lube question

[bigted]

i know this maybe should be under the lube section of the forum but am hoping to keep it here where the black powder buff's are for answers.

i heard that a 3 part mix of equal parts bee wax, vegi crisco, peanut oil would come close to approximating the recipe for SPG.

i used a wax/crisco mix with just a couple tablespoons of peanut oil so i added more peanut oil...[to what i supposed to be a 1/3rd for the volume i have] and tried to pour it into my lube-sizer from Lyman...very slimy and didn't harden up to even be usable so i have a mess to boil out of the sizer.

i had a second batch of the same and added the same amount of peanut oil and it seemed to set up a bit better so i pan lubed some 520 gr boolits and froze em to help the sett-up. still a bit snotty but hung in the grooves till i got em loaded...got a nice lube ring on the muzzle so i guess it is working good but man that snotty texture is crazy.

maybe i got too much oil in the mix huh...or is SPG a bit snotty too? never used the original stuff to be able to compare..........

[cajun shooter]

Ted, If you research BP Lubes you will find many different recipes that claim to be close to SPG. SPG is not snotty as you put it but a soft lube that works well in all forms of application. It does have some short falls which Steve Garbe will be the first to say that. It works well in several areas but not all.
I use Mutton Tallow in the making of my own lube and have heard that SPG does also but that is nothing but PC talk. I have used SPG and it has performed well for me. The expense is more than my own lube and the NASA that I also use. I am like many others and enjoy trying the different products. Once a bullet is lubed with SPG it stays in the grooves. This is my findings only and maybe some other shooter has had a different outcome.

[Lead pot]

Most people that make there own bullet lube make it way to complicated, they add to much unnecessary exotic junk. Keep the lube simple.
If you want to use B wax that is fine, just add enough oil to get the temper you feel you need. Oil like peanut oil, jojoba oil is good.
The last thing I would use in my lube is Crisco.
If you know how to render out a good tallow, use it, It will work better then B-Wax. I haven't found any tallow that is what I call a tallow most is like a stiff lard now days. Tallow is hard enough that it can be formed into a candle with out melting all over the place when it gets warm.
The tallow that Dixie sells now and then needs to be rendered more but it will work when you add B-wax to it to stiffen it up more.
The tallow I render out like my Grand Mother used to do to make her candles I dont have to add to much oil to it for the lube I make and it works better then most of the stuff you pay big $$ for.
Tallow does not have to be Mutton it can be Hog, Deer,Beef or Bison they all make a good tallow.

Keep it simple

[montana_charlie]

This is a lube I concocted a long time ago, and it works as well as SPG does, for me.
It's 'complicated' in the fact that you have to locate a source of boot waterprofing ... which (I think) already contains those exotic extras that people set such store by.
Otherwise, it is easy to make, and way cheaper than SPG.

My goal was to duplicate SPG while reducing the cost. SPG is advertised to melt at 140°, but my thermometer says it liquifies at 130°.
Whatever...my lube melts at about 20° hotter than SPG, but closely duplicates it's body and consistency...though slightly less 'crumbly'.

In a double boiler, melt a volume of clean beeswax. Then add an equal volume of Camp Dry Beeswax Waterproofer (for boots) made by Kiwi.
(If Ace Hardware doesn't have any...they can order it.)

The Camp Dry will melt more reluctantly than the beeswax did, so a little stirring is helpful. But, they mix well and won't separate as the mixture cools.

12 ounces of beeswax (at $3.00/lb.) is $2.25, and $6.00 gets a 12 oz. jar of Camp Dry Waterproofer. That makes a pound and a half of SPG-type lube for $8.25. An equivalent amount of the 'real thing' is 46 bucks at Midway.

I call it Faux Garbe Lube (FGL) in honor of SPG's inventor.

[Don McDowell]

Ted I seriously doubt SPG has any crisco or peanut oil in it. I do think it has mutton tallow and maybe some jojoba or other waxy oil.
You can go to bpcr.net and look at the lube recipes and come up with a number of good bp lubes.
But I've came to the conclusion that if a beeswax based lube is what you want then there's really no need in messing with anything other than Bullshops NASA.

[tacklebury]

Get a lotta tallow from coon in a small package too. Got 5+ lbs of it from one big one last fall.

[JeffinNZ]

Get a lotta tallow from coon in a small package too. Got 5+ lbs of it from one big one last fall.

No way! Really!? That's a heap of fat of an animal that size. It should have been on a reality show.

[cajun shooter]

Ted, My lube is BW, Mutton tallow, jojoba oil, and lanolin. Lead Pot I started using the Mutton Tallow when I read that out of all the animal tallow's it does not become rank or rancid as the others will. I have some bear, moose, and elk and it has held up well with no problems. I think that the problem lies with how much time is spent while rendering it down and the method used.
I have only made lubes for about 4-5 years now and was told about the only mutton to use is sheep. Like many others who do something and take advise from others and it works, you tend to stay with it.

[John Boy]

Ted I seriously doubt SPG has any crisco or peanut oil in it. I do think it has mutton tallow and maybe some jojoba or other waxy oil.

Don, discussing mutton tallow on Shiloh - Venturino said no mutton tallow in SPG. If anyone would know other than Garbe, it would be Mike. Nor does it have any paraffin

[Don McDowell]

Sure feels and smells like mutton tallow.

[Ed in North Texas]

snip
I have only made lubes for about 4-5 years now and was told about the only mutton to use is sheep.

I believe whoever told you "...the only mutton to use is sheep." didn't understand that mutton is the meat of an adult sheep. There is no other source of mutton but sheep. There is tallow from other animals.

[Lead pot]

Ted, My lube is BW, Mutton tallow, jojoba oil, and lanolin. Lead Pot I started using the Mutton Tallow when I read that out of all the animal tallow's it does not become rank or rancid as the others will. I have some bear, moose, and elk and it has held up well with no problems. I think that the problem lies with how much time is spent while rendering it down and the method used.
I have only made lubes for about 4-5 years now and was told about the only mutton to use is sheep. Like many others who do something and take advise from others and it works, you tend to stay with it.

Your absolutely right.
I have mutton and deer tallow in bread pan blocks wrapped with this cling wrap stuff the Wife uses that is several years old set aside on a shelf in the basement that is the same as it was when I put it there.
I ordered 20 lbs from Dixie once in the little white tubs they use and it spoiled before I got it used up. It had black layers in it.
Some think all you need to do to make tallow id put it in a pot of frying pan and heat it up or fry out some bacon and they call it lard.

Hogs and Bears are from the same family and the hard fat from them will make a very good tallow.

[13Echo]

A decent black powder lube that is well proven is Emmert's. It's simple, consisting of 5 parts Beeswax to 4 parts plain, white, unsalted crisco, to 2 parts of a good vegetable oil such as canola, peanut, olive, or corn. A modification that seems to work well is replace half the oil with anhydrous lanolin. My good friend Bo uses the lanolin version in his trapdoor Springfield with excellent results. It is excellent for pan lubing.

The formula I'm currently using is 6 parts beeswax to 4 parts anhydrous lanolin to 2 parts peanut oil. Also works well and, with all the lanolin, it would make a great lipbalm for winter.

Jerry Liles

[bigted]

thanks all. ive shot this 'snotty' lube i made and also messed around with it a bit trying to rub it off my fingers while playing with it. i also get the residue off the spent cases and try to remove it from my rubbed together fingers and it stays put. also a nice lube star on the end of my 30 inch bpcr hi-wall. no leading on the lyman 520's and the fouling cleans rite up easy cheesy.

think next time ill not put so much oil with it tho as before i added the rest of the oil it wernt so snotty...but did need something for more lube qualitys so maybe im getting close with my concoction after all. just need to tone the runny peanut oil or substitute another slickeneing agent in place of either the Crisco or oil.

thanks for all the suggestions and maybe its time to order some talow and give it a try...just didnt as i dont want a smelly mess in so small an area to deal with if it goes smelly on me.

i have tryed the 'NASA' from bullshop and find it very usefull and effective however i want to try to do the "do it yourself" as much as i can for the whole experience...thats what i got into this for in the first place...to do as much of this whole program as i can myself. one day i want to even try my hand at making my own powder but i see this as a long time coming as the rest is keeping me busey with trying to extract the most of what i currently do 'myself'.

[Don McDowell]

Ted you can make your own tallow.
When you kill your moose, caribou and bear this fall, take the fat from the kidneys and along the backbone, put that in a pan of water and slowly boil it until theres nothing left of the chunks of fat except for snotty looking tissue stuff. Skim the tissue stuff of and let the water cool, then lift the tallow off of the top of the water...

[bigted]

guess ill have to try this rendering for myself...thanks don...appreciate the tip and 'how to'.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I still shoot Beeswax & oilive oil. 55% beeswax & 45% oilive oil. That is adjustable for heat conditions. I use it here in my 44-40 SRC and when up north there in my 50-70´s 45-70´s and all othere BP loadings. Simple & very inexpensive. I have not tried above 103 degrees & I hope I never have to. But it does everything my rifles need.
Mike in Peru

[gidgaf]

NOT shilling, selling, or having anything to do with them, but
the folks at thesage have a lot of interesting ingredients at low prices.
Do you want coffee, coconut or chocolate smelling lube? Or mixes?
I like a little cocoa butter in my lube.
;+}