I use 50-50 beeswax and bear grease although any animal fat will do. SPG and Paul Mathews lubes are basically beeswax and animal fat unless I am mistaken. I have not had any problem with it going rancid
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
Who has a lube recipe?
- Thread starter Smcx
- Start date
Okay but I'm a little confused. Ballistol is highly refined mineral oil with a few other ingredients. Would not a combination of beeswax & pharmaceutical grade mineral oil not make for a excellent patch lube? Without the use of animal fat and/or vegetable oil?
Stand bullets up in oiled pan
Pour in melted lube
Stick pan in fridge
Remove bullet/lube cake from pan
Push out bullets with thumb like your popping bubble wrap.
For my Snider cartridges I do as the British originally did- 100% beeswax. Tests at the time showed it was possible to fire hundreds of rounds without accuracy falling off. I'm surprised at how little fouling I see after 50 rounds.
milsurpo
milsurpo
To be honest, I've used Ballistol on tick bites while hunting,clean the hunting rifle after a wet day and to preserve my save queens...But never with black powder, especially not for patches...could work, depending on the amount of bees wax,my reason not to is because that stuff is too expensive for that ( at least in my financial budget )
Best is, try and see.
CG
Hence the suggestion of using a high quality mineral oil. I will give it a try.
Cheers.
- Location
- West coast of Vancouver Island
My lube is made with 50% beeswax 40% crisco and 10% of olive oil, but unlike NorthCoastBigBore i use extra virgen olive oil it gives you tighter groups
I'm a 33/33/33 man myself beeswax/animal fat/olive oil, thanks for the chuckle
I've never had a problem with it as long as the bullets were free of dirt/oil/mould release agent. There is a thread here describing the process and it is very quick and simple.
Pan lubing is OK but it's usually messy. Depending on how soft your cast bullets are, you will get lead fouling right down to 350fps.
The biggest issue after cleaning the bullets properly is to make sure you have a heat source that is capable of achieving the proper temps necessary. Close isn't good enough. A bit of over temperature is OK. Also, resist the temptation to open the oven door before the proper bake time has passed.
I found that touching the bullets with my fingers screwed things up so I use tweezers to take the bullets out of the powder and place them base down on the cookie pan.
NorthCoastBigBore
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northwest BC (Rural) 103-I-##
It is a really interesting process. What brand of powder coating are you using?
Patch n ball... agreed, helped me when I forgot the soup at home and worked as well if you have something to drink in between. Cap n Ball revolver or reloading BP cartridges, I'd like to see that show.
CG
NorthCoastBigBore
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northwest BC (Rural) 103-I-##
Works all right for patch n ball but not cast boolits in a BP cartridge....
With single shots it's usually just a chewed patch for me, but with lubing bullets it's 3-4 parts tallow (bacon fat is an easy source for rendering) and 1 part bees wax. Play with the ratios depending on anticipated temps, but really it seems to work about the same. I've been considering trying other people's recipes but somehow just never get around to it....
For the tallow itself buying crisco is probably the easiest, but if you enjoy making your life more complicated than it has to be, just strain your hot bacon grease through a medium sieve to remove the coarse bits, add to a giant pot of water and bring to a boil, then cool it outside until the grease forms a solid disc on the water's surface. Lift it out, scrape off bits of grunge and meaty inclusions on the bottom of the disc, toss the water, and repeat. I do this 3-6 times depending on the volume of water to grease ration, which is probably overkill, but I always end up with clean tallow with no inclusions and minimal to no salt remaining. Works great as a primitive rust proofing, for finishing blacksmithing materials, and doesn't spoil if kept in an airtight container. Oldest batch is coming on 5 years and still smells/looks the same, and never had anything rust that I've used it on.
Which reminds me - I've got about 6 liters of bacon grease to render!
For the tallow itself buying crisco is probably the easiest, but if you enjoy making your life more complicated than it has to be, just strain your hot bacon grease through a medium sieve to remove the coarse bits, add to a giant pot of water and bring to a boil, then cool it outside until the grease forms a solid disc on the water's surface. Lift it out, scrape off bits of grunge and meaty inclusions on the bottom of the disc, toss the water, and repeat. I do this 3-6 times depending on the volume of water to grease ration, which is probably overkill, but I always end up with clean tallow with no inclusions and minimal to no salt remaining. Works great as a primitive rust proofing, for finishing blacksmithing materials, and doesn't spoil if kept in an airtight container. Oldest batch is coming on 5 years and still smells/looks the same, and never had anything rust that I've used it on.
Which reminds me - I've got about 6 liters of bacon grease to render!
I'm no expert; but 50% beeswax 40 % Crisco and 10% canola oil is working pretty good in 45/70
Blackpowder loads. Easy to make too, I just melt the wax in the microwave, add lard and oil and nuke it a bit more til
its easy to stir together. I use a big glass liter measuring cup when the wife
Isnt looking and pour it into a muffin tray that I use for ingots.
Blackpowder loads. Easy to make too, I just melt the wax in the microwave, add lard and oil and nuke it a bit more til
its easy to stir together. I use a big glass liter measuring cup when the wife
Isnt looking and pour it into a muffin tray that I use for ingots.
