How does that work ( balistoll )

[mblat]

When I started to shoot guns my frined recommended me MPRo7 as cleaner and I used it for many years.
Then I got converted to Balistoll. Hey, if it is good enough for Jerry Miculek it is good enough for me, right?
I have used it for the last 3 may be 4 years and has been very happy. But today something occurred to me. They claim it is biodegradable. By definition "will be destroyed by nature on it's own". Ok. But then - how often do I need to reapply it? Went to their website. Claim is - you do not need to reapply it.

Those two claims do not go together in my mind (ot least not very well. If something takes 1000 years to be naturally destroyed then technically it may still be biodegradable.... but I would not call it that ) . I wanted to ask them the question, but thought that I can't be the first one to come up with that question.
So - anybody did any research on that?

[CoopsDad]

Paper is biodegradable but, as long as I keep my books clean and dry, they won't suffer microbial decay. I'll bet that ballistol, poured onto the ground, would eventually be broken down by microbes.

[CoopsDad]

Sorry- I meant to add that biodegradable literally means that a substance can be broken down by microbes.

[gabe123]

Almost everything is biodegradable. It is only the matter of time.

[TrailerparkTrash]

[RustyIron]

When I started to shoot guns my frined recommended me MPRo7 as cleaner and I used it for many years.
Then I got converted to Balistoll.

They claim it is biodegradable.

Claim is - you do not need to reapply it.

I'm also a former user of M-Pro7. When they were gearing up into the consumer market, they sent me some swag, and I returned the favor with customer loyalty. Many years later, I was looking for a solution to a particular problem, and bought a variety of Ballistol products. After trying them, I never used M-Pro7 again.

But you asked about biodegradability. I'll tell you about my experience on the job. I won't be too specific because I don't want the tree huggers to know who I am. In my industry, we use a lot of oil. Sometimes oil is unintentionally released into the wild. That's fine. Oil just sits there in a puddle, and it can be managed. But... if there is WATER... then it's a whole 'nother story. I can walk onto a customers property, and from a hundred feet away know that they have a water problem. When water mixes with the oil, it forms a friendly environment for microbes. They get in there, start eating and pooping and banging... and soon the water/oil mixture is a putrid swamp. My point is, petroleum oil, the gold standard by which everyone gauges lubricants, is biodegradable.

So I think a better question you might be asking is, "How often to I need to clean my gun?"

This is just my opinion, but with a gun that sits in a safe, once a year is a good idea. More than a few years isn't a good idea. If you live in a humid environment, more frequency might be warranted. If you're talking about a gun that you carry, clean it a couple times a year or after you shoot it.

The longevity of Ballistol is no different than any other gun lubricant.

[jyo]

I have used BreakFree CLP for decades---recently ordered a couple of bottles as my supply was getting low---COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBSTANCE now---after a period of time, it forms a thick, stain like goop on the surface of the gun or knife blade---NEVER did that before---different smell too...
Fortunately, I have a bottle of FP-10 laying around that removed the goop rather easily...
Used Ballistol many years ago---wasn't that impressed---but now need a new goto product... The search starts...

[jeremiah12]

I'm also a former user of M-Pro7. When they were gearing up into the consumer market, they sent me some swag, and I returned the favor with customer loyalty. Many years later, I was looking for a solution to a particular problem, and bought a variety of Ballistol products. After trying them, I never used M-Pro7 again.

But you asked about biodegradability. I'll tell you about my experience on the job. I won't be too specific because I don't want the tree huggers to know who I am. In my industry, we use a lot of oil. Sometimes oil is unintentionally released into the wild. That's fine. Oil just sits there in a puddle, and it can be managed. But... if there is WATER... then it's a whole 'nother story. I can walk onto a customers property, and from a hundred feet away know that they have a water problem. When water mixes with the oil, it forms a friendly environment for microbes. They get in there, start eating and pooping and banging... and soon the water/oil mixture is a putrid swamp. My point is, petroleum oil, the gold standard by which everyone gauges lubricants, is biodegradable.

So I think a better question you might be asking is, "How often to I need to clean my gun?"

This is just my opinion, but with a gun that sits in a safe, once a year is a good idea. More than a few years isn't a good idea. If you live in a humid environment, more frequency might be warranted. If you're talking about a gun that you carry, clean it a couple times a year or after you shoot it.

The longevity of Ballistol is no different than any other gun lubricant.

There are microbes in the soil that will digest oil.

Way back, when the state required MTBE in gas, and it resulting in leaking underground fuel tanks that contaminated the soils, the clean-up solution was rather simple. Dig some shafts to the contaminated soil layer and use some low power fans to move air down the shafts. The microbes in the soil would consume the MTBE and other contaminates. They monitored the amount of carbon dioxide being released and when it dropped to atmospheric levels, the clean up was done (the microbes use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide). They would take new soil samples to confirm.

[pennstater]

I have used BreakFree CLP for decades---recently ordered a couple of bottles as my supply was getting low---COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBSTANCE now---after a period of time, it forms a thick, stain like goop on the surface of the gun or knife blade---NEVER did that before---different smell too...
Fortunately, I have a bottle of FP-10 laying around that removed the goop rather easily...
Used Ballistol many years ago---wasn't that impressed---but now need a new goto product... The search starts...

Mobil-1, Hoppe's are really all you'll need.

MLC

[ACfixer]

Talks on this stuff are just as hilarious as motor oil wars.

Happy to show anyone here a 1974 model 94 and an 1100 of my dad's. Hoppes #9 and WD-40 for nearly 50 years, not a speck of rust on either and both work like new. I just kept doing the #9 and WD-40 in my dad's honor so to speak.

I use #9 and Rem-Oil, have since the 90's. I have friends that use Ballistol, or CLP. Others like my BIL that use Mobil-1.

It doesn't matter, so long as you take care of your guns with the product of your choice.

[FeuerFrei]

German CLP. I don't need or use it. There are better/cheaper stuff out there.

http://www.ballistol.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MSDS_TECH_BIO.pdf

Ballistol contains medicinal grade mineral oil, alkaline salts of oleic acid, several alcohols, Benzyl Acetate and an oil
from vegetal seeds. The mineral oil is unchlorinated and conforms to the specifications of US Pharmacopeia XX.

[golfish]

I use it on my leather boots, nothing more.

[Wordupmybrotha]

Ballistol stinks like rotten toe jam.
The filthy stench latches on to the olfactory nerves for weeks. What a foul substance.

[golfish]

Ballistol stinks like rotten toe jam.

And that's being nice.

[Coffeeandgunsandammo]

https://shop.ballistol.com/ballistol-nostalgic-flask.aspx

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk