Mineral Oil

????

Can mineral oil be used as a solvent for black powder fowling?
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I suppose you can but depends on degree of fowling. If it's light, I use Mineral Sprits. If it's heavy, I use Ballistol and finish with mineral spirits. Then some folks, just use soapy water. :confused:

Be Safe !!!!
 
You are right Bill, sorry was not paying any attention. Proof before you post.

I think Ballistol has mineral oil as a base is why I ask.
 
Ballistol is an emulsifiable oil and can be added to water to clean after corrosive priming or black powder. Then used straight for lube and rust protection.
 
Some things are oil soluble and some things are water soluble. I'm no chemist,but I have heard the corrosive component of fouling described as a salt.
Whether it is or not,it illustrates the point. I don't think table salt is dissolved by mineral oil. Its dissolved by water.

Water will dissolve the corrosive component of fouling but then the steel needs the protection of oil.
 
Gotta go with Hawg. Piping hot soapy water. Went to Sam's Club and bought their store brand soap/degreaser, and it works so well without leaving the film some dishsoaps do. Its the purple liquid. I drop the touch hole insert in a cup of it, get some tweezers and pick it out of that, dump the goo down the drain. The touch hole insert dries in the air, and then a rub with some RemOil, and threaded back into the flintlock. Unmatched results.

Saltpeter is a main ingredient in black powder, and if you ever accidentally get fouling from your fingers onto your lips (don't ask how, must have had an itch that couldn't wait) your body's salt levels will spike, I am sure of it.

No amount of spitting or guzzling water will hasten the loss of that taste. Yikes.

Hot soapy water, black powder residue goes bye bye.
 
Witch's Milk

Parts (added to 8 water):
1 PineSol
1 Murphy's Oil Soap
1 Ballistol (or WSO/NAPA Cutting Oil)
⅓ Simple Green (4 character)




But yeah... if I have a close source to heat water/coupla drops of dish soap, pour
it down the barrel -- slop up&down&out the flash channel -- dry patch it/oil it/done w/ it.
 
Why mix a bunch of stuff together to clean with and water is a main ingredient when soapy water works by itself?
 
I think Hawg is right on the water/soap. I have used boiling water and some Ivory soap flakes for a long time. Works well but the barrel needs to be dried with a few patches and oiled before it cools. I recently purchased a Ithaca Hawken that had been oiled but not really cleaned. There was a fair amount of fowling in the barrel but it was oil soaked. I was thinking of pouring it full of mineral oil as a solvent over night then give it a proper cleaning. Finally just got some boiling water and Ivory soap flakes in a metal can and spent a couple of hours with a bronze brush, some bronze wool wrapped around the brush, and patch for a "piston". After a lot of work patches came out the way they should, the barrel was very bright, clean sharp rifling.
 
Re Witch's* Milk:
Why mix a bunch of stuff together to clean with and water
is a main ingredient when soapy water works by itself?
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Because its green color looks cool ...and causes a lot of gun-line comment when explained.
;) :p












* (which is of course a take-off from Moose Milk)
 
Water works, in more ways than one.

Why mix a bunch of stuff together to clean with and water
is a main ingredient when soapy water works by itself?
Click to expand...
This question comes up all the time and yes, water and soap will clean the BP fowling. However, there is more than one way to skin this cat and years ago during my Buckskinned days I read a book by a well known BP barrel maker whose name escapes me at this moment. He stated; "I drink water and never allow allow it to tough my barrels." at that time as many of you have found out, I had problems with the use of water. ...... :mad:

Problem #1
When the three components of of BP explode the byproduct is "SALTS". Before you get back home, these salts, start to eat your barrel. Time is not on your side. Then you go through your routine of mixing, heating and leaving your spouse to clean up after you. ...... :mad:

Problem #2
Fowling is gone but now you have water, moisture that invites rust. So now, you have to fight the possibility of rust and likely to reveal itself in short time. :mad:

I know that most of you have been there, if you have been at this, for some time. I have not used any waters since the early 90's but do drink it .... ;)

What I now do;
Right after my last shot at the range. I spray a 50/50 mixture of Ballistol and Mineral Spirits. Brush the bore and nipple/lock area. When I get home, I may let it sit for a day or two. .... Optional

The 50/50 mixture takes care of the fowling and the mineral spirits evaporates and moisture. I still revisit the M/L in question in about 30-days. ..... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
I grew up working in my dads machine shop. We mostly machined cast iron parts. Freshly machined cast iron will rust right before your eyes just about. For coolant we used Water Soluble Oil. You mix it with water at a 12/1 ratio. So mostly its water but when the water dries it leaves behind a slightly oily coating. Parts don't rust.

I started shooting BP around 30 years ago. I bought a gallon of Wynn's Water Soluble Oil and still have over half a gallon left and i made batches for my BP buds. A gallon will last a lifetime. I mix mine a little richer like 16/1. I use it as soon as I am through shooting to wipe out the bore. It is also a darn good patch lube if you are shooting shot after shot. I put about 10 patches at a time in a plastic cup and drizzle some over the patches then squeeze out the extra. You can shoot all day doing this because it wipes the bore for you when you load the gun.

I have used thia as a total cleaning system and my gun barrels never get rust in them. I haven't shot most of my BP rifles in years but I check them from time to time and never find rust. I did just get some Ballistol and will try that next time I go shoot. I bought two cans off Amazon but haven't mixed it with water yet. It sure works good in my RC model airplane engines to keep them from gumming up from the Castor Oil in the fuel.
 
While modern solutions may be more convenient, soapy water is likely what our ancestors used and it works. Works pretty well too. I use hot soapy water, dry while still warm, and oil with a natural oil. I’m on the coconut oil kick right now. I’ve used it with great success on knives, and it does a decent job at protecting against corrosion.

I actually want to get some flax and start cleaning really old school.
 
Soap and water has been working for years . . . . I don't think the General Store was stocking Balistol and fancy solvents all the years he was shooting his 45 caliber Plains Rifle that he bought off an early Michigan Territory settler in 1880. He cast his balls with a "bag mold" - OMG! - he didn't weigh them - and used mutton tallow he rendered from the sheep he raised to lube his patches he cut from worn out shirts. My brother has the rifle and mold now to pass on to his kids since my wife and I never had kids. I remember him telling about a shot he took with that rifle when he killed a neighbor's dog who got to his sheep and killed a lamb - an offhand shot - nailed the dog through the heart and afterwards paced the distance off - 134 yards. :-)
 
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