I learned about Ballistol on the Hickok45 YouTube channel. Hickok45 (who, incidentally, lives only a few miles from me) swears by it, and has a couple of good videos on his method of gun cleaning (which I've now adopted, as they are easy, and make sense).
I discovered that a local farm co-op carries it, so I decided to try it out. I went by and picked up one of the cans (a pump sprayer will screw right on) and a can of the aerosol.
At first, the smell was very strange to me. But it's grown on me, and now I actually like it - it's like licorice. I can smell it when I get my gun out of its case.
But what I really like about Ballistol is the Teflon-like effect it has on the metal. With a light film, burned powder residue just doesn't stick. You just wipe it right off. And it's really all you need in the barrel of a handgun.
With use, Ballistol actually bonds to metal, giving it a nice, slick coating that remains, even after you wipe it off. Gives the metal a nice, slick feel, similar to the paint on your car after you wax it. I got out my Smith & Wesson Model 686+ and shot a few groups with it tonight at the range. Last time I put it up, I had cleaned and wiped it down with Ballistol. When I got it out of its case, the stainless steel had that nice, slick feeling to it.
With Hickok45's method, you spray some Ballistol in the barrel bore and let it set while you clean the rest of the gun. Spray the whole barrel down. If you have a 1911, spray the bushing, the recoil spring plug, the guide rod, the spring, etc. You don't need to get it near the firing pin and the back of the slide. A little Ballistol on a patch is sufficient to wipe those parts down. I also spray some in the lugs and recesses where the barrel locks up with the slide, as that part gets pretty dirty. After I've finished getting the residue out of the nooks and crannies, I'll go back and run a jag through the bore a few times. And, since it's had Ballistol in it, previously, it only takes a few passes of the jag until the patch comes clean.
After everything is clean, I wipe it down with a patch that's damp with Ballistol. Metal-to-metal areas such as the barrel lug-to-slide lockup, barrel hood, barrel-to-bushing interface on a 1911, and feed ramp get a little extra. IN fact, I like to run my all-metal guns pretty wet. The extra lube doesn't hurt anything, and I field-strip and clean about every 150-200 rounds, so the extra oil doesn't have a chance to build up and attract crud. Matter of fact, I find that using a little extra Ballistol makes cleaning easier the next time, because it kinda holds the carbon crud "in suspension", not letting it stick to the metal.
(I do believe in using an oil with a little higher viscosity in the rails of a tightly-fitted gun like my Dan Wesson 1911. Right now I'm using the oil that DW supplied with the gun...which actually feels and smells suspiciously like motor oil. When it runs out I'll be using M1, as I use that in my truck and always have some around.)
I also like the fact that Ballistol is mostly, from my understanding, mineral oil, along with some alcohol (the alcohol is what allows the oil to form an emulsion...a unique property among gun oils/cleaners, which is sought-after by the shooters of black powder rifles...which is used to clean black powder residue, quite effectively. The oil loosens and neutralizes the residue, while the solvent action of the water carries away the debris). It is non-toxic, and it doesn't hurt to get on your hands. I don't even worry about wearing gloves when cleaning my guns when using it.
AND it doesn't hurt wood, plastic, polymer or leather. In fact, it gives wood stocks a nice shine.
It also won't gum up. I've not been using it all that long - just a few months. But I've read that when it's used to preserve guns, and you get a gun out that was coated in Ballistol years ago, it just leaves a slight, paraffin-like, white coating, after the solvent carrier has evaporated, that easily wipes off.
So, as you can see, I've become a fan.
I discovered that a local farm co-op carries it, so I decided to try it out. I went by and picked up one of the cans (a pump sprayer will screw right on) and a can of the aerosol.
At first, the smell was very strange to me. But it's grown on me, and now I actually like it - it's like licorice. I can smell it when I get my gun out of its case.
But what I really like about Ballistol is the Teflon-like effect it has on the metal. With a light film, burned powder residue just doesn't stick. You just wipe it right off. And it's really all you need in the barrel of a handgun.
With use, Ballistol actually bonds to metal, giving it a nice, slick coating that remains, even after you wipe it off. Gives the metal a nice, slick feel, similar to the paint on your car after you wax it. I got out my Smith & Wesson Model 686+ and shot a few groups with it tonight at the range. Last time I put it up, I had cleaned and wiped it down with Ballistol. When I got it out of its case, the stainless steel had that nice, slick feeling to it.
With Hickok45's method, you spray some Ballistol in the barrel bore and let it set while you clean the rest of the gun. Spray the whole barrel down. If you have a 1911, spray the bushing, the recoil spring plug, the guide rod, the spring, etc. You don't need to get it near the firing pin and the back of the slide. A little Ballistol on a patch is sufficient to wipe those parts down. I also spray some in the lugs and recesses where the barrel locks up with the slide, as that part gets pretty dirty. After I've finished getting the residue out of the nooks and crannies, I'll go back and run a jag through the bore a few times. And, since it's had Ballistol in it, previously, it only takes a few passes of the jag until the patch comes clean.
After everything is clean, I wipe it down with a patch that's damp with Ballistol. Metal-to-metal areas such as the barrel lug-to-slide lockup, barrel hood, barrel-to-bushing interface on a 1911, and feed ramp get a little extra. IN fact, I like to run my all-metal guns pretty wet. The extra lube doesn't hurt anything, and I field-strip and clean about every 150-200 rounds, so the extra oil doesn't have a chance to build up and attract crud. Matter of fact, I find that using a little extra Ballistol makes cleaning easier the next time, because it kinda holds the carbon crud "in suspension", not letting it stick to the metal.
(I do believe in using an oil with a little higher viscosity in the rails of a tightly-fitted gun like my Dan Wesson 1911. Right now I'm using the oil that DW supplied with the gun...which actually feels and smells suspiciously like motor oil. When it runs out I'll be using M1, as I use that in my truck and always have some around.)
I also like the fact that Ballistol is mostly, from my understanding, mineral oil, along with some alcohol (the alcohol is what allows the oil to form an emulsion...a unique property among gun oils/cleaners, which is sought-after by the shooters of black powder rifles...which is used to clean black powder residue, quite effectively. The oil loosens and neutralizes the residue, while the solvent action of the water carries away the debris). It is non-toxic, and it doesn't hurt to get on your hands. I don't even worry about wearing gloves when cleaning my guns when using it.
AND it doesn't hurt wood, plastic, polymer or leather. In fact, it gives wood stocks a nice shine.
It also won't gum up. I've not been using it all that long - just a few months. But I've read that when it's used to preserve guns, and you get a gun out that was coated in Ballistol years ago, it just leaves a slight, paraffin-like, white coating, after the solvent carrier has evaporated, that easily wipes off.
So, as you can see, I've become a fan.