butter make sure you use it properly. I've used it for years, and had my share of problems. I decided it is not for me. I will stick with a nice clean dry bore when I shoot.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I don't believe in the seasoned bore thing and treat my ml's just like any other fire arm except I use water and dish soap for the original cleaning in a bucket. I wash out all the fouling with a patch or two followed by some dry patches until they come out white. I then run a real wet patch with regular gun solvent thru it and scrub with a bore brush. I put it back in the bucket and wash all that out and again dry with patches. I stand the barrel up muzzle down in a corner for a couple of hours to dry and polish the bore with some more new patches. Then I run an patch with gun oil down it a few times.

Before I load it next time I run denatured alcohol patches thru it to get the oil out and dry it with dry patches. Load her up and she's ready to go.

I don't like bore butter in my guns. I use criso for lube but even that leaves some heavy fouling sticking to the bore. I get this fouling sticking to the bore even with a spit patch so I am somewhat certain that it's coming from the powder itself. I have only used Goex so I don't know if other powders do it as well. I really kind of feel it's the graphite in black powder.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I've used Bore Butter for years in all my muzzel loaders,and never had the first problem with any of them. I have a new Prohunter and since "seasoning" the bore ( I don't like that term,I think conditioning the bore would be a better term) itloads and shoots like a dream. Also you don't have to worry about cleaning it up as soon as you shoot it. I think most that have rust problems aren't getting the bore dry,before applying the BB. I still use Hot soapy water to clean my side lock,but with the in lines I just use solvent(rusty duck) and dry them then apply the BB. No problems yet,after 15years of using it!

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Mauser06 described my cleaning process I use with my flint and percusion rifles using BP. My old TC Hawken is 30 years old and look like the day I bought it. As for inlines using 777 I am still not sure what is best. I pretty much treat them like my center fire rifle. I am finishing with bore butter but I am not totally sold on the stuff.

What do you use one the outside of a stainless steel barrel to prevet rust.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

i use remoil on my SS barrel. inside and out.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I had problems with hangfires in my White Mountain Carbine sidelock until I ceased using borebutter and scrubbed it all out. I'm thinking that the borebutter was building up in the breech area and causing me problems. Needless to say it took me FOREVER to completely clean the crap out of my gun.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I guess I might as well put in my 2 cents worth too.
I have use BB ever since they first put it on the marketin PRB traditional muzzle loaders I would not even consider using anything else; also for breakaway sabots.
Acombination of polishing[ not lapping the process is the same but you use a compound called jewelers rouge instead of a grinding compound and it only smooths the surface to a high polish] and using BB the way Sabotloader does has allowed me to use 777 without "crudring" and I had the worst case of that you ever seen.
As for the people that dont use it right, I never seen anything that someone could not come up with a way to miss use. Lee

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I think the seasoning theory is a unch of horsecrap. I've noticed no difference with the Borebutter. It doesn't prevent rust either and I have gotten rust in my barrel as a result of trusting that junk. The only thing it's good for is a patch lubricant for round balls and stuff.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Ain't a believer in the "bore seasoning" theory. i just clean the bores extremely well and shoot them. No one cleans a muzzleloader like i do. 1. Before i leave the range the bore gets swabbed with a patch saturated with white vinegar. 2. At home the bore gets brushed with white vinegar. 3. Thenthe bore is swabbed with a patch saturated in Hoppes. 4. The Hoppes is swabbed out of the bore. 5. The bore gets a patch wetted with MILITEC. "Works for me."

MILITEC is great stuff but it must be totally removed from the bore before loading the gun. The only way to do this is with alcohol. If MILITEC is not totally removed you will have the crud ring from hades.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Ok, I am new to M/Ling and I use the borebutter, but I use the presaturated patches and I am not sure how you could get a build up with using them unless a build up is reffered to as something like a thousandths of an inch. All I can say about it is that it deffinately made my guns load easier after I started using it. My guns haven't sat around long enough to get rust yet because I shoot them every chance I get.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

Why not coat the bore with a product like Sheath, that is made to prevent rust during storage, than with bore butter? I am also of the opinion that shooting is best intiated through a dry bore, so I clean the barrel with wet patches soaked in ISO alcohol - and then fire a cap before the alcohol evaporates to get every thing clean and dry before loading the first round.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

MO Archer

Those new T17 patches are the best thing in a long while... but again it is all in how you apply it - do not allow it to build up and I would encourage you to only use it on a hot barrel during your cleaning process. the hot barrel will draw it up into the pores. Make sure the barrel is dry before you work the patches... after that and after the barrel cools wipe out as much as you can get out with regualr dry patches and apply a really good gun oil. After a couple of thes applications you will be surprised what happens to your crud ring and the amount of fouling you incurr. I do the same thing to my trap chokes....just to help with wad fouling in the choke.

CAUTION - do not trap water in the barrel...

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

I have the T17 patches, but they are the blue ones that I use for swabing/cleaning. The ones I was talking about for the bore butter are just called "Cleaning & Seasoning Patches for Muzzleloaders""Presaturated with Bore Butter" These are yellow and smell like Wintergreen Skoal and made by T/C of course. The container reads as follows-

[align=center]Cleaning & Seasoning Patches for Muzzleloaders[/align][align=center]Presaturated with Bore Butter[/align][align=center]T/C Natural Lube 1000 plus Bore Butter and 100% cotton patches combined.[/align][align=center]2 1/2"[/align][align=center]Seasons Bore to Reduce Fouling[/align][align=center]Increases Accuracy[/align][align=center]Prevents Rust[/align][align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=left]Bass Pro Shops is the only place I have ever seen them[/align]

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

MO Archer

Yup the blue ones - that is what I use now totally...

I can not/do not agree with the seasoning part but I do think you can condition the bore and I believe I have done that with my ML's.

The T17 is the same as the yellow just a different odor... and no Natural Lube 1000

But the best part is way they work in a hot barrel.... you put a patch in a clean dry hot barrel and the barrel sucks the stuff right out of the patch into the pores. The key for me is not to get to much in there, buy wiping outas much as you can out after it cools. Then lubricating with a very light coat of gun oil.

The natural lube 1000 in your other product will dry to a sheath and help protect to a certain extent the bore. But that sheath will/can become sticky and thick.

I suggest you keep ckecking your bore after a given amount of time if you are not also putting a bore oil in.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

It may be my 'newbie'mentality or a syndrome but I cannot go a day without looking at or stroking my guns so I get them out and run a patch through the barrel, and just well, you know....

Who knows when this will run out but for now I am inlove with my guns and I am sure no rust will form. I guess the reason I enjoy MLing is that you get to experiement with the loads so much and spend so much time cleaning, that your hobby lasts 'longer'.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

no thats not a newbie thing, i pull my out atleast twice a day and play with it.

RE: Seasoning a barrel ??
 

FG

Ain't it so...