aimatdeer

does anyone use the t/c bore butter and should you use hot water to clean with if you are using it. i have heard that when you are using this to season the bore that hot water removes it all and you are starting over when you do this.

cayugad

aimatdeer there are as many opinions on the use of bore butter as there are those that do and do not use it. I personally use bore butter to lube a conical. That is the extent of it. I season a frying pan not a rifle barrel. I clean a barrel. I used to be a bore butter user until the accuracy in the rifle got terrible. I then scrubbed the stuff out and have never used it since. I did not have a rust issue with bore butter just an accuracy issue.

Water is still a great way to clean a rifle. Hot soapy water will desolve the nitrates in black powder as well as any other cleaner out there. I still hot soapy water bath a barrel but then I run some solvent patches through it, use a bore brush on the barrel to clean out the lands and grooves, a few more solvent patches. Then check it with a clean dry patch. Once the barrel is clean I run a nice patch of Birchwood Casey Sheath down the barrel to protect it from rust.

Lots of people claim to get good protection and no accuracy issues with bore butter. I guess it is a personal choice. In todays age of high quality cleaners and oils I see no reason to go to an older method of bore protection.

roundball

You specifically asked about bore butter, and I happen to use it so I'll respond about my experiences.
I've used nothing but natural lube 1000 (bore butter) for about 15 years in 15-20 muzzleloaders and it's an outstanding lube.
It minimizes fouling and keeps what little fouling there is very soft, letting me shoot entire 40 shot range sessions without wiping between shots.
And it keeps the bores looking like they just came off the manufacturing line.

However, I DO NOT believe in the notion of "seasoning a bore"...IMO, if ANYTHING is allowed to build up in a bore, whether crud, lube, or whatever...sooner or later accuracy will beging to suffer...I believe bores should be maintained as they came out of the factory.

I religiously use steaming hot soapy water to clean barrels, and I think very importantly, I always use a couple dozen strokes with a bore brush, followed by a final hot water rise with clean water...to ensure I always return the bore to it's factory bare raw metal condition every time.

Get it bone dry quickly so it doesn't 'flash rust', then heavily slather the bore butter down it's full length while the barrel is still warm...and I mean heavily...plaster it on cleaning patches and apply it down bore several times...I've never had any problems using bore butter the entire time I've been in muzzleloading.

To me, the biggest, most obvious benefit of natural lube 1000 is that you don't have to waste time wiping between shots at the range...makes a range trip a shooting event instead of a wiping/cleaning event.

sabotloader

aimatdeer

Addressing your question about BB, and I can't believe that RB & I agree on something, his post to you IMO is right on line with my feelings.

I really do not know if "seasoning" occurs, but was does occur is less fouling mainly from plastic for me. I shoot my guns a lot and in Idaho sabots are legal so I go through a lot of them in the year. It significantly reduces plastic fouling and powder residue. I use BB in combination with another natural product Wonderlube to maintain my barrels and guns.

Another thing unrelated to ML's, I would relate to you. The one thing that made me more of a believer. I am now using BB on my screw-in shot gun chokes and on my ported trap barrels. The build-up of plastic that I use to recieve on my chokes was terrible and really not fun to clean. Every once in awhile I would shoot a round and it would be followed by a big blob of plastic residue releasing from the choke - well not any more. Bore Butter if applied right will reduce fouling..

When I apply BB the barrel is hot, from the hot water flush. If I am treating a "traditional" gun I dry swab the barrel a couple of times and then use a can of air to blow through the breech plug to push any residuel water down the barrel. Then dry swab again, of course with an in-line no air needed with the removal of the breech plug. It is my feeling to make sure the barrel is dry and hot before applying BB. Instead of using patches to apply the butter I put it on a bore swab, and as RB says rather heavily, then run the swab down the barrel, here is the amazing part, the barrel literally sucks the butter from the swab. When you pull it back out it will be near dry and fluffy again. I will do this same routing 2-3 times making sure to get all the barrel. A dry patch worked up and down and down a couple times and let here cool. The lasthing you want in the barrel is a glob of this stuff sitting there exposed.

Now when I go to the "range" (a rock pit) I will shoot 30/40 rounds typically. I do wet patch between shots. I take a zip lock bag of water damp patches as my spit patch. When I get home I use 3/4 patches wet with windex, that is all it takes for me to come up with a really clean barrel. I usually do not use a bronze brush because i do not have any lead fouling and the plastic isn't sticking. I will reapt this BB routine maybe 6-7 times a year with a particular gun depending on how much it has been shot or how hot the barrel got from shooting. Most often it is just patch clean and Wonder Lube til the next time it comes out to go shooting.

HEY! the most important thing is have fun shooting and reduce the amount of work as much as possible! and the is no work to shooting and having fun....

Triple Se7en

Aimatdeer

Yes with roundballs & conicals
No with sabot/bullets. Many owners manuals use this approach.

Seasoning should only mean applying it when the barrel is hot -- so it enters the barrel pores & bonds with it. I have no qualms about heating your bore after you remove the storing oils that's accumulated in your bore after weeks/months/years of no use.

I would never "store my rifles" with bore butter/Wonderlube 1000. I've seen enough rusting damage from doing so whenever mistakes were made cleaning the rifle bore... resulting in an improper barrel-drying experience that led to rust overnite.

Then again... maybe I should re-phrase what I just said.

If you are entirely sure (101%) that you removed all traces of solvents & moisture from your barrel/bore (and) you are storing your guns in a dryish environment with silica/carbon/charcoal/dehumidifier-type moisture-removing properties nearby -- then go ahead & use it as a rust inhibitor. I prefer to use gun oils that say "rust preventer" cuz' inhibit means "discourage"... or in other words.... rust could attend if it met the requirements.

mauser06

i use bore butter.....i dont know that i season it because i use a bore brush to clean the bore good......patches work but the brush gets it out alot quicker.....and always use HOT water.....then i dry the bore and run bore butter through it a few times and its good to go....and my patches and maxi hunters are lubed with it......works for me.....and accuracy is good....

sabotloader

I would respectfully dis-agree with T7 about 100%. That is all I shoot from my muzzleloaders and shotguns plastic sabots. BB works and serves the purpose it was intended for. Certainly do not coat your sabot with BB before you push it home, the sabot has its on self lubrication.

T7 is correct here - but I would again dis-agree - the key being getting the bore dry before the application of BB. I have an old CVA Hawken that has been stored in the back room for over a year now and it is just like it was was when I put is back there.

I converted back to the oils in the barrel for awhile because of the BB scare and it was miserable trying to get the bores clean after that plus the fouling rate went up really fast, both plastic and powder.

We are inclined to use oils in our barrels because that is what we use in high powered rifles and it is awful difficult to accept anything new. But in a modern rifle we are not shooting plastic, BP, or a substitute. Smokless does not foul near as fast as the latters and I hate fouling.

The best way to get oils, contaminants and etc. out of the barrel is with boiling water which almost instantly causes oxidation (some people call it flash rust) but you will see that it does clean the barrel and followed with the proper barrel treatment you barrel will last a lifetime.

Again, I have even gone to treating my Trap guns with BB and Wonder Lube and it really has helped them also. I would not go as far to you that I use it in my centerfires yet, haven't fond the need to.

Take care of your barrels and they will take care of you.....

Triple Se7en

[quote]T7 is correct here - but I would again dis-agree - the key being getting the bore dry before the application of BB. [/quote

I don't see any "dis-agree" there!
I did say resulting in an improper barrel-drying experience that led to rust overnite.
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As far as sabots/bore butter combinations, I've read where it works in about 25-33% of applications. That still makes it a minority success rate. It's obvious that nothing works or everything works in all applications concerning muzzleloaders is not feasable.

eldeguello

Bore butter is OK to lube a bullet with, BUT NOT on sabots! It is BAD NEWS if you think it will preserve a bore from rusting! Use Birchwood-Casey Sheath for rust-proofing a cleaned bore, and all the outside iron hardware also. Use boiling water to clean ML barrels! Two dry patches through a bore you have just poured two quarts of boiling water through will remove all traces of any water, and there will be NO RUSTING before it cools enough to run a Sheath-soaked patch through it. It will never rust with a Sheath protection coating, and the Sheath leaves a dry surface, so you can load 'er up next time without wiping first or firing a cap or two to remove the oil, because there ain't any oil!! Forget all the commercial BP solvents!

Forget "seasoning" a bore! This "seasoning" business is a crock! Season your frying pans, NOT your rifle bores!!

Bob1961

unless your barrel is made of cast iron it will not season like you think it will....i clean mine with just hot water and follow it up with a good gun oil to coat the barrel and just run a dry patch before shooting.................bob