Cleaning question

[LonesomePigeon]

  I just did my first full disassembly, cleaning and reassembly of a bp revolver. I cleaned everything in warm soapy water, rinsed with hot water, dried in the oven and then coated everything with olive oil and wiped dry with clean patches before reassembling.

  I've heard that it's good to pack the action with some type of grease or something like that so my question now is, can anyone recommend a specific brand or product for this purpose? Preferably something I can just buy since at this stage I don't want to try making any special recipes.



  **I also want to thank Mike Beliveau(I believe he goes by Bottom Dealin' Mike here) for the excellent youtube video on disassembly and reassembly of the Remington 1858.

[Lefty Dude]

Lube the internals & pivot points with Mobil 1 synthetic grease. A pound can will last your life time.
Do not use petroleum type grease products.
Also use the Mobil 1 on the base pin.

[Blackpowder Burn]

Ballistol also works very well as a lube. 

When diluted about 10:1 with water to make an emulsion it also works excellently for cleaning.  When the water evaporates, it leaves a nice oil coating.  I have zero corrosion issues with my guns.

[Dick Dastardly]

US military chose Ballistol for cleaning and lubricating guns.  Then we went to war with the country that made the stuff.  However, all that said, Ballistol remains a fine product for firearm maintainence.  It's also good for after shave and some like it on their breakfast cereal.  I, however, restrict my use of it for my gun cleaning.  As already stated, it makes a colloidal suspension that looks like milk and was named by someone as "Moosemilk".  Diluted 1:10 with water it does an admirable job of cleaning up black powder fouling and residue.  As stated, Moosemilk as it evaporates leaves a protective coating that prevents rust and lubricates.  I use it for both my heathen fad smokeyless cleaning chores as well as cleaning my guns after shooting the Holy Black.  Works equally well on both.  I no longer use it to brush my teeth even though some found me irresistible when I did. . . . 

DD-MDA

[Lefty Dude]

Just started using "Frog Lube", really like the stuff. Works great for BP & Subs.

[Bishop Creek]

I have been using Young Country Lube 103 on all of my black powder guns for over 15 years now. Works great, I use it to lube internals, nipple threads, and barrel of my revolvers after cleaning and when I swab some on the cylinder pin of my 1858 Remmy, I can easily fire 100 shots without any binding. Not runny like Bore Butter. Great product. I used to buy it locally when I could find it, but get it from Fort Chambers Black Powder Gun Shop now:

http://fortchambers.com/httpdocs/Products/Accessories/accessories.html

[Coffinmaker]

In the past, I was one to really Poo Poo Ballistol.  Proponent of CLP.  Got use to CLP in the Military, then in Law Enforcement, then as a Gunsmith.  
Then ....... I got hooked on BP and Subs.  CLP still works, but plain old Warm Soap and Water works better.  In fact, by my experience, a little soap and water is superior to all the custom mixes.  I still do not believe in Ballistol as a lubricant.  I do like a little aerosol can of Ballistol to spritz the Carrier Block in a toggle link rifle.
Petroleum base lubes don't play well with BP nor Subs.  It's just that simple.  After I fell into the deep dark hole, I went to Mobil 1 grease as well as Mobil 1 oil.  Plays well and shares toys with BP and Subs.  A grease gun cylinder of grease and a quart of oil and your fixed for life (almost).  Empty out a little bottle of Rem Oil and fill with Mobil 1 oil for pinpoint lubrication.
"Packing the Action" with grease is a waist of time, grease and cleaning time.  You'll go nutz trying to get it all out when you do your cleaning chores.  It's like Brillcream.  A little dab'll do ya.  A light coat on the Arbor will do wonders.
Lefty Dude was kind enough to send me a small tin of Frog Lube to try.  I'm gonna see if I like it.  Thanks Lefty.
You'll also note, Neither Lefty nor I mentioned "concoctions."  Don't need em.  Clean and dry, Lubricate, done.

Coffinmaker

[Cliff Fendley]

After reading all the great reviews I tried mobil 1 synthetic grease and do not like it for my guns. It is much to sticky for sliding parts and will gum up with the black powder residue. I'm back to good ole lubriplate engine assembly lube. Best thing I've found for guns, I use it in all my black powder guns. It's not something I will use on a gun that will sit for a very long time though, it will dry out after a year or so.

[Montana Slim]

Slim's secrets revealed...

Bore Butter for cylinder pins & a few drops of Ballistol (not the aerosol) for all my C&B pistols.
Only time I've packed a bit of grease internally is for my pocket NM Remington (44). She spits a bit of flame down the frame & into the TG at times. The grease is a sure-fire stop to that possibility.

Slim

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have been using Young Country Lube 103 on all of my black powder guns for over 15 years now. Works great, I use it to lube internals, nipple threads, and barrel of my revolvers after cleaning and when I swab some on the cylinder pin of my 1858 Remmy, I can easily fire 100 shots without any binding. Not runny like Bore Butter. Great product. I used to buy it locally when I could find it, but get it from Fort Chambers Black Powder Gun Shop now:

http://fortchambers.com/httpdocs/Products/Accessories/accessories.html

Another vote for 103 Lube! Yes, and Ballistol as well. (First H2O + soap, then Moosemilk followed up with 103 for more long term protection.)

[Don Kenna]

I've used most of the commercial black powder cleaning solvents over the years.  Those that I can remember included Birchwood-Casey Muzzle Magic, Butch's Bore Shine, Shiloh Creek (no longer available), and Hoppe's #9 Plus.   All of those that I used worked quite well.  Over the last couple of years, I've converted to diluted Ballistol as a black powder solvent, and at this point, I think I like it best of all.  I use a 1:6 solution--midway between the 50/50 solution Ballistol recommended and the 1:10 "Moose Milk" that most use.  I use the same solution to dampen rifle bore-wiping patches when using that fouling control technique rather than a blow tube.

I did try using the Ballistol solution as a smokeless powder solvent, and while it worked all right, I wasn't that impressed.  I returned to the use of my old standby--Hoppe's #9--for that purpose.

Judging largely from tests I've read about, I'm not all that impressed with Ballistol as a rust preventive.  While it does work as such--and that's one of the reasons I use it as a solvent--I believe there are better products out there for that specific purpose.  For many years, I used Birchwood-Casey Sheath (now named Barricade) as a final rust preventive, both in the weapons' bores and externally, and it worked very well.  Over the last year or so, I've been trying EezOx.  It, too, works very well as a protectant, and it has some capability as a solvent.  On the down side, it doesn't seem to dry to a dry film as quickly as Barricade does, or at least not for me.  The jury is still out on that matter.

I, for one, am not an advocate of the "hot soapy water" regimen for black powder firearms.  While it does work, experimentation has proven to me that one is more likely to wind up with rust that way.  Some years back, I wrote an article for Single Shot Exchange [/b]magazine on the subject of cleaning black powder firearms, and therein detailed the rusting experiments and other black powder cleaning issues.

But regarding the original primary question about what grease to use, I'll have to dismount from my horse of knowledge and arrogance.  In short--I dunno (?).  I use mostly Break Free CLP as a lubricant, but when the task absolutely demands grease--as in greasing the cylinder arbor on a percussion cap Colt--I use some brand of "mil spec" white lithium-based grease.  I can state from experience that it works, but I'm sure there are other lubricating greases far better suited to use on black powder firearms.  I've also tried Bore Butter as a grease substitute, but didn't like it, especially in hot weather.  (It worked fine as a bore protectant.)  I've seen Frog Lube often mentioned, and although I've never tried it, products don't become that popular when they don't work well.   

   

[Lefty Dude]

In a test of 60 different types of lubes and cleaners, Frog Lube is in the top five as a CLP. An Individual shooter did the test, not a Gun Rag writer or sponsor for a manufacture.
Some of the test is still on-going by the tester.
It is quite a lengthy report to read.

[Cemetery]

Just started using "Frog Lube", really like the stuff. Works great for BP & Subs.

Personally, I find Frog Lube to work wonders removing hardened fouling.

[Bruce W Sims]

I know we can have "Better Living through Chemistry"...at least if you listen to the folks at DuPont.....

I was just wondering what I would be using if I wanted to stay true to late 19th Century technology?

Would BP folks have used animal fat on they guns? What would the pro-s and con-s be if they did?

What would they have used if it was NOT animal fats?  Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Sperm whale oil was one. Of course that is no longer available. Olive oil is an available substitute. Olive oil doesn't dry. Don't try other vegetable oils as they quickly turn to a gummy-gluey mess. Animal fats go rancid quickly with the exception of mutton fat.

More info to follow, supplied by others wiser than I.

[Cuts Crooked]

When you say "Animal fat" I'm going to assume you mean tallow or rendered fats/oils?
A lot of people swear by mutton tallow and I can't argue with them. I've used deer tallow for many years and have been very happy with it as a patch lube on front stuffers and as a bullet lube for BP cartridges.

[Bruce W Sims]

When you say "Animal fat" I'm going to assume you mean tallow or rendered fats/oils?
A lot of people swear by mutton tallow and I can't argue with them. I've used deer tallow for many years and have been very happy with it as a patch lube on front stuffers and as a bullet lube for BP cartridges.

Exactly...thats where I was going. For instance, when we were talking in another thread about the use of wafers under the ball, or to close the chamber to crossfires IIRC someone mentioned using tallow. Experimenter that I am I cooked-up some tallow from beef just to know what it involved. And, yes, it went rancid pretty quick. I'm thinking that given the amount of time ACW folks were in camp there might have been time and opportunity to compare notes and maybe even produce something better than whatever ran off a guys bacon.

Theres another reason I ask and it involves "lubrication" of another sort. If a person were to use a tallow such as you mention (ie. Deer or mutton) and rolled such a wafer into a paper cartidge would the tallow in the wafer corrupt or compromise the powder? Its a bit like the point that Sir Charles raised about vegetable oils. A guy could be forgiven for thinking that if Olive Oil worked then ANY veg oil would be OK, and its not for the reasons he mentioned. Sounds like deer tallow might be an answer. Have you ever rolled your own with a wafer, let them stand for a while and seen what happens? Just wonderin'......

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Cuts Crooked]

Have you ever rolled your own with a wafer, let them stand for a while and seen what happens? Just wonderin'......

Best Wishes,

Bruce

Nope, don't use wafers, I load Big Lubes lubed with deer tallow/bees wax. They have never gone rancid. I have however, loaded a front stuffer with a patch lubed with deer tallow. and left it loaded for 6 months. It didn't seem to have affected the powder charge.

[Bruce W Sims]

R & Thanks....

Best Wishes,

Bruce