Ballistol

4 Scale · 08-27-2015, 08:01 PM

It clearly has cleaning properties, as when I use it on a q-tip I get material transfer.

I'm not a chemist, but I do believe it can be both a solvent and a lubricant. The solvent part appears to evaporate, and the remaining residue is the lubricant. If you spray or otherwise place a quantity of Ballistol on or in a non-porus surface, after a few minutes you will notice a volume decrease, that must be evaporation. I associate rapid evaporation with many solvents. The oder also also diminishes rapidly, which strongly suggests something is evaporating.

As far as the smell overall, it is not as bad as other cleaning solvents like acetone and Hoppe's.

08-27-2015, 08:01 PM	#24
4 Scale User Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 544 Thanks: 194 Thanked 490 Times in 251 Posts	It clearly has cleaning properties, as when I use it on a q-tip I get material transfer. I'm not a chemist, but I do believe it can be both a solvent and a lubricant. The solvent part appears to evaporate, and the remaining residue is the lubricant. If you spray or otherwise place a quantity of Ballistol on or in a non-porus surface, after a few minutes you will notice a volume decrease, that must be evaporation. I associate rapid evaporation with many solvents. The oder also also diminishes rapidly, which strongly suggests something is evaporating. As far as the smell overall, it is not as bad as other cleaning solvents like acetone and Hoppe's.