Moose Milk

[lonewolf172]

I have the following and want to make some Moose Milk. Ballistol, Murphy's Oil Soap, Minerial Oil, water or 91% rubbing alcohol. What's a good mixture/percentage of each for a good patch lube?

 

[McClura]

I use the Moose Milk to clean all of my Blackpowder firearms. I also use it shooting competition matches. I cut my patch material in 2" wide by 36" long out of the .018 denim I get in several yards. I roll them up and put 4 or 5 rolls together with rubber band and I can fit about 15 of these rolls in one compartment of my shooting range box. I also carry a few rolls in my shooting bag. At the match I will take one roll, lay it out unrolled on the shooting bench and saturate with the Moose Milk for enough to shoot 5 or 10 rounds whichever target I'm shooting. I start the ball and then cut and ram it home to the powder and fire the round. This works as lube and helps keep the barrel clean so I only have to clean after each 5 shots between hanging another target.
When I clean up for the day, I use many 2x2 military cleaning patches soaked in the Moose Milk until they come out clean then I run one dry patch down while there is a small amount of the cleaner still in the barrel and then I use " Break Free Lube" CLP that was designed for the military. It is a Cleaner, Lubricant and Preservative. Never had a muzzleloader rust in the 45 years, right after it hit the market. I also put on my stocks. I use it on all of my firearms, modern and primitive. I get the 4 oz bottles for my shooting box and a 1 oz bottle for my shooting bag and some 16oz spray bottles for my work bench and around the house.
On my recipe for what I was told was "Moose Milk" by some guys at the Phoenix Winter Shoot is:
In a gallon jug,
1 Cup of Water Soluble Cutting Oil- (like you would use in lathes or bandsaw lube)
1 Cup of ammonia
2 Cup of 409 House Hold Cleaner
Fill remainder of gallon jug with water.
Shake each time you use. I make a gallon and then put some in a couple of 8 oz. plastic bottles my wife gets her Contact Solution in.
I have one in my shooting. bag and one in my shooting box.
Mike

 

[Winter Hawk]

When I first heard of "moose milk" I was told to use one part water soluble cutting oil to nine parts water. Water soluble cutting oil has gotten pretty difficult to find, and Balistol is now substituted for it.

 

[Mad L]

I have a question for those who say "My patch line cleans as I shoot so I never have to wipe between shots..."

I have tried many different described systems and potions; what I have found is:
The Charge is loaded Behind the Patch and Ball, when fired the powder waste burns up the barrel Behind the patch.
The next ball loaded pushes the West back down the barrel and packs it into the next charge. Shoot and that charge wast adds to the previous and so forth, untill after a few shots the wast combined with the next charge begins reaching the touch hole....and, well, soon you cover the touch hole and due to the vacuum can no longer even ram the patch and ball down.

What am I missing in these 'Never Wipe Between Shots' systems?
FYI: Riffled Barrel, any BP, tight patch & ball

 

[exMember]

Impossible to push foiling down to the touch hole. Once the powder charge is in, it can only go down so far. What really happens and can cause accuracy issues is, the more you shoot without swabbing, the space in the bore where the powder sits, slowly shrinks down smaller and smaller due to the fouling building up. That's when you'll start experiencing fliers and inconsistent accuracy, simply due to the change in pressure due to the smaller bore down where the powder sits.

Using an alcohol or water based lube, makes reloading very very easy without ever having to swab. Why? Because we are basically pushing a very tight fitting ( I use tight fitting patches) cloth patch down the barrel that's dampened in the solution that we used to clean or swab the barrel out with at the end of the day. It literally, wipes the fouling away each time you load and embeds it into the shooting patch and go the barrel it goes when you touch the rifle off.

 

[rusticbob]

How about Windex, would that work as well on wiping between shots as moose milk?

 

[toot]

WINDEX, is used by thousands of BP. shooters. between shots and by some to clean.

 

[JMG1894]

WINDEX, is used by thousands of BP. shooters. between shots and by some to clean.

I was told to avoid the stuff with ammonia as it’s hard on wood finish and bluing/browning. I make a solution with car windshield wash , Windex, Murphy’s oil soap and isopropyl alcohol.
It seems to work well and have been employing the same windshield was jug since ‘07
YMMV

 

[[email protected]]

Between shot wipes, windshield washer fluid is great, and doesn't freeze in winter.

 

[Newtire]

Just make sure you use “period correct” Windex!

 

[Mofish]

Been using the Windex for a whole lot of years, but I have always put a little Murphy's oil soap in with it as I think a little actual lubrication helps you to maintain consistency.

 

[Billy-by-gosh]

I think it was "Shiff the gunman" that summed it up thus: "Vhen de next un you loads, de first un you vipes." (that's pretty close to his sayings anyway). I personally have fired long strings of shots with good accuracy this way. Of course you will eventually reach a finite limit of shots fired, and then you have to stop and wipe down the bore, or just clean the whole dang thing at that point.

Impossible to push foiling down to the touch hole. Once the powder charge is in, it can only go down so far. What really happens and can cause accuracy issues is, the more you shoot without swabbing, the space in the bore where the powder sits, slowly shrinks down smaller and smaller due to the fouling building up. That's when you'll start experiencing fliers and inconsistent accuracy, simply due to the change in pressure due to the smaller bore down where the powder sits.

Using an alcohol or water based lube, makes reloading very very easy without ever having to swab. Why? Because we are basically pushing a very tight fitting ( I use tight fitting patches) cloth patch down the barrel that's dampened in the solution that we used to clean or swab the barrel out with at the end of the day. It literally, wipes the fouling away each time you load and embeds it into the shooting patch and go the barrel it goes when you touch the rifle off.

 

[Winter Hawk]

I have the following and want to make some Moose Milk. Ballistol, Murphy's Oil Soap, Minerial Oil, water or 91% rubbing alcohol. What's a good mixture/percentage of each for a good patch lube?

Check out what Jonathan wrote, first post here: Patched Ball Shooters

 

[CVA Fanboy]

Now I had doubts on Windex, They were soon cast aside. I do not use between shots, never a good Idea However it will and does shut down the corrosive properties of black powder, The ammonia neutralizes the acidity/salts in Black Powder. Cleaning solvent yes however Balistol and hot water immediately following yes need to neutralize the ammonia in windex. Windex is also good for neutralizing Surplus barrels from the corrosive primers, again scrub in and out deal, as an in between shot scrubber, I`ll pass

 

[Mofish]

I have shot matches for years, and only use the windex/Murphy's combo. I never have to wipe between shots and shoot the whole match just loading and shooting. I can see no differences between loading and accuracy between shots. The matches usually take about 3 hours from start to finish, and no problems. My last match...last Sunday... I shot 3 targets with a score of 50 and one pistol target with a score of 49 ( the lock gave me some problems on the last shot) it was dropping to half cock and I had to fire it without setting the trigger....resulted in only hitting the 9 ring.
I always do some barrel wiping after the matches before I head home and do the final cleaning....and the same solution does just fine.

 

[toot]

at my club a HAMMER DROP COUNTS AS A SHOT. dropping to half cock or no ignition, no bang, the same thing. that way it is fair for all shooters.

 

[toot]

I too am a shooter who does not clean during the match, wither it be a trail walk or at a station.

 

[Standing Bear]

at my club a HAMMER DROP COUNTS AS A SHOT. dropping to half cock or no ignition, no bang, the same thing. that way it is fair for all shooters.

Let us know what club this is so we can avoid it.

 

[drax05]

Let us know what club this is so we can avoid it.

Shot matches in the SE since 75, dozens of western Rendezvouses, couple Mid-America's couple Colorado State Shoots (Camp Hale many years ago) and have never seen or even heard of the "hammer drop" rule. Not condemning or agreeing with it, just curious as to how it's "fair for all shooters"? To recap or reprime the pan, muzzle is ( or needs to be) pointing "down range" anyhow just curious.

 

[Mofish]

Jeeze... I see lots of guys shooting flinters and having problems getting them to go off on a regular basis. Some of those guys could shoot 5 shots at a target with a total score of zero with that kind of rule !