Does Bore Butter Rust?

[Lt. B]

Well lemesee....When we talk about heat and metal of any kind we seem to talk of "breakin" or "seasoning". Hell..we could even use these terms when talking about a woman but Im wandering now.
Stainless steel cooking pans without a doubt require sesoning. Ask any professional cook. An aluminum softball bat requires seasoning. Not with Bore butter but Google Rolling a bat and you will be fasinated....I was. Then we can think about harmonics of a barrel. I think I can embrace "seasoning" a barrel with Bore Butter, Even if TC does make it. Im kind of funny about using Johnsons own blend of 2 stroke motor oil in my 97 150 Oceanrunners. Eleven years old and theyve always brought me home. Is it the oil or something else? I dunno but what Im doing works so Ill keep doing it. Kind of like the way you load your rifle. You get a routine down that gives you the groups you want and you keep on doing it. Hmmmm....women.... anybody wanna talk about women?

 

[madcratebuilder]

The steel used in modern firearms well not be seasoned or permeated by Bore Butter. It's snake oil. Bore butter is a great bullet lube, and keeps the fouling soft so it's much easier to clean, but permeate the steel at the molecular level....Bah ha ha ha ha.
That's just to funny.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

For the Divine Creator's sake, Steel is made with Iron, no? Metals all have porosities, yes? Do the math try it if you need proof or jus' keep scrubbin' yer barrels with Hot soapy water of solvent of your choice.
Perhaps this is jus' sumthin' some don't know...well I jus' told ya...
If that ain't good enough buy a book or surf the net cause I could care whether you "Believe It Or Not".
I already know :O)

SG

 

[English Bob]

I've been using 'Bore Butter' for a good while without getting any rust in the barrel of my BPCRs. Maybe I've just been dead lucky and got all the hot rinse water out before adding it. I never actually realised that it could hold the water in..I'll be taking even more care from now on to get it out before putting the yellow stuff in.

I also tend to apply it while the barrel is still warm, maybe that's a helping factor to get it properly covering to stop rust. I have to admit though that I wouldn't consider using it for any long term storage.

As for 'seasoning' the barrel, well I know that's what the old timers reckoned they were doing with sperm oil and the like. I never really thought that much about it until reading this thread. I do find that with the bore butter I no longer bother with a 'fouling shot' as the first shot is usually well withing the group after the string of thirteen as per MLAIC type rules.

 

[fedaircop]

Interesting thread glad you asked Elbert. I have been using crisco mostly, I shoot fairly often and clean my Walker very thouroghly after every trip to the range. ( I do Love shooting that thing) My cleaning always involves baking it in the oven on low heat and then applying copious amonts of crisco to the hot metal. I have experienced no problems with rusting but the crisco sometimes does get gummy and causes difficulty in rotating the cylinder. I raised this problem on the walker thread and was advised to try bore butter instead which I did and had a satisfactory result. I think now though I'll give the Ballistrol a try. should I apply it to the metal hot as I did the crisco or just room temp?

 

[the-ghost]

you can just clean the weapon as you normally would then coat it with ballistol. you can also coat the weapon prior to cleaning, let it sit a bit and it will loose up the fouling and it makes it a breeze to clean. no heat needed...

 

[fedaircop]

Thanks Ghost I'll get some Ballistrol before my next trip to the range

 

[Elbert P . Suggins]

Well, I saw the question about BB on another BP site, so thought I would ask it on this one. Got me concerned because I put mine away with the bores and cylinders swabbed with BB after I get them dry with a hair dryer and I just haven't seen any corrosion or rust of any kind. I can see how it would seal in moisture but I have always tried to apply it after things were dry. I have to admit I do have one BP CB that I have used as an experiment on corrosion and haven't visually seen any sign of it yet. That being a Uberti 5 and 1\2 58 Remmie which I shoot all the time and clean once a month. I take the pin out once in a while and wipe clean and swab with BB and shoot some more. It always fires, and I mean always. Not as accurate as 2 Pietta 7 1\2 Remmies that I use for CAS but better balanced and just fun to sit and fondle while watching a classic on the Western Channel. I know it is firearm abuse and I should be prosecuted but maybe because I live in Idaho and humidity is not like the South or Coastal areas I can get away with it. And I always bring it in the house and never leave overnite in a rig. I only use Goex BP which should be the most corrosive but just haven't seen it. Remember, I am not lazy, this is only a test. But it has relieved my anxiety of cleaning within a few hours after usage. God, I just love these things. Like I said once before on a post. There is nothing like standing out on your deck at 5 in the morning just as the sun is poking thru and settin six of them holes off and the smell of that smoke as it hangs on a windless morning with an inversion in full bloom. And I know what inversions are because I am a crop duster and have been since 1983. Now I am just rambling, sorry.

 

[fedaircop]

Elbert, I now use the BB on my Walker it's the only BP I have a soon to be remedied problem, I hope. Like i said I always bake mine before applying the BB or Crisco so that should take care of any moisture. I live in San Antonio which is pretty humid and so far no sign of rust at all. As far as inversions and cropdusting I was an Ag Pilot for 7 years before moving to Alaska to fly,did my dusting mostly in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas and the souteast. I quit dustin' in '77 yep I am a bit of an old timer, LOL so I I hope the folks here will take that into consideration before condeming MY rambling.

 

[Shultzhaus]

Just ordered some Ballistol from Brownells. Be advised, you will be charged a hazmat fee for shipping. Still seems worth it from reading all these posts on the product.

 

[JamesDee]

I saw this video on some rifle slings on youtube that had to remove rust. They have an organic rust remover you can use it on guns. I never tried it, but it looks like it can help.

 

[moooose102]

i am using it to store my barrel with, twice for just over 5 months at a crack. both times when i cleaned the b.b. out of the barrel prior to shooting, there was no evidence of rust either time. so i guess it works, at least for me. i have tried using it to lube the sabots i am using also. it does make them start easier, but by the time the sabot is 1/3rd the way down the barrel, it has all been wiped off the sabot. some day, i will rough up the outside of some sabots so they will hold the b.b. and i will do a chrono test to see if there is any difference. but it WILL be in warmer weather than this! it has been 14-18 degrees all day( i hunted out in it), and i am already tired of it.

 

[scrat]

over kill it


Yep i over kill it. i used to use bore butter to lube everything but then i got a rust spot. as what was mentioned. if the gun is warm and dry all the way then its ok. but if it is at all wet or moisutre wet then thats where you will get the rust spot. so now i just stick to the basics and use gun oil. and i oil the heck out of everything when i know they are not going to be used. then when i want to use them i take out some alcohal and some patches run a couple down the barrel and then shoot of some caps. then im good to go. ya as far as alcohal. JACK DANIELS. Yep has never let me down.

 

[Macmac]

I would like to take on the 'Seasoning'.

I have used cast iron cooking pans like Lodge brand, long enough that cooking with oils and fats have gone right thru the porous cast iron.

The bottoms of these pans are sort of greasey to feel, and the cooking surfaces shine. These pans may be wiped clean with a paper towel and might be washed in plain hot water with NO Soap, and most certainly no detergents!

Water won't touch the iron on a well seasoned pan, and water simply beads up just like it does on a freshly waxed car...

Older real antique guns were made if a different metal, and most of the time out of what ever a barrel maker had on hand, and I mean when a smith hammer formed and welded a strip of metal part iron and part steel around a mandrel.

I can't say for sure, but I bet some of these barrels were sort of porous. So bear grease and oils like it may have soaked deeply into the metals.

Todays modern steels are not much like then, and most certainly are not like cast iron pans, but still I believe because there are open pours some oils like bore butter may penatrate maybe to a depth of 0.010" maybe.. I can't prove that.

But anyway, I think you can build a 'Seasoning' in the grooves and on the lands that is smoother than bare steel, and fill open pours, if you use a product like bore butter, bear grease, racoon fat, beaver fat and the like.

Once there IS this 'Seasoning' / Patena plain hot water shouldn't remove all of it. When I clean my BP guns I use hotter water than my skin can stand, and in the hopes the heat will drive off excess moisture.

After cleaning I add natural oils of what ever I have on hand, making sure there is no salt added! In a days time I check the guns for signs of water by wiping them down inside and out again. And once more in a week.

After that, use them or not, they get attention once each month.

So far I have never heard of not using water, and that idea scares me.. But perhaps it is possible to dry mop and brush a gun totally clean, and I would like to know more on that idea.

 

[frontiergander]

Only lube that sees my barrels is bore butter thats on a prelubed patch. then for storage its Rem oil with teflon.

 

[moonax]

Another vote for Ballistol . I have been using it for years and I never looked back.Good stuff.

 

[the-ghost]

right, water won't touch a well seasoned iron skillet. when you clean that skillet you just wipe it out. as most of use know cast iron is rather porous and thus soaks up grease etc. heat kills the bacteria rather than soap. you don't clean them with a copper or brass bore brush either. it also takes a long time to get a well seasoned skillet.

steel while it may hold a very small amount of grease or bore butter will never season like cast iron. it will never hold enough grease to truly season the barrel. every time you run a bore brush down the barrel you will scratch up whatever grease you have in barrel anyway. maybe some folks don't use bore brushes to clean up their barrels, i don't know. i never use water to clean mine.

 

[[email protected]]

I use windshield washer (The blue Stuff) to clean, and WD-40 to oil. No
problems in 45 years of doing this way. I always clean at the range.

 

[Macmac]

Oddly perhaps I don't use a bore brush on long BP guns. I use a worm wrapped in jute twine, plain hot water, and save the jute to dry. Then it gets used again, and when it can't be used anymore I dry it and add it to my tinder box..

The barrels are hard to pull on my long guns, so I don't other than once a year.

The first step to my cleanings is to stick a feather in the vent, after the rod and lock is pulled. Then with a tea pot I pack, I fill the bore to with in 1/2 " with water that was just boiling. I use a wine bottle real cork made to fit which ever gun and it is in that guns bag, and stopper the bore.

I wait for the barrel to get hot, and find a tree limb to hang the gun by the trigger guard. When the barrel is hot I hold a rag to the feather and remove it.

A drop of water comes out on my rag, and then I pull the cork and black water comes out.

Then a dry mop on the worm of jute goes in and I repeat that till the bore is clean and dry.. I can tell when it is clean with a white cotton patch, and the patch is dry...

The only time I use any Rum is for a stuck object with a fouled bore.

Try any kind of alcohol on a power dirty surface and feel that snot like feel.... ewwwww but man is that ever slippery...

 

[K.A.T.]

It turns brown over time.

What I've found is if the gun is stored over a period of time say 3 or 4 months the Bore Butter actually turns a lite brown color. I found this in my Hawkens barell and thought it was rust. I also use it in my revolvers and this is where I discovered that it changes color over time. I found no rust just the brown Bore Butter, so maybe that is what people are seeing on the patches they run down the bore and think that the barrell is rusting.

 

[Elbert P . Suggins]

And now the question is, which turns brown, the yellow or the green bore butter? Or both? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[K.A.T.]

Turns brown.

The yellow turns brown, I don't know about the green I've never used it.

 

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

Thank you Mr. MyKeal. If I had told them that about the 'seasoning' they would have called me a damn liar! A little gun oil or a little 3in1 machine oil will work just fine. Cabela's Muzzleloading Lube will work good to....

 

[WadePatton]

While I collect and cook daily with 100-year-old iron (and have re-conditioned such with electrolytic and alkali methods), I won't touch the "seasoning" debate because that would incite total thread hijack.

What I want to dump in here is for us home-brew type folks and is Ed Harris' roll-yer-own bore cleaner. Haven't made any yet, but surely will. Yes, it's not "period correct" for reenactment, but I'm not into that aspect.
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=9

 

[rogn]

rust prvention

Aways up this thread someone talked abt outboards-well a good 2cycle marine oil has a good dose of rust preventatives and is easy to obtain. This stuff DOES penetrate pores in steel or iron. Doesnt turn to goo like wd40. A pint will last forever.