Seasoning a barrel ??
12-24-2006, 10:20 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2006
Location:
Posts: 71
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?
12-24-2006, 10:41 AM
#2
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Idaho
Posts: 11,703
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....
"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....
12-24-2006, 11:09 AM
#4
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
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.
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.
12-24-2006, 12:50 PM
#6
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location:
Posts: 5,180
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.
12-24-2006, 12:50 PM
#7
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
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..
12-24-2006, 01:11 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fargo, ND
Posts: 1,800
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.
12-24-2006, 02:45 PM
#10
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
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
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