Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: Salty on January 30, 2026, 11:11:36 AM
-
after I clean my rifle, I swab it out with an alcohol saturated patch. I let it air dry. Run a dry patch. Then swab with a patch saturated with Ballistol. I leave a Ballistol patch on the ramrod inserted in the bore down to the breech. A few days later, I remove the rod with the patch and have found a bit of FLASH RUST.
Is this normal?
Did I not dry the bore sufficiently? Should I use a hair dryer or heat gun?
What do you all do to prevent this?
-
A long time ago, I tried Ballistol. I could not stand the aroma so the first time was the last time. I gave or threw the rest of the container away.
I clean the bore with Ol' Thunder patch lube and bore solvent.
Then I run two or three dry patches down the bore a couple of times each.
Then I lightly coat another dry patch with Bumblin' Bear Grease from October Country and run it up and down the bore a couple of times or so.
Finally, I take that same greased patch and give the whole rifle a light coating.
Then I put my rifle in the closet and forget about it until the next time out.
Don't overthink things, it ain't rocket science.
KISS is the word.
-
Ive gotten flash rust with ballistol also,don't use it anymore.
I just put some water in the barrel, let it soak a bit, dump it out and do it again.
Then I usually use hoppes black powder traditional cleaner, swab with that till patches are what we'd call clean,
Shoot some WD40 down the barrel and swab that out until my patches are fairly dry then run a patch with RIG grease on it in and out a few times.
I don't leave a rod and patch in the barrel.
So far so good, seems to work for me .
Haven't had rust issues since I started doing it this way.
Kevin
-
I've been using Ballistol for decades with no flash rust issues - not ever, not even a hint of that red death.
Lemme say that black powder muzzleloader maintenance begins Immediately after the last shot is taken at the range or in the field. If nothing is done, bad mojo begins to attack good metal. All that's needed is to run down a wet patch to pull out the majority of the fouling, then run down another sloppy wet oiled patch and leave it there, tight to the breech plug face. I also wipe down the lock with an oily patch. That's all it takes and makes a huge difference when an hour or hours later for proper cleaning.
Flash rust can not occur IF after the bbl has been stood up with tepid tap water to dissolve most if not all of the BP residue, dumped out, the bbl swabbed with either "moose milk" (any water soluble oil with water, perhaps 1:6 ratio more or less) -OR- with straight Ballistol or literally any good oil or CLP until the patches come out a light or dull gray - attempting to get pure clean swabbed patches is a waste of time if not impossible because that patch color is coming from BP residue in the molecules of the steel and will do no harm whatsoever.
I prefer Ballistol only because this mineral oil blend is fully non-toxic and unlike most oils is actually good for wood and wood finishes.
Whence happy with the moose milk or oil patch swabs, run down a few drying patches (important if moose milk is used because of its water content), then run down a sloppy oil wet patch against the plug face and leave it there.
IF you feel there's a problem using moose milk for swabbing, don't use moose milk, use OIL instead, any gun oil or CLP or whatever is fine.