Muzzle Loader rust issues

Black powder is more expensive than Pyrodex in my area and Pyrodex is also more readily available. I've had no ignition problems, cleaning is no more difficult that black powder (I think a little less so) and NO rust issues even on the wet coast. Use whatever you think is 'better'. Now, anyone know where I can find some Sperm Whale Oil? I hear whale oil is the real deal.
 
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Okay, so I've taken all the advice into consideration and have tried multiple things but as soon as the barrel sits (heavily oiled) for 24 hours, there is a thin film of rust in the barrel that can be patched out. Would filling the barrel with diesel or something like that for a week to try and dissolve whatever is creating the rust be a bad idea?
 
I wonder if you don't have some browning solution in there

Try filling it up with hot water mixed with baking soda, let it sit say 15 minutes, then scrub it several times with that solution; then let it sit again for say 15-20 minutes filled with the solution. This neutralizes the acidic solution - it gets into the metal and rusts from under anything put on top and from what you describe it does sound like that might have happened.
 
There has to be something with your cleaning methods that's causing this...

1) What oil are you using to wipe the bore down after cleaning is done?
2) What are you using to clean the bore with? (IE jags, cloth, brass or synthetic brushes)
3) How much solution (water, soapy water, windex etc) do you use to clean the bore out with?
4) How thoroughly do you rinse and wipe the gun down after cleaning?
5) Does your cleaning solution run clean by the end of your cleaning process?
6) Are you patches clean by the end of the process?
7) Is everything bone dry before you oil the gun?
8) Just because there might be something to it - what powder?


Since you're saying it's a heavy coat of oil, that suggests to me you're either leaving enough residue behind that it's able to rust through the oil somehow (IE there's still fouling left in the barrel that has either escaped cleaning in the lands, or has been wiped and mixedaround by the cloths, patches and brushes if not sufficiently rinsed), or the oil itself isn't suitable as a surface protecting oil.

I'm almost wondering if there's crud hiding up against the edges of the grooves that's escaping cleaning. In this instance it might be worth using wipe-out or a lead focused cleaner to really get in there and remove any remaining fouling and leading that might be causing this.



Edit - I see you answered some of it already

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.
 
I've tried a few different oils, currently using LPS 2 as it works fantastic on all my other firearms. I use very tight fitting bronze brushes and then a jag with tight fitting patches. I heat the barrel with a hair dryer to get most of the moisture out and then run patches until they are completely clean. I then run oiled patches until they are clean. All patches/ solutions come out perfectly clean by the time I am done.
 
Might be carbon build up. Give it a dose Wipe Out, or any of the automotive carbon cleaners. Got access to a bore scope? Curious to know what the bore looks like.
 
Try the baking soda solution. It's fast and easy (see Post 23). Cleaning these things is not complicated, from what you say you do enough.

I brown and rust blue my own stuff and exactly what you describe happens when you don't neutralize the acid before applying oil, and it can continue for a long time (years!). Cleaners and oils will NOT stop it. If you have a hot blued finish that still doesn't mean that some industrial acid didn't make its way in there - it really sounds to me like that's what's going on.

No there shouldn't be any inside the bore but it can happen real easily.
 
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