The bores are always nice and shiny with no pitting or nastyness with a bore light, but when patched, I almost always get muck on the patch, I assume it's rust.

As you say, it my just be dirty oil, seems rather dry though.

I can't understand what I'm doing wrong as I follow exactly what others say to do and I don't stop patching and scrubbing until the patches come out as clean as new cloth (I'm using fluffy 4x2). The oils I have been using are also all well known gun oils and have a good track record with other people over the years. I don't live in a swamp and my house is dry, we have a dehumidifier running all year and the house is always about 20C.

I think I'll make my 'Bog Roll Ramming' tool to dry the bores and then oil. Bog roll is very absorbent and cheap, it should pull ALL the damp out.

I'll post some pics of the tool and report back once it's made.
I fail to see why it wouldn't work?