Muzzle Loader rust issues

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YoungGun96

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Super GunNutz
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Saskatchewan
I have a Dale Friesen 54 caliber cap and ball rifle that I absolutely love hunting with and shooting. The problem I am having is that after I clean it and put it away in the safe, two weeks later I'm patching out tons of fine rust from the inside of the bore, the outside is fine tho. There is no pitting anywhere on the riffle or in the barrel and none of my other firearms rust like this. What are some options to keep this from happening?
 
I use wet patches to clean out black powder residue, then a couple patches with solvent to make sure there is no water left, then oil. No rust in my guns.
 
ryan said:
I use wet patches to clean out black powder residue, then a couple patches with solvent to make sure there is no water left, then oil. No rust in my guns.
Click to expand...

Likewise.

Hot soapy water and patches to remove the black powder fouling.

Then follow-up with solvent to remove any stuff that isn't water soluble.

Oil well and no problems.
 
Dutch schoultz`s "Black Powder Rifle Accuracy System" has a section called "waterless cleaning" Google it, and if you shot PRB then buy the system, especially if you like being extremely accurate. 3 of my rifles prefer this. Ballistol is available from canada ammo.
the fourth one, my favourite, is a beat up, pitted barrel, cracked stock Ardessa. it likes hot soapy water with a plastic brush, followed by a barrel mop. wet patches after that till they come out white, or clean, depending on the patch colour. then i dry it with patches. when it is "dry" i soak the inside down with WD40. then i clean the rest of the parts. after those are done the barrel gets the WD wiped out and treated with the oil of your choice. a week ;after they all get wiped out and re oiled, then once a month or so for peace of mind.
 
Are you using the correct oil? Many gun oils will sit on top of the moisture in the pores of the barrel. G96 or equivalent oil will displace the moisture left in the pores and prevent rust. It's worked for me for 40 years.
 
YoungGun96 said:
. The problem I am having is that after I clean it and put it away in the safe, two weeks later I'm patching out tons of fine rust from the inside of the bore, the outside is fine tho. There is no pitting anywhere on the riffle or in the barrel and none of my other firearms rust like this. What are some options to keep this from happening?
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My first question would be ; how are you cleaning your gun? If you are cleaning with a damp jag only, you may be leaving a small residue of spent powder. If you are flushing with cold water, the inside of the barrel may not be drying as completely as it should. Also possible that the oil that you lube the bore with, afterwards, is either volatile and evaporates or alternately migrates down the bore.

I clean my guns with hot water (not boiling just hot from the tap) then dry patches and I normally let the gun stand overnight in the hopes that any moisture left will evaporate. I protect the bore with Fluid Film which is a sort of spray on light grease and which does not appear to migrate down the bore of a vertical barrel. Important to spray it on your cleaning patch rather than down the barrel or you end up with a puddle in the breach

cheers mooncoon
 
Clean with windshield washer fluid in the field then WD40, boiling water at home. Always follow with WD40, then oil.
Never have after rusting.
 
The only "oil" that I ever use in my BP rifle is Ballistol. If storing for awhile, I coat the inside of the barrel with pure "Mink Oil" which is in paste form and stays in place. One clean, dry patch before loading and good to go.
 
Have you used Pyrodex if so it is corrosive and seems to keep going I wont use it any more
It caused some pitting in one of my guns I used Baking soda and water filled the barrel to nutralize the pyrodex residue it gets into any small pits and just seems to keep eating in unlike Black powder Black powder residue is not corrosive Just absorbes moisture out of the air to start rust . If you used pyro dex clean the Sh---out of it
.
 
I've never observed that with pyrodex.... Just flush out the barrel with very hot water multiple times, wire brushing occasionally, then I like to aircompessor the water out followed by a few dry patches then immediately a soaked oil patch. Leaving the bore without the soaked oil patch for too long can possibly allow flash rust. I also think the dry patches directly after cleaning g with water make a huge difference for preventing rust. Cus I forgot to do that step once with a newly acquired Brown Bess, and discovered the following week that the bore was all rusty!:runaway: I wire brushed the Sh!t out it and patched it clean with all carb cleaner, now the bore looks decent again, but the bore is slightly frosted in some areas where the rust was.
 
I find that Pyrodex cleans up easier than genuine black powder but I don't use hot soapy water either so maybe that makes a difference.
 
I clean the rifle with hot soapy water (not boiling just as hot as I can get from the tap), then solvent then many many patches till they come out dry/ clean. Then I oil a couple patches and run it up and down the barrel as well as oiling the outside. I've been using browning ultra fine gun oil. I only use black powder (Goex brand) and have never ran pyrodex in it. I will try a different oil and see if it changes anything.
 
you need something that displaces the water when you are done cleaning if you are going to use water.
WD40 -Cheap.( does what it is meant to do, Displace water. not really a rust preventer)
G96- Expensive( also works as oil).
you`ll be very fortunate to get all the water out just with dry patches. i don`t think your oil is the problem, and you don`t need to use a solvent, no matter what the salesman says. Black powder residue is very easily removed with just water.
google Dutch Schoultz. read what he has to say.
 
I use 4L of hot tap water to rinse through my inline, scrubbing the bore with the brush as I go...

Then I dry the rifle one of two ways... My wife's hairdryer, chuckle! Or over a hot air vent...

Oil afterwards & put away. No issues yet.

Cheers
Jay
 
OP you should post pics of this phenomenon. Could be something in your water, could be a lot of things but if you're cleaning it as you say this shouldn't happen. What are you using for cleaning patches? Maybe the stuff you're cutting it from has some chemical on it?

I've always used boiling water with some dish detergent (I know a lot of folks on here disagree with boiling but for me it's worked well for over 25 years). The barrel is hot and the water is gone pretty quick. I've not experience any "flash rust" I've seen others mention, some of that could be local humidity or whatever who knows. Wipe it dry then oil with regular gun oil (just whatever I have on hand - heck when I was starting out I used 10w30 often). I was showed that when I was starting out by the old guys in the club here and never changed because it's worked.

As always though your mileage is gonna vary... but somewhere in the middle is your answer. It isn't rocket science or black magic.
 
Jay said:
I use 4L of hot tap water to rinse through my inline, scrubbing the bore with the brush as I go...

Then I dry the rifle one of two ways... My wife's hairdryer, chuckle! Or over a hot air vent...

Oil afterwards & put away. No issues yet.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

Living in a wet climate, I use the same drying methods for all the metal parts. In the summer, when it is blazing hot, I lay the parts out on the deck. In 20 minutes, they are almost too hot to pick up. No rust, even in my antiques with rough bores.
 
I should have been more clear when I said wet patches. I always use a bit of soluble oil in my wiping solution [Moose milk], About 10/1 water-oil. And never have used hot water, or soap.
After the residue is gone, a few dry patches, then solvent soaked patches to displace any residual water, then oiled patches.

With this method, the barrel always has some oil in it, so rust can't get a chance to start.

If you remove all oil from steel, then rinse with hot water, flash rust can start immediately, however with cold water, it takes a bit longer. That's the idea of using "Moose milk", the barrel always has some oil in it.
 
Pyrodex does not clean up easier than Black Powder and is even more corrosive if not cleaned promptly. Black powder is the real deal. BP ignites more easily and cleans readily with hot water. Pyrodex was invented to get around the dangerous goods classification of black powder. There is nothing that it does better than Black.
 
I use dish detergent and boiling water when I start.
Take out the nipple and place the barrel in a vertical position in my work mate and the breach in a bucket of water just enough that when the boiling water is added it covers the nipple hole. Pour the dish detergent down first then the boiling water.
Run a rod with a patch to the bottom of the barrel let it soak up the water and siphon the water in and out until it comes out clean.
Raise it out of the water and apply clean patches until they come out clean.
Pour more boiling water down the barrel and it will dry quickly.
Apply Bore Butter on a patch and slowly slide it up and down the barrel so it melts into the patch and coats the inside of the barrel.
I use it on the outside as well and the metal around nipple.
After I do it a few times it seasons the barrel and seems to cut cleaning to about 10 to 15 minutes. I use Bore Butter in every cleaning.
NOTE Wear an insulated glove when handling the barrel when its hot and it gets hot.
I have used it on Pedersoli Tryon's, Parker Hale firearms, Lymans, Ubertis, and most of the long guns in my Civil War group.
Never had a problem with rust in the barrels.
 
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