Bore Butter ok for long term storage?

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Guvnor

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I have a cabela's hawken that only gets used once every few months or so. After I shoot it, I always clean with hot soapy water and put everything aside to dry. Then I put a couple patches coated with bore butter down the bore, and apply a thin coat of it over the entire outside of the barrel before putting it away.

Is bore butter enough to protect against rust during storage? After several months, if I shine a flashlight down the bore it still looks pretty spotless. I was under the impression that regular gun oil was a no-no with black powder guns, but ive heard conflicting opinions recently.

Thoughts, opinions...?
 
I think if Bore Butter is left on/in a gun for too long (like maybe a year or more) it can probably turn crusty and have to be scrubbed out.

Gun oil is perfectly Ok to use on storing a BP gun AS LONG as the oil gets removed before firing. If I was putting my guns up for long term I would coat them with gun oil.
 
Thanks for the reply.

How would I go about removing the oil? Would soapy water get rid of it? I usually use dish detergent when cleaning.
 
sure that's going to work...I prefer alcohol though.Just be sure to clean and re-oil before you put 'em back up.I still like Bore Butter as a patch lube,and it's a main ingredient ,along with Bee's wax, in my grease cookies.
 
Bore Butter will work to prevent rust in long term storage IF AND ONLY IF ALL WATER IS REMOVED FIRST! Bore Butter will NOT prevent or slow down rust if there is moisture present. It is not a rust preventative; that is it contains no chemical or other properties which prevent the oxygen in water from combining with the iron in the steel to form iron oxide, aka rust. It will only work by covering the bare steel to prevent any additional moisture from reaching it; if there's any left that is covered by the Bore Butter when it's applied, the Bore Butter will not stop that water from causing rust. So, be very, very sure the bore is dry before applying the Bore Butter for long term storage.

The best product I've used for long term storage is a mineral oil based cleaner, lube and rust preventative. The brand is Ballistol, but there are many similar products. It not only covers and protects the surface, it helps to absorb and remove any water that's present. I've had Birchwood Casey's Barricade recommended to me and this year I'm going to use that instead.

Gun oil is fine, remove before firing as mentioned above. The problem with gun oil is that if any is present and involved in a black powder ignition/deflagration, it will not burn completely - the black powder combustion event is not hot enough to completely consume the oil. The unburned portions of the oil combine with the burned portions, and with the black powder combustion byproducts (mostly salts) to form a tar-like substance that's hard to remove. So, use gun oil, but be sure to clean it ALL out before the next use of the gun.
 
An alcohol patch a few minutes before firing, and firing a cleaning cap just before loading are good ideas when you bring them out of storage.
 
If you do use Bore Butter it can turn brown after extended periods, and look like rust on the patch even though it isn't.

But mykeal is correct, you can't have ANY water in the bore before applying bore butter. I used to use it for storage but now I use regular gun oil, and run a couple damp patches down the bore before loading.
 
You can also use a shot of brake parts cleaner to remove all traces of oil from your bore and flash channel prior to firing. Just be sure to keep it off of the stock as it might degrade the finish.
 
I never clean my weapon with water, for very well that could dry her always it can only dampness in algun site(place) .... to guard a weapon a long period of time I refill the cannon with paper of newspaper impregnated with mineral oil like that many mas lasts time, the day that I am going to throw(shoot) I extract it to him(you,them) with the ramrod, a greeting
 
I never use anything but oil for storage, even short term. It is the best out there for storage short of cosmoline.

When you are ready to shoot again, swab the bore with 2-3 dry patches. Then fire 2-3 caps to burn out any residue oil, and you are ready to go. Never had any problem doing this in over 15 years of shooting.
 
MyKeal has it right.

Hey There:
Mykeal has it right. There is now way you would ever use enough bore butter to create a crust inside of a barrel .
He said it , make sure it is DRY.. No water.. If there is water left in there it will not matter much what you use. It will rust.. A little brown on the patches is normal and not a problem. If you take it out every few months or so there should be no harm done.

I have used bore butter for more then 20 years now and never had an issue. Store in dry place.
In fact I have used a hair dryer to heat up the metal and then rub it down with bore butter and it really gets in good then. Inside and out. My guns all look new.
 
+1 on what wildfire said, I allways clean and ad bore butter to my BP guns in the summer once clean and dry I put them out in the AZ sun for about an hour [they become too hot to handle w/o gloves or a pot holder] then rub bore butter onto the hot metal. After stored this way I always run a few caps w/o powder then a couple with 20 grains of ffffg and an empty sabot.
 
I stored away a Traditions inline BP shotgun using extra Bore Butter in the [extended] choke tube threads which were not really exposed to much air for the last several years.
I recently removed the choke tube to use in another shotgun and the Bore Butter had turned really thick and very sticky, but not quite like the resin that olive oil becomes after using it for long term storage.
I scrubbed it with a gun solvent for a few minutes and with a little extra effort it cleaned up fine.
But I never noticed that happen before with Bore Butter that was exposed to plenty of air inside of a gun bore. The choke tube metal was still well preserved but just very sticky.
Now I need to check the breech plug on that gun because I probably used Bore Butter in those threads too, and it should be replaced with a synthetic breech plug grease. :rolleyes:
 
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I agree.

Yep Bore butter works good but maybe not as good in threads as I would like it to. I use Breach plug grease for any threaded parts too.
 
If you have the Cabelas rifle made by Invest Arms ...mine had a crome lined bore , I have left it for months with just bore butter and never had a rust problem .
On my unlined barrels , I use Rem oil for long term storage and run a oil patch once every 6 months just for insurance .
I tried just bore butter on my unlined barrels and noticed a little orange on the patch after it setting 6 months ........nothing serious though .
 
I still think that I'll use the old system.
What that means is A hot water treatment, several dry patches. several wet patches lubded with 3 in 1 or its equivelent
 
I got to thinking about this thead so I checked both my Zouve & Traditions Hawken as I coated the bore of each with bore butter before I put them in the safe.
The Hawken was fine, I did clean it and put a light coat of oil in the barrel, but when I run the patch down the Zouve it came out rusty colored, give it a goos cleaning and now the inside of the barrel is coated with gun oil.
In the future this will be how I store my BP guns.
 
TomADC, was it the yellow TC bore butter?

I have been using the green TC for years till this year when I couldn't find any and bought the yellow coloured TC and found rust.

Got my hands on some green coloured real fast and no problem since.
 
I've never had rust using Bore Butter. After cleaning I usually pour a tea kettle full of boiling water down the barrel to get it super hot. Then I quickly run a few dry patches to soak up the moisture while the barrel is still too hot to touch. Next I draw air through the barrel for a few minutes using a mini-vac. The heat and the moving air draw off the moisture.

While still hot, I coat the bore with bore butter. Other than some flash rust that I see on the patches used to dry the hot barrel, I never see rust on or in the barrel. The bores stay smooth and shiny from year to year. I've got several that haven't been to the range in a few years.

Mykeal is right. Once the bore is perfectly dry, Bore Butter provides a protective barrier against moisture. I always use the yellow BB.
Bob
 
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So when it comes to how Bore Butter treats rust, the green must be mean and the yellow is just too mellow.
Click to expand...
What's the best way to get coffee out of a keyboard.
 
buy a new keyboard
or better yet ..get someone who never throws anything away to send you an old one that works .
 
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