Ballistol video - any truth in it?

I use Ballistol all the time. It's a good product. No problems with stainless steel or blued finishes. No problem with finishes on wood stocks or rubber grips. Especially good on black powder, as both a cleaner and a patch lube. It does leave a slippery oil film. I usually leave a heavy coating on all surfaces during storage and wipe dry prior to use.
Always have a couple of cans on hand.


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The guy that did that video is an idiot. Hoppe's won't remove nickel plating. :rolleyes:
The gun he shows doesn't have "gold leaf" on it. Gold leaf is commonly used for lettering-like on fire trucks or fancy office doors. And the only thing that will dissolve gold is a very powerful acid concoction called "aqua regia." His gun either has gold plating (probably) or gold inlay.
His Colt revolver doesn't have a copper undercoat under the nickel plating. I know of no gun factory that underplates nickel with copper-that is done in car bumper-chroming shops.
He is a foul-mouthed, opinionated azzhat who lets his mouth overload his backside.
And I do have a vault!And, quite possibly, an arsenal.
 
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Hoppes indirectly removes nickel plating by creeping beneath any break, nick, flake of nickel and dissolving copper coating beneath the nickel plate. Nickel plating then has nothing to adhere to (does not plate directly on steel) and it is seemingly dissolved by Hoppes.
 
I don't think anyone has laid an undercoat of copper on firearms in the US since before World War II.

Nickel plated guns are now almost always electroless nickel plated, and as far as I know that coating will not come off from action by Hoppes.
 
Anyone who posts "informational" videos and can't keep from dropping the F-bomb, losses me at it's first utterance.

This guy is a good example of someone who fancies himself an expert, while being clueless enough to believe it.

I don't even care if they know what they're talking about (this guy clearly doesn't), there are plenty of knowledgeable folks who don't talk like uneducated street punks. I'll listen to them if I need information.
 
You commented about Hoppe's This you tube man Mike from New york is instead talking about Ballistol and how it harms certain metals.
 
Chris-
I'll lay it out for you-
Tuzo responded in a post. I wasn't referring to the video there.
In his video, "Mike" did say that Hoppe's would remove nickel plating. Tuzo parroted that myth.
Understand now?
 
Mr. DeShivs

I own three nickel plated S&W revolvers. The oldest is pre-1950 and youngest is circa 1972. Oldest has a bit of the nickel plating worn away revealing copper under-plating. Would you apply Hoppe's No. 9 to this surface? Of course you would but you wipe it off as soon as possible to avoid removing copper.

Hoppe's No. 9 stays in the bore for a few minutes of my nickel plated handguns but does not long remain on the plating. Why take a chance if unsure of the plating technique - copper or no copper under-plating.

True that there are numerous inaccurate internet references that Hoppe's No. 9 removes nickel.
 
I don't think anyone has laid an undercoat of copper on firearms in the US since before World War II.
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Yes they have.
I got a Colt Mk IV S70 cheaply because some nitwit had laid it on a buffer and burned through an area of nickel plating and exposed the copper strike.

Old Barnum and Bailey style advertising for Ballistol claimed it would remove tombac fouling but it does not contain ammonia or other agent to attack copper. It's oil, people.
 
Interesting.

I had always thought that Colt was the first American gun maker to go to electroless nickel, and had done so right before World War II.
 
I laughed so hard at this video. If I didn't hear him cussing and raging one minute, I'd hear his breathing right next to the microphone. How does someone get this mad over a video? Geez.
 
Is ballistol harmful to guns?
Would it ruin stainless steel revolvers? Would it ruin polymer guns?
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Ballistol will not harm guns, not stainless steel guns or polymer guns and not revolvers.

I wouldn't apply it directly to wooden grips/stocks, but other than that I wouldn't have any problem soaking any of my guns (including the ones that are nickel-plated) in Ballistol.

1. The fact that Ballistol claims to dissolve "traces of copper, lead, zinc and tombac" does NOT mean it dissolves "all soft metals", as the video maker claims. It certainly does not mean it dissolves gold.

2. The fact that Ballistol claims to dissolve TRACES of some types of metals does NOT mean it's going to consume those metals wholesale if it makes incidental contact with them.

3. As mentioned, the video maker's assumption that all nickel plating is plated on top of a strike coat of copper is incorrect. It is possible that some nickel-plated guns have a copper strike coat, but it's the exception rather than the rule these days.

4. Merriam Webster gives one meaning of "vault" as "a room or compartment for the safekeeping of valuables". It is quite a stretch to say that a safe isn't a compartment for the safekeeping of valuables.

The video is a 7:09 waste of time for anyone who watches it, unless they can get some entertainment value from it. It's certainly not useful as an informative source.
 
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