[St8LineGunsmith]

most gun oil is petroleum based low viscosity distillate

[Hawg]

Originally Posted by St8LineGunsmith

most gun oil is petroleum based low viscosity distillate

You don't use gun oil on a bp firearm. You use vegetable based oils like olive oil or some of the specialized oils made for bp firearms. Regular gun oils are ok in a rifle lock or the action of a revolver but not in the bore or chambers. Black powder fouling and petro based oils do not mix. It makes a tarry residue that neither water or smokeless solvents will remove.

[mountainman13]

Clp works just fine.

[St8LineGunsmith]

you may not use gun oil on your BP rifles but most other people do and without any ill effects


I always swab out the barrel before inserting a powder charge and I use bore butter on my patches but I always put a coat marvel mystery oil on the metal parts and inside the barrel as a rust preventativeafter cleaning and I clean my bp firearms every time I shoot them.

YMMV

[HockaLouis]

Just use linseed oil on your stock please. Boiled if ya don't wanna wait too long to have it dry... Sweet, or Olive, Oil and whale oil were often used on the metal but the first is not pH neutral or clean and we ran outta whales -- besides, they're big and hard to squeeze. There were alot of other concoctions (sometimes including beeswax) I actually wrote an article on once but it'd be overkill here. Use a modern petroleum distillate (even petrolatum) or silicon which I particularly like around the hot lock and vent areas.

One of the non-compressible automatic transmission fluids is essentially whale oil, so I'm told, and they even add a rust inhibitor. Sounds perfect, right? I won't tell you which one though because it stinks literally and figuratively based on personal experience. One time, on a newly red-oiled Bess in high humidity, I watched water vapor condense on the barrel in-the-white and as it formed droplets they ran dark rust brown down the length! I was sick. One of the better-known semi-custom rifle shops uses it they say (I know they don't now, if they ever did) and swore by it including professing they save hundreds of dollars a year using it! I swear at it and swore off of it pretty quickly.

[mountainman13]

Boiled linseed is authentic but not a very good protectant.

[TDS92A]

Cheap olive oil, huh? I think that I will practice on a piece of scrap wood before I decide to used this on a $500.00 plus replica.

Originally Posted by marc29th

They used cheap olive oil for protecting and cleaning their muskets. And boiling water down the barrel to remove the fouling.

[TDS92A]

I do not intend on shooting it. I am looking for a fully functional display item. BTW, what does "PITA" mean in relation to a cleaning job?

Originally Posted by Hawg

If you plan on shooting it do not put modern petroleum based oil down the bore without cleaning it out before firing. Not unless you want to turn an easy cleaning job into a PITA.

[St8LineGunsmith]

Originally Posted by TDS92A

I do not intend on shooting it. I am looking for a fully functional display item. BTW, what does "PITA" mean in relation to a cleaning job?

just use gun oil and PITA refserrs to Pain In The Ass

[TDS92A]

I think that I will go with the Linseed oil. As I understand it, it was used on WWI and WWII weapons, so I cannot see a problem using it on a replica of a Revolutionary or Civil weapon. Besides, I am almost certain that I will not find any whales in or around the Gulf Coast.

Originally Posted by HockaLouis

Just use linseed oil on your stock please. Boiled if ya don't wanna wait too long to have it dry... Sweet, or Olive, Oil and whale oil were often used on the metal but the first is not pH neutral or clean and we ran outta whales -- besides, they're big and hard to squeeze. There were alot of other concoctions (sometimes including beeswax) I actually wrote an article on once but it'd be overkill here. Use a modern petroleum distillate (even petrolatum) or silicon which I particularly like around the hot lock and vent areas.