Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing BALLISTOL Universal Oil

I use the Multi-Purpose before I put guns away. spray them down and wipe them off. It works good on Blued, Stainless Steel guns and Wood or synthetic stocks. It does smell a little funky, but I like the fact that I can spray it on anything. I use other assorted cleaners and lubes for the bore and internal parts.

Yep. After I clean with KG-12 I spray the bore with Hornady One Shot and then use a bore mop to remove the excess. Because One Shot dries to a film, I do not store the rifle muzzle down. However, some oils can migrate out of the bore into the action and/or magazine so it's not a bad idea to store muzzle down for a few days in the safe.

Before the next range day or hunt I run a dry patch through the bore for safety sake.

Ballistol has been around a while. When it first showed up on the East coast it was in the early 80’s and it was handled by a guy driving a station wagon with cases in the back hitting gun shops trying to set up buyers and accounts. I still have two of the original steel round cans with the old style label with the big green Juniper branch on it. The label told the buyer that it was good for general lubrication, leather, firearms, as a disinfectant for minor wounds etc. That it is issued to German and NATO troops as an all around field do-all oil.

Well Ballistol’s biggest problem was, and still is, poor marketing and networking. The old traveling salesman with the station wagon told the gun shop I was working in that the Germans really didn’t give a damn whether it sold well in America or not. I’d see him at gun shows and all he had under the table was three cases and he rarely sold more than a case and a half. Couldn’t compete with Birchwood Casey, Hoppes, Shooters Choice or the other couple dozen local products. I know that the early formula had licorice root oil in it as you could smell it. That the old Ballistol would eat brass though many refused to believe it. I tested it once in a plastic jug with some 45-70 cases and after a week or two they came out shinier than ever but I could easily bend or crumple the mouths with my fingers. I still use a lot of it despite the new formula or what the latest product skewed reviews say. Kind of like Consumer Reports that have never said a good thing about Ford trucks.

Rick

Great tip STRSWilson!

I saw that on a YouTube video, even using oil on actions the oil can migrate into the stock butt, don't want that!

Didn't think of the muzzle-down idea, great idea, thanks!

Don't over oil then it's not an issue

Use Eesox in the bore

To educate myself it, I watched these videos, what do you think?

Very Interesting

Sectioned cleaning rods are a no go. Cleaning from the muzzle is a no go. Cleaning without a bore guide is a no go. The solvents recommended are OK but not the best performers for copper fouling which is the most problematic issue with bore fouling.


Here is what I would recommend:

1. Get a coated Dewey or BoreTech one piece cleaning rod.
2. Get both nylon and bronze cleaning brushes - bore specific
3. Get a bore guide for your action/caliber.
4. Get cotton/flannel cleaning patches and cleaning jag that fits your bore.

Cleaning Solvents:

Powder/Carbon Residue - Hoppes/CLP/BoreTech/OneShot/Kroil/Montana Extreme/Butches/ATF/ etc. etc.
Copper Fouling - KG-12 period.

Cleaning Routine:

1. Using a bore guide run wet patches through the bore with powder/carbon cleaner. Make one pass with patches from chamber to muzzle and remove. Do not scrub at this point.

2. Let the solvents have time to loosen/attack fouling - 15 minutes

3. Soak a bronze brush with powder/ carbon solvent and make 5 to 10 long slow passes through the bore.

4. Dry patch out the residue - one pass from chamber to muzzle. Use patches until clean.

5. Then using a nylon brush wet with KG-12 make one or two passes through the bore. Let is soak for 15 minutes.

6. Push clean patch through the bore. One pass.

7. Depending on how clean you want to get the bore you can do another pass with KG-12 until the dry patches come out clean.

8. Lightly oil the bore with Hornady OneShot or EEZOX.

9. Don’t forget to open the magazine and wipe it clean with OneShot or CLP. Also clean and lubricate the bolt again OneShot or CLP.

The worst cleaning mistake folks make is scrubbing a bore to death. Just let the chemicals do their thing and you won’t have to scrub so much.

If you want to visually inspect your bore to see how well you're doing get a cheap borescope from Amazon - Borescope

Thanks for the advice STRSWilson.

I always use a bore guide, and this is the Bore Rod I use.



What have been doing for years:

I run a brass wire through the barrel several to loosen any copper bore fouling then I switch to clean white patches soaked with a brand of bore solvent called Truly Remarkable Bore Solvent. I keep on running fresh patches soaked with this solvent until the patches come out clean, meaning they are white and without residual blue color on them. That's about it.

I do not overwork the barrel rifling with the brush since it is an M1917, and I do not want to ruin the threading, this rifle is a great shooting rifle!

Now that I have the barrel off the stock because I am refinishing my M1917 stock I want to do a detailed cleaning and oiling of all other parts.

I bought the BALLISTOL, to give all parts a final spray of this oil. I have never put oil in the barrel itself, but since it acts as a cleaner, lubricant, and protectant I was thinking this may be a good idea, which is why I asked if anyone else does that.

Looking forward to seeing my M1917 back on the finished stock, should look real Pruddy

Took a look at bore inspection devices, since I am from Canada I found this on, good enough?

https://www.amazon.ca/SKYBASIC-Industrial-Waterproof-Inspection-Semi-Rigid/dp/B0BV98JZ22/ref=sr_1_13?crid=1P5DRKSS4BQTJ&keywords=rifle%2Bborescope&qid=1701014923&sprefix=rifle%2Bborescope%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-13&th=1

Almost all copper solvents contain ammonia and ammonia will pit and corrode almost all alloys of stainless steel. So if you’re using ammonia based copper solvents you need to wipe them very clean before a lay away light coat of oil in your bore. Never leave your bore wet with ammonia for any length of time. I always wash my barrels after cleaning with brake cleaner the oil. If when using a copper solvent your patch turns blue, the more copper brighter blue, the you know it’s an ammonia based solvent but actually your nose will confirm it. For years the benchrest crowd used Sweets but this is a very strong solvent so on stainless you need to be careful removing it. Some of the newer products may or may not use ammonia but I find it hard to believe anything short of strong acids will dissolve copper much faster.

Of course copper solvent will also dissolve your bronze brushes as they are mostly copper. I’ve got old 35 & 30 cal brushes that now fit my 25 cal bores. Same with brass jags but not as aggressively. On badly gilded barrels I’ve found that two or three passes with Sweets followed by JB bore compound answers well. I think this is because the ammonia softens up the copper gild and the JB compound sorts of sweeps it out. I have a shelf full of years accumulation of bore cleaners but it would be a full time job buying and testing all of the new cleaners that continually pop up. However since the 80’s I’ve used Ballistol for most everything and use it on a lightly wetted patch in my barrels before lay away.

Yep ammonia based cleaners are hygroscopic and will cause corrosion if left in the bore too long or residual remains after cleaning. If someone is going to use them they need to take care of flushing the bore and patching it out after use. That's why I feel KG-12 is a better choice as it is water-based plus it tackles copper better than any other solvent.

KB - That might work, however, check the diameter of the camera end as you might be limited on bore size. The smaller ones are designed to interface with a cell phone.

STRSWilson Good Call buddy! I just checked the diameter of the camera: Camera Diameter : 0.31 inch

The Diameter of an Enfield .30-06 is: 308 inch

Will that work?

Another interesting question about Ballistol, it says it is also good on Leather and rifle straps????

Penetrating Oil on Leather?? Ever heard of that? lol

KB - The one I have has a 7mm camera. So you might want to search around on Amazon.

7mm Scope

I hate the Dewey rods. There is no thrust bearing on the handle and mine rarely lasted more than 2-300 strokes before dragging so bad that the rod no longer spins

Well guys this is the stock that holds my M1917.

To date:

1. Stripped

2. Sanded out major and deep scratches earned over 20 years of Bush hunting

3. With an IRON, I steamed out quite a few serious dents, that worked better than I ever hoped!

20 Tung Oil applications to date!

4. The first application was 50/50% - 50% Mineral Spirits/ 50% 100% Pure Tung Oil mixture.

5. Followed by 19 more applications of 100% Pure Tung oil. In between every application, I rubbed the entire stock with 0000 Synthetic Steel. A member told me not to use real Steel wools because metal shards may break off and get into the wood, and rust. I ever happy I listened to his great advice.

I am saving the checkering for the last job and am thinking of giving it only 2 applications.

6. The first with 10/90% - 10% Mineral Spirits mixed with 90% Pure Tung oil.

7.The second with 100% Pure Tung oil

After letting the Tung oil Cure, I will finish it with:

8. First light polishing with Pumice FF

9. Second Light polishing with Pumice FFFF

10. 3rd and FINAL polishing with Rottenstone FFFF

11. The last application and coat will be with Renaissance Wax and I will call it a day

While the stock and Tung oil are curing, and only after a minimum 30-day curing period, I will clean the barrel and Action with Ballistol.

This has been a very long process and without you Gentlemen's GREAT and VALUABLE advice and input, I do not believe it would look this way. So thanks again, Gentlemen!

What do you guys think?

Very nice work. That wood has so much more character now than it had with the original finish. This is one of the reasons I usually strip and completely refinish. I have found so many factory stocks are hiding the great figure and wood grain that is just begging to be exposed. Nice thing about Tung oil is you can always add another coat at anytime to freshen up the finish if it looks a little dull..

Like most things, that's a matter of opinion. Wipe Out foam kicks copper's ass, at least my bore scope says it does. Fill the barrel with it, let it sit as long as you want to, patch it dry. Clean the carbon out with Kroil first though, maybe that helps the copper some too.

And yes, Ballistol works good on leather.

The stock looks great.

Ballistol is the best brass sizing lube and cleaner I have ever used. I absolutely love the stuff!

If lubrication is your goal, there are LOTS of better choices.

If rust protection is your goal, it kind of depends on the circumstances. It's fair at that for inside, low humidity situations.

Rarely does one product fill both roles the "best".

Cleaning is cleaning, & depends on what you are trying to clean. Again, a dedicated cleaner will almost always work "best".

MM