About Ballistol
- Thread starter MGF1964
- Start date
I also like FF on some firearms. Especially great for storage! Do you clean them before use or run the FF? How about the bore, do you treat it with the FF and how does it affect your POA/POI?
I run a few dry patches down the barrel before shooting so I don't think using FF affects POI.
You could use isopropyl to really clean it out but the first shot will get rid of any leftover FF.
Ballistol smells like black licorice vomit. It is essentially mineral oil, that's all.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2022
Nothing magic in the antiquated Ballistol product.
Read the MSDS.
Ballistol MSDS nothing special
Mineral Oil
Potassium Oleate
Ammonium Oleate
Oleic Acid
Benzyl Alcohol
Amyl Alcohol
Isobutyl Alcohol
Benzyl Acetate
Anethole
BUT, it smells good due to the Benzyl Acetate and Anethole.
Time to get beat up, but reality is; great stuff in 1904. Today, not so much.
Read the MSDS.
Ballistol MSDS nothing special
Mineral Oil
Potassium Oleate
Ammonium Oleate
Oleic Acid
Benzyl Alcohol
Amyl Alcohol
Isobutyl Alcohol
Benzyl Acetate
Anethole
BUT, it smells good due to the Benzyl Acetate and Anethole.
Time to get beat up, but reality is; great stuff in 1904. Today, not so much.
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I mean, a large portion of the firearms library is still very similar to what was out there in 1904…. So…
But I agree that does t sound like any funny magic and there are likely as good or better options today.
I probably have 8-10 brands of firearmscleaners and preservatives on my shelf, but the G96 has always been my favorite. During my many shooting years I've gone through quite a few aerosol cans of G96 and will buy some more when the current one is empty,
Ballistol is the only lube/cleaner that has failed me.
Would you elaborate? Was it a failure to protect or a lubrication related failure? Or something different entirely?
Turned to goobery rubbish. And isn't much of a cleaner. With so many good cleaners and lubricants why deal with something that is neither?
Gotcha - I agree.
Like the hoppes 9 to clean and archoil lp for lube
Hmm, sounds odd. I keep all my firearms cleaned/lubed with it and only it. From a cold war era G3 style rifle to a modern impingement AR15 style to my glocks. Where I will agree is that there are better cleaners and better lubes. With ballistol it's not a good fast solvent for a real dirty weapon. You can cut it with water, it emulsifies, to improve the cleaning but I don't usually even do that. I keep my guns cleaned routinely and it's a snap once you get down to the metal and just keep it lubed. Powder and crud pretty much wipe off. For a dirty dirty gun, sure you might want something more aggressive to work faster. I'd still just use ballistol, spray on and let it sit for 15 mins and then come back to wipe off. Repeat as needed. And I don't bore-snake or soak, just patches through the barrels.
While it's not really the best at anything it does, why I still swear by it is that it does all those things WHILE BEING NON-TOXIC. To me that's huge, maybe not to everyone. And I mean I use it everywhere, not just guns. All my leather, most of my plastic/rubber things, and of course most metals. Think door/window seals on your car. Holsters. Boots/belts. I even reconditioned an aging set of soft-bags on a used motorcycle I picked up. The liners, exteriors, and snap-clips were on the verge of cracking and just looking tired/worn/brittle. Sprayed ballistol all over and now they're nice and flexible, feel and look like new.
So sure, you can get another CLP for the guns, obenaufs for the boots, 303 protectant for car, etc etc. So many great products. But to me, having 1 product that does a dozen of these things quite well while being non-toxic and relatively cheap, it's a no-brainer. I buy it by the case online. My wife even came around to the smell! That did take a few months, but now she likes it. We use it on cat scratches for faster healing with less scarring too. Ballistol is what wd40 wants to be in terms of being multi-purpose, even despite one of them literally displacing water while the other emulsifies in it haha. Good luck out there!
Hoppes makes a great solvent. Their oil is great. I don't shoot handguns but lots through shotgun and rifles. Rem Oil is decent too.
The only product thats failed me was Lucas CLP. I had rust start on a 22 barrel. Thats never happened to me before. The 22 was cleaned then put in my safe.
The only product thats failed me was Lucas CLP. I had rust start on a 22 barrel. Thats never happened to me before. The 22 was cleaned then put in my safe.
JHZR2
Staff member
I agree on the non toxic angle. Super important. Already being exposed to lead and smoke that one wouldn’t if not shooting… having another path through the skin for junk to absorb through, especially while handling and cleaning is something useful to avoid.
Can’t say I’ve ever seen it turn into a goober. Even the 2002 can I have on my workbench that has residue around the spray head. The solvents will evaporate and leave a thicker film of heavy oil. It’s not grease, not petroleum jelly, it’s thinner and will readily move when touched.
I actually use it on all my tools to clean and keep them free of rust. It works well for that too. Again, zero concerns with incidental skin or clothing contact, which is not something one can say about other products.
The beauty of it all is that one can buy a little bottle of whatever alternate magic lube they wish, and use it where/how they want.
