Ballistol is just mineral oil (baby oil) w/o the perfume and some water....I couldn’t imagine drinking it!! I’m sure it would set you free if you were backed up.

Hoppes No. 9. All else is blasphemy. But you cant drink it.

" Hoppe's No.9. All else is blasphemy."

Preach it, brother ! ! !

Seriously, people complain about the mild smell of Ballistol and acutally prefer Hoppes #9. Must have had their brain scrambled from drinking methalated spirits. BTW, Ballistol is NOT mineral oil, the maker is quite specific that it uses a vegetable based oil. My hunch is that it may be olive oil.

For the record, from the MSDS:

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.

And as an aside, one of the few solvents completely safe for nickel plating, which Hoppes is not. Also one of the few lubricants safe for everything other than metal that might be found on a weapon - wood, ivory, bone, leather, plastic and rubber.

Short of a dedicated bore cleaner it does a pretty decent job of loosening and removing stubborn carbon deposits on the inside of pistol barrels. Requires at least a 20 minute soak but it's gotten barrels cleaner than overhyped "formulated for firearms" all in one CLPs.

The "oils from vegetal seeds" -- my guess is it's anise, given the characteristic odor.

quote:

Seriously, people complain about the mild smell of Ballistol and acutally prefer Hoppes #9. Must have had their brain scrambled from drinking methalated spirits.

Scooter123: Are you responding to me and YooperSigs ? ? ?

'cause we never said anything about the smell.

'Cause what we said was . . .

Blasphemy !

BLASPHEMY ! ! !

I have been using Hoppes # 9 for around 40 years.
I just tried Ballistol while cleaning up an old rusty .410 single shot break action shotgun that was given to me.
It cleaned up the metal and also cleaned up the wood as well.
Worked on the shotgun outside and the smell was not bad at all. I did run a patch of Hoppe's down the bore using an old .45 bore brush.

friend suggested it to me to help control some white mold on leather and milsurp stocks in my safe (at the time, I just had the dehumidifier absorber type stuff, not a goldenrod)

didn't really work that well , the mold came back, but it was easy to clean off,

(golden rod worked, as it should when I finally installed it)

meanwhile I do give all a wipedown with it now and again,
wife usually avoids me when I do it, she cannot stand the smell