Making my own lube.

[Mike 56]

I am a tinkerer, like most, I started using powder ball and Crisco. Hey, it works the downside is it is messy. Wads some are too thin and don't have enough lube and some have too much lube and contaminates the powder. Home maid wads if you get them just right they work great. But you almost need two or three lube mixes for what temperatures you are shooting. Grease cookies the same problem as wads. Is there anything else you can do to control fouling? What I started doing is before I start shooting I lube the cylinder pin and barrel to get a head start on fouling. I like Wonder lube but you could use Bore butter or any other that you like. Let say you like shooting with ball and powder after you fire a cylinder carry a blow tube your breath will make the fouling plenty soft. If you want to go a step farther run a bore brush once in and out of the barrel. If you are shooting a Remington pull the cylinder pin and push it back in you can also lube it if you want. I like to put Wonder lube over the first two chambers to be fired. Wads and cookies I make them out of Crisco and beeswax I use a little Crisco than beeswax. I re-lube the barrel and cylinder pin and lube two chambers. I forgot to add I lube my round balls and conicals with a little Lees Alox tumble lube. Paper carts after I charge I add three or four beeswax pellets I lube two chambers as well and if needed I can use a blowtube and\or bore brush. This is how I control fouling and keep my guns shooting accurate. You can use some or all or none of these things to shoot better and longer in the conditions that you shoot in.

Mike

 

[SlowFuse]

Soy wax, mineral oil, a touch of beeswax and a bit of peppermint oil

I've been curious about the soy wax. Anything you can compare it to? Anything like parrafin or maybe softer like beeswax?

 

[Mike 56]

I have not used soy wax I have friends that use it they say it is just like beeswax.
Mike

 

[damoc]

yep I use beeswax and pure lard mixed in an old pot and I add lard and take small sample to let cool to test the firmness and add lube to the main pot until I get it the way I want it to be!

Same here I add beeswax or lard to my mix depending on the time of year so the mixture changes with the seasons. Tallow is normally just used straight without beeswax.

 

[arcticap]

I've been curious about the soy wax. Anything you can compare it to? Anything like parrafin or maybe softer like beeswax?

One source says that beeswax is much denser than soy wax.
Burning paraffin wax can produce as much as 90% more soot than soy wax.
Beeswax burns cleaner than paraffin wax.

 

[Russell13]

Went shooting today. Gonna have to thicken it up a bit. Being out in the sun softens it up really quick

 

[Old Stumpy]

The best lube contains fresh grizzly bear grease or sperm whale oil.
Well worth harvesting some of each in your hunts.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Navy six 2, thanks for the feedback of you taking the time to try out my paper towel thin lube disk method...i have no idea what to call it aside from that. Oh and also on puting the wax paper disk between powder and lube disk. I always love hearing when i helped guide someone to something helpful. Also glad you tried the RAW papers that i mentioned...they work great but also make a great looking paper cartridge.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Castboolits has a hundred or more recipes. Give them a try.

 

[J-Bar]

More thoughts on lube.

As a cowboy action competitor I am more concerned about keeping the barrel/cylinder gap juicy than I am about hair-splitting accuracy. I smear some beeswax/crisco over the balls after seating all the balls in their chambers. The act of wiping my greasy finger on the face of the cylinder is probably sufficient, but the additional flake of lube that goes into the chamber is not going to hurt anything. This method, which does not mess with cookies between the powder and ball, allows me to shoot as many competition stages as needed; the guns simply do not lock up no matter how many stages I shoot that day.

Now if I were shooting a bullseye competition with a percussion revolver, the lubed cookie would likely work better for longer range accuracy.

And I use PAM on patched round balls in my .54 Hawken in the deer woods, no beeswax/crisco there.

Those who shot 1000 yard Wimbledon matches with muzzle loaders in the late 1800s had different lube challenges, and therefore different lube formulations and cleaning procedures. They experimented until they found what worked best for their rifles at that range.

So trying to come up with one universal lube for all black powder guns and applications is probably futile.

It sounds like the OP is going plinking with a new .44 just for fun. He might find that he can maximize his fun by wiping the cylinder face occasionally to prevent fouling at the barrel/cylinder gap, and maybe run a patch or a bore snake through the barrel if he finds accuracy falling off due to fouling in the barrel. He might not need cookies or much lube at all. I think the OP should experiment and find what suits him best.

 

[Catman42]

when you make your own lube add a little bit of high quality anti freeze with the mix. im almost 80 years old and a shooter older than i taught me this. its good advice and very good for your rifle barrel. i do this all the time. if your shooting a muzzle loader, use it on your patches. good for the barrel and is as good as billistiol and a lot a cheaper. a quart will last a life time and a little goes a long ways.

 

[flintlock hunter]

I also use 50/50 beeswax/Crisco by volume, but I add about 5% olive oil to it to improve its ability to keep fouling softer. All proportions are unmelted volume.