soft lube in a 45 colt

[beng]

I tried something a few days ago and it worked VERY good. Now I'm told not to put soft lube in a 45 Colt.......What I did was, I used the soft lube I use in my 45-70 black powder rifle.... It came out good, NO leading at all, only I did see a little more smoke that came out of it...........Question..."Why can I not use soft lube in a 45 Colt"???? beng

[Gray Fox]

I have used Lyman Black Powder Gold stick lube in my sizer for years for everything, smokeless and BP. No problems with any of them, especially .45 Colt. GF

[stubshaft]

I do not know who may have misinformed you about soft lube and 45 Colts. Do not believe everything you hear and if it works for you use it.

[Springfield]

I use the same soft lube that I use in mine and my daughter's 44-40 Blackpowder loads in my wife and son's smokeless 45 Colt loads. Except for the gun's getting more oily than they really need to it works great. When someone tells me I shouldn't do something, if they can't tell me why or cite a reliable source, I pretty much ignore them. Too many internet experts running around these days.

[nicholst55]

When someone tells me I shouldn't do something, if they can't tell me why or cite a reliable source, I pretty much ignore them. Too many internet experts running around these days.

^^This^^

[Char-Gar]

I have been using the same homemade bullet lube for 58 years and used it for almost everything in both rifle and handguns. So, I don't understand what is a soft lube and how is it different between a hard lube. What is the break over point between hard and soft? I have never used a heater on my lube size machine. I have been satisfied with the result.

[Outpost75]

For over 50 years I have used nothing in the .45 Colt, .44-40, .38 Special and .44 Magnum than 50-50 mutton tallow and beeswax, equal parts by melted liquid volume.

[Char-Gar]

For over 50 years I have used nothing in the .45 Colt, .44-40, .38 Special and .44 Magnum than 50-50 mutton tallow and beeswax, equal parts by melted liquid volume.

I had no idea where to acquire mutton tallow, nor have I ever seen it for sale. I have used 60/40 beeswax to Vaseline. I read somewhere years ago, that beeswax with enought Vaseline to soften it for use if a Lyman 45 made a good lube. The same source also said beeswax and "cup grease" was just as good. Cup grease, as I understand was auto chasis grease. I have also used it (Texaco Marfac) and also water pump grease, with good results, but Vaseline was easier to obtain. I bought it at Den-Russ Pharmacy in Brownsville Texas and got a good greasy cheese burger and strawberry shake at the same time. Works for me.

[jaguarxk120]

I've been using the Alox/Beeswax mix for years. I add a spoon full of JPW to the mix.


I get the lube star at the muzzle when using this mix and no leading.

[Carrier]

I’m going to hijack your thread as my head hurts so bad from trying to find the right lube. Will beeswax and Vaseline work for pan lubing my Springfield 1873 45/70 trapdoor 405 grain hollowbase bullets shooting light smokeless powder and for black powder?
Loads will be in the 1100 to 1400 FPS range.

[Outpost75]

I had no idea where to acquire mutton tallow, nor have I ever seen it for sale. I have used 60/40 beeswax to Vaseline. I read somewhere years ago, that beeswax with enought Vaseline to soften it for use if a Lyman 45 made a good lube. The same source also said beeswax and "cup grease" was just as good. Cup grease, as I understand was auto chasis grease. I have also used it (Texaco Marfac) and also water pump grease, with good results, but Vaseline was easier to obtain. I bought it at Den-Russ Pharmacy in Brownsville Texas and got a good greasy cheese burger and strawberry shake at the same time. Works for me.

I have a local source for mutton tallow, but lacking that, Goya manteca is an unsalted, refined hog lard product, with which you may be familiar, which also works well. My buddy in Italy uses 1:4 olive oil and beeswax for both black powder and smokeless.

You can also use canola or neatsfoot oil for the same purpose, but might need to experiment with the ratio for get the consistency you want. A buddy near El Paso says that 1:5 neatsfoot oil and beeswax with a bit of carnuba added is the absolute best.

Point is that there are lots of alternatives to mutton tallow, as used for British Army or Yankee Army lube. Hog lard as was used in "Confederate Army Lube" is good, with the unsalted Goya product being best for smokeless use, as is olive oil used in the Italian Veterli Lube.

[Outpost75]

I’m going to hijack your thread as my head hurts so bad from trying to find the right lube. Will beeswax and Vaseline work for pan lubing my Springfield 1873 45/70 trapdoor 405 grain hollowbase bullets shooting light smokeless powder and for black powder? Loads will be in the 1100 to 1400 FPS range.

Will be fine for smokeless. For shooting black you may be burned at the stake as a heretic for using petroleum products.

If you value your immortal soul instead use lard, or if you keep a Halal or Kosher house, then mutton or beef tallow tallow is OK. If you are vegetarian olive oil or canola.

[DougGuy]

I use RandyRat TAC1 in my sizer, works great, I have used Felix Lube works really good, and my old Uberti (avatar pic) shoots 454190 sized .456" and lubed with SPG and I get stellar performance out of that one, with absolutely no leading. It is a fly's worst nightmare at 10yds!

The WORST thing you could use with cast boolits, is that hard crayon type lube that commercial casters use.

Edit: I should add that I haven't cleaned a revolver barrel in years. All of them show a lube star at the muzzle after a range session, and passing a patch down the bore comes out dark gray or black which is powder and lube residue. I like to leave that in the bore, as it "seasons" the bore for the next shot, so the boolit is being lubed from the front as well as the lube grooves. They refer to this as a "black bore" and you couldn't ask for better cast boolit performance when this happens. This is what soft lube does.

[WALLNUTT]

+1 on "seasoned" black bore

[Outpost75]

+1 on "seasoned" black bore

Amen! No reason to clean a cast bullet gun which is shooting well, either rifle or revolver. Only thing I ever do is run a wet patch of Kroil, Ed's Red or Mil-C-372B through the bore to keep fouling wet, then before shooting again another wet patch if fouling has turned sludgy, and two try patches to remove softened fouling from bore and chambers. Brushing unncessary.

If your loads lead your bullets are too hard, and undersized being unable to seal the bore and your lube is too hard to flow and coat the bore. I use 1:30 tin-lead in all handgun calibers from .32 ACP to .44 Magnum and soft lube. Performs exactly as DougGuy explains.

[Carrier]

Will be fine for smokeless. For shooting black you may be burned at the stake as a heretic for using petroleum products.

If you value your immortal soul instead use lard, or if you keep a Halal or Kosher house, then mutton or beef tallow tallow is OK. If you are vegetarian olive oil or canola.

Ha ha ha well I may not have to worry about lube after casting my first ever batch of bullets. See the thread I’m going to start in cast bullets.

[LIMPINGJ]

Anyone try Coconut Oil? My wife has been buying it for dry skin use but can’t seem to remember she already bought some so we have about a gallon now. I knocked one of these containers out of the cabinet last night and the jar broke. I thought I could strain through a coffee filter and use in place of some of the Olive Oil I normally use in my black powder lube. Any thoughts on how this would work?

[DougGuy]

In cold weather you could probably use coconut oil by itself. Or maybe mixed with a little bit of beeswax.

[1bluehorse]

I use NRA 50/50, I buy it from White Label. It's cheap. It is a soft lube and has always worked with even full house 44mag and "hot" 45 Colt. For what it cost for 10 tubes delivered I'm not about to to start mixing up concoctions that "may" work as well and by the time I'm finished mixing everything from STP (? mutton tallow?) and all other sorts of cr-p with time consumed doing so and probably being out three times the amount the NRA formula cost what's the point? I pay no attention nor do I really care if I get a lube star at the muzzle as long as there's no leading (none so far, or very little, in over 20 years after I learned requirements for bullet size and handgun spec's, mostly here.) It is a bit "sticky" which some don't like but it's of little concern to me. Very long conversation just to say "soft lube in a 45 Colt is just fine".