black powder solvent

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  • Last Post 04 December 2023
beagle6 posted this 02 December 2023

Does anyone have a good, homemade black powder solvent, other than the moosemilk : equal parts Murphys Oil soap, peroxide and alcohol?

beagle 6

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OU812 posted this 02 December 2023

Windex diluted with water.

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RicinYakima posted this 02 December 2023

One quart of hot water and four drops of Dawn dishwashing soap. Rinse well with hot water and dry, without the rust issues of using other chemicals. FWIW

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alphabrass posted this 02 December 2023

A dilute solution of Ballistol and water.  Or diluted water soluble cutting oil.  Many dislike the odor of Ballistol, including me.

As in Ric's post I use hot water with a few drops of Dawn for muzzleloaders.  After it is scrubbed out I pour a kettle of boiling water through using a funnel.  A few patches to get any water out and the heat dries it very well.  Boiling water will raise some powder and patch lube residue up.  An oiled patch to coat the bore.

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Tom Acheson posted this 03 December 2023

Being a troll of BP related forums, the fun or challenge of “making you own” surfaces frequently. The question you ask yourself is….do this because of the enjoyment of making something (that works) yourself….OR…is it simply a cost situation?

 

For me there are greater challenges in the actual loading and shooting of BP cartridges, that leave no room to try to be Merlin and start a lab out in the garage. I just buy Butch’s Bore Shine for BP and concentrate on other “distractions”!  But I'm sure others look at it differently.

 

Tom

 

 

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Boschloper posted this 03 December 2023

I use boiling water and Wendex on my muzzleloaders. On the rare occasion that I use black in cartridges, I use the same to clean the guns and dish soap in boiling water to clean the cases. 

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cfp4570 posted this 03 December 2023

It is hard to beat hot soapy water followed by an oily patch. Ed's red with lanolin is a good rust inhibitor. I use it all over the shop to keep surface rust off my tooling and fixtures and out of the bores of rifles. 

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Tom Acheson posted this 03 December 2023

I should have added that the last patch, at the end of the cleaning session, AT THE RANGE, has EEZOX on it. That's a solution that displaces any moisture and provides a rust inhibitor barrier.

If you use a water based cleaning solution, you might consider using a last patch with denatured alcohol on it, as the moisture displacer.

A bore conditioner between shots used by some shooters is a mixture of water and oil. Mine is NAPA water soluble oil and water. Any residual water in the bore is displaced by the EEZOX product at the end of the day at the range.

The thing that kept me from getting into black powder was the old wive's tales saying you had to take the gun into the bathtub with you, to clean it. I eventually wised up! Interesting that the bore cleaning patches come out progressively clean until the last one, which is white! With my smokless loads I NEVER get a clean white patch, there is always a grayish tint to the last patch.

Tom

 

 

 

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Rich/WIS posted this 03 December 2023

The Moose Milk I am familiar with is a mix of water soluble cutting oil (NAPA) and water used as a patch lube for long shooting sessions at the range. Never heard of the OP's formula before. On my ML's use hot water and Ivory soap, dry and oil.  Haven't had any rust issues using this method.

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Aaron posted this 03 December 2023

Water:Ballistol 10:1 or simply plain water and perhaps some dish-soap as mentioned above. WATER is a NATURAL SOLVENT for the BP residue. Ballistol mixes with water (is water soluble) and leaves a thin coating after drying.

A chemistry professor at Campbell University showed me the resultant composition of Ammonia (Windex) and BP residue. He asked me what in the world would one use such a caustic solution on. There are those among us however, who insist on using Windex. To each his own.

I used to use Moose milk at rendezvous but it never kept well over time. I was always hesitant of the alcohol in the mix ruining my stock finish. It works well but have since moved on to water/Ballistol mix. No harm to the stock and leaves a Ballistol film on metal parts.

 

 

 

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Tom Acheson posted this 03 December 2023

Aaron,

What is the ratio of water to Ballistol?

I might switch to that after my Butch's runs out. I have two containers of Ballistol. But I'm cautious about residual water moisture, so I would still run a last patch of EEZOX at the end of the cleaning effort.

Thanks!

Tom

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Tom Acheson posted this 03 December 2023

Ooops....I missed the 10:1 @ the very start of your post, sorry!

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delmarskid posted this 04 December 2023

I use Balistol and water for the muzzleloaders and spit wet flannel patches on the breach loader followed by GI clp.

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tomme boy posted this 04 December 2023

NEVER use boiling water. You are asking for flash rusting. Use a WARM water. It does not need to be that hot to work. If you really want it clean then get a steam cleaner. Then wipe out with alcohol. 

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Aaron posted this 04 December 2023

Aaron,

What is the ratio of water to Ballistol?

I might switch to that after my Butch's runs out. I have two containers of Ballistol. But I'm cautious about residual water moisture, so I would still run a last patch of EEZOX at the end of the cleaning effort.

Thanks!

Tom

Tom, the reason I use the Ballistol/Water mixture is that the Ballistol leaves a very light film of Ballistol on the parts cleaned. There is no need to use another synthetic or natural oil on the parts.

When I clean my C&B revolvers, I disassemble the gun and everything goes into a hot soapy bucket with water and Mrs. Meyer's Lemon Verbena dish soap. After scrubbing, I move everything into the Water/Ballistol bath. I then remove the parts from the water/Ballistol rinse bucket and blow them "dry" with a shop compressor or towel "dry" them. They are not really dry however since they have a light film of Ballistol on them.

At the range, I use a spray bottle with 10:1 solution in it with a rag to wipe guns down or swab bores. I can shoot all day that way. When the revolvers get stiff, a spritz and a wipe will get them back into action. A bore swab appropriately wet with the mixture will keep the bore cleaned out for an all day session. When I get home, I of course clean the guns completely. I do a complete stip-down because I know what is still in the action.

My flintlock and caplock rifles also get the cleaning with the 10:1 mixture. I first stopper up the barrel, fill the barrel half-full of the solution and then rotate the barrel 180 degrees from vertical about 20 times to loosen up the residue. On the 1861, I attach a hose to the nipple and draw hot soapy water through it with a cleaning rod to scrub the bore. I then follow up with 10:1 patches, then a final patch of pure Ballistol.

I always come back for another illuminated bore view a few days later to ensure no rust has started. It never has, but I check anyway.

I am sure you will determine what method and mixtures/solvents/oils work best for you. Just clean the durn things. I can't tell you how many fine BP firearms I have seen rusted SHUT because of abuse and lack of proper cleaning. Customers would bring them into the shop to see if they could be "saved" after years of humid storage in a trunk or garage without being cleaned after a shooting session. It was awful! I had one guy show up with a Pietta Colt's Army 44 that had become a 32 due to rust. He couldn't understand why he could no longer load it and wanted to return it after 2 years of neglect. I offered to put the gun out of its misery. sealed

Oh....EEZOX is a "stand-alone" product. According to the Mfg., use it and nothing else. Apparently it does some molecular bonding with the metal. I have some that was shipped with a T/C barrel I ordered from Bullberry, but being a Hope's #9 guy, I am hesitant to buy into the "Wonder Product" line of use. It smells good but the wife likes Hope's better.

 

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Tom Acheson posted this 04 December 2023

Aaron,

 

Thanks for the overview.

 

My BP experience is limited to a Sharps Model 74 (Quigley Down Under movie), cartridge/fixed ammo. Never messed with ML’s, etc.

 

I’m into my third EEZOX container, they are small, but not much is used each range trip.

 

I do two things at the end of a range session BEFORE leaving….

Deprime all cases and put in a jug of water, vinegar and Dawn soap for the ride home.

Clean the gun with the Butch’s Bore Shine BP solvent, followed by the last patch of EEZOX.

 

The biggest lesson for all of us is to be dedicated and committed to thoroughly cleaning everything while at the range, don’t put it off. Sometimes, when we arrive back at home, we forget to do the cleaning. How you clean and what you use is up to you but do it before leaving the range.

 

Tom

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Lucky1 posted this 04 December 2023

A case of neglect that's hard to top. There used to be a yearly rendezvous type shoot at a local state park. One year a shooter that stored his Ruger OA in a trumpet case opened it up and went, 'uh oh!' Of course we were curious and had to look. Turned out he put it in the case after the shoot a year ago and forgot to clean it. He could have buried it in the backstop and dug it up a year later and not been much worse off.

Scott Ingle

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MP1886 posted this 04 December 2023

Let me say something about cleaning your BP firearm. First I know it's not traditional to shoot your BP firearms with substitue BP powders. I use Triple Seven from Hodgdon's.  I like it because it's more powerful and is really clean. It's not the same formula as Pyrodex.  Note on 777, if you do use it reduce the charge because as I mentioned it's more powerful and Hodgdon will tell you that.  Okay I have a new Pietta 1860 Colt.  After shooting it with 777 I sprayed it soaking wet with WD40, oooooo band word there, everywhere, inside the cylinder, inside the barrel bore, down in the working mechanism inside the frame.  Then I let it set in my reloading shop which is fairly humid. I watched it every day, particularly the cyinder and bore. After about a couple weeks I notices nothing. It's now goine into the months and nothing has changed. Would I do this with BP....NO!......would I do this with Pyrodex......NO!   Would I advise any of your to do it?......NO!   No this is my expriment as I wanted to see what would happen.  I've been using WD40, bad word again, since the 70's and can't really fine anything bad about it. I know this circulates around the internet every now and then. 

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RicinYakima posted this 04 December 2023

"WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California.[1] Its formula was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company in 1953, before it became the WD-40 Company. WD-40 became available as a commercial product in 1961.[2] It acts as a lubricant, rust preventive, penetrant and moisture displacer. There are specialized products that perform better than WD-40 in each of these uses, but WD-40's flexibility has given it fame as a jack of all trades.[3] WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula.

It is a successful product to this day, with steady growth in net income from $27 million in 2008 to $70.2 million in 2021.[4] In 2014, it was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[5]"

You have to know what the uses are for any product. Works for non polar material, but poorly for water based polar materials. The issues

since the 1970's is the wax build up in revolver actions. 

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Tom Acheson posted this 04 December 2023

WD 40....my only experience with it and guns was with my 6 BR prarie dog rifle. Jacketed bullets, fast smokeless powder loads. Someone suggested that we treat the bore with WD40 after cleaning....bad idea! Took a long time to get the rifles back to shooting the way they should, "shooting out" the influence of that poorly chosen solution.

Another shooter I know had a similar experience with a BF falling block handgun silhouette pistol. The cartridge was a 7 US, a necked down 30-30 case, using jacketed bullets. It was several matches before the "poison" was fired out of the bore.

Tom

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MP1886 posted this 04 December 2023

Tom I never clean the bore of my rifles with it. That is a whole other ball game. Let me explain. I have a friend that is a scientist.  He discovered that after cleaning his bore with Shooters Choice then followed by Kroil oil that if you didn't wipe it completely dry getting rid of both the solvent and oil that it messed up his bore where it fouled extremely bad that he had to clean it out with a very fine bore abrasive.  In other words if you blend those two and clean your bore leaving it slightly wet, it will do as I have posted.  Everyone told him he was full of BS and when he challenged them to letting him cleaning their rifle bores with the mixture nobody would take him up on it.   Theres a lot going on in a bore under extreme pressure and temperature along with extreme friction. Who knows what changes. The gunwriter Terry Wieland would just about shoot you if you showed up with a can of WD40 at his residence.  He wrote about saying many bad things. One was that it left some kind of hard coating on the metal.  All I can say is that I've never found that.  

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