Darkhorse
Senior Member
I want to issue a WARNING here. And this applies only to those shooting patched round balls. Your patch lube is very important here as some will cause a rust ring right at the patched ball.
My favorite shooting lube is Original LeHigh Valley, it is a slick liquid lube. It's great as a patch lube, cleans as you load, and shoots tight groups. But, unlike grease type lubricants the LHV dries out and causes corrosion. I believe it's called Galvanic corrosion.
Mr. Flintlock lube appears to be the same formula as LeHigh Valley. So I sent an email to Mr. Flintlock and asked him if his lube would do the same as LHV. I didn't get a reply so as far as I'm concerned it will cause that rust ring also.
If you leave your rifle loaded when using this stuff as a patch lube it WILL cause a rust ring in your barrel. Depending on weather conditions it may take as little as a day and a half to do the damage.
For this reason I load my first shot with Bore Butter as my lube. It will not cause a rust ring even after a couple of months. Another lube that is safe is Crisco. Track of the Wolf sells a product called Mink Oil which is a good cold weather lube that is also safe to leave loaded during the season. This Mink Oil is not the same thing as that which is sold for dressing shoes and boots. That one has many additives the Track of The Wolf product doesn't have.
So, yes I leave my rifles loaded until a shot is taken. But only with a patch lubed with a lube I know won't dry out and cause a rust ring. The only ones I'll use are Bore Butter, Crisco and TOW's Mink Oil. There are a lot of other lubes that work fine but these I've used for years and know they work.
My favorite shooting lube is Original LeHigh Valley, it is a slick liquid lube. It's great as a patch lube, cleans as you load, and shoots tight groups. But, unlike grease type lubricants the LHV dries out and causes corrosion. I believe it's called Galvanic corrosion.
Mr. Flintlock lube appears to be the same formula as LeHigh Valley. So I sent an email to Mr. Flintlock and asked him if his lube would do the same as LHV. I didn't get a reply so as far as I'm concerned it will cause that rust ring also.
If you leave your rifle loaded when using this stuff as a patch lube it WILL cause a rust ring in your barrel. Depending on weather conditions it may take as little as a day and a half to do the damage.
For this reason I load my first shot with Bore Butter as my lube. It will not cause a rust ring even after a couple of months. Another lube that is safe is Crisco. Track of the Wolf sells a product called Mink Oil which is a good cold weather lube that is also safe to leave loaded during the season. This Mink Oil is not the same thing as that which is sold for dressing shoes and boots. That one has many additives the Track of The Wolf product doesn't have.
So, yes I leave my rifles loaded until a shot is taken. But only with a patch lubed with a lube I know won't dry out and cause a rust ring. The only ones I'll use are Bore Butter, Crisco and TOW's Mink Oil. There are a lot of other lubes that work fine but these I've used for years and know they work.