TC Bore Butter

Beauregard Hooligan · December 29, 2011, 04:29:20 AM

I found a dozen tubes of TC Bore Butter, also called Natural Lube 1000 Plus, that I bought off a buckskinning vendor that was giving up the trade. In the 20 years that have passed the lube has hardened. I'm thinking of melting some of it down in the old microwave in the shop and adding a light lube to the concoction to freshen it. I have thought of adding safflower, canola, or extra virgin olive oil to the mix. I was hoping you folks might have some suggestions for improving the mix. The original mix was and is great for lubricating maxi-balls or pressing into the chamber mouths of BP pistols. Your suggestions will be appreciated.

Mako · December 29, 2011, 09:37:34 AM

Just try melting it and you might be surprised as to what it reconstitutes to. Bore butter was already soft, if you add a liquid fat to it you may make it too soft. If you add anything I would add tallow or even Crisco.

You also may not want to heat in in a microwave. A double boiler on the stove is better. Place a heat safe container in a pan of water and bring the water temperature up. If you do use a microwave then don't heat it to fully melted. Remove it from the oven and it will continue to melt. Use Pyrex if you have it for a microwave.

I found some old bore butter I probably had 25 or 30 years and it almost had a gritty, grainy consistency until I remelted it. Then I just poured it into a small seal-able can with a lid that looks a bit more "period correct."

Regards,
Mako

hellgate · December 29, 2011, 10:11:15 AM

There is a possibility that it may have separated and there is already an oil loose within the tube. Remelting everything in a double boiler and then you could even pour it back into the tubes, squish it around and let it set. It might go back to its original consistancy. If it is still too hard then add a softener.

WaddWatsonEllis · December 29, 2011, 10:23:30 AM

Hi,

God forbid, but if you do decide to use a microwave, be sure to remove the cap and place the tube to where the cap area is in the highest position ... otherwise you will have an hour job of wiping exploded Bore Butter off the inside of your microwave ... but I think the hot water in a cooking pot is a much better idea ....

WaddWatsonEllis · December 29, 2011, 10:25:07 AM

And don't ask me how I know this ... just know that it involved raw eggs in a microwave ... *S*

Beauregard Hooligan · December 29, 2011, 02:05:50 PM

Thank you for the advise folks. I didn't think about the downside of using a microwave. It's like the saying that if the tool one uses most is a hammer, all problems begin to look like nails.

I was going to cut the tubes, four at a time, and when the mix was reconstituted, put it in a small airtight container such as a thick jar or a airtight tobacco can. Now you have me thinking of re-using the tubes, as I have TC pre-lubers in .45, .50 and .54 caliber that screw onto the tubes of TC lube. This makes lubing Maxi-Balls quite easy. A .54 caliber Maxi-Ball over a still charge of Pyrodex is still good medicine for drooping wild boar in the Salinas Valley. I think I'll keep some of thick stuff and try using it in my Lyman luber/sizer, as it may make a good lube on bullets for black powder cartridges. I have a double boiler, and will take your advise and use it instead of the microwave. Crisco sounds like a viable additive, and I'll add small amounts, letting it cool and harden until I get the consistency I desire. I'll have to heat it to liquid to be able to pour it back into the tubes. Making it thinner is easy, but making it thicker is much more difficult; just like cutting a piece of wood too short is easy, but reversing the process is more than tough, if it can be done at all. The lube has not granulated, that I can tell, but is thick enough to make squeezing it out of the tubes is difficult. It's a good lube. I've also used it for lubing round ball patches for muzzle loading rifles and sealing chambers on my Pietta Remington 1858s and Colt 1851s. I think I paid $1 per tube when I bought it. At this point I think of it as being a free resource for a project, and I have 60 ounces of it. I'm the kind of old guy who always looks at anything discarded or left over as being "parts". It's that kind of thinking that caused me to keep the old and noisy microwave when my Mother bought me a new one for Christmas. An 800 watt microwave in the shop is sure to be useful. Thanks again for the help. Keep the good advise coming, and I'll let you know how it works out.

Sir Charles deMouton-Black · December 29, 2011, 02:54:05 PM

Squeeze tubes can be re-used. Cut them off at the very bottom to retain as much capacity as possible. When they are ready to be refilled, fill them about 3/4 full.

To close them I use a trick I had observed for canoe "dry bags". Take a really cheap ball point pen, strip it and cut off a length of the pen body equal to the width of the flattened end of the squeeze tube and slit it once lengthwise. The other part is a length of bamboo skewer the same length. Fold the flattened end of the tube over the skewer. Pinching the fold fimly with the skewer within the fold, slide the slit pen body over the fold . The resulting closure is reusable.

Boy that was hard to describe, but it is very simple to do.

Noz · December 29, 2011, 04:33:34 PM

The odor in the Thompson lube is pretty loud. I think Momma would get real excited if I did the double boiler/microwave in the house.

Beauregard Hooligan · December 29, 2011, 10:46:35 PM

Quote from: Noz on December 29, 2011, 04:33:34 PM
The odor in the Thompson lube is pretty loud. I think Momma would get real excited if I did the double boiler/microwave in the house.

Well, my Good Lady Wife went to Jesus ahead of me in 2005, but she liked the Christmas tree smell when I used it previously. I'll be with her again, if I can just stay on the straight and narrow for a while longer. I also think that smell might improve the smell of my man cave.

WaddWatsonEllis · December 30, 2011, 12:29:57 AM

Beauregard,

There was a Brit sitcom about people in a Brit 'Retirement Center' called Waiting for God ...

Sometimes I think that shooting is just a way of filling time while I wait ....

TTFN & Happy New Year!

P.S. If we do live close enough, Starbucks would be on me!

Beauregard Hooligan · December 30, 2011, 09:50:26 AM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on December 30, 2011, 12:29:57 AM
Beauregard,

There was a Brit sitcom about people in a Brit 'Retirement Center' called Waiting for God ...

Sometimes I think that shooting is just a way of filling time while I wait ....

TTFN & Happy New Year!

P.S. If we do live close enough, Starbucks would be on me!

I like this song by Alison Krauss and the Cox Family, The Far Side Bank of Jordan. It's brought me a great deal of comfort.

BTW, I'm in Stockton, Ca., so if you're in the vicinity, I'll take you up on the Starbucks.

Steel Horse Bailey · December 30, 2011, 11:53:57 AM

I like the wintergreen "flavour" myself. But the Christmas tree scent would be OK, too.

Grapeshot · January 03, 2012, 08:26:33 PM

Quote from: Beauregard Hooligan on December 29, 2011, 04:29:20 AM
I found a dozen tubes of TC Bore Butter, also called Natural Lube 1000 Plus, that I bought off a buckskinning vendor that was giving up the trade. In the 20 years that have passed the lube has hardened. I'm thinking of melting some of it down in the old microwave in the shop and adding a light lube to the concoction to freshen it. I have thought of adding safflower, canola, or extra virgin olive oil to the mix. I was hoping you folks might have some suggestions for improving the mix. The original mix was and is great for lubricating maxi-balls or pressing into the chamber mouths of BP pistols. Your suggestions will be appreciated.

I bought several tubes of the stuff a few years ago for my muzzleloader and C&B revolvers. It's great stuff and when one of the tubes dried out on me, I added the contents to my BP Cartridge Lube I was melting on the stove and it blended well with my Bees wax and Crisco concoction. Still does the job of keeping fouling soft.