Another ballistol question...

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bwayne

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Question concerning using ballistol with blowback weapons such as the TT33 and PPS43c. I understand that I need to dilute with water to wash the salts out of the barrel which I have no problem with. My real question deals with getting the internals such as springs, trigger assy, bolt, firing pins, etc. I assume I need to wash them out of well but worried about what happens with getting water in hard to reach places (such as inside the bolt/firing pin hole...)

From researching the web, looks like it may just evaporate and leave a protective coating (aka a CLR) but seems like folks are skeptical --- any thoughts? am I setting myself up for a inconvenient rust surprise???

Any help would be much appreciated

Thank you!
 
The trick is to use hot water. It heats up the metal, speeding evaporation.

When I clean my blackpowder guns, I first run them under hot water from the tub faucet. I then spreay the guts with hot soapy water from a spray water. (Dawn dish detergent for soap). Once I shake all that out, I spray them with a mix of 10 parts hot water to 1 part ballistol. Use the mix to patch the bore until clean. (usually 1-3 patches, max). Clean the rest with the mix and patches.

Wipe the excess. Push a chunk of paper towel through the bore. put the weapon in a place where it can dry. Sometimes this works better upside down so things can drip out.

I let it dry overnight. Swab the bore with straight ballistol. Lube the weapon as appropriate.


Naturally, the further you can strip the weapon, the easier it is to get out any water. You can also bake it in the oven at ~150 to drive out moisture. (make sure all plastic and metal are removed.)
 
What he said. Hot, hot water. Hot. And then a balmful blessing of some kind of polarized oil, something that likes metal enough to swim through water to get to it. I think Harris said that Ed's Red had this quality. Or was that just the lanolin that was in it?
 
Thanks for the advice (I will try the hot hot hot water idea). One thing that I'm still trying to verify though is with ballistol, if you do the 1 part ballistol to 9 parts water mix, if there was any water left over in hard to reach places, would it really harmlessly evaporate and leave a protective coating behind or not?

Also.... in regards to the PPS43, I watched a vid today where they said not to dissemble the bolt --- not sure if that is wise advice or not, if shooting corrosive, but if so, I was toying with the idea of squirting the ballistol/water mix into it (including the firing pin hole) -- thus my question about the wisdom of leaving the mixture in hard to reach places ;)

Thanks again!
 
The only cleaning agent my Tok has ever seen is 'moose milk' (1 part Ballistol to 7 parts water). I swab the bore with it several times [using several clean patches to carry away the salts] then I wipe the rest of the gun down with it, paying particular attention to the breech face, frame and the inside of the slide.

After that I put pure Ballistol on a patch, swab the bore and wipe the whole gun down before reassembly.

I do the same routine with my black powder guns.

Use hot water if you want, but I've never noticed that it made any difference. The water just evaporates and leaves the oil behind.
 
wOwzaaaaaa!

I've never mixed my Ballistol with water (but then, I'm only using it on handguns)

It's an AMAZING product (but you guys already KNOW that, lol)

Interesting read - thanks!

:)
 
VA27 said:
Use hot water if you want, but I've never noticed that it made any difference. The water just evaporates and leaves the oil behind.
Click to expand...
Depending on where one lives, water of any temperature may evaporate quickly.

Some of us live in places where water hangs around, so the use of hot water helps . . .
 
There is no real need to dilute Ballistol with water to clean a smokeless powder gun. Just spray it with Ballistol, leave it for 10 - 15 minutes, wipe with some cloth and spray the gun with carburetor cleaner to degrease. Oil with your preferred gun lubricant. That will do.

Boris
 
Mizar,

If you don't get the aerosol it's a much more concentrated, viscous, oil. Therefore they recommend/tell you to dilute it. Up to 1:10. I eyeball a 1:6/7 ratio for my Glock. Love it.

If you get non aeresol you spend less, get 6-7 times as much, but then have to get a little spritzer. That's what I did.
 
If you get non aeresol you spend less, get 6-7 times as much
Click to expand...

Aye - I use a small spray bottle with full strength Ballistol to spray INTO my pistol barrels for cleaning - I use a Ballistol covered rag to clean all the internals; I use Ballistol as a general gun oil - with the exception of when a "grease" is called for (I'm a Tetra'Guy for the rails and rubbing parts of my handguns)

I also take a Ballistol covered rag and rub down the outside of the weapon, including wooden grips on some of my guns, to make the outside all clean and shiny.

In my experience, the gun is a LOT EASIER to clean (internally and externally) after it's been "Ballistol'd" a few times
 
Yup. If you search Glock cleaning on YouTube and find how Hickok45 does it with Ballistol, well that's what I do exatly.
 
You are right about that Thlax, but using Ballistol spray is more simple and quick. And the price difference is not that big.

Boris
 
Good discussion

What are your thoughts about the bolt of my PPS43 and cleaning after corrosive. A youtube vid suggested not taking it appart but at the same time mentioned that you need to make sure you clean it to avoid corrosion... Doing some research on the web, it does appear that some folks just wipe the bolt face and not worry about it and others disassemble the bolt to clean the firing pin, etc. Granted, I'm probably worrying too much about this but is it ok to just wipe the bolt face after shooting corrosive?

Related to that, is it ok to put a drop of pure ballistol in the firing pin hole or not? Normally when cleaning my guns, that is what I do with gun oil but I've heard some folks claim that you should never do that (then again I've never had a problem)????

Simply put, any suggestions oh how to clean the bolt/firing pin after shooting corrosive (no idea how hard it is to disassemble a PPS43 bolt if I even wanted to)?
 
Well....1 aerosol for 12$ or a non aerosol for 10$....
For $12 aerosol I'm getting 1 can, for $10 non, I'm getting 6-7 cans worth of aerosol equivalent (70$+).

...honestly the first time I ordered, I ordered the non aerosol by accident so I adapted. But if I hadn't done that I would've gotten the aerosol. Over all it doesn't matter, great product and value either way!:)
 
bwayne: As an example the AK manual, the big one, shows how to disassemble the bolt in the section on all the parts of the rifle but in the section on cleaning after firing it does not say to disassemble the bolt. It just says to clean and lubricate it.
 
bwayne said:
Good discussion

What are your thoughts about the bolt of my PPS43 and cleaning after corrosive. A youtube vid suggested not taking it appart but at the same time mentioned that you need to make sure you clean it to avoid corrosion... Doing some research on the web, it does appear that some folks just wipe the bolt face and not worry about it and others disassemble the bolt to clean the firing pin, etc. Granted, I'm probably worrying too much about this but is it ok to just wipe the bolt face after shooting corrosive?

Related to that, is it ok to put a drop of pure ballistol in the firing pin hole or not? Normally when cleaning my guns, that is what I do with gun oil but I've heard some folks claim that you should never do that (then again I've never had a problem)????

Simply put, any suggestions oh how to clean the bolt/firing pin after shooting corrosive (no idea how hard it is to disassemble a PPS43 bolt if I even wanted to)?
Click to expand...
Most of what I've read about putting any lubrication into the firing pin channel is to not do it - I think the idea is that it just gives carbon/powder/whatever something to stick to, and that could eventually gum up the works. I've never specifically oiled the firing pin channel in any of my firearms...and the only thing i get from cleaning is some light carbon buildup.

It sounds like you're pretty diligent in your cleaning. Is there any reason why you shouldn't take the bolt apart to clean it? Will it harm the bolt to be taken apart?

I would say with corrosive ammo, I'd rather have issues from too much disassembling and cleaning than have a part rust out.
 
I love Ballistol

My original purchase of this product was for a Ruger Old Army. Heard it was "the thing" to use for black powder. That's the only thing I shoot with corrosive ammo 'til recently. As it turns out, I just wash my ROA (which is stainless btw) in a dishpan with hot soapy water and Dawn. Then I shake it out and wipe down and liberally pump spray the crap out of the innards with Ballistol. Shake out and wipe down well and place in oven (I have a standing pilot, so the oven is a very dry atmosphere.). I just leave it there until dry. Then I put a few drops of Hoppes in a few key places and it's good to go. One day I'll tear it down completely.

I've since started using it for all of my firearms. I just use it like any other solvent. But I still use other lubes for key areas. In the summer, my area gets very humid, but with the Ballistol coating my firearms never rust. Amazing stuff.
 
Yeah, I guess the simple answer is just to figure out how to disassemble the bolt and see how easy it is to do. Was doing some searches on the web and not finding much info on how to take the bolt apart --- guess I'll start another thread in the firearms area asking for advice.

Still wondering though what everyone's thoughts are concerning if in theory you could leave the 1 to 9 (or 1 to 7) ballistol mixture in the gun and would the water actually just evaporate at room temp and leave the protective coating behind? Sounds like a bad idea (ie I need to finish with pure ballistol or oil) but still curious if the water/ballistol mixture could act as a CLR on its own?
 
bwayne said:
Yeah, I guess the simple answer is just to figure out how to disassemble the bolt and see how easy it is to do. Was doing some searches on the web and not finding much info on how to take the bolt apart --- guess I'll start another thread in the firearms area asking for advice.

Still wondering though what everyone's thoughts are concerning if in theory you could leave the 1 to 9 (or 1 to 7) ballistol mixture in the gun and would the water actually just evaporate at room temp and leave the protective coating behind? Sounds like a bad idea (ie I need to finish with pure ballistol or oil) but still curious if the water/ballistol mixture could act as a CLR on its own?
Click to expand...

......I don't know what your talking about evaporating and junk. Your SUPPOSED to dilute the non aresol. It says so on the can. It still leaves a protective coating because it blends with the water. Its not hydrophobic like a regular oil.
 
Last edited:
You can also bake it in the oven at ~150 to drive out moisture. (make sure all plastic and metal are removed.)
That will be a problem. :)
 
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