Amoretti,
The stuff I use isn't real tacky but what I have found is a little tiny dab goes along ways.  This stuff seems to spread well and minimize picking up all the crud that a chuck is exposed to.   It seems to stay on better in coolant applications too.   It's not a miracle grease but it does work a little better than your chassis grease.  I got it at the recommendation of a tech from Hardinge when I had one of their bar chuckers in my mess, my application for that at the time was a fairly messy environment and it exceeded most other lubes on slides, ways and chucks.   
My 2¢ 
Greg

I haven't had much time for Ballards lately and spending what little time I have had on the Hepburns.  I've been ordering barrels from RKS and because Ron really prefers stainless, claims they're easier to make and they last longer, shoot better, etc. I've gone along with him on most of my orders.  The barrel for this Ballard, the next Ballard and so on are all RKS barrels - in stainless.  I don't have an issue machining it and tend to agree with Ron, it does machine better - with the right tooling.  The issue I do have, stainless in it's raw form doesn't look right on a vintage rifle.  In the distant past, I used Brownell's Oynate No. 7 and Oxynate No. 84 for my bluing needs and the No. 84 did a very good job on Stainless in most cases - those were all gate latch guns though.  I've got away from using my tanks and don't have any desire to go back to them.  I prefer the simplicity and results with Mark Lee's rust blue for CM barrels and my color case for the actions.  I stumbled on a product a few months back that offered an alternative to the #84.  I finally got around to placing an order and the stuff came in today.  Like any new whim or idea, I had to drop everything I was doing and perform a small test...  The finish I got on one of Ron's barrels shows promise.  It went on easy and with a little effort coverage appears to be a little better than what I have experienced using a cold blue on steel.  The color looks good and initial experimenting, it appears to be fairly durable.  Attached pictures of part of a barrel I did, I intentionally only did a part of the barrel and left a transition section for comparison.  The surface was only prepped with 400 grit paper.   The solution is made by Sur Fin Chemical as the photo indicates - check their website.

Vall, 
I discovered this morning I'm a bit of a putz, was thinking all of these barrels are from RKS while the one I experimented on is actually a Shilen -ratchet rifled- as mentioned earlier in the post...   (I'm blaming it on Covid)   

This was one coat and I applied it just like they did in their video, with a brush.  I used an acid brush, brushing it on and dabbing as I went and then rather than a squirt bottle of water to rinse it, I ran the barrel under the faucet for the rinse.  I'm not planning to coat with anything, a little Rem oil seems to enhance the color some.  These will get used, shot and somewhat abused so they'll age a little naturally.

Jeff, 
Sorry for the slow response, I had the same thought when I purchased this but when I put it in my cart for purchase the shipping was corrected and ran about a normal FE or UPS cost of $14.
Hope to have a RKS barrel ready for finish soon on the Hepburn I'm focused on.  I have about a month of classes left and I'll have a little more time   
Greg