Ballistol

[Henry88]

I used Ballistol on an Electric Guitar and guess what, it never looked better. I mean the steel and wood on my guns look better than new, and what is a guitar made of?

I really love this stuff; still hate the smell................

[bmur66]

After reading about Ballistol here and seeing that Hickok45 recommends it I thought I should give it a try so I picked some up on Amazon. I dug way back in the safe and took out the ol' Western Arms double and Mossberg 500. Wiped them down well with it. The smell is quite unique I will say that. It did make the old double look better than it has in a long time. Hard to say how I will like it long term compared to good old gun oil. I will have to dirty up a barrel soon to test how it works as a cleaner.

[JEBar]

After reading about Ballistol here and seeing that Hickok45 recommends it I thought I should give it a try so I picked some up on Amazon. I dug way back in the safe and took out the ol' Western Arms double and Mossberg 500. Wiped them down well with it. The smell is quite unique I will say that. It did make the old double look better than it has in a long time. Hard to say how I will like it long term compared to good old gun oil. I will have to dirty up a barrel soon to test how it works as a cleaner.

as a comparison, take out one of your cleaned firearms and run a Ballistol soaked patch down the barrel .... I'd love to hear what you find

[Henry88]

After reading about Ballistol here and seeing that Hickok45 recommends it I thought I should give it a try so I picked some up on Amazon. I dug way back in the safe and took out the ol' Western Arms double and Mossberg 500. Wiped them down well with it. The smell is quite unique I will say that. It did make the old double look better than it has in a long time. Hard to say how I will like it long term compared to good old gun oil. I will have to dirty up a barrel soon to test how it works as a cleaner.

Hey bmur66,

You have to use it for a while to build up the sheen, I don't know why.

I believe Hickok said that it is all he uses. I'm starting to use it on my airguns, though not the internals

But use it for a while, and I promise your gun will look it's best. I am almost at the point where I'm going to test it on furniture

[Shakey Jake]

I just got some Ballistol in and look forward to trying it on my next cleaning. I'll let you know what I think.

[JEBar]

I just got some Ballistol in and look forward to trying it on my next cleaning. I'll let you know what I think.

for a good test, take a rifle you have cleaned and run a Ballistol soaked patch down the barrel .... take a look at the patch and my bet is you will be surprised

[PT7]

This thread has withstood the test of time, hasn't it? Lots of good comments.

I wasn't reading very much of the Forum in December, and missed these on-going comments. Really do like Les noting his wife's socks comments. 'Tis better to have a weak sense of smell, too, when it comes to some old socks.

I bought a small bottle of Ballistol a while ago. Although it cleaned my guns pretty well, the "fragrance" encouraged me to stop using it. That small bottle is still in my cleaning supplies.

About the same time, I read some discussions about Sea Foam Deep Creep as a firearms cleaner. Got a can at my local auto shop, and have been regularly using it. Minimal smell (no socks involved), and it does a very good job getting those firearms shined up again. I might try JEBar's suggestion, however, and re-try the Ballistol as a gun cleaner. Maybe will use it this spring/summer when I clean my guns out on the patio in the fresh air. After I clean my Henry SGC next time with Sea Foam, I'll then follow up and test a wet patch in the barrel with the Ballistol. Will be interesting to see what I see.

Thanks again for your descriptive post, Les. Tell your wife that I'm still smiling.

Wife says that Ballistol smells like old socks , and she hates it. My sense of smell isn't like it was in my younger days so I can't say, however if my socks do smell like Ballistol I don't mind

Just don't wipe your guns down with a sweaty sock instead of an oily cloth!

[PT7]

A couple of times in the last page of this thread, JEBar made this suggestion/request:

...as a comparison, take out one of your cleaned firearms and run a Ballistol soaked patch down the barrel .... I'd love to hear what you find...

...for a good test, take a rifle you have cleaned and run a Ballistol soaked patch down the barrel .... take a look at the patch and my bet is you will be surprised...

I had some free time one morning this week, so I used Ballistol to clean my clean bore of my BBS .357 Carbine.

clean a clean bore with Ballistol_2503.jpg

I used four patches for this clean. In the photo, "read" the patches from left to right. The first patch was soaked in Ballistol. The other three were dry, and I ran them through the barrel with a jag to finish the clean. The cleaning I did after I last shot 20 rounds through the Carbine was done with Hoppe's No.9.

Any thoughts/comments from anybody?
What do you think JEBar? Similar or different results than yours?
PT7

[JEBar]

back when I was using #9 my first patch with Ballistol usually came out a bit darker .... some times I've had to use two or three Ballistol patches to get one as clean as in your picture ....

[PT7]

You provided a helpful assessment to me. It's not so much whether #9 or Ballistol is the better cleaner. Rather, my "clean-the-clean-bore" Ballistol patch in the photo shows that my initial cleaning was quite good. That's great to know!!

Definitely not in a cleaning competition with you. Just have to always deal with being a "mega cleaning nut." Sure does put the pressure on whenever I get back from the shooting range.

back when I was using #9 my first patch with Ballistol usually came out a bit darker .... some times I've had to use two or three Ballistol patches to get one as clean as in your picture ....