Bore Butter

davie crockett

davie crockett

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Not new to Black Powder, but I read lately that using oil on the rifle bore after cleaning causes rust. Yesterday shot my T/C Hawkins in -10 deg Celsius, I washed in hot water & soap, then after I blew out the bore & swabbed dry. The nipple was already removed so applied lots of bore butter on a swab & put down the barrel. The butter squeezed out the nipple hole, did I do right or wrong & will it foul the firing the next time or will it render out & protect. Talk to me!
 
You have to clean the gun before you shoot it again and get the lube out of there, that includes your nipple/flash channel, and fire a cap or two without loading to make sure the nipple/flash channel is clear and dry....
 
I switched to Bore Butter shortly after it hit the market (late '80's???) and it has been my favourite black powder lube ever since.

In my experience, flushing boiling water (with a bit of dish soap) through the barrel is all that is required to get the fouling out (remove the nipple and flush - with a pumping action - with a tight-fitting jag in an ice-cream bucket 1/2 full of boiling water) then, holding the barrel in an oven mitt, run a couple of dry patches through the barrel, followed by several patches, pre-saturated with bore butter. Let the lube melt as you coat the bore, then leave it to cool.

As for the bolster, I remove the nipple and use a Q-Tip to clean and apply bore butter to the threads. I use a stainless steel "hotshot" nipple and have never have a problem with corrosion inside the channel (of course, run a wire through to make sure it isn't blocked).

Apart from also using Bore Butter on the external surfaces of the barrel, that is pretty well it.

You can run a dry patch down the bore to ensure that it is clean (and run a wire through the touchhole to ensure no blockages) before shooting again.

With Bore Butter you will also find that you can fire quite a few shots with minimal fouling and only the occasional dry patch as you go.
 
Bore butter is fine as a patch lube, but there are better rust preventive products. You asked about oil causing rust after cleaning? Cant happen, what causes rust is water not being removed completely, water displacement solvents do that. I use water to clean, then solvent to remove water and carbon, then oil. Matters little what kind, in my opinion.
 
The only time I use Bore Butter is when I drop a dab between the wads in my BP shotguns or when on the line loading my cartridge rifles I use it behind the bullet sometimes.
i have found on the cold weather it gets far too hard and makes it far too difficult to seat a second ball .
i have also found far better lives to use on my pre- lubed patches when target shooting .
Cat.
 
I had pretty good success with melting a chunk of bore butter on top of a stack of pre-cut patches. The result is that the lube saturates all of the patches and they can easily be peeled off the stack, even in cold temperatures.

For some time I've wanted to experiment with making my own bore butter, using rendered deer tallow, beeswax and some ballistol as a rust inhibitor.

Anyone make their our BP lube?

catnthehatt said:
The only time I use Bore Butter is when I drop a dab between the wads in my BP shotguns or when on the line loading my cartridge rifles I use it behind the bullet sometimes.
i have found on the cold weather it gets far too hard and makes it far too difficult to seat a second ball .
i have also found far better lives to use on my pre- lubed patches when target shooting .
Cat.
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I make my own lube and have used straight bear grease in the colder weather with none of the issues of trying to get a ball down the barrel when the temperatures are -10 or colder .Even pre- soaked patches with Bore Butter don't cut it when it is really cold out in my experience .
Cat
 
Alberta Woodsman said:
I make my own lube too, Buffalo grease, goose grease and a few other things.
Hey Cat its good to see your still around. AOF a little too heated eh?
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Decided I wasn't needed there, and will devote more time here once again- been a member here far longer than over there anyway, and the real good people are also members here.
I'm thinking I might try Bore Butter straight again, only with a slightly thinner patch- I normally use a .570 ball and .012 patch, and there might just be too much tension there because the bore butter gets very hard in the cold weather.

Cat
 
I found that to, but I put tube of bore butter in my pocket & it stayed quite thin. So if I use oil & butter shouldn't hurt, I blow out the barrel & run a rag swab to soak up moisture. I also think moisture is the culprit not the oil.
 
catnthehatt said:
I make my own lube and have used straight bear grease in the colder weather with none of the issues of trying to get a ball down the barrel when the temperatures are -10 or colder .Even pre- soaked patches with Bore Butter don't cut it when it is really cold out in my experience .
Cat
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I'll admit that I am a total black powder rookie, but on the advice of a neighbor who is into shooting BP cannons I've been using windshield washer fluid to lube patches and swab the barrel during cold weather range sessions. Seems to keep the crud down and the balls loading easy. I've never seen oil cause rusting, personally I've found heavyer greases, like Bore Butter are more picky about moisture than oil since they don't mix with and somewhat neutralise any moisture left in the barrel, they just cover it up. I've started putting wd40 down the barrel to get rid of the water and then oiling a couple days later, after the WD 40 has flashed off and taken any moisture with it. Like I mentioned I'm a rookie just sort of figuring things out as I go, if I'm doing something horribly wrong let me know.

BTW Cat, I used to be on AO using the name Cal, still got that longbow you traded me.
 
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exophysical said:
I'll admit that I am a total black powder rookie, but on the advice of a neighbor who is into shooting BP cannons I've been using windshield washer fluid to lube patches and swab the barrel during cold weather range sessions. Seems to keep the crud down and the balls loading easy. I've never seen oil cause rusting, personally I've found heavyer greases, like Bore Butter are more picky about moisture than oil since they don't mix with and somewhat neutralise any moisture left in the barrel, they just cover it up. I've started putting wd40 down the barrel to get rid of the water and then oiling a couple days later, after the WD 40 has flashed off and taken any moisture with it. Like I mentioned I'm a rookie just sort of figuring things out as I go, if I'm doing something horribly wrong let me know.

BTW Cat, I used to be on AO using the name Cal, still got that longbow you traded me.
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When shooting at the range I often swab between shots , but when practising for hunting I load without swabbing and use the loading block as well , as i would in the bush.
Anti-freeze works great , as does soap and water, etc., and it's CHEAP as well!!:dancingbanana:
Cat
 
catnthehatt said:
When shooting at the range I often swab between shots , but when practising for hunting I load without swabbing and use the loading block as well , as i would in the bush.
Anti-freeze works great , as does soap and water, etc., and it's CHEAP as well!!:dancingbanana:
Cat
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I swab between shots as well, I use a patch cut from a rag & I spray rubbing alcohol, it cleans the fouling but don't leave moisture that fubars the ignition, works great.
 
I used a combination of bore butter and R.E.A.L. projectiles for the first time last summer (no patches). I am sold, sold, sold, on this combination. I fired 20-25 shots consecutively without a hiccup, no swabbing between shots...just amazing.

When I did swab at the end of shooting (I can't remember if it was time to go home, out of primers, powder...but it wasn't the gun that sent me packing) the fouling came out as a soft black grease that seemed to want to stick to the cotton rather than the steel of the bore. Simply amazing! I won't use anything else ever if I have my way.

Incidentally, I find the stuff in the tube to be different than the stuff in the large film canister type container. The BB in the tube is less viscous and softer than the canister, which has a consistency more like soft wax (in the summer, I have no doubt Cat is on the money in regards to what BB does at -10 C.). Is it possible that old BB sets up (oxidizes) to a more preferable consistency? (I have no idea how old my stuff is {2nd hand}).
 
Has anyone used the Udderly Smooth Cream that you can get a the pharmacy etc?

Some of the BPCR guys swear by it as a lube.

From the company site, it contains:

Deionized water, stearic acid, Peg-2 Stearate, propylene glycol, isopropyl myristate, dimethicone, lanolin oil, mineral oil, triethanolamine, allantoin, methylparaben, propylparaben, fragrance
 
Bore butter is ok, but if you want to prevent rust you can do what they did back in the day and it is not so messy. Use sweet oil to keep down the rust. Sweet oil is the old name for olive oil. Some folks like to use a shot of WD40 down the barrel followed by a patch to spread it out. WD40 is supposed to act as a barrier against moisture. You will however have to patch out dry before loading as WD has mineral oil in it I believe. What ever U use go back periodically and patch out with something like WipeOut to check your bore for rust. WipeOut is another product you can use to protect against rust. Although not specifically meant for black powder shooters it will clean them and it has rust preventive in it. After a hot water and soap clean out followed by a clean water rinse and a dry patch out I always do a final patch out with a clean patch wetted with wipe out then store my shooter muzzle down in the gun safe.
You do not have to get fancy with patch lubes. I like Tenderflake lard and beeswax. You can also use just about anything that is organic in nature either animal or vegetable. Do not use mineral oils they do not mix with holy black turns everything into a gooey mess. Dutch Schultz recommends the dry patch method. 1 part olive oil and 5 parts rubbing alcohol, then let evaporate, the patches seem to be almost dry. Have not tried that one yet as I cant get back into the range, too much snow.
 
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CMichaud said:
Has anyone used the Udderly Smooth Cream that you can get a the pharmacy etc?

Some of the BPCR guys swear by it as a lube.

From the company site, it contains:

Deionized water, stearic acid, Peg-2 Stearate, propylene glycol, isopropyl myristate, dimethicone, lanolin oil, mineral oil, triethanolamine, allantoin, methylparaben, propylparaben, fragrance
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Have not tried it yet but I betcha bag balm would probably work too.
 
Beoshield 29 from Lee Valley is your friend. It's a wax, not an oil and therefore does not run into the breech like oil does. you can also store your rifles muzzle down on something nice and soft to protect the crown so that the oil doesn't collect in the breech. Still recommend swabbing with a dry patch or two and letting off a cap or pan charge before your first shot. Just to make sure.
 
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