Wax and gun bores

OK, some of you will consider me a few pellets short of a tin, but, I have something I'd like to share, and maybe even get some to thinking/doing.

A trick I learned during my military career, from military gunsmiths, was/is to limit as much as possible,the use of grease and/or oil on firearms. This came about after numerous failures of our sniper guns during desert ops. For those of you who've been to those type of environments, you know it's not "sand" as many would think...but image "grit" like baby powder....and you have an idea of the type of conditions a gun endures.

OK, more to the point, for a lot of years now, I have been using wax on my guns instead of oils.... and only using grease where absolutely necessary. Wax lasts longer, protects better, and most importantly, does not draw dirt or dust. What type? The simplest thing to say is that just about any type of automotive wax is good, with the exception of those waxes that contain silicon. Silicon waxes trap moisture... usually between the wax and what you seek to protect....that's bad. My personal favorite for years has been Mothers Caranuba Cleaner Wax (paste). You can find it at Wally World, and just about any auto supply store. For about $12, you get enough for years of use.

During sniper training I learned the following.....the gunsmiths would thoroughly clean new gun barrels, and then, using a bore mop, wax the bore(s) with pure Caranuba wax. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then run a couple of clean patches down the bore. Then, after 50-100 rounds, do it all again, and then with each successive cleaning. One unexpected benefit that we found..... after the "break in" shots, a waxed bore produced significantly more accuracy than one that was not waxed. In more recent years, the trend has been to the synthetic waxes. I've been retired for a while now, but for the past 20+ years have been doing the wax thing to all my private firearms, especially those that see harsh conditions such as my waterfowl guns.

I carried this bore waxing into airguns, and I personally believe that it reduces the break in period/number of shot, and that after that break in period it increases accuracy. I stumbled on this by accident. I had a Gamo Swarm Whisper that had to returned, which had what I considered terrible accuracy. I had cleaned it out of the box but NOT waxed it. The replacement, I did everything the same, EXCEPT I WAXED THE BORE... and that guns accuracy is night and day better than the one it replaced! So for me, I'm thinking that waxing the bore had something to do with the better accuracy. Throwing this out for opinions, and possibly to see if other have done, or would be willing to, and report their findings/thoughts.
Although I haven't tried it yet, I have heard this before. Thanks.
 
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So, I'm going to guess that an Oxy-acetylene torch might be a bit too much? All kidding aside, I can see how warming it up a bit would get the was into the pores of the metal better.

I used one of these torches once, and a bucket of oil to put a choke back in a barrel that I had polished out too much. Worked like a charm, but needed re-polished.
 
I am going give pine turpentine a go as well, for comparison. I think if white spirit/mineral spirits is used it should best be "odorless white spirit"/"artist's white spirit"/type 3/Isopar L - plain normal mineral spirits contain sulfur; Isopar G might also work (it's thinner and 4 times faster evaporating than Isopar L).
Update: tried it, too smelly and it needs to be at least 1:2 carnauba:turpentine, by weight, to make a paste. However - that doesn't feel like a slippery surface when dry; maybe that's because of the turpentine and it should definitely be mineral spirits instead (?). I think I might stick to the commercial furniture waxes, if I'm going to use something like this at all.
 
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On the first page of this thread two of the posts from March 27, 2020 say it all.
No need to read any further or wonder what works,
Simply follow the advice and say thanks to @Motorhead and @nervoustrig
Just my 2 scents
Edward
In my case I don't wonder, I just like experimentation and iterative improvement where possible. You can never know where improvement is possible until you try things out, assuming you can also have workable ideas and can assess the actual results well.
 
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As for the bowling alley wax, it seems to be holding up pretty well. I didn't use it for its intended barrel as that needs to be lapped 1st, but instead tried it out on my heavy slug liner. FPS was higher than normal for the 1st 40 or so rounds, then settled back down and stayed stable. It definitely keeps the barrel fouling down. I got about 400 slugs through it and counting. Before the wax, I had to clean every 200 or so. This is my 1st waxing of a barrel, so I'm still testing the waters. Pretty tough stuff.
 
Not sure (maybe at all) I buy into this "trick".

Especially on a powder fired weapon. There's a LOT of heat (fire !) following the projectile down the barrel. Wax and heat do not get along, it's a very low temperature material. Add to that, the pressure/friction of the projectile forcing its way down the barrel, will wipe the soft wax away, by the second or third (at most) round.

I see the wax lasting a while longer in air powered weapons, but even then, the pressure of the lead pellet against the barrel, will wipe the wax off in xx (few) rounds fired.

Unfortunately, I see NO way of proving how long the wax will live under the loading, the friction, and the heat of a .308 (most are in the .3xx range I believe) round (even a .223), either way. Any way pf proving it's "long lasting" capabilities, will be destroyed cutting a barrel open to find out if it is actually still there.

Nope, don't buy it (that it does anything past about 2 rounds) for a minute in powder fired weapons, and only a small amount (maybe 10 rounds) in air rifles.

In my previous job (now retired), I was a Sr. Test Engineer for a major Aerospace company. I was a skeptical person to begin with, and now after 20 years of testing various things that were..."supposed" to work and be wonderful, I'm even more skeptical about things now..."too good to be true". Seen too many fail...gloriously !

Hell, dishwashing soap washes even GOOD wax's off the paint of your car in one washing..! Just how tough do you think this miracle elixir is ? Under the BEST circumstances, on good paint, you need to wax the paint 4+ times a year to properly protect the paint...with NO excessive (much over 100° in most areas) heat, with NOTHING rubbing on it, (and for powder fired weapons)...NO...fire..!



Mike
Just my understanding is the wax fills the pores/imperfections in the barrel adding a little more smoothness to the bore? Its kinda like seasoning a clean barrel with a few shots.
 
I wasn't going to pull patches though yet, but here are the results. 400 plus 30gr slugs @ 960fps. 3 dry patches.
1000005874.jpg
 
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https://www.amazon.com/s?k=brushless+bore+snakes+22&crid=TOCVAUD25DXH&sprefix=Brushless+bore+snakes+22,aps,157&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_24 I have a 20 cal for My Ruger .204 but the problem is that the Metal end won't fit in the Narrow slot where the Mag goes. You may have to snip it a little shorter? Others with more experience will hopefully chime in?
If your going to go through and wax the barrel, you should have it removed so cutting the weight down won't be necessary. I just used patches. I do like these patches more then the standard ones. Seems to do a better job and does not leave any lint behind. Just cut to size.

 
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I do not understand folks that do not think this works. It has been around for hundreds of years. Wax is a high viscosity petroleum lubricant. If you are a reloader that uses cast lead bullets, you have been using wax as a resizing lube forever. This leaves the wax imbedded in the bullet's lube grooves and prevents lead deposits in the gun barrel. When I was actively shooting in pistol competitions I reloaded a lot and I would mix candle wax, lanolin and STP mixed together as my lube.
 
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