TRH, I know other guys who use pure Ballistol for their BP guns, it's just a po-TAY-to po-TAH-to thing I guess.
When you shoot BP guns in cowboy competition, you end up cleaning your guns a lot. I tried various methods and finally settled on the method that Mike Venturino recommends: Windex with Vinegar (they sell it like that, but you have to look for it and I've found it's just as easy to add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to a bottle of regular Windex), scrub all available parts with nylon brush, brush the bores, then rinse it all with HOT water and let dry. I then lube everything up with Ballistol (and my beeswax/Crisco lube on the base pins) and put them away.
TRH, I know other guys who use pure Ballistol for their BP guns, it's just a po-TAY-to po-TAH-to thing I guess.
When you shoot BP guns in cowboy competition, you end up cleaning your guns a lot. I tried various methods and finally settled on the method that Mike Venturino recommends: Windex with Vinegar (they sell it like that, but you have to look for it and I've found it's just as easy to add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to a bottle of regular Windex), scrub all available parts with nylon brush, brush the bores, then rinse it all with HOT water and let dry. I then lube everything up with Ballistol (and my beeswax/Crisco lube on the base pins) and put them away.
Thanks Doc! Read that years ago & had forgotten about it. I’ll have to give that a try. I’ve always just used really hot water with a few drops of Dawn in it. And than treated the barrel of my muzzle loader with T/C’s Bore Butter.
The custom flintlock chunk gun I use at "Over the Log" shoots like the annual Alvin York Memorial Shoot in Pall Mall Tennessee cost just a bit over $2,000.00. It's never seen the first grain of synthetic powder- - - - - - -3-F in the bore, and 4-F in the flash pan. It gets wiped down with Ballistol after a match, but once I get home it gets flushed with boiling water, scrubbed dry, and and re-lubed with Ballistol.
Ballistol was developed by the German army back in the BP cartridge days, and it's got well over 100 years of successful use on wood, leather, and metal. It can even be used as a field-expedient first aid treatment for minor cuts and scrapes. Once you get past the rotten meat smell, it's pretty good stuff. Jerry
The custom flintlock chunk gun I use at "Over the Log" shoots like the annual Alvin York Memorial Shoot in Pall Mall Tennessee cost just a bit over $2,000.00. It's never seen the first grain of synthetic powder- - - - - - -3-F in the bore, and 4-F in the flash pan. It gets wiped down with Ballistol after a match, but once I get home it gets flushed with boiling water, scrubbed dry, and and re-lubed with Ballistol.
Ballistol was developed by the German army back in the BP cartridge days, and it's got well over 100 years of successful use on wood, leather, and metal. It can even be used as a field-expedient first aid treatment for minor cuts and scrapes. Once you get past the rotten meat smell, it's pretty good stuff. Jerry
In almost 45 years of shooting black powder guns, I have never used anything but Windex followed up with oil or lube in all the right places. Never had a problem.
In almost 45 years of shooting black powder guns, I have never used anything but Windex followed up with oil or lube in all the right places. Never had a problem.
Windex or water work about the same. But I had no idea you could just use Ballistol without first a Windex or water cleaning. If true, Hickok's video is a real revelation, and goes against everything I've ever heard about black powder cleanup.
Will Ballistol left in the chamber not contaminate BP or a BP substitute or caps and cause a misfire, or do you need to fire a fouling round or two before hunting?
Does a bore with B shoot to the same point as if it had been fire a few times?
Butches black powder bore shine. 5 patch cleaning routine during season Discharge shot daily at end of hunt if i dont kill something. Complete cleaning with petro solvents at end of year. Punch barrel , fire a fouler. Do 5 patch clean with butches. Ready for another year.
Biggest thing is cleaning a ml With whatever works for you.
People blow the schitt off and wonder why their ml looks a dry sewer pipe when they go to use 11 months later.
Cva scoped packaged wolf ml,s types. People probably buy a new one every 3 or 4 years. Ml,s dont last that long in bubba,s care. Too much hassle for em. Basically why some have been pushing for straight wall metallic during ml here in tn
The custom flintlock chunk gun I use at "Over the Log" shoots like the annual Alvin York Memorial Shoot in Pall Mall Tennessee cost just a bit over $2,000.00. It's never seen the first grain of synthetic powder- - - - - - -3-F in the bore, and 4-F in the flash pan. It gets wiped down with Ballistol after a match, but once I get home it gets flushed with boiling water, scrubbed dry, and and re-lubed with Ballistol.
Ballistol was developed by the German army back in the BP cartridge days, and it's got well over 100 years of successful use on wood, leather, and metal. It can even be used as a field-expedient first aid treatment for minor cuts and scrapes. Once you get past the rotten meat smell, it's pretty good stuff. Jerry
I got introduced to it about 15 years ago by my mentor who got me involved in chunk gun shooting. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago on Veterans' Day, at the ripe old age of 80, from pancreatic cancer. He was a retired Navy intelligence officer who spent most of his Navy career monitoring the movements of the Russian nuclear submarine fleet and planning how to counter them. Rich also made some of the best moonshine whiskey ever produced, using the recipie he learned from his grandfather in the northeast Georgia mountains in the late 1940's. RIP, Rich Pouncey- - - -you will be missed! Jerry
One advantage of Ballistol compared to petroleum-based cleaner/lubes like CLP is the fact that it does not react with BP residues to form the hard, crusty deposits that are very hard to remove once they form in the chamber area of a muzzle loader. I carry the small sealed pouches that contain a Ballistol-soaked towelette for a quick wipe-down after a shoot, or anytime I want to clean up the frizzen or flash pan during a match. Once the deposits are loosened, a followup wipe with a patch soaked in 90% rubbing alcohol removes any remaining residue and dries the frizzen for a good shower of sparks from the flint. Jerry