Curing Your Muzzleloader Bore; Bore Butter,Like an iron skillet believe it or not the inside of the

Curing Your Muzzleloader Bore; Bore Butter,Like an iron skillet believe it or not the inside of the bore of a muzzleloader cures.  When cured the bore will be more resistant to the corrosive effects of blackpowder residue and moisture.  To cure a bore you use a special product called called “bore butter” which is essentially butter but lower grade and less refined than the butter you eat.  After you have fired and cleaned your muzzleloader simply coat a patch with the bore butter and run it through the muzzle.  In the winter time this can be difficult because the butter turns hard when its cold and is like squeezing a candle through a toothpaste tube.  Bore butter is also good for lubricating patches if you cut your own.When your muzzleloader bore cures, the corrosive resistant and moisture resistant properties of the butter will be infused into the metal.  After about three or four cleanings the cure should start to form.  You can tell after shooting it, a white powdery film will form inside the muzzle.One thing that is important is to never use regular gun cleaners on muzzleloaders if you decide to cure the bore.  Doing so will could reverse the cure as bore butter is water and fat based while most modern cleaners are oil and solvent based.  There are a whole line of muzzleloader cleaning solutions available at good prices.Curing a muzzleloader is an age old traditionand was important back in the day when people had rifles or musket made iron or steel that could easily rust, especially out in the wilderness.  Back then they typically used lard, regular butter (no salt), fat, tallow, oils, and any greasy substance they could find.Today some have made the claim that curing a bore is bunk, what with modern steel and all.  While this makes sense, I definitely find the benefits of using bore butter and curing my muzzleloader.  Before the cure I had to use over a dozen patches to adequately clean the bore after shooting and metal buildup was common.  Now around five or six will do and I have no metal buildup whatsoever. -- source link

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