Bore Butter

[SimmerinLightning]

Rummaging through some stuff, I found a partial tube I bought over 20 years ago. I use wads now, and I recall Bore Butter being a runny mess after a shot or two, but I figure I could use it as arbor grease maybe. Perhaps mix it with a bit of beeswax to thicken it up a little?

[Lefty Dude]

A better Arbor lube might be Mobil 1 synthetic grease for Summer & Frog Lube gel for Winter.
Works for me. I can run six stages with either one in my 51's 060's.

[Coffinmaker]

Nuisance here.  Oh LOOK ......... He's Back   

Old tube of Bore Butter.  Simple.  Switch to APP.  You won't need Bore Butter.  You won't need over powder greasy wads.  You won't need special bullet lube (or any bullet lube).  You won't need over bullet lube melting into your prized holster.

Then follow Lefty's (and mine) lead and getcha a grease gun tube of Mobil 1 grease (lifetime supply).  Use that to grease the arbor (don't wipe yer fingers on yer clothes, it stains).

And............... TA DA ........... Mobil 1 motor oil is a perfect lubricant for Cap Guns.  Quart goes a long, long, long way.

Coffinmaker

[SimmerinLightning]

Nuisance here.  Oh LOOK ......... He's Back  

? ? ? ?

I have most of a can of FFFg and was just given a new can of FFg so I am good for awhile, espe ially at the rate I shoot. It may well last me for years.
Is synthetic oil black powder friendly? I must confess I don't quite understand the difference between synthetic and refined oil.

[Lefty Dude]

? ? ? ?

I have most of a can of FFFg and was just given a new can of FFg so I am good for awhile, espe ially at the rate I shoot. It may well last me for years.
Is synthetic oil black powder friendly? I must confess I don't quite understand the difference between synthetic and refined oil.

Mobil 1 is very friendly with BP and subs, that is why we use it. A one pound can will last a very long time.

[Blair]

I had always thought of " Bore Butter" as a patch lube for muzzle loading patch round ball loads.
A kind of replacement or substitute for Hoppies # 9.
Bore Butter was a bit thicker, but both were too thin to use on lead bullets as a lube.
Just basing this off my understanding and usage of these two Products.
My best,
Blair

[Bunk Stagnerg]

bore butter in the winter is a handy BP lube, but with Texas weather now at 100 + bore butter is more like drawn butter and is all over the gun and gunner. Good stuff for winter but Mobil grease s better in the summer.

Bunk

[Montana Slim]

Nothing wrong with bore butter, but then I only use as an arbor lube. Our summer highs rarely go far over 100 degrees, but it sure well exceeds this temp on the arbor when firing a string under most conditions, so it must be working ok...least for me.  You might try squeezing some bore butter into an empty cap tin as an experiment. Stored in this manner (not airtight), some of the liquid evaporates...makes a stiffer/better lube than straight from the plastic tube.

Biggest downside to BB is the huge cost increase in past few years. I bought out the local retailer who had it discounted to $4.99 per tube 10+ yrs ago, so I do have a lifetime supply.

I've used the greasy over powder wads, store-bought & homemade......no thanks, not going there again. Sticking with tried & true over the top lube I've used for many years......a small (and I mean small) dab of crisco works fine in outdoor temps up to 100 deg, and does not ooze into the holster or other more embarrassing locations when applied sparingly. If a large qty is used it is merely blown out of adjacent chambers when firing anyway. Another tip, for "cowboy" shooting, crisco lube over the 1st, 3rd and 5th shot. Plenty good. For shooting groups or impressing your friends by exploding"dixie" cups filled with water, I recommend using lube on each chamber..."consistency"... as they say.

Wax is a key ingredient in a good arbor lube, and very BP friendly too....you might even find this ingredient in b-butter or froggy lube 

One could try a bit of Johnson's paste wax, or even shoe polish in a pinch...all on their own, or mixed with some of your own "proprietary" ingredients. One can use beeswax, but keep in mind it has a higher melting point..and will need to heat/mix in a double boiler. It also may not spread/flow as easy to apply by hand.

Slim

[mehavey]

Mix cheap Olive Oil & Beeswax to whatever summer/winter consistency you want, add a squirt of wintergreen oil from Chateau Safeway... and call it what it is:  Bore Butter.

Personally, I've gone with the automotive synthetic grease/oil for everything now.   

[will52100]

Bore butter is pretty good stuff for arbor lube, but that's down in south MS, and I don't do a lot of shooting in 100 deg. weather.

As an aside, why, why, why use wads?  It's another loading step, I've seen little if any advantage over lubing the top of the ball for keeping accuracy up.  It's less messy, but if there lubed enough to do the job rite they can contaminate your powder and make for inconsistant shots.  With a proper fitting ball in a chamfered ROUND chamber there is zero chance of a chain fire from the front.  From the cap side is a differnt story.  If your woods walking just leave the lube off, accuracy is good for 6 shots or so.  I did a test a while back and if I remember rite accuracy started to fall off around the 3rd or 4th cylinder full, and by the 6th the cylinder was getting tough to rotate.  Lube on top of the balls just keeps everything lubed up and fouling soft.

Crisco works good as well, and is cheaper.

As far as getting holsters dirty, my cap gun holster are not that nice or exspensive, and there black powder cap guns, at the bare minimum your going to be getting powder fouling in the holsters.  Don't imagine many original holsters were pristene either.

Just my .02$, YMMV.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

Bore Butter alone tends to become a liquid at warmer temps, say 85 F and up.

I've had good luck adding a tube of it to my lube recipe in the past, but, lately have not found it on the shelf. But then, I also have nearly 10lbs of bp lube in one form or another in reserve.

I would soak home cut wonder wads in bore butter when ox-yoke suspended operations for a spell.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Years ago the famous chemist & BP expert "Mad Monk", aka Bill Knight, disparaged Bore Butter showing how it caused build up in a bore that normal bore cleaners could not remove and requiring potent tolulene solvent to do so. That convinced me to avoid it. Word to the wise.  

[will52100]

Hmmm, I've never had an issue with it, either with patched round ball or as a ball lube for cap and ball revolvers.  I've also added it to my BP lube recipes before with no issue.  Could they have changed the formula?  Or is it with subs?  I've never shot any of the subs, only real black powder.  Though I should add for patched round ball I normalily shoot TOTW mink oil for patch lube.  And all my front stuffer barrels are Rice, very slick rite from the factory.  Wonder if that's got anything to do with it?

[wildman1]

I've been using it for years and never had a problem with it. My wife has started using it in her smokiless guns for lube as they clean up better than with reg gun oils. wM1

[ChuckBurrows]

Years ago the famous chemist & BP expert "Mad Monk", aka Bill Knight, disparaged Bore Butter showing how it caused build up in a bore that normal bore cleaners could not remove and requiring potent tolulene solvent to do so. That convinced me to avoid it. Word to the wise.  

The Mad Monk, further observations:

The whole nonsense started in the early 1980's when Young came out with Young Country 103 lube.  Picked some up in 1983 at the then annual Morgan's Rifles shoot at Winchester, VA.  On the same table was a container of Ox-Yoke patch lube.  Rumor was that one day Young had gone to the range and forgot his patch lube.  So he lubed patches with the Chap Stick he was carrying and it worked great.  So Young simply purchased Chap Stick in bulk and packaged it down to his lube.

So I took both samples into the lab I worked in at the time.  Turned out both lubes were the same thing.  Chap Stick.  Now Young was supplying Ox-Yoke.  With Ox-Yoke you got an ounce less for the same price.  The missing ounce being their cut to make a profit.

Then in 1984 Ox-Yoke came out with the Wonder Lube.  Jumped on that one.  In one container I had oil separate out of the lube and form on the top of the lube in the container.  Took it up to the research lab and had an IR done on it.  Turned out to be mineral oil with an orange oil-soluble dye.  Found it had about 5% oil of wintergreen in it.  Why this in the lube??  Then I did some solvent extractions to look at the waxy base material.

Then I noted that at the time Ox-Yoke was located in West Suffield, CT.  Across the river was a big pharmaceutical company in Suffield, CT that made products like mineral ice and chest rubs.  Oil of wintergreen is used in chest rubs for the common cold or as a pain reliever for muscle sprains or arthritic joints.  All based on paraffin wax or petrolatum.  So much for the claim of all-natural none petroleum.  The only reason I could see for the orange dye in the mineral oil was to give the user the idea is was based on beeswax.

So we simply switched from a lip balm to a chest rub!!

[will52100]

   No way!!!   Or, ok, maybe.  But I'd like to see an actual spectral analysis, not just supposition.  I'm not a chemist, but I know someone out there has the ability to give the exact chemical breakdown.  Not saying I don't believe Bill Knight, but I'd like an independent evaluation from a lab.

In the end though, it'd be for curiosity's sake, it works for me and works well.  Even if I hardly ever buy it anymore since there are other cheaper alternatives like Crisco.

[Montana Slim]

Should be obvious that Bill Knight was referring to use of Bore Butter as a bullet or patch lubricant.

Many posters here, myself included, are using/endorsing BB as an arbor lube, ratchet lube, internals lube and as a light film coating the inside of a revolver frame...rather than as a bullet lube. I only use it as referenced above. Likely why I still have two-and-a-half of the 5 tubes purchased (highly discounted) 20-some years ago. Very handy for these uses. I know some shooters of the "other" powder using for the same purposes.

Ingredients are of no surprise...many products which users give a favorable rating for BP (as firearm lubes..not bullet lubes) contain mineral oil and wax. I'm sure I could whip up a batch of something usable in my lab kitchen by mixing some Johnson's paste wax with olive oil, or such.


Slim

[45 Dragoon]

Works great as an arbor lube if you mix a tube of graphite with it. That's my  arbor lube / grease in the shop.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

[Coffinmaker]

At least there are a couple of us dissenters (rabble rousing ruffians) who don't like "bore butter" for  (gasp)  anything.  I have a perfectly good reason.  I'm lazy.  Why mix anything. takes time.  It's annoying and most of the stuff smells bad.

Solution:  Auto Zone.  Buy a tub or tube of Mobil 1 grease.  Several years later, I'm still working on my first tube.  Like those great migrators of your, slap a gob on the axel (Arbor) and spread it around.  Perfect.  Paper towel.  don't wipe your fingers on clothes.  It stains like cherry stuff. 

Understand, ALL of the foregoing is strictly personal preference.  My humble, unassuming, unpredjuced open minded opinion.    I just see no reason to revert back to ancient remedies when modern medicine does a better job.  Personally, ya understand.
Professionally, way back when I was building guns for folks, Mobile 1 was my "go to" assembly grease.  After assembly, Mobil 1 motor oil was/is my lubricant of choice.  Plays well with Others.  So, I guess my Professional, humble, unassuming, kindly and understanding opinion was just about the same    NOT good for tooth paste! 

Coffinmaker

[will52100]

How well does Mobil 1 work with real black powder?  You've got me thinking I might need to try some.