Balistol Mix Whats Best

[hoosegowhank]

What is the best mix for Balistol and water for cleaning?  I have heard anything from 50/50 to 10/90.

[Ranch 13]

 I don't particularly care for ballistol for a full cleaning. I like to use it straight for a swab down the bore when the temps are hot and the humidity is low, keeps the fouling the pach leaves behind and the bore in good shape for the next relay. I have used it 50-50 and about 1-10 for cleaning but wasn't that happy with it.
I prefer to clean with simple green and water 50-50 and when thats done then use straight ballistol to put the guns away for the next go round.

[hellgate]

I've never been able to get more than a 1:10 mix to dissolve. Any more than 1:10 and the oil rises to the top like cream. I use the 1:10 moose milk for a solvent in a squirt bottle for hosing down my C&B cylinders and bores. However, I cheat a little and add a tablespoon per quart of liquid dishwashing detergent to the mix as I found that to cut hard dry fouling better. If the truth is known I could probably leave the Ballistol out and still have a great solvent but I like the idea of a rust inhibiting residue if i miss any spots. A lot of my cleaning of the revolvers is also with a squirt bottle full of 20/10 Bug Formula windshield washer solution ($3 for 2 gal on sale). The spray bottles are great for flushing the chambers. I've also made moose milk using water soluble cutting oil  used in machine shops. Ballistol is probably better at fighting corrosion though, at least the Kaiser thought so.

[Mako]

I use a 1:7 ratio just because I like to be different than Hellgate...

~Mako

[Dick Dastardly]

The Moosemilk Spa is now going on Three years with the original fill.  The Ballistol tends to clump and separate and I stir it back into suspension and it keeps on working.  The mix is 1:10 and more ballistol than that won't hold in suspension.

In my spritz bottle I use a 1:10 mix and it works well.  I used to use a 1:7 mix but it had to be well shaken before use.  That's simply my experience.  My Ballistol is purchased by the Gallon can and distributed to several shooters a pint at a time.  We all save that way.  I'm paying around $55/Gal.

For my bores I've never had a problem with a spritz of Moosemilk and a tug of the boresnake.  Of course, Ranch 13, I'm shooting Big Lube® boolits and the fouling stays softer than yours. . . nananananananana

DD-DLoS

[Ranch 13]

 ::)Soft fouling ain't much good if the bullets hit the target sideways.

[Dick Dastardly]

Soft fouling blows right out and my bulets hit just fine.  The second and the last shot encounter the same amount of fouling no matter how many between.  Cleaning is a snap.  A spritz of moosemilk and a tug of the boresnake is all it takes.

Sorry your bullets are going sideways. . 

DD-DLoS

[Montana Slim]

I don't waste it on cleaning, but I know some who use the mix for "spritzing" their rifle's action during a match.

My primary uses of Ballistol:
1) Emergeny lubing of a cylinder pin during a match (Although I seldom find need for it).
2) Quick swabbing of a cartridge firearm after 1st day of a 2-day match (rather than a full cleaning).

Handy stuff to have....lasts a long time for me.
I use WD-40 for water displacement after a standard cleaning (using soap/water or windshield washer).
CLP or Ballistol are decent for longer term protection and lubrication.

Regards,
Slim

[Cuts Crooked]

SUPERJUICE!!!!!!! 1-10 mix of ballistol and windex It'll clean anythang!!!!!

...and, like Slim, I like CLP or straight ballistol fer longer term storeage.

[Drydock]

Straight water to clean, straight Ballistol to lube.  I keep a water filled nose spray bottle with the straw removed to squirt down the muzzle on dry days, keeps the fouling plenty soft.

[hoosegowhank]

Thanks, looks like I will use the 1:10 mix for awhile.  Have to clean my guns out back as the Missus don't like the smell of Balistol.  Says it stinks up the house.  I thought it smelled pretty good myself.

HH

[Dick Dastardly]

Ballistol actually doesn't mix with water to make a solution.  It's a colloidal suspension, much like milk.  It looks like milk when added to water and thus is named Moosemilk.  I used to use a 1:7 Ballistol:water mix but it wouldn't stay in suspension.  So, thru experimentation I found that mixed about 1:10, Moosemilk is pretty stable.

When the water evaporates a protective film of Ballistol remains.  That's why my guns don't rust.

Good stuff, but I still don't use it on my breakfast cereal. . . .

DD-DLoS

[Noz]

Makes good hair oil and skin softener.

[James Hunt]

Ballistol? Nonsense.

You should refuse the use of these modern 20th century products on fine old firearms (invented in 1904 by the folks that brought you WWI and II). Clean those old smokepoles as God intended - with water - and then tallow for protection of the metal (mix it 3:1 with beeswax if you insist on getting fancy like the British). A very small touch of sweet oil (unless you killed a whale recently) on moving parts. Good to go. Never a spot of rust. Shoots like a dream. 

I will now take cover and prepare to repel the wave of Ballistol supporters! 

Seriously I have found the above to be the least expensive and to work the best. Anything else is a marketing solution for a non-existent problem.

[Pitmaster]

You should refuse the use of these modern 20th century products on fine old firearms (invented in 1904 by the folks that brought you WWI and II). Clean those old smokepoles as God intended - with water - and then tallow for protection of the metal (mix it 3:1 with beeswax if you insist on getting fancy like the British). A very small touch of sweet oil (unless you killed a whale recently) on moving parts. Good to go. Never a spot of rust. Shoots like a dream. 

Can you translate your post into NOOB? I want to make sure that my interpretation is the same as what you meant. Plus, I can look smart and say "That's what I thought" after you translate.

[James Hunt]

Pitmaster said: "Can you translate your post into NOOB?"

Huh? What's NOOB?

Is this what you want?

Water = any tap water, creek water. Use as is.

Tallow = rendered fat, bear, buffalo, beef, sheep - buy it from DGW for a couple of bucks, it will last you several years.

Dead Whales = Spermaceti (from the sperm whale and others), from sperm oil it is an ester of fatty acid, very popular in a lot of preparations in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centery. Pretty darn hard to get now! Jojoba oil is a reasonable facsimile. Was a very preferred lubricant used on a variety of items to include watches and guns.

Sweet oil = Olive oil, poor mans spermaceti. Don't spend the money on extra virgin, absolutely slutty works just as well.

Not being flipant here. These simple and cheap products work just as well, and in many cases better than anything produced now. If you must use a modern product because it is, you can use Type II transmission fluid for a lubricant and metal preservative as it associates well with black powder. A couple of bucks for a can will last you a long time. I didn't get any bail out money and cutting cost is pretty big with me.

I use tallow on everything from leather to metal. It is a great preservative. As an example of its ability, I shot blanks (powder and a wad) out of an original REM NMA for a video of someone in perid attire shooting off of a horse. Afterwords I left the gun laying around the barn for almost a day (pretty humid as it rained later in the day) before I remembered that I had left it in its holster there (my barn, that is why I was careless), not having any time to clean it I threw it in the gun safe in its leather holster (not a practice of mine) where I promptly forgot it for almost three weeks until I recently got it out for an upcoming NCOWS shoot. Even I wondered what it would look like, but while there was BP crud in the bore and cylinder - there was absolutely no rust. I attribute this to the fact that I liberally use tallow after ckeaning it up with water (I at times have used 90% isopropyl - OH but prefer water). Occasionaly I have seen surface rust form on a rifle as the result of weather exposure. I have found that if it is just on the surface you can rub tallow into it, let it sit for a day or so and then rub it out with a cloth. Pretty amazing stuff.

I'm telling you this is a cheap solution that works.

[Dick Dastardly]

Our military chose Ballistol over all others, then went to war with the country where it was made.  Ballistol is good stuff and I think it's made on this side of the pond now.

DD-DLoS

[Ranch 13]

  Now the question begs...... Do the naysayers of ballistol due to it origins ,,,, use Schuetzen,Kik or Swiss powder or Goex.

[James Hunt]

No naysayer. Ballistol by all accounts is a fine product. So are a myriad of other products. My point is in my experience, not a one of them works better than the least expensive option. The reference to the Germans was sarcasm.

Some drink domestic, others imported. Some are inclined to Starbucks, others Dunkin Donuts. Some use Ballistol, others ....

In the end there are bigger issues. 

[Pitmaster]

Will pork fat work as well as beef? I've got a couple gallons of lard. Some of it is even the leaf lard.

I wasn't being flippant. I wasn't sure what you meant by certain terms particularly sweet oil. NOOB is a new person.