Home-made Lube

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I have tried the "make yer own lube thing" and I think it's come out fine.  I used 1/4 lb. parraffein (sp?), 1/4lb. beeswax, and several cups of olive oil.  I think it would be great for pan lubing.

The problem is, I also need some lube that is soft enough to put in front of my C&B balls.  About the consistancy of Crisco (or a touch firmer) would be perfect. I have a squirter made of brass that is very similar to a cake decorator, but it looks better and more period correct since it's made of brass.  I got it from Dixie.  I have a small amount of "Spit Ball" that works fine, but it isn't made anymore.

Any ideas?

[Tangle Eye]

I normally use 1 part beeswax to 1 part crisco (the buttery kind smells better  ) but that's too firm for you purpose.  You could use less wax and more and that might work. What you need is just enough wax to keep it firmer then just crisco. I've also heard that soy wax works well too. I've got some but haven't made any lube with it yet.  You could give it a try - I think it would work.

I generally don't lube the cap n balls but use a dry wad or filler under the ball. (I'm of the opinion that chain fires start from the nipple end - not the ball end.  I just put the wad in there to take up space since I don't want to shoot a chamber full all the time.)

Hope this helps a little bit.

[Mason Stillwell]

Howdy Pard

I use Remingtons and they like lube on the front of the cylinder. Makes things turn more freely.

I use the same lube as for my boolits I just dd crisco until it is the right thickness for squarting thur my needle.

Hope this helps

Mason
ALmost forgot. My lube is Tolet bowl ring ,Crisco, Olive Oil,small candle.Works great.It really keeps the Remingtosn turning free.

[Cuts Crooked]

Mason's got right! Jist remelt with more crisco or oil until you get the consistancy yer wantin'! 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks, fellas.

Tangle Eye, I b'lieve you're right about the chain fires starting from the nipple end, not the front.  It just seems that my guns work better when that grease goes down the barrel first and makes ever'thin slick before-hand.  Especially my Remington, like Mason's.

What do y'all think if I added about double the amount of olive oil to what I have?  Would it just make a mess or perhaps get it to the right consistancy?  I only have a bit more of the ingredients, so I don't want to waste them.

Most people don't realize that ya have to be something of a chemist to shoot/lube Black Powder Cap 'n Ball guns!

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks for the encouragement, Cuts!

[Delmonico]

For a store bought on for cap and ball, the bore butter should be about right for all but real cold weather.

For boooolits I started using 50% beeswax and 50% deer tallow by weight about 10 years ago and never looked back.  It don't melt out in 100+ weather and it works well in the cold.  Course ya have to shoot a fat deer now and then render, but that's no biggy.

Oh, fergot it is the best hand cream and lip balm I've ever used, as a former painter I'd about tried them all.

[Black River Smith]

Steel Horse

Just saw your posting.  Hope I am not too late to try and help you out.  You stated using 1/4lb of both & cups of Olive Oil,so you should have something near 8 to 16 oz in wt. 1/2 lb to a full lb of finished product.

If you weigh it, then take only 1/4 of that weight (2 to 4 oz) and start adding more olive oil to it.  Keep track of the new amount of Olive Oil and when you hit the correct consistence of 'soft lube' just tally up the new volume/weight with the 1/4 of the original Olive Oil.  Then you can calculate total/overall for the soft lube. That way you don't alter all of your """hard lube for cast bullets"" and if you over shoot the olive oil (toooo soft) you have hard stuff to add.  Also that way you won't be using up a lot of Olive Oil.  Then next time you need the soft stuff you will be using lesser amounts of Crisco and Beeswax.

Call if you want help......  or Email if easier I will work you through the #'s

Black River Smith  (NCOWS Convention)

[Sergeant Smokepole]

3 pounds of Crisco and 2 wax toilet seals. This mix works great from -10 to 105 degrees in direct sunlight. It also allows me to fire over 200 rounds without cleaning.

[Dick Dastardly]

Sarge is the one that put me on to the "secret" ingredient for my Pearl Lube.  I take equal parts by weight of wax toilet seal ring, cheep vegie shortnin' and cheep container blend Soy wax, melt 'em together in a double boiler, stir and pour lube slugs.

The stuff is adjustable to need.  Want it stiffer, use more Soy wax.  Want it softer, use more shortnin'.  Want it sticker, use more wax ring.  By simply varying the mix it can be made to fit the mission.  The interesting thing is this.  The stuff in the wax rings seems to impart a property that nothing else will do.  It makes Pearl Lube motion activated.  That is, it's stiff enuf to stay put till it's moved.  Then it becomes very soft and runny.  This is great cuz no lube remains on any of my recovered boolits.  All the lube is available and used in the bore where it's needed.

Thanks Sarge.

DD-DLoS

[44caliberkid]

Back when I was reading all the home made lube recipes, I saw where a couple guys were substituting peanut oil for olive oil because of it's greater resistance to heat, before it burns.  Made sense to me, so I put some in my last batch.  Haven't tried it yet though.

[Surly Bob]

Where can you find soy wax?

BTW DD - That 200 grain big lube boolit mold works great.  Shot my first black powder match in BP Duelist at NCOWS Midwest Regional and came home with first place.  I figger it's the boolits.....'cause I'm pretty slow....especially with my left hand...

[hellgate]

I gave up on home made lubes (used various combinations of olive oil & beeswax) because the temperatures hers in spring & fall can vary so much that in th ecold AM the lube could be too stiff and by afternoon it's too soft. I had a cold weather lube (2 parts oil & 1 part BW) and a warm weather lube (50/50 BW/OO). I finally just went to automotive greases like AMS/OIL Synthetic Grease, AMS/OIL Racing Grease, generic white lithium grease etc as over ball lubes in the C&Bs. The auto lubes will "syringe" at all temperatures and not melt. The bores stay clean & the cylinders still turn (the Remingtons need an oil drop between stages). Having said that, I may need to try Sgt Smokepole's toilet seal formula. I like the "motion activated" characteristic.

[Howdy Doody]

I made up a batch of lube this summer. It worked pretty dang good for pan lubing the Sankebites and PRS match bullets.
I used one of the full cups of tallow from Dixie, one pound of beeswax, one tube of Thompsons bore lube and a cake of crisco ( the new wrapped cakes) and heated the stuff up and mixed well. It worked well for pan lubing. I haven't tried it yet for colder weather, but I will probably mix in some more crisco.
The stuff smells good due tot he Thompsons and it really holds in the big grooves well.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

I have used "Camp Dry" before asa an experiment when out of bore butter ( which I have had to run on me) The "Camp Dry" is a waterproofer containiing mink oil, and some other compounds. Did ok ......for about 20 rounds. Then time to clean. I wonder if "Snoshield" would work? Similar to "Camp Dry" but beeswax and lanolin...hmm...just some thoughts and experiments in physics and chemistry....

[Grapeshot]

I'll add my $0.02 worth.  Recently mixed up a batch of home made lube that came out too soft for bullet lube, but was great for sticking in the front of cylinders.  It was just a tad stiffer than Bore Butter but not by much.  Started out with a 50/50 mix of Beeswax and Crisco and about 1/4 cup of Crisco Vegtable Oil.  Used some of it in the mouths of my Shotgun Hulls to keep fouling down in the shotgun and in the chamber mouths of my sixguns to keep them working through the match and promote easier cleanup.

Your milage may vary.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

1 lb of bees wax
1 "bar" of crisco
1 cup of canola or olive oli
1 ring of Bol-Wax

And if its going to be hot out, I add a block of canning wax/parafin from the canning section at the store.

This all thickens up nice and works like a charm.

I melt bees wax, bol wax and oil the stove top in a big aluminum foil pan (the cheap dispoable kind from the store) and then put the crisco in last. I heat at 300 F for an hour.

4 table spoons of murphy's oil soap also helps keep the mix from seperating... add the oil soap just as you are removing it from heat and stir it in.

I don't always add oil soap. If I add parafin, I usually do.

Anyhow, this is easily enough lube for 3 sets of pans for pan-lubing and enough to fill my lyman #45 sizer a few times as well.

I keep extra stuff, without the parafin, as bullet lube for when I go cap-n-ball shooting.

[Howdy Doody]

Me? I buy tallow from Dixie Gun Works and I use equal portions of that and beeswax that I buy from Michaels crafts stores. I add a bit of paraffin to the mix for hot weather and in cold weather add a bit of crisco. Lately, I add a dab of Thompsons bore butter (mostly cuz I like the smell of it) and that gives me a yellowish tint. Melt it all in an old microwave I have in the garage and mix well. This mess does me well for pan lubing and for pouring right into my lubersizer.
I have had very good results in my 38-55 and 45-70 and more important I can shoot a two day main match with my lube and big lube bullets and Goex Pinnacle and not have to clean my pistols or rifle.
The microwave sure makes it easy compared to double boilers and such. It is especially fast for pan lubing. That is another subject altogether though.

[Howdy Doody]

Whoa Goatlips.............not beef tallow. I should have said the tallow from Dixie is mutton tallow aka sheep tallow.
I got turned on to that from stuff from the ol' Felix lube formula, which BTW is excellent probably for BPCR, but I found way to much effort for CAS.
Dixie sells the stuff in small plastic containers, and I have had some stored a couple of years and it doesn't get rancid. Adding Crisco to the mix helps make the mix soft, but since I live in a pretty toasty climate, I found that adding the paraffin like you buy at the grocery for canning stiffens the mix.
I have shot my style lube with Goex, Goex Cowboy, APP and my current powder Goex Pinnacle and the fouling stays real soft all the way in my 20" rifle and of course my RVs too. The big lube bullets help a lot too, since they carry so much lube compared to regular bullets.

[Modoc]

Anyone here know what a wax toilet ring weighs? 

Thanks,

Modoc