Patch lube

Started by Fabian23, 09. June 2009 kl. 8:36:16

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Angus

Hi

What lube do you use on your patches when you are loading roundballs in rifles? Do you make your own or do you buy it? Do you have any recipes or products to recommend?

Thanks

Fabian23

Asking everyone for their magic formulae? tsk tsk :-P

My personal mix is goose fat, beeswax and vegetable based solid chip fat.  I use it for both patches and lubing conicals.  I adjust the hardness by
juggling the proportions.  For patches I use a small frying pan and soak the patches in the hot lube, take them out and leave to dry. Leaves me with a nicely saturated patch dry to the touch. I do the same for wads in cartridges.
Give me iron, steel and wood!  Tupperware guns are for losers!

My website, growing entry by entry:http://www.militarygunsofeurope.eu[/url]

Angus

Thanks for your suggestion. Strange ingredients you use. Do you raise geese? :-D

Do the tubes you can buy in the store work well? Patch butter or something.

Fabian23

Nope, but the original lubes were mostly animal(tallow)/plant based so I stick to that.  Goose fat is readily available in stores here.  I have never used commercial lubes but I'm sure they work fine, I'm just cheap :-D .  The ox-yoke range seems to be pretty much praised by all.
Give me iron, steel and wood!  Tupperware guns are for losers!

My website, growing entry by entry:http://www.militarygunsofeurope.eu[/url]

Øyvind F.

For patches I almost exclusively used T/C Bore Butter (also known as Natural Lube 100 Plus). This is product is frowned upon by some shooters, but in my opinion it is as good as anything else. A common mistake is to put too much butter on the patch, thus making it too slick. This gives inconsistent velocities, and the lube remains in the bore and mixes with the black powder fouling. The result is an undesired slick and dirty fouling.



I lubricate the patches, allow them to saturate for a few minutes and then scrape if off again with a piece of plastic rules against a hard surface. This leaves the patches almost dry, but if you squeeze the cloth fibres you see that the lubrication is there. Note that I wipe between shots.
In later years I have started using liquid Ox-Yoke Lube 100 Plus, which I apply to the patches with an eyedropper.



For most black powder cartridge bullets I use SPG, but for miniés and kammerlader bullets I use a mix of 1 part beeswax, 1 part coconut butter and some vegetable oil to soften it.

Others use a mix of water soluble oil and water, spray lubricants like Ballistol and so on. You can also use saliva.

Here is a selection of lubricants suited for muzzleloaders and roundballs.
Øyvind F. - forum admin
Ta også en kikk på kammerlader.no.

tommy303

For patched round ball I have been using a lube I make with 1/2 pound of beeswax, 1-pound of paraffin, and 13 ounces of vasoline.  It seems to work quite well.  I normally melt the ingredients together in a double boiler and pour into a shoe polish can or some such that fits easily in the pocket.  I most usually simply rub both sides of the patch into the surface of the wax.  It seems to pick up enough that way to do the job.

For cartridges, the same formula makes a nice grease cookie and I have had good results with simply lubing and sizing the bullets with the same mixture.  I have also used bayberry wax and graphite, which was used by the Frankford Arsenal in the 45-70 and 50-70 up into the 1880s.  I have yet to try the straight Japan Wax used from about 1882-1898.

thomas
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.

A.E. Housman

tom koenig

Angus:   the best Patch-lube that I HAVE EVER USED IS RENDERED BEAR FAT.RENDERING CHUNKS OF THIS WILL BECOME "WATER-CLEAR" 350 DEGREES IN OVEN , STRAIN AND DO AGAIN. ABSOLOUTLY NO- ODER . WILL SIT IN A MASON JAR IN COOL LOCATION FOR YRS.Makes the flakiest pie-crust you've ever tasted.no wild taste.
back to the lube; I have used this lube in every caliber from .32, .40, .45. .50, .54. 62. both flint and percussion. doesn't freeze in bbl., does'nt contaminate powder even when left in bbl. for days.(hunting season).

it's consistant. and as accurate as anything I,ve used over the last 55 yrs.

I've got a .50 ca. hawkin with a Bill Large bbl. that has over 5,000 rounds through it . I've shot 50 yd. off hand 5 shot groups @.375'' and 100 yd. off hand groups @ 1.50". when I had better eyes and steadier aim.

tom koenig

Fabian23

#7
Dang, no bears here in Holland (no mountains to hide up) :-D
Give me iron, steel and wood!  Tupperware guns are for losers!

My website, growing entry by entry:http://www.militarygunsofeurope.eu[/url]

Tom J Koenig

Sorry to have offended anyone with the suggestion of using rendered bear tallow as a patch lube.My point was that sometimes you don't have to make things so complicated with these various recipes. You still have acsess to many animal tallows that would probably work.

Now, if I may be so facesious, I have been shooting every kind of black powder weopon from revolvers, to single shot pistols, to .32 caliber, .40 cal. .45. cal. .50 cal. .54 cal. .62 cal long -guns and shotguns, in both flint and percussion. I have shot competition, and hunted exclusively with black powder weopons for over 50 yrs. Being that the post was my first time on this site, I didn"t realise I was speaking out-of-place.

my sincerest apologies.

tom koenig

Øyvind F.

I don't think anyone feel you have offended them. Fabian23 made a humorous remark about the bear population in the Netherlands; I don't think he was offended.

The lack of replies is due to the fact that the forum is rather dead for the time being. We need to promote ourselves a little better!
Øyvind F. - forum admin
Ta også en kikk på kammerlader.no.

Tom J Koenig

I also am not trying to bragg about my past b-powder experience. I am 67 yrs. live ina town of 500 people and a few bears. (kidding),.I am retired from a small shoe store that my son now owns. I was a cobbler in this store for over 30 yrs.
I have always had this passion for muzzle-loaders. so I just kept learning about every facet of it that I possibly could.I used to drivedown to osseo , mn, when "track of the wolf" was a one room shop on the main street. that was back in the early 70's now they are the largest supplier of b-powder guns and supplies in the world.

Please, if I am allowed to post a comment again on this site, I might try to give some ad vice, but mostly, I am still learning.

tom k.