I've been using Ballistol for several years. When I was still shooting rifles I used the Dutch Schoultz method of using 6:1 (6 parts water to 1 part Ballistol) to create "dry patches". It worked very well. When I transitioned to flintlock smoothbores I used the same 6:1 mix as a bore solvent to wipe between shots. It's sort of a reverse "dry patch" technique in that the Ballistol is leaving a slight film of lube in the bore. Wet patch followed by a dry patch. I then load with powder, an over powder wad, ball or shot, and a thin over shot card. It has worked well for me. At the end of the day I remove the lock and scrub it under hot water from the tap. I use compressed air to blow away the water and follow it with a liberal dousing with WD 40. More on that later. Then I wrap a paper towel around the barrel and stock to cover the vent. It's easy to stuff the ends into the lock mortise. This absorbs any solution that comes from the vent during the next step. I clean the bore with patches wet with the same 6:1 solution I've been using all day. It usually takes about 5 patches before the last one comes out a light grey. A couple of dry patches are followed by two patches soaked in WD 40. I remove the paper towel from around the barrel/vent area and wipe down with 6:1 solution to remove fouling followed by a pipe cleaner through the vent. I wipe down the exterior of the barrel with WD 40. Finally, I soak one last patch with WD 40 and run it down the bore on the jag leaving it against the breech. To be clearer, the rod, jag, and WD 40 soaked patch are left in the barrel. The entire cleaning process takes less than 30 minutes and I have had absolutely no rust show up anywhere. I have a Dutch Club Butt 20 gauge fowling piece and a Pedersoli Brown Bess musket that get shot often. No rust.
I wish I could claim credit for all of the above but I got all my ideas from Dutch Schoultz. I just adapted his ideas to smoothbores. I also need to point out that I only shoot flintlocks. I don't know if the cleaning technique I use will work on percussion guns because I've never tried it. Percussion guns have a much longer and more convoluted flash channel than a flinter. There's more places for fouling to hide. And before folks start screaming about the evils of WD 40 let me say that there was a time when I agreed with you completely. I was a full time gunsmith for a fair number of years. I shot mostly black powder but worked on modern firearms because that paid the bills. I won't even guess how much money I made thanks to WD 40. I warned my customers against its use. But there's a difference between the average modern shooter and us black powder types. I made money thanks to the fact that modern shooters will all too often shoot their guns, hose them down with WD 40, and put them away without cleaning. WD 40 will form a gum over time and that gum will attract and hold smokeless powder fouling and all the other dirt that ends up in a firearms action. The eventual result is a firearm that simply ceases to work thanks to accumulated crud. We black powder shooters clean our guns thoroughly each and every time we shoot them. For that simple reason we can get away with using that bad ol' WD 40. It does what it was designed to do, displace water. No moisture in contact with steel, no rust. At least that's what has worked for me. I'm not trying to convert anybody.
Storm
