Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Non-Corrosive BP substitutes...

What was the new stuff they came out with that isn't corrosive? I would like to be able to load and shoot my ML at least once a day for two or three days over a weeklong period without worrying about corrosion or having to strip it down and doing the hot soapy water and oven treatment..
<br>Thanks,
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<br>Mike

All BP substitutes are corrosive to one degree or another. Probably the least corrosive is the new powder by Hodgdon called Triple 7.
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<br>You could maybe be OK if you loaded up on Friday morning shot and missed, loaded again, hunted Saturday and Sunday and cleaned your gun Sunday when you got home.
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<br>However, on Sunday you tag a 6x6 Elk and it is 11PM before you get home. You put you unclean gun in your locker with every good intention of cleaning it when you get home from work Monday night. The wife has to work late, the kids are swamped with schoolwork and you have to fix dinner. The gun waits patiently while you have every good intention of getting it clean, you best friend is in a car wreck Tuesday and you are scheduled to work overtime the rest of the week to help cover the shortage; 12 on and 12 off tires you out pretty quickly over the next three week period.
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<br>Your friend is back to work and things start to return to normal and you get to go hunting this weekend except your gun is rusted, not beyond repair, but beyond hunting the rest of the season.
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<br>This happened to me. I sent the gun back to Thompson Center with a letter stained with tear drops explaining what happened. They repaired the gun and all it cost me was shipping.
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<br>I was lucky and I learned a lesson. Clean the gun when you are finished shooting.
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<br>Hope this helps.
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Dang Thanks Wall!!!
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<br>I was wanting something I could load for opening day Sat. shoot to unload if I don't see a deer, then repeat the process however many times I go hunting until the next Saturday when regular rifle season starts. Then give it a thorough cleaning and put it back in the safe!
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<br>Mike

The substitutes suck for any number of reasons, as far as cleaning there is no absolutely no reason to need to use hot soapy water and heat the barrel in an oven
just use non ammoniated glass cleaner (Glass plus) or cider vinegar
or any decent commercial BP solvent alternate saturated patches and dry patches till they start to come out clean then a patch saturated with rubbing alcohol which will combine with any residual moisture then evaporate
then a patch or two of LPS II, when you're ready to shoot again remove the oil with a patch or two of cheap aerosol brake cleaner like brak-kleen
pop a cap to clear the flash channel and you're ready to go.

If at some point later in the season you start getting some hang or miss fires
or you're putting the rifle away for the season then stick the barrel in a bucket of cold water after the solvent cleaning, then do the pump the water
through the bore then dry use the alcohol patches and use LPS III

Hot water promotes after rusting and is no better a BP solvent that cold water. cleaning BP is much easier than cleaning modern rifles.
fredj

ready on the right:
Read carefully the post by fredj. He knows his stuff. I do the same as he suggested 'cept I use M.A.P. that I make myself. His 'compounds' work well.
You will enjoy black powder shooting a lot more once you learn you don't hve to take a bath with the gun every time you shoot it.
I use M.A.P. wet swabs to clean the barrel innerds till they start to come pretty clean. Then a wet rubbing alcohol patch, the dry well. Oil or bore butter the innerds and don't forget to clean the residue from the outside too. Oil and check in a day or so for corrosion. Doubt you'll find any.
It takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to clean ol' "thumper". Never had rust troubles.
Nothing wrong with hot soapy water 'cept it ain't necessary and it does make 'er rust quick.
By the way, I consider fredj to be an expert and we are lucky to have him.

fredj: You been here long?
Heard from madmonk?
Kin ya get 'em here?

Howdy Maxi- I just got on here last night, it's a really nice site I've been on Greybeards which doesn't get nearly this amount of traffic but has lots of
interesting forums besides Muzzleloaders and BPCR's which they do have forums for, but they have a gunsmithing forum, surplus military arms etc.
Glad to see you here, it's like running into an American when I was
shore patrol in Spain ;-)
Regards fredj

Ready,
Why do you want to unload every day? I have left mine loaded for a week without any trouble. I just uncap it and leave it in the truck.

Windex with vinegar is a great BP cleaner. Cut up blue paper "shop towels" for cleaning patches and throw them in the fire when finished. It is quick. You can do it while you watch the steaks burn <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Mule

Been using Crisco as a starter lube and then spit patch after words on Round balls.Soap and water cleaning on bp fouling.
After reading Madmonks,Fredj,and Maxiballs post i decided to look down the barrel of my elcheapo bobcat.It was black,could run a patch down it and it came out clean.
Never have fully bought the bore seasoning thing.So i used some of that apple cider vinegar and went to work.
It took some scrubben up and down and a few patches but finally i could see the black disappear and the barrel start to shine.I dry patched it then followed with the MAP.Then dry patched again.
Been checking the bore with a patch every couple of days.Keeps coming out clean and spotless.The barrel really shines.
Loaded the gun with a spit patch and round ball to go bunny hunting.Loaded a little easier than before i belive.Didnt see no rabbits but did bag a tin can.
Fredj or Maxi..sould i be using a alchol swab and dry patch before i load the gun or will it be find with the map residue?
That mad monk sure does know his stuff about bp. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Well after maken that post above i decided to check that bobcat for rust.Shot one time yesterday and went home and cleaned with just map.Dry patched and put in the gun cabnet.
Ran a dry patch down to day and it was full of rust!Is the peroxide the culprut.The map was mixed 1 part murpghys,1 part alchole,1/2 peroxide.
Ive used map on my inline and it has no rust.And i havnt put any other lube in it yet.
Ive never used the apple cider vineger on it.
I cleaned the rust out of the bobcat with alchole.Will coat with oil.Hope that solves the problem.
Will alchole alone make a good cleaner? After shooting and also to remove the oil before shooting.
I am certinly confused at this point. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

The MAP will do nothing to protect against rust. It is only a cleaner, and a VERY strong one. The peroxide is the culprit, but only because you need to oil the bore after using MAP. Try to run an oil soaked patch down the bore after cleaning, and than again one or twice for the next day or two. I believe your problem will be solved.

Propred- To make sure you got all the rust out use some JB Probst bore cleaning paste or Rem clean paste or some very fine steel wool and oil alcohol won't cut rust. fredj

Fredj,will do.Thanks

Re: cleaning the bore.
Whatever you use to clean the thing, ALWAYS use some kind of protectant to coat the surface of the bore.
MAP is a cleaner only. It is dangerous to the bore if the bore is not protected.
I like fredj's sugestion to use an acohol patch or three to wipe put any ka-ka like moisture, peroxide and so forth.
Then oil the thing. Bore Butter the thing, or use something.
I do NOT like WD-40, but if it were handy and nothing else available I'd use it.
WD-40 is great for loosening rusty bolts. When this junk first came out years ago, Dad drowned all his guns in the stuff. Everybody did. Year later, he became ill and did not shoot or hunt. He still drowned his guns in WD-40. he died and I took his guns home some time later. One day I decided to clean 'em up and use 'em. They were varnished tight! The blueing had a brown coat that looked like shellac. I took them to a gunsmith friend who soaked the metal in solvent of some sort to disolve the junk. I don't know what the solvent was, but the smithy said that WD-40 kept him busy.
I've heard that WD-40 has been changed and won't varnish anymore. Don't know.
I'm cuurently using 'Slick-50' spary oil. Seems o.k. I like Rem-Oil also. For long term storage I doubt you could beat LPSIII.
By all means run an alcohol patch downbore followed by a dry one before loading.