Still getting rust

[rfd]

ay, caramba! NO boiling water, NO hot water, NO warm water - use plain tepid tap water for a good barrel that has been properly maintained. we do not want to open the "pores" of the metal and invite flash rusting, which will always occur sooner or later, typically sooner as the patches come out the muzzle reddish brown, which means you have failed. diligence, plain water, and oil, are yer gun's best friend, and yours, too.

"what tepid tap water?" the stuff that flows out yer house sink's faucet.

"aren't there salts in some water softener systems?" yes, but in amazingly minute amounts, we're not allowing the water to linger, and it will get swabbed out and followed by gun oil. if this is still of concern, use distilled water for gun cleaning ... but that's a waste of money.

"what about using moose milk?" i was an MM advocate for years but have decided to fully separate the water from the moose. one issue with making/using generic moose milk (water + water soluble oil) is that THIS water needs to be salt/mineral free because it will linger on the metal, which means using distilled water for the mix. plain water for the slosh cleaning, followed by a good gun oil, is honestly all that's needed once a gun has been well maintained and is in a form of "metal equilibrium".

have the barrel and lock been maintained well? meaning, addressing the bp residue immediately after the last shot of the day is taken by simply removing the flint/nipple and spritzing the entire lock and swabbing the tube with some manner of "proper gun oil" (ballistol, CLP, whatever - not WD40!) with a few patches, and leaving the patched jag down the tube 'til yer back at the ranch and can do the barrel and lock justice. oil keeps the gunk soft and is a barrier to prevent air from activating the gunk into corrosion and rust. in doing so, cleanup is SO easy and fast and complete. there is no need for any kinda "bore cleaning concoctions". just maintain responsibly and immediately with plain water and oiled patches. your precious gun will thank you decades later.

IF the gun has not been well maintained, THEN the use of gun cleaning concoctions, along with copious amounts of elbow grease and gobs of time, will most likely be required to bring the gun back to life and ready for continued proper maintenance.

YMMV, do enjoy.

[indian joe]

ay, caramba! NO boiling water, NO hot water, NO warm water - use plain tepid tap water for a good barrel that has been properly maintained. we do not want to open the "pores" of the metal and invite flash rusting, which will always occur sooner or later, typically sooner as the patches come out the muzzle reddish brown, which means you have failed. diligence, plain water, and oil, are yer gun's best friend, and yours, too.

"what tepid tap water?" the stuff that flows out yer house sink's faucet.

"aren't there salts in some water softener systems?" yes, but in amazingly minute amounts, we're not allowing the water to linger, and it will get swabbed out and followed by gun oil. if this is still of concern, use distilled water for gun cleaning ... but that's a waste of money.

"what about using moose milk?" i was an MM advocate for years but have decided to fully separate the water from the moose. one issue with making/using generic moose milk (water + water soluble oil) is that THIS water needs to be salt/mineral free because it will linger on the metal, which means using distilled water for the mix. plain water for the slosh cleaning, followed by a good gun oil, is honestly all that's needed once a gun has been well maintained and is in a form of "metal equilibrium".

have the barrel and lock been maintained well? meaning, addressing the bp residue immediately after the last shot of the day is taken by simply removing the flint/nipple and spritzing the entire lock and swabbing the tube with some manner of "proper gun oil" (ballistol, CLP, whatever - not WD40!) with a few patches, and leaving the patched jag down the tube 'til yer back at the ranch and can do the barrel and lock justice. oil keeps the gunk soft and is a barrier to prevent air from activating the gunk into corrosion and rust. in doing so, cleanup is SO easy and fast and complete. there is no need for any kinda "bore cleaning concoctions". just maintain responsibly and immediately with plain water and oiled patches. your precious gun will thank you decades later.

IF the gun has not been well maintained, THEN the use of gun cleaning concoctions, along with copious amounts of elbow grease and gobs of time, will most likely be required to bring the gun back to life and ready for continued proper maintenance.

YMMV, do enjoy.

ahhhh finally !!! I bin tryin to get guys away from rusting their barrels with heavy detergents and hot water for years - its a tough job but somebody gotta do it !!

Tap Water and a litle bit of a rub is all it takes to clean a BP gun - do it like he sez here and it will get easier as time goes by - I reckon the barrel "seasons" - but one hot water and detergent scrub will take it right back to square one and flash rust it as well. (why would we wanna do that eh?).

I came to the same conclusion as rfd about moose milk but right at the start - its great patch lube - does nuthin - zippo - zilch as far as cleanup goes.

Only thing we do different is WD40 works fine for me - only thing I use - so long as the gun is not going into long term storage - after a couple months of being unloved I take em down and patch out with proper gun oil - or better still go shoot it.

All of the commercial "Black Powder Solvent" bore cleaning concoctions out there are a frivolous waste of money - ideas dreamed up in the marketing department in order to separate ya from yr hard earned dollars -- spend it on caps or powder or take the missus out for dinner.

[rfd]

temporary use of wd40 is fine, but it ain't a proper good gun oil. been there, done that, and learnt a lesson, because the human problem that can occur is forgetting that temporary spritz of wd40 that ya done a week ago that never got followed up with a cleaning and real gun oil use. wd40 will do in a pinch, but it ain't a long term good gun oil, so i won't have it around me gunz.

[indian joe]

temporary use of wd40 is fine, but it ain't a proper good gun oil. been there, done that, and learnt a lesson, because the human problem that can occur is forgetting that temporary spritz of wd40 that ya done a week ago that never got followed up with a cleaning and real gun oil use. wd40 will do in a pinch, but it ain't a long term good gun oil, so i won't have it around me gunz.

We are in a very dry environment here (think Arizona / New Mexico I guess) so storage is pretty easy and rusting very slow to take hold
Sometimes wondered whether we get a different formulation of WD40 downunder - its a super effective paint stripper .

[dondiego]

We are in a very dry environment here (think Arizona / New Mexico I guess) so storage is pretty easy and rusting very slow to take hold
Sometimes wondered whether we get a different formulation of WD40 downunder - its a super effective paint stripper .

Kills wasps too!