Ballistol & Handpumps

[Nomadic Pirate]

A few weeks back I opened my 2 Hills, these pumps have seen alot of service the past 2 years and where extremely dirty, me been me wanted to try something I've never heard of so to clean the pumps and remove the small rusted parts I used ballistol and steelwool.

Cleaned all parts well than let out to dry for 24 hrs before reassembling, of course I siliconed everything as i put the pumps together.

happy to report that after over 2 weeks of hard use, (that .357 takes alot of pumping to shoot it  ) the pupms are working beautifully and seem to me to be smoother than when new,...definatly can smell the Ballistol after pumping 

[JPowell490]

Hmmm, I have to get some of that stuff, never used it.

[Nomadic Pirate]

I use it on everything, outside of the gun, wood stocks, barrel cleaning, pellet lubing, triggers, bolts, my Glock 19, Trooper .357 and Marlin 60ss

[Habanero69er]

Good stuff. Great multi-purpose cleaner/lube.

[Berky]

Where do you get it? What's it look like?

[Habanero69er]

Pyramyd Air carries it.

https://www.pyramydair.com/product/ballistol-lube-aerosol-spray-6-oz?a=2072

[Nomadic Pirate]

I like the non aerosol version, you can get from amazon

[Louca]

OK, I got some Ballistol recently just to check it out.  I have and used it so far on only a Ruger 10/22 rimfire I am tinkering with.  Does anyone know exactly what is in that stuff?

One comment I can make is it does seem to clean pretty well but MAN! does that stuff stink!  When it dries (I have an aerosol can of it) it kind of smells like dirty stinky feet.    I noticed that first thing before I used any when I popped the cap off the can.  It is the stinkiest substance I have in all my gun inventory.

I am trying to compare Ballistol to Break Free CLP, to determine positives and negatives about each.  I suppose the stink of Ballistol is not important if it has some kind of superior qualities.  Has anyone compared those two products?

Lou

[Habanero69er]

Dirty feet? Never noticed that. Most people think it smells good. But, we all have our opinion...or maybe I'm just used to stinky feet!

[Louca]

I don't know.  Some folks say they really like the smell.  I am wondering if it might be the propellant in the aerosol can, or maybe there are actually different products.  Mine is an aerosol can that says "Ballistol Multi-purpose", other cans I have seen say "Sportsmans Oil".  I am thinking those are essentially the same product.

When I am spraying it out of the can, it smells fine.  It is just when everything sits for a few days and sort of dries out.

The truth of it all is, if it has great properties, I can live with the smell and will use it a lot.

(Edit: quite a few guys at RimfireCentral.com discuss Ballistol.  Link is http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=492086&highlight=ballistol)

Lou

[QVTom]

OK, I got some Ballistol recently just to check it out.  I have and used it so far on only a Ruger 10/22 rimfire I am tinkering with.  Does anyone know exactly what is in that stuff?

One comment I can make is it does seem to clean pretty well but MAN! does that stuff stink!  When it dries (I have an aerosol can of it) it kind of smells like dirty stinky feet.    I noticed that first thing before I used any when I popped the cap off the can.  It is the stinkiest substance I have in all my gun inventory.

I am trying to compare Ballistol to Break Free CLP, to determine positives and negatives about each.  I suppose the stink of Ballistol is not important if it has some kind of superior qualities.  Has anyone compared those two products?

Lou

I have found that Break-Free CLP is very detrimental to polyurethane seals.  I don't know about buena, nitrile or viton types.  Keep far away from your CO2 guns.

Tom

[Nomadic Pirate]

When I 1st started using Ballistol I found the smell plain awful, now I like it

[only1harry]

I use it on everything, outside of the gun, wood stocks, barrel cleaning, pellet lubing, triggers, bolts, my Glock 19, Trooper .357 and Marlin 60ss

Same here except for pellet lubing. 
I have been using Ballistol for 6-7yrs now.  For firearms/powder burners: I use Ballistol outside on metal surfaces mostly, and FP-10 inside the Action (semi-auto & bolt action) for lubricating moving parts, after I clean it with Ballistol - whatever surfaces I can reach inside the action without removing it, I use Ballistol.  For thorough cleaning I remove the action from the gun and spray it down with Break-Free.

As far as airguns go I do clean the bore with Ballistol if there is a lot of lead deposits, antimony and other stuff from pellets, but I make sure it is all removed with dry patches right after and wipe down the breach area if any Ballistol gets on it.  I also use it on outside metal surfaces of most of my airguns.  NEVER use Break-Free or "bore cleaners" on any part of the airgun, unless you have taken it apart completely. If any of the regular bore cleaners leak past the bore or the breach of your airgun, it will eat through your seals & o-rings, rubber or polyurethane. 

I only use Break Free (aerosol spray) or Hoppe's bore cleaner on a couple of patches to clean the barrels of my Powder Burners, and also the action of same, which I remove completely from the gun first, and spray it down outside in the backyard (all that stuff is very harmful to you so you need good ventilation).  In between action cleanings I remove the bolt from my PB rifles and clean them with Ballistol thoroughly to remove copper, and other metals after every shooting session.  Then wipe off/dry the bolt well, and then apply FP-10 oil, or other good oil/lubricant for storage or before going to the range.  You can leave the Ballistol in there without regular oil, that's fine.. since Ballistol is also an oil, but I prefer to use it as a cleaner only inside the gun/action, wipe off, and use FP-10 as a lubricant and protectant before putting the gun away.  Use these sparingly, in small quantities. Less is better.   

Ballistol is also great for removing mild surface rust.

Ballistol is harmless compared to dedicated bore cleaners and the smell is not bad.  Ballistol is something like 99.9% natural.  HOWEVER, do NOT use Ballistol on any nickel or gold surfaces!  It should be used on steel and blued surfaces, because it is a "dual-purpose" Cleaner and Lubricant.  This means it will dissolve other softer metals and break them down.

I like Ballistol but prefer to wipe it if any gets in my airgun's action or breach, because if it stays on long, it can slowly damage rubber seals and o-rings.  A little bit of Ballistol on the trigger assembly and some other parts away from seals/o-rings is fine. But I prefer to use a regular oil and leave Ballistol for the outside of my airguns and bore cleaning. 
For PCP's use silicone grease on seals and o-rings.  With Springers I just wipe the breach seal well after a bore cleaning with Ballistol, and leave it dry.  It gets lubed with the FP-10 oil that I lube all my pellets in.

Harry

[Hallucinosis]

ok oldish thread, but wanted to toss in my feedback on Ballistol too...

What I love about ballistol is that it does not hurt any of the components on my firearms and airguns, but is an amazing lubricant/cleaner that does not ruin rubber.

Since I made the switch to it I use it on all my firearms and airguns. It even seems to work well on wood.

Along with these great properties, it's non-toxic, which I cannot say for many of the cleaning products I used previously.

I still use a bit of mil-comm TW-25b on the contact points for handgun slides and rifle bolts, but otherwise it's all Ballistol.

[evandj]

Came across this thread about a week ago while reading and chuckled at the comments regarding the smell.

I do use ballistol and the smell is quite distinct so while wiping down my rifle after use today it suddenly dawned on me what it smells like: BEDBUGS !!!
The stuff smells like bedbugs when they get squished. I remember this when I was in the Boy Scouts sleeping in a cabin, I woke up itchy and there were welts on my right flank, the scoutmaster took a look at the sheets and pointed to us these bugs. He squished some of them and they stunk.... a stink that you will always remember

[willbird]

OK, I got some Ballistol recently just to check it out.  I have and used it so far on only a Ruger 10/22 rimfire I am tinkering with.  Does anyone know exactly what is in that stuff?

One comment I can make is it does seem to clean pretty well but MAN! does that stuff stink!  When it dries (I have an aerosol can of it) it kind of smells like dirty stinky feet.    I noticed that first thing before I used any when I popped the cap off the can.  It is the stinkiest substance I have in all my gun inventory.

I am trying to compare Ballistol to Break Free CLP, to determine positives and negatives about each.  I suppose the stink of Ballistol is not important if it has some kind of superior qualities.  Has anyone compared those two products?

Lou

I saw a Youtube video where the guy claimed to be a chemist, he said Ballistol is mostly mineral oil with some additives, so many of the benefits attached to it might be achieved with plain old mineral oil :-).



Bill