Moose Milk

I use 1/3 each hydrogen peroxide, 95% isopropyl alchol and Murphys oil soap, it works with the goex 2f. Its worked for over 18yrs.

I just mix Ballistol and water 50/50 in a small spray bottle.

outlawhank said:

I use 1/3 each hydrogen peroxide, 95% isopropyl alchol and Murphys oil soap, it works with the goex 2f. Its worked for over 18yrs.

Click to expand...

30 years for me. Simple, cheap and effective.

Ironhand

whughett said:

I just mix Ballistol and water 50/50 in a small spray bottle.

Click to expand...

Same. I thought this was the original "moose milk" recipe. I see all sorts of variations but this one has worked well for me for years.

Maybe OP is thinking of Murphy's Mix?

Ballistol and water 50/50 in a small spray bottle

who the hell is Murphy ?

I only used distilled water, i use it in a 50/50 mix or maybe a bit stronger on the Ballistol sometimes. I dont really use it to clean though...for that i use L.A. Totally Awesome. Its only found in dollar stores and it really cleans the gunk out. Since my lube has wax in it i need something that will cut through the gunk that is made from fouling mixed with waxy oily lube. Ballistol and water wont really do a really good deep clean. It may "look clean"...but after cleaning a barrel with moose milk run a patch with L.A. Totally Awesome and see how much fouling you pull out. After i clean parts i will spray them with moose milk just to protect them keep surface rust away.

derek45 said:

who the hell is Murphy ?

Click to expand...

Murphy's mix. Referring to the mix of 1/3 Murphy's Oil Soap. 1/3 Isopropyl alcohol. 1/3 hydrogen peroxide.

This mix isn't Moose Milk. Folks in the know (at least in my experience) regard this as a Murphy mix or something similar.

Moose milk is just Ballistol and water. I do 50/50. Edit: Or that's what I've been taught anyway...

TheOutlawKid said:

It may "look clean"...but after cleaning a barrel with moose milk run a patch with L.A. Totally Awesome and see how much fouling you pull out.

Click to expand...

+1 On the L.A. Totally Awesome

Mn Fats said:

Murphy's mix. Referring to the mix of 1/3 Murphy's Oil Soap. 1/3 Isopropyl alcohol. 1/3 hydrogen peroxide.

Click to expand...

This is what I use to clean my bp guns. I’ve only heard it called “mule snot”. Good stuff

I clean with dish soap and water followed up with Ballistol.
What's the Hydrogen Peroxide supposed to add the the process?

Mn Fats said:

Murphy's mix. Referring to the mix of 1/3 Murphy's Oil Soap. 1/3 Isopropyl alcohol. 1/3 hydrogen peroxide.

This mix isn't Moose Milk. Folks in the know (at least in my experience) regard this as a Murphy mix or something similar.

Moose milk is just Ballistol and water. I do 50/50.

Click to expand...

Well I was taught the 1 part rubbing alcohol, 1 part Murphy's, and 1 part hydrogen peroxide back in the 1980's. For me this was long before Ballistol was known in my area, and the label on the stuff was Moose Milk, and we used it for black powder firearms. No idea why anybody would simply dilute Ballistol and not call it "diluted Ballistol", and instead call it Moose Milk. Both of the mixtures have a milky appearance.

LD

lonewolf172 said:

What's a good mixture/percentage of each for a good patch lube?

Click to expand...

Mix Ballistol 1:7 with water, soak your patches, then then let them dry. Use them "dry" and the pressure from the tight ball and patch combo will cause the Ballistol to squeeze out of the material and lube the patched ball. You can play with the ratio a bit to see what works best for you.

LD

Mix Ballistol 1:7 with water, soak your patches, then then let them dry.
Use them "dry" and the pressure from the tight ball and patch combo
will cause Ballistol to squeeze out of the material & lube the patched ball.

Click to expand...

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^

You can (and I do) use standard water-soluble [NAPA] cutting oil as well.

Having soaked the strips of cotton ticking in the 7:1 water/cutting oil, I literally
squeeze them dry with a rolling pin and throw them into a warm oven until
completely dry, Lasts forever in that state/throw in pocket/pull out cut at
muzzle when used.

TheOutlawKid said:

I only used distilled water, i use it in a 50/50 mix or maybe a bit stronger on the Ballistol sometimes. I dont really use it to clean though...for that i use L.A. Totally Awesome. Its only found in dollar stores and it really cleans the gunk out. Since my lube has wax in it i need something that will cut through the gunk that is made from fouling mixed with waxy oily lube. Ballistol and water wont really do a really good deep clean. It may "look clean"...but after cleaning a barrel with moose milk run a patch with L.A. Totally Awesome and see how much fouling you pull out. After i clean parts i will spray them with moose milk just to protect them keep surface rust away.

Click to expand...

What is LA that you use to clean out the barrel at the Dollar stores?

I don’t use moose milk as a cleaning agent except at the range. It’s for a “tween” shots wet patch or a wipe down for transport or light cleaning the base pins on the Remington revolvers when they start to bind.

For decades, the Dixie Gun Works catalog has has a "moose milk" recipe in it consisting of a water soluble machinist's oil mixed with water. I don't have my copy handy so I don't recall the proportions.

Ballistol emulsified in water and can be used for moose milk.

I recently pick up a quart of Sta-Lube SL2512 water soluble oil from Amazon to try because Ballistol REEKS like a mixture of black licorice and toe jam. The SL2512 has a very mild petroleum odor, in comparison. I mixed up a bottle of about 25% SL2512 to 75% water and have now used it a few times for cleaning BP revolvers. It works well and looks exactly like milk.

I've never heard of the Murphy's Oil Soap mix referred to as moose milk.

lonewolf172 said:

I have the following and want to make some good slick Moose Milk. Ballistol, Murphy's Oil Soap, Minerial Oil, water or 91% rubbing alcohol. What's a good mixture/percentage of each for a good patch lube?

Click to expand...

These are well known recipes for Stumpy's Moose Milk and Stumpy's Moose Snot.
They're posted in a sticky on the MLF and Stumpy is the nickname of one of the moderators named Stumpkiller. --->>> https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/stumpkillers-lube-recipes.26771/
Note: I recently saw little plastic bottles of Witch Hazel at a Dollar Tree store for $1.

Stumpy's Moose Juice

A general purpose blackpowder solvent and liquid patch lube. Shake well before using

Castor Oil 3 oz.
Murphy's Oil Soap 1 oz.
Witch Hazel 4 oz.
Isopropyl Alcohol (91%) 8 oz.
Water (non-chlorinated if available) 16 oz.

I dip my patching in this twice and let it dry laid flat on wax paper in between. Makes a semi-dry patch material that's easy to carry & use. If you don't mind carrying a little bottle it's a GREAT liquid lube as is.


Stumpy's Moose Snot

A premium multi-shot between wiping (10+) patch lube stable over a wide temperature range.
SPECIFICALLY designed for use of patched round balls in a loading block

Beeswax 2 oz.
Castor Oil 8 oz.
Murphy's Oil Soap 1 oz.


Heat beeswax in a soup can set a pot of water. ( A double-boiler. I keep my beeswax in a one pound coffee can and measure out what I need by melting it and pouring it into measuring cups). Add just enough water so the inner can does not begin to float (should be just short of the lube level in the can). Heat the water to a low boil. In a separate can, add the castor oil and Murphy's oil soap (cold). Once the beeswax is melted, swap the castor oil can in the pot of water for the beeswax. Add the beeswax to the oils. It will clump up. Stir with an ice tea spoon as the mixture heats up. When it fully melts there will be a scum that floats to the top and just won't mix in. Be patient. DO NOT COOK THE MIXTURE. Once the solids are dissolved there is no need to heat further. Skim the scum off. Remove the mix from the heat and wipe the water off the outside (so it won't drip into the container when you pour it out). FINAL TOP SECRET STEP: Add a teaspoon of Murphy's Oil Soap and stir vigorously. This last step makes the lube frothy and smooth - really adds to the appearance; though it doesn't seem to matter to the function of the lube. Clamp the can in the jaws of a vice-grip pliers and pour into the waiting tins. Allow to cool a half hour.

Note: it if is a hinged tin - line the edge that has the hinges with a strip of aluminum foil so it doesn't ooze out before it cools.

1winnen said:

What is LA that you use to clean out the barrel at the Dollar stores?

Click to expand...

It is a yellow spray cleaner/degreaser...its sold in dollar stores. I swear by the stuff. I had some white nylon brushes in different sizes that are for cleaning baby milk bottles...i use them to also clean some tight areas of the guns and inside the nipples firing channel and combustion chamber (it comes with some thin small brushes)...after a few uses they turned really dirty and grimey feeling from cleaning fouling that was mixed with lube recipes that have oils,tallow, and wax. I tried everything to clean them...even carburetor and brake cleaner. Bothing worked..they still were stained and had a "film" on them. One day i used "L.A. Totally Awesome" and it got them clean back to their original color and no gunky film on them. I was amazed. Since then i have been using it and wont use anything else. Also great for getting rid of the tacky sticky fouling from Pyrodex. Some people will clean it out and check it a day later only to find surface rust (mainly/especially in humid areas)...because the fouling mixes with the lube and gets into the metals pores and most cleaners wont get it out. But with L.A. Totally Awesome it really gets rid of the Pyrodex fouling on the first try. Amazing stuff.

TheOutlawKid said:

It is a yellow spray cleaner/degreaser...its sold in dollar stores.

Click to expand...

I bought some of that stuff at the Dollar Tree store where everything actually costs $1.
It's a concentrated cleaner, degreaser and spot remover that contains 2-Butoxy Ethanol.
They also make a lot of other LA's Totally Awesome cleaning products to not confuse it with.
The label says that it will remove some inks, tar, all kinds of stains and can even degrease engines.
It lists many different dilution ratios depending on the type of cleaning it's being used for, but I haven't tried any of it yet.

Plus one for Murphy’s mix for over 20 years.

arcticap said:

I bought some of that stuff at the Dollar Tree store where everything actually costs $1.
It's a concentrated cleaner, degreaser and spot remover that contains 2-Butoxy Ethanol.
They also make a lot of other LA's Totally Awesome cleaning products to not confuse it with.
The label says that it will remove some inks, tar, all kinds of stains and can even degrease engines.
It lists many different dilution ratios depending on the type of cleaning it's being used for, but I haven't used any of it yet.

Click to expand...

Thanks Mr.Articap! Can always count on you to better explain things than i can lol. I have tried the diluted ratios with distilled water (i will only mix my cleaners with distilled water as we have very hard water in south texas and i like that its ph neutral) and it works great for cleaning especially when i use corrosive primers, but i dont use the dilution scale written on the label...i put a 1:3 ratio of distilled water to cleaner for the corrosive primers, but to clean the fouling mixed with lube i just use the cleaner undilluted. It also really works great at cutting through the thick red Mobil1 synthetic grease that i use to pack inside all my guns. Its only $1 for a large spray bottle or $3 a larger jug (forget how many ounces) but definately well worth it...i really dont see how they make a profit selling this stuff when it could sell for atleast 3 times more. Its awesome ....no pun intended.

TheOutlawKid said:

Its only $1 for a large spray bottle or $3 a larger jug (forget how many ounces) but definately well worth it...i really dont see how they make a profit selling this stuff when it could sell for atleast 3 times more. Its awesome ....no pun intended.

Click to expand...

Rusty Duck Black Off black powder solvent was one of my favorite solvents that is no longer sold.
I was curious if the active ingredient in LA's Awesome is the same so I looked it up and found that Rusty Duck contained Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether.
Then I Googled the 2-Butoxyethanol ingredient that's in the LA's Awesome and found that they're basically the same solvent and formula, only with a slightly different name that are considered to be synonyms.
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE) (2-Butoxyethanol) --->>> https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris2/chemicalLanding.cfm?substance_nmbr=500

Dave Markowitz said:

For decades, the Dixie Gun Works catalog has has a "moose milk" recipe in it consisting of a water soluble machinist's oil mixed with water. I don't have my copy handy so I don't recall the proportions.

Click to expand...

We used water soluble oil for coolant in my dads machine shop. On the can it comes in (now bottle) it says 20 parts water to one part oil. I bought a gallon of Wynn's brand from the tool store over 20 years ago and still have over half of it left. But I mix it 12 to 1 for my BP guns. I have mixed and gave away more than I ever used. I clean my barrels with it. They never rust. I drop my nipple in an old cap can along with the clean out screw then grease and reinstall.

I also use it for patch lube if I am shooting on the range. I will put 20 or so patches in one of the plastic snuff cans and drizzle the milk over the patches and then give them a squeeze. I can shoot shot after shot and not have to wipe the barrel.