moose milk

[William Schoenfeld, 1386]

Can someone send me the mixture for moosemilk. It seems as if there are about 10 different mixtures on the Internet - what is the best one? Send it to mosby1862@cox.net.
Thanks
Dutch Schoenfeld
Mosby's Rangers

[DAVE FRANCE]

I've used a mixture of 1/3rd rubbing alcohol, 1/3 rd Murphy oil soap, and 1/3rd hydrogen peroxide for many years. It works very well, it is cheap but it isn't moose milk. (What do we call this - the unnamed mixture?) I used other things for years, but I never found anything better if you are only removing black powder residue. However, if you are only using patches to remove residue form a muzzle loading barrel, it will not get it all from the breach. Even though it only a few patches come out clean, there will be some residue at the breach that will start pitting. And I doubt if this mixture will remove lead.

If you use it in a Henry or another breach loader, the unnamed mixture will get the residue out of the barrel.

If you use a smokeless powder in cartridges for shooting outside the N-SSA, I would clean with Hoppes or something else made for smokeless powder after the unnamed mixture.

Good luck,

David

[Greg Ogdan, 11444]

Dutch,
1 part water soluble oil, 1 part Lestoil, 1 part hydrogen peroxide (optional), 1 part isopropol alcohol (optional), 8 parts water. The H2O2 promotes mixing and the alcohol lowers the freezing point. I forget whether you add the water to the oil or the other way around, but only one way works. Ask the guy you get the oil from. Hope this helps.

[Blair]

Here is the link to the original manufacturer of the product known as "Moose Milk".

http://winchestersutler.com/ShotLoad.html#CLN

Hope this helps,
Blair

[Walt Magee]

Winshield washer fluid works great and it dries in minutes and it's cheap! It stops corrosive action of BP and costs $3.99 a gallon.

[ken chrestman]

The 1/3rd part solution containing Hydrogen Peroxide will harm the oil finish on muskets. I switched to egual parts of Murphy Oil soap and Isoprol Alcohol, it works just fime, I also add a shot of Simple Green.

Ken Chrestman,7147V
FEC, Tennessee

[DAVE FRANCE]

Ken,

What is Simple?

David

[John Holland]

What Ken meant by using the green face is the product is simple green, a cleaning solution that is available just about anywhere.

I discovered the problem with the post....if you capitalize the word green the bb automatically inserts the green face emoticon. I guess the system is too automatically cute.

JDH

[William Schoenfeld, 1386]

Thank you and I will be making up some in the near future and let you know how it is.
Dutch Schoenfeld
Mosby's Rangers

[Scott Kurki, 12475]

Ballistol and water makes a moose milk also. Just add Ballistol to water until it stops mixing (Ballistol starts to sit on top), then add a little more water to get the little extra Ballistol mixed in. Some people add a little Joy dish washing liquid to this mix others add Murphy's Oil Soap, still others just use the Ballistol/water mix straight. This is also used in patched round ball muzzle loading as a patch lube and cleaner.

Anyway, moose milk is just a nick name for these mixtures that all turn whitish when the oil emulsifies with the water.

[jonniereb]

Just curious... what are the adverse effects of hydrogen peroxide on oil finishes? I've been using a mixture of 2 parts alcohol /2 parts peroxide/1 part Murphy's oil soap for 10 years and have never seen an adverse effect on any of my guns. If it's causing unseen damage I'll stop using it immediately, but it's always done a great job of cleaning my bores.

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

If you do not clean it off the finish and leave it on, it will damage the finishes of tung oil and/or linseed oil. I have not noticed any effect on poly finishes.

I am unaware of any bore damage it can do to our muskets. If you are shooting a "seasoned bore", it is such a good cleaner, it will cut through the seasoning to bare metal. The round ball/rendevous shooters consider this "damage."

Also, Hydrogen peroxide causes rust in it's pure form very rapidly. What we buy off the shelf is usually about 2%, not pure. I suspect if not swabbed out, it might cause rust problems but when it is further diluted by the MOS and alcohol, I cannot see how it will damage our guns. Just make sure it is properly oiled down.

[Southron Jr]

I shoot an Original 63' Springfield and found that the peroxide/alcohol/MOS would cause there to be a line running down my stock where it appeared that I had no finish left. This is after I made sure to carefully wipe down the gun after cleaning, came back a day or two later and the stripe appeared. I haven't used it since and haven't seen a stripe since either.

P.S. My gun hangs horizontally on the wall so I know it wasn't from leaving someting in the bore.

[SHARPS4953]

Just use simple green, mix with equal part of h20, its gret stuff...and natural