Sticky emmerts

[Irascible]

I've been using Emmerts lube for years in my Schuetzen rifle (32 Miller Short). Just last year (2017) I went to a match in October where it was quite cool (45-50) and I had a heck of a time with the breech seater tool getting stock in the chamber which required considerable force to remove. For the rest of the match I was cleaning off the outside of the tool and the inside of the chamber with Ed's Red on Q-Tips every 2nd to third shots. Over the winter I added more Crisco to the lube mix and this spring it was better but I still had to clean every 5 to 10 shots! I had a batch of bullets lubed with SPG which I tried on a whim and had no sticking problems and as a bonus shot better groups then I had the previous years.
The obvious answer is to change lubes, but I would really like to know what happened to the Emmerts. Any ideas?

[JSnover]

I believe beeswax is pretty stable but the oil or the Crisco may have aged a bit. Years ago a batch of Emmerts turned on me. It looked fine but as it began to melt it also began to smell pretty badly.

[Irascible]

Maybe, but no smell, no turning to liquid doesn't look bad either. Crisco is now non animal fat. I was thinking more about the lanolin? I guess I could just throw the whole batch out???

[JSnover]

I dunno. If an organic ingredient has gone bad there's probably no way to salvage it.