littlekid

I've always cleaned and coated my ML barrel with Crisco after giving it a bath in boiling water. For the past 10 yrs I've never had a problem. That being said, this year I cleaned and coated it with Ballistol.
Today, after 2 months, I pulled it out of the safe and it looked TERRIBLE. The nipple looked like a corroded battery terminal (it took visegrips to remove), the muzzle had copious amounts of surface rust (not sure about deeper into the barrel) and the lock area looked like the muzzle end. Did I do something wrong?
From what I understood, this stuff (Ballistol), was originally made for use with blackpowder. What happened?
Right now I'm a bit worried about my rifle. It's a CVA hammer-lock "Frontier-Hunter" with a laminate stock, capable of consistent 2" groups @ 100 yds with patched balls. I'm afraid I've ruined this great gun. Any suggestions will be very much appreciative.

Semisane

Man, that's a bummer Lil`kid. I sure hope you can save the bore. You need to drop a light down there to assess the damage. Oiled steel wool and/or JB bore past may be in order.

I have no personal experience with Ballistol. A guy gave me about half of a bottle to try as a patch lube, but I never got around to trying it. It sure stinks (smells bad). He swears by it and uses it to protect his musket. It also seems to be highly thought of by many traditional rifle shooters on The Muzzleloading Forum.

Personally, I don't think I want a "water soluble" oil for protection. That just doesn't make sense to me. Just a guess, but I suspect your bore wasn't completely dry when you swabbed it with the Ballistol, and it held the moisture to the metal by preventing it from evaporating. I've gotten completely away from hot water for cleaning. I find it often causes flash rust, and cold water with soap cleans just as well.

Breechplug

Crisco is for Cooking, lets leave it at that. Boiling Water is Bad, like Semisane said it causes Flash Rust. I used to use Hot Water and Soap to clean the Bore, but befor I could get a patch through it, it was already Rusting! So since then I just use warm or cold water. Also I suspect the barrel was'nt completely dry and the Crisco mixed with the water and there's your rust. To protect your investment get a good quality Gun Oil, Montana X-Treme Gun Oil, Casey Sheath Barricade, Montana X-Treme Bore Conditioner. Make sure your Bore is completely dry then apply one of the oils mentioned and there's no way it will rust.
Give your ML a good rubbing with JB's, that should get it off. Remember, DRY, then Oil and you'll be fine.
Good Luck!
(BP)

sabotloader

Breechplug

Your kidding me that is one of the best ways to truly flush the bore of the barrel. It opens pores releases all the oil contaiminates and dislodges plastic fouling. I have been using that method for years and will continue to do so. Flash rust on a blued barrel is minimal and no worse that the rust that occurs when blueing metal.

All of my ML's get that treatment at least once a year... If I were shooting BH the need might not be as great but for getting contaminates out of the bore it is great. The boling wateralso helps dry a bore much quicker than using hot water.

Another advantage it is so easy to treat and get a lasting treatment of a bore when it is hot... the pores are open and treatment can leach out the old fouling. Maybe that is one of the reasons that I do not get the 'crud ring' when shooting T7.

I know there are a lot of people that think you can not condition a bore - but metal is metal and metal has pores and hot metal makes the pores expand and easy to clean...

Just my two cents...

cayugad

Well I am another that uses boiling water and never had a problem. I rinse the soap out of my rifles with it. And then wearing gloves swab the bore dry. As the barrel cools, I coat the clean dry barrel with a quality gun oil. I like Birchwood Casey Sheath and Montana X-treme Gun Oil. Also Remington Oil with Teflon.

Breechplug

Mike and Dave, you guy's are completly right! Hot water does flush out the contaminents, but I never let my barrel's get that far, Im a clean freak and clean way too often, so I never get a crud ring or rust or plastic fouling. Other's will definately benefit from a Boiling water clean.
(BP)

tjj

Sorry to hear about your bore. I'd deffinately get some J-B's and run about 50 strokes. Wipe it out and take a look. Repeat as needed. Hopefully that will do the trick. I'd nix the crisco. There are too many good quality modern lubricants out there, and crisco ain't one of em. I prefer break-free clp, or any of the other products mentioned will work good also.

sabotloader

littlekid

I feel for you... I really do not know how I might direct you without seeing your problem. I really hope you are able to work through it. My first suggestion would be to clean the gun up as well as you can get the worst of everything off that you can. Once you have it cleaned as best possible apply some Hoppes #9 over the entire barreled action including the bore. Let it soak in for awhile and then wipe it as clean as you can. From there - you will need to judge what to do next.

Hope you can get it... another suggestion - you might take it to a gun smith or a professional and get his advice...

spaniel

When I started I listened to a bunch of traditional guys, Bore Butter, steaming hot water, Murphy's Oil Soap, Crisco, etc. I came to think it was normal to have a coat of rust in the barrel all the time and was to young to know better (and no internet to educate me differently).

Well, now that gun is no longer accurate. And I know that fat is for cooking or burning and not for gun barrels.

Clean with the appropriate solvent for your powder and protect with oil. No need to pump hot water through to speed the chemical reactions of corrosion. Haven't had a spot of rust since.

lemoyne

Corrosion Inhibition
There is more than one type of corrosion. Common corrosion is oxidation, a chemical reaction between ferrous metals and the oxygen contained in air and water. Rust is the best example for this type of corrosion. But there are also other types of corrosion, such as acidic corrosion, galvanic corrosion and stress corrosion. Salt water corrosion is a combination of oxidation and acidic and galvanic corrosion. It is virtually impossible to stop corrosion completely. Corrosion happens, albeit very slowly. It is, therefore, more honest to speak about inhibiting corrosion rather than stopping or preventing it.
It sounds to me like you had a chemical reaction. Something already on the gun reacted with it.
Lee