What do you guys think of this stuff for protecting a gun in a rainy environment while hunting?

Could it be used in the bore?

Quote:

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Boeshield T-9� Was developed by The Boeing Company
for lubrication and protection of aircraft components. It is
a combination of solvents, lubricants, and waxes designed
for penetration, moisture displacement, lubrication and
protection. Boeshield T-9� dries to a thin waxy film that
clings to metal for months. It will loosen rusty and
corroded parts and is safe on paints, plastics, and vinyl's.

Boeshield T-9� is a solvent and paraffin wax formula developed by Boeing Aviation for long term metal protection. It penetrates into metal pores, displaces moisture and dries to a thin waxy film.

Boeshield T-9� will protect guns for months, both in the field and in storage

http://www.boeshield.com/index.htm

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500,

It would be better than nothing, and fall somewhere between WD40 and paste wax regarding durability IMHO. I have used a bit of it, a couple cans, but on electrical connections exposed to humid environments. I think it is pretty much unmatched when it comes to that application! However, as I said for physical protection I would go for somethign with a little more body if I had a choice.

You're probably gonna laugh at this one, but what the hell.

Go to a store that handles health food and all that organic healthy crap... and buy a little bottle of Home Health pure liquid Lanolin.

This stuff has the consistency of honey and you can thin it out with the oil of your choice (Kroil or Transmission fluid works really well). If you want to see how well it repels water just put some on your hands and see how long it takes to wash it off.

Hatcher (Hatchers Notebook) talks about the Japanese army using lanolin to protect their rifles in the Pacific during WWII and Lanolin was a part of the bore solvent mix he came up with for use in the arsenal.

I will quote him (he's dead anyway so screw him!) when he says "polarized oil"...think lanolin which is a grease extracted from wool and has the same properties as other polarized oils:

"The latest cleaners are based on polarized oil. This is an oil combined with a substance of such molecular construction that it has an affinity for metal, and at the same time will combine readily with both oil and water. As it is explained in popular language, the molecules, besides having an affinity for metal, have 'hooks' on one side which will fit and take hold of the water molecules, and on the other side they have 'hooks' that will fit and take hold of the oil molecules. When such a polarized oil is placed on a wet metal surface, it breaks the surface tension of the water and sinks right down through to the metal surface and clings to it. These polarized oil compounds have enough water in their make-up to dissolve salt and at the same time they are sufficiently oily to retard rusting."

Give it a try...if nothing else think of how intelligent you will sound telling your hunting buddies about the molecular hooks in polarized oils...and how soft your hands are!

Rick

Boeshield T-9 is a popular bicycle chain lubricant. If it'll stay on there for hundreds of miles of hard, dirty riding, I don't think it'll come out of your action and bore too easily.

"Polarized oil" isn't lanolin. It's unsaturated oils that have been sulfonated. AKA, oily detergents. The best known is "Turkey Red Oil," sulfonated castor oil, so named because it's used in the Turkey Red fabric dyeing process. The stuff that results from removing the unsaturated hydrocarbons to make white medicinal mineral oil and kerosene by adding sulfuric acid is similar. I suspect this is exactly what "Gunk SC," the concentrated detergent intended to be added to kerosene to make Gunk engine degreaser in bulk, is. Likewise the "engine flush" additives used immediately before an oil change to get accumulated crud out of old engines. These things are effective bore cleaners, BTW, and certainly a bit of stuff with one end of the molecule polar and the other nonpolar greatly enhances the cling of an oil film to metal. Commercial ATF, motor oils and such always contain these additives, and in "natural" mineral oils the colored unsaturated compounds removed in the aforementioned refining process also enhance adhesion to metals. The pure white refined stuff isn't very good that way.

What I said (and what Hatcher says) is that lanolin has the "properties" of polarized oil and is a fantastic substitute for anything to be used for protection from moisture.

I never claimed that Lanolin is the "end-all" for moisture protection on firearms...but it certainly works as well as many other products and works far better than others. I like it due to the fact that it can be adapted (by mixing with lighter oils) to far more applications due to its inital high viscosity. I buy both the pure oil and also the anhydros lanolin which has the consistency of petroleum jelly at room temperature.

I have also used ATF and Marvel Mystery Oil for years to clean, lubricate and protect metal parts and I use a combo of both in my homemade bore cleaner.

Rick

Rick, probably the best case lubricant I've ever used was a big jam of lanolin that I picked up in a drug store for .50$. It makes a superb swagging/sizing lubricant. I used to use it for both reloading and swagging jacketed bullets.

It smells like a goat's crotch but it gives you baby soft hands in return. The more I reloaded and handled cases, the softer my hands became.

It is the pure stuff that they put a flake of in hand cream and say "contains lanolin." Yeah, about .002%

500, I've not seen this product, much less used it. But I wonder how SLICK it would make a rifle coated with it. When you say wax and water I think of something slick as snot. It might protect a weapon from rain, but could you hang on to it to hike and hunt?

Rick,

I'll second ol' Doc Bronner, I have a big bottle of it as we speak and it is great stuff, plus you can use it camping and it works well with cold water. Works good to shave with too.

Of course I'm suprised that you haven't mentioned reading the label!

Actually I was going to mention the label because that alone is almost worth the price...if you're really drunk or stoned!

I used to always take it camping because you can bathe, shave, wash your hair, brush your teeth and wash the dishes and your clothes all with the same soap...oh yeah...its polite not to use the same tub of water for all this though.

Rick

I used the stuff on my rifles on my elephant hunt back in April. I put a liberal coat on my Sako .375 and my Winchester .416 and let both "dry" (it never did, but the instructions seemed to imply that) before leaving on the safari.
It rubbed off on my hands at first touch and then my hands were grungy.
We got rained on a couple times, one of the times was a real soaking. The rifle rusted like crazy before I could get it dried and reoiled.
Bottom line in my experience it seems like a decent lubricant but I wouldn't use it again as a rust prevention.
My finger prints alone seem to be pretty toxic to blued rifles. I've had the best luck fighting off rust and lubricating with a spray on concoction of Brownell's Rust Preventative No. 2, WD-40 and Remoil. (I know WD-40 gets a bad rap but it does pretty well at removing blood off of bluing.) Then I use a little Briley moly grease on the moving parts (lugs, etc.).

Kyler

Erik,

As I've said, I've used a bit of this stuff in other applications. I do not think it protects any better than other oils when exposed to a working environment. If you want long lasting protection, use paste wax which will last longer than this, and if you want longer than that use clear spray paint.

Erik,
Good point, but my safari actually got delayed a couple times so the guns sat in the safe (drying) between application and use about a week and a half. Honestly it seemed to remain rather sludgy and never did seem to form a skin or durable coating. It may well be a great preventative for something that isn't to be handled.

As an aside: After we got caught in the rain and my rifle rusted so bad my PH pulled out a Birchwood-Casey Sheath cloth. I used it on my rifle after he wiped his down and I didn't have anymore rust problems on that trip.

I need to have a few of those around.

Kyler

Gentlemen

Which is the best treatment, bore butter, wax or oils? I heard soo many advices I'm not sure what to think?

Lanolin seems to be interesting. I doubt I can't find it in Sweden. What is it made of?

Cheers
/ JOHAN

It's made of lanolin!

Johan,

Lanolin is a grease (oil) extracted from wool.

Rick

Don't think that I'd want to use Boeshield or anything else that is thick or waxy inside the bore. Too easy to blow up the gun if I guessed wrong about how it would work.

I never recommended or suggested using straight lanolin in the bore.

It is used when mixed with solvents and/or oils to enhance the cleaning/lubricating/rust inhibiting properties of the solution.

There is no reason, however, that the straight stuff couldn't be used on the outside of the weapon to inhibit moisture from rain from attacking the metal.

I wouldn't recommend shooting any rifle with oils or grease in the bore.

Rick