Quote:
Originally posted by Adam Helmer
Any personal experiences with Bore Butter that would be helpful to this Longhunter?
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IMO, based upon my own experience, Bore butter works fine...specifically I use Natural Lube 1000.
If problems are experienced using NL1000 they are not product problems...they are user/process problems...I've used it for 16+ years on a lot of muzzleloaders and their bores are still like factory new today.
Three steps must be completed at the absolute 100% level and bore butter will work fine:
The bore MUST BE CLEANED 100%
Not just "a white patch clean" as a white patch doesn’t necessarily mean a bore is 100% clean...I've patch cleaned used barrels I've bought that came out white, then went over them vigorously with a bore brush and the patches came out black with crud broken loose with the bore brush.
NOTE:
I use a couple dozen brush strokes as part of the cleaning regimen every time to avoid any bore butter buildup whatsoever...I don't buy the seasoning deal in modern steel barrels...I keep them at the bare raw factory metal state at every cleaning...then after the bore is bone dry, plaster, I mean plaster them with multiple patches of NL1000 while the barrel is still hot/warm.
The bore MUST BE DRIED 100%
If it's not, rust can begin forming underneath bore butter;
The bore walls MUST BE LUBED 100%
To insulate the metal walls from the air (which contains moisture which causes rust)...the thick pasty bore butter does not "run" or "migrate" around like a liquid lube so attention must be given with multiple lubed patches to ensure every square inch of the bore walls are 100% plastered.
If bores are maintained with those three steps done at the 100% level, there can't be any rust...if any one of those steps fall short, there probably will be rust.
Is bore butter better than other type lubes?...that's not what I'm saying...just saying it absolutely is a good lube...however, it is not a forgiving lube...(doesn't displace moisture, doesn't run/migrate and cover metal surfaces automatically)...it requires strong cleaning/drying/lubing disciplines to use it exclusively and avoid having problems.
Like many things, it takes 100 times longer to describe it than it does to do it...I keep jars of patches heavily saturated with Hoppes and NL1000 right on the cleaning bench...just remember the following and you'll never have a problem:
100% clean
100% dried
100% lubed
The two reasons I use it are:
I can sit in the woods all day with an NL1000 patch on the powder and it has no negative effects on powder at all;
I can shoot 50 shot range sessions and never have to wipe the bore between shots.