Revolver lubricant

[Pyro]

Me again, this time on everyone's cure for cheap revolver lubricants.
I've heard of everything from vegetable oil to wax and some guys just using straight up crisco. I've heard the acidity of these household products come up in discussions before, would that be any cause for alarm? And long term storage (again ), I've heard of these vegi oils growing to the consistency of wood varnish and becoming sticky. Now I lube with wonderlube 100 (stuff is amazing) but when I run out I plan to play around with virgin olive oil as a rust preventative and lube.

Edit: Thread will focus on non-commercial products.

 

[Prairie Dawg]

Ballistol
--Dawg

 

[Pulp]

If'n you're talkin' 'bout over the ball lube, I use Bore Butter. It ain't perfect, specially on a hot day, but it works. My revolvers work as well at the end of a match as before the first shot.

For long term, Ballistol

Another really great product is Sweetshooter. Very expensive but works very well on BP guns as both a cleaner and a protectant. It's petroleum based, and I know thats a bad thing normally, but it works equally well on smokeless or BP.

 

[Pyro]

Lubricant as in for the parts, cylinder pin, ect...
And for rust preventative ive heard of vegi oils being used.
This thread should be about non-commercial solution to lubricants/rust preventative (all areas) where you would normally use a commercial product.

 

[Prairie Dawg]

OK:
For a long time I used home made bore butter on my ML.
Worked great as a patch lube and gun preservative.
No rust at all.
Good for the wood too.
Recipe courtesy of Red Hand in Hawaii:
Bore Butter, Hawaiian Style



Ingredients for about 5 pounds of Mixture

1 Lb. Natural Bee's Wax

Olive Oil - about 2 to 4 pounds (1 lb = 2 cups of oil)

1 oz. Cinnamon Oil (oil of cassia) food grade

10 each ½ pound containers



Procedure for Bore Butter, Hawaiian Style

1. Melt the 1 lb. of natural bee's wax in a thick pot Slowly with about
2 lbs. of oil. If the wax is dirty add 1 quart of water to allow bee body
parts, pollen and other stuff to accumulate in the water.

2. Remove from heat and let it get solid. Then wash and scrape the
bottom of the material to clean it up. Re heat and pour the clean mixture
into a large microwave able container.

3. Test poke with your finger. If your finger hurts, add oil.

4. Nuke (microwave) until liquid or about two or three minutes, and
stir. Let it get solid again. If your finger hurts go to #3 else continue to
# 5.

5. Let it cool and pour into small 1/2 Lb. containers. Makes about 4-5
Lbs. depending on how loose you want your Bore Butter. Remember, the more
oil the softer the mixture will be. The softer the mixture, the lower the
melting point.

6. Continue to reheat - cook about 8 to 10 times total. The mixture
will change consistency and smooth out. At the end of the last heating add 1
teaspoon of Cinnamon Oil per ½ pound of mixture.

7. Attach a fancy label, which will impress your friends.

--DAwg

 

[Jaymo]

prairie, I like that recipe. I've been making my own patch lube from equal parts beeswax, lanolin, crisco, and canola oil. It's great for hot weather shooting, but a bit stiff for fall, winter, and spring shooting.
I used it, bore butter, and CVA slick lube Saturday. My homebrew is harder to apply, but MUCH less messy. I need to thin it out with more Crisco for sub-90 degree temperatures.

 

[Prairie Dawg]

Yup, I like to make it harder for Summer use & soften it up in smaller batches with more olive oil for Winter use.
My wife uses it unscented as a base for hand & face creams which she flavors with essential oils.
Sorta good for everything!
--Dawg

 

[DMF38]

The homemade bore butter is great for using over the ball. I find the best thing for the cylinder pin is synthetic wheel-bearing grease. It'll keep the cylinder from binding up all day long.

 

[GeoffC]

I'm a Bore Butter man, but I'll tell ya, I'm going to try the Hawaiian formula listed above...

 

[ontarget]

I know I will hear all kinds of crap for this but it works for me. Crisco on the arbor and over the ball. (easy clean up) and WD-40 for storage and mechanism lubrication. I NEVER get rust during storage, and Never have any binding problems while firing.

 

[scrat]

on the insides i use Graphite. i have found that blackpowder and graphite are great as it doesnt stick. so if you ever have a cap frag go in the works it easily comes out. Same time the clean up is so so so easy with graphite. around the arbor shaft i use a small dab of bore butter. the outside of the gun gets cleaned with regular gun oil Same as the bore. i even put a light coat of gun oil in each chamber. then when i shoot some alcohal like jack daniels on a qtip to clean out the jack. then shoot 1 cap through each chamber before loading. This method i use on all my revolvers and they are clean as can be with the easiest clean up method after shooting.

 

[Shultzhaus]

Back in 1958, when I started shooting, we used Crisco for rifle lube. We did not yet see repro revolvers, but I guess we would have still used Crisco. I think most of these new lubes did not exist then either. Maybe some guys did mix up their own brew, but then we did not have the internet to hear from them.

 

[Jaymo]

If you use olive oil, don't use extra virgin. You want the clearest olive oil you can find. Virgin and extra virgin have a lot more of the olive fruit solids in them.
Canola oil stands up to heat better than olive oil, also.
Home made patch lube consisting of some sort of mix of olive/canola/crisco/beeswax/lanolin makes a great lip balm and is good for cracked hands.

 

[Shoot The Moon]

I know I will hear all kinds of crap for this but it works for me. Crisco on the arbor and over the ball. (easy clean up) and WD-40 for storage and mechanism lubrication. I NEVER get rust during storage, and Never have any binding problems while firing.

Ontarget, I am with you 100% - Crisco is not a brand that's available in the UK, but I use vegetable shortening (which I believe is one and the same) on the arbor and over the ball and just like you, I use WD-40 on the rest. The veg shortening works really well and keeps my 51 Navy's cylinder moving smooth even after several cylinders full.

 

[ZCORR Jay]

If your looking for short or long term storage and don't want to deal with drowning your revolver in oil and having to clean it before using it you can look into VpCI bags. We manufacture a line called ZCORR Bags in western NY. Our bags allow you to simply insert a clean gun with no extra oil or grease and depending on how often you insert and remove a firearm they will offer anti corrosion protection from 5 - 20 years. Our bags are based on a M16 bag we make for the US Marine Corp and our line of Parts & Ammo bags has just been accepted into the NRA Merchandise Store.

For a detailed explanation of how VpCI technology works you can check out our How It Works Page

 

[Shultzhaus]

That bag idea is a good one. I think there was a post quite some time ago about using a "food saver" bag system to shrink wrap hand guns.

 

[Foto Joe]

I never even thought about the FoodSaver idea. My only concern would be a reaction with the plastic bags. Even gold & silver coins will react with certain plastics so I'd keep an eye on my gun if I decided to use a FoodSaver.

I would imagine that the post above uses some sort of acid free/inert plastic for its bags.

 

[Zeke/PA]

For years I've been using a grease that we used in the Toolroom on moving parts of injection molds called "Old Bull".
I dispense the stuff using a large hyperdermic needle for both revolver use and maxi-ball lube.

 

[skipjack]

Is the cinnamon oil just to add odor to the lube?

I have mixed beeswax and crisco with vegetable oil, but
left it very stiff to make grease cookies. I just acquired
a bit of beeswax, and would like to experiment with the
above recipe.

If the cinnamon is just for scent, I will either omit or
try some wintergreen...ala borebutter.

 

[ZCORR Jay]

That bag idea is a good one. I think there was a post quite some time ago about using a "food saver" bag system to shrink wrap hand guns.

The only problem with food saver bags is if there is any moisture in the bag when it is closed then it stays there with what your trying to preserve.

 

[Shultzhaus]

Yeah - I hear you about the moisture thing in the food saver bag. I was only thowing out an earlier post on the subject. Myself - I have my revolvers hanging on wood pegs in the back of my steel gun locker with the muzzles down, and regularly swabed with Ballistol.