Home made BP lube
- Thread starter sportee
- Start date
Back in 1873, the US Government put out for tender, the ammo supply for the 45/70 rifle, the request outlines the charge of powder req'd., the bullet weight/shape, and the ingredients of the bullet lube. It is because of this bullet lube requirement that this tender doc. has come to light and has been related to many times on the internet. It reads something like this....2 pts beeswax, 2 parts mutton tallow, 1/2 part bayberry wax...these are the exact ingredients that i started with but I now sub. pure Lanolin for the tallow, and, yes the bayberry wax is hard to obtain, but hey, you want to keep it real!!
Yesterday after rendering out 15 pounds of deer tallow , I mixed up a pint batch of bore lube after searching the web....as follows:
1 part Beeswax
2 parts Olive Oil
4 parts Deer Tallow
I have Lanolin and a bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap so I can do more experimenting later on this coming spring.
I need to refine the rendered deer tallow some more(melt it down with an equal volume of water...let it harden up) 'cause the tallow still smells like a deer roast .
Maybe I'll buy some wintergreen or peppermint oil to add to it .
1 part Beeswax
2 parts Olive Oil
4 parts Deer Tallow
I have Lanolin and a bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap so I can do more experimenting later on this coming spring.
I need to refine the rendered deer tallow some more(melt it down with an equal volume of water...let it harden up) 'cause the tallow still smells like a deer roast .
Maybe I'll buy some wintergreen or peppermint oil to add to it .
I made some the other day:
1/2# Beeswax
1/2# Crisco
1.6oz Olive Oil
I have only tried it with some smokeless loads in one of my antiques, seemed to work fine, still waiting for my black powder shipment from Epps to arrive.
1/2# Beeswax
1/2# Crisco
1.6oz Olive Oil
I have only tried it with some smokeless loads in one of my antiques, seemed to work fine, still waiting for my black powder shipment from Epps to arrive.
Not trying to start a fight (as I know that some people are very sensitive about their recipes), but isn't the argument that the best recipe for black powder lube is what was used in the "heyday" (e.g. what the US Army recommended in 1878), specious reasoning?
Do mutton tallow, sperm whale oil and other "exotic" and expensive ingredients, truly better the more common elements such as Olive Oil, Criso, etc. that simply weren't available back then?
I know people who will point to an old piece of furniture as proof that all furniture used to be made much better back then, forgetting that the junk that was produced has long since vanished. In the same way, the best "back then", was the best they could make from what was available.
I know there's no definitive answer, just trying to provoke thought.
Do mutton tallow, sperm whale oil and other "exotic" and expensive ingredients, truly better the more common elements such as Olive Oil, Criso, etc. that simply weren't available back then?
I know people who will point to an old piece of furniture as proof that all furniture used to be made much better back then, forgetting that the junk that was produced has long since vanished. In the same way, the best "back then", was the best they could make from what was available.
I know there's no definitive answer, just trying to provoke thought.
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Better living through chemistry.
It would, as Andy suggests, be hard to deny that our common lives and every day lifestyles are not greatly enhanced through modern chemistry.
We would be fools not to learn from the past, but we would be even more foolish not to use that knowledge gained and apply it to our present day lives. IMHO
It goes without saying that for re-enactment purposes and for just plain curiosities sake, mixing up a witches brew is fun and rightous.
For Sat. at the range however, please give me something that works well and is less time consuming than rendering sperm oil! LOL (and smells less offensive! LOL)
It would, as Andy suggests, be hard to deny that our common lives and every day lifestyles are not greatly enhanced through modern chemistry.
We would be fools not to learn from the past, but we would be even more foolish not to use that knowledge gained and apply it to our present day lives. IMHO
It goes without saying that for re-enactment purposes and for just plain curiosities sake, mixing up a witches brew is fun and rightous.
For Sat. at the range however, please give me something that works well and is less time consuming than rendering sperm oil! LOL (and smells less offensive! LOL)
The main purpose/requirement of BP lube is to manage the BP fouling by keeping it soft so that it will not build up in the bore as much and subsequent shots will remove some fouling along with the bullet. A lube that hardens will have the bullet ride on top of it somewhat and destroy accuracy and make cleanup a much bigger chore, a petroleum based lube will add to the buildup. A good BP lube will also work better with warm moist air introduced by "huffing" down the barrel with a blow tube.
Blowing down the barrel is primarily aimed at black powder cartridge rifles. Blowing down the muzzle is controversial; when I first started, it was recommended to extinguish any sparks which could potentially be lingering in the breach area. More recently there has come to be a belief that blowing down the muzzle right after shooting can lead to a secondary discharge through your head.
In a cartridge rifle the difference is quite noticeable on a hot dry day, if you are running a brush through the bore between shots
cheers mooncoon
In a cartridge rifle the difference is quite noticeable on a hot dry day, if you are running a brush through the bore between shots
cheers mooncoon
Now you have done it, I have to think.
Andy, those words are well spoken.
I look at this way.
Two schools of thought.
1.
Try to come up with the best modern lube as possible.
Well something tells me, STEVE GARBE of SPG fame and many others have busted their @ss doing this for a while, but there is always room for improvement.
That’s why we all have tried our own Witches brew of lube recipes and that’s half the fun of it.
I know myself; I’m always trying new thought to a batch of lube.
2.
The other is school of thought is to use a recipe that was brewed and concocted back in time, the "heyday".
That’s the way it was then and that’s good enough for me.
This is one reason Black Powder Shooting is so addictive. We can all step back in time and live the moment.
End of story!
No!
There is no end.
We will always try to come up with something better.
Remember that’s half the fun of it.
There is nothing like squeezing a shot off, knowing
That you cast the ball,
That you made the lube (from your own recipe) and that you cut your own patch.
I know some shooters that make their own powder to boot.
Cigar_man
-since 1958 also-
stevejones
Regular
- Location
- Courtenay, BC
Best Minnie Lube
Becel LIGHT margarine. Yup. This is the one for Minnie's. In my experience it keeps the fouling soft and almost liquid. This helps especially with the shallow rifle grooves in some muskets. Helps keep down the cholesterol too...
Cheers. Steve
Becel LIGHT margarine. Yup. This is the one for Minnie's. In my experience it keeps the fouling soft and almost liquid. This helps especially with the shallow rifle grooves in some muskets. Helps keep down the cholesterol too...
Cheers. Steve
