I've been using Bore Butter for years, but...

[northmn]

Mink oil, coon fat, bear fat, tallow, Sperm Whale oil, Crisco, Bore Butter, vaseline all work within their parameters. They protect the bore and shoot OK for a few shots and will shoot good enough to get a game animal.  The big thing about Bore Butter is the "seasoning claims"  which some swear by and others swear at.  Their claim is that you can season a bore, like a cast iron skillet, to prevent rust.  Personally I think its BS.  I have kept going back to Crisco because it seems to work as well as anything else for a few shots and its very inexpensive compared to other bore lubes.  I keep the stuff in my shop to lube brass cases for sizing and have used it as tap lube and for drilling.  It works better than many oils for those purposes.   Whether that means anything as bullet lube   Bullet lube in a cast bullet gun seals the bullet from hot gases to prevent leading.  Many cast bullet shooters claim that no lube is needed with a properly hardened bullet of correct size as there is no blow by.  Bullet lube used with black powder exists as much to react with the fouling and keep it soft as anything.  Greases tend to build up, but keep the fouling soft, water based lubes actually clean the bore when loading and help to keep the fouling soft and prevent buildup.  They also do not protect the bore. 

DP

[roundball]

The big thing about Bore Butter is the "seasoning claims"  which some swear by and others swear at.  Their claim is that you can season a bore, like a cast iron skillet, to prevent rust.  Personally I think its BS.

Agree...unless I'm misunderstanding how "seasoning" might work without "buildup", I return my bores to the bare raw metal state after every use.

We've also washed our various cast iron skillets and griddles for years with the same approach...steaming hot soapy water and rinse so they're squeaky clean...heat bone dry in the oven...wipe down with vegetable oil while still hot...I guess we've had some pieces for 35-40 years.
But I've seen what some look like that people have allowed to 'season' without a complete degrunge after every use, and I wouldn't eat food cooked on them 

[northmn]

I do pretty much the same with the cast skillets.  They get exposed to hot soapy water, where some like to just scrape them out.  I have seen more alchemy on patch and bullet lubes than any other subject except perhaps cleaning solvents. 

DP

[roundball]

I do pretty much the same with the cast skillets.  They get exposed to hot soapy water, where some like to just scrape them out.  I have seen more alchemy on patch and bullet lubes than any other subject except perhaps cleaning solvents.  
DP

And one of the common themes often found among all those discussions seems to be that after some get comfortable with what "they do" they sort of disdain other approaches if it's different from theirs, in some cases to the extreme of demeaning to other products or approaches...really pretty silly.
 
When in reality, there are many, many types of lubes and cleaning techniques that all work...the main differences are the occasional unique steps that may have to be understood and taken with the different choices...even different climates with different temperature & humidity ranges can enter into the effectiveness of different choices and how they're used.

I've noticed a couple times over the years where someone has conducted a back yard experiment, leaving several stips of steel outside in the elements for 2 weeks...having coated each piece of metal with some type of different lube then recorded the results after 2 weeks were up...declaring from that which lube is best.
While I'm sure it might have been an interesting experiment to the experimenter, unfortunately the results have no practial bearing on the reality of how I care for my Flintlocks for example...I clean, dry, lube mine and they live in the controlled temp & humidity conditions of my house...they don't lay on a picnic table in the back yard for 2 weeks 

[Bart]

Bear grease, rendered fat, it works!! The frontiersmen used it so should you!!

[Bart]

Bear grease !! the frontiersmen used it so should you it works !!

[hanshi]

What's the difference between "Minks" and "Minx"?  I always heard it was okay to go after "Minks" but that I should stay away from "Minx". 

[Daryl]

 

[J.D.]

What's the difference between "Minks" and "Minx"?  I always heard it was okay to go after "Minks" but that I should stay away from "Minx". 

One will chew on you in a trap, but provides luxurious  fur and and a wonderful oil.

The other has nice "fur", traps you, and will chew you up and spit you out. 

[yip]

 hello thar; i use plane ole spit. our trail walk has 25 plus targets,and the only thing i use is spittttt. now i have a 50 cal Ed Rayl barrel with round riflin, darn thing shoots as well the last shot as it did the first. the only time i run a cleanin patch thur it is when i get home. 60 gr ole powder and a.490b round ball .015 pilla ticking and waaala. huntings another thing but,fer target shootin nuthin better than spit fer me.

[Roger Fisher]

What's the difference between "Minks" and "Minx"?  I always heard it was okay to go after "Minks" but that I should stay away from "Minx". 

One will chew on you in a trap, but provides luxurious  fur and and a wonderful oil.

The other has nice "fur", traps you, and will chew you up and spit you out. 

Love it man, so darn true....

[Mad Monk]

The clearest demo of Bore Butter I've seen was in a hunting bud's rifle.  He'd been using it 10+ years, following the "no pretroleum" dictates to the letter.  Cleaned only with water.  Bore was real black and he was real proud of it.

Last year it started shooting like a cheap shotgun with bad loads.  "Groups" were loose patterns.  And this guy is a very good shot.

At my insistence, rather than replace the barrel, he tried cleaning it with brake pad cleaner solution on a series of patches.  The bore came back to shiny bright, and all the "seasoning" was lost.  Broke his heart.  Until he shot it.  It's a tack driver once again. 

Yep!  No petroleum.
T/C Bore Butter had been made by Ox-Yoke.  A slight modification of the 1000 Shot Plus lube.
When the 1000 Shot Plus first came out I did an acetone extraction on a sample.  Sent the resulting extracted oil up to the spectro lab at work.  The results were mineral oil.  Mineral oil is extracted from petroleum.

If you take a blob of the lube, place it in a metal pan and heat it with a propane torch it will burn down and leave a very thin black asphalt-like film in the pan.  Same thing happens in the bore.  Eventually with time it will coat the bore to a point where it begins to throw off the accuracy.  You then have to go down the bore with a solvent that will dissolve asphalt.  brake fluid, mineral spirits, turpentine. zylene, toluene, etc.  Usually accuracy is restored.

The idea of "seasoning" the bore is a bit of nonsense that Ox-Yoke came up with around 1984 or 1985.

As to the 1000 shots without wiping the bore and no corrosion in the bore.
They showed the test rifle leaning up against a tree as if it had fired 1000 shots out in the woods.  Not so.  That photo session was the only time that rifle had been out of the climate controlled shooting building T/C used.  They kept the relative humidity in the building at 30%.  Gee.  Funny thing.  That is the point in relative humidity where black powder residue is non-hygroscopic.  Meaning it will not hold ANY amount of water at 30% R.H. or lower.  And without any moisture/water in the bp residue it cannot rust or corrode the bore.  At or below 30% R.H. the black powder residue is like a fine powder.  Turn the gun muzzle down and bounce the barrel a few times and most of the dry powder residue falls out of the muzzle.

Behavior in the field can be a whole nother game.  When the temperature drops down towards freezing the lube gets hard.  Like a wax.  Loading follow up shots can be a real chore.  This being made worse at low humidity with dry fouling.

The lube works most of the time but it is not 100% perfect.  So you just learn to deal with some of the results of its use.

Bill K.
Did he switch from Bore Butter?  Nope.  He's stuck on it.  But he vows that once a year he's going to use brake pad cleaner.

[flintlock]

Well, I made the original post on this topic, and I guess I've gotten my money's worth. Thanks for all the good comments and information. I now have plenty of new (to me) things to try out at the range. It's always nice to have a good reason for the missus of why I HAVE to go shooting. 

Flintlock