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Thread: Simple Lube for Black Powder?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Simple Lube for Black Powder?

    I have heard that you are not supposed to use anything petroleum based with BP, but I have also heard that's just a myth. If I used something like simple lube (recipe below for convenience), am I going to have issues with a black powder cartridge rifle, or should it work just fine? I'd rather not have to have two different types of lube in stock if I can get away with just one.

    Simple lube.

    4 oz's beeswax [by weight solid]
    4 teaspoons of white petrolatum [vaseline]
    2 teaspoons of two stroke oil
    2 teaspoons of atf
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    Aaron

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Bee's wax + unsalted Crisco + a splash of olive oil . Emmett's I am sure the spelling is not right 'but the lube is ' .

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    It doesn't get much simpler than Emmerts, been using it since 2004, smokeless and black.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master Toymaker's Avatar
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    Used Darr's lube in a muzzle loading slug thrower, for black powder cartridge, and even tested it as a muzzle loader patch lube. Never had any problems with it. Paraffin, Vaseline and STP oil treatment. Did well in smokeless cartridge too.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Randy Bohannon's Avatar
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    Just plain beeswax and olive oil works as well as anything, equal amounts.Adjust =- olive oil, some people add Neatsfoot oil, lanolin to make SPG.This is near Nirvana for about any application in B/P especially long barreled B/P rifles, I have pushed it 1600 fps with a 44-40 WCF rifle and it is faultless as well in 40-70 SS and 45-70

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Again I use a lot of emmerts improved simple recipe that works good. SPG is good also.

    Emmerts improved:
    50% beeswax
    40% unsalted Crisco shortening ( in the original this was rendered tallow or lard)
    5% canola or olive oil ( in original this was listed as steam oil or sperm whale oil)
    5% anhydrous lanolin

    The difference between Emmerts and Improved is the lanolin. Regular has 10% canola or olive oil

    I use a double boiler to melt beeswax oil and Crisco together and add the lanolin when these are liquid. I also add just a touch of murphy's oil soap to the mix. A couple drops on the stirring spoon and then poured back into bottle, what sticks to spoon is plenty. This acts as a emulsifier helping the ingredients to blend together. I usually "cook" for 5 - 8 mins stirring constantly.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Bohannon View Post
    Just plain beeswax and olive oil works as well as anything, equal amounts.Adjust =- olive oil, some people add Neatsfoot oil, lanolin to make SPG.This is near Nirvana for about any application in B/P especially long barreled B/P rifles, I have pushed it 1600 fps with a 44-40 WCF rifle and it is faultless as well in 40-70 SS and 45-70
    I used 50/50 beeswax and olive oil. Panlubed and worked very well.

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    I doubt the "Simple lube" will give the performance in BP, that a known BP lube will give, like 50-50 BW-OO.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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    I'm not a BP shooter, but something I'd read in a 20 year old Lyman book that I've never seen mentioned before or since
    was a guy using chicken fat skimmed off the top the water from boiled chicken.
    He spoke well of it, and it would sure fit the simple and non petroleum requirement.
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    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Yuck! When it went rancid that would be some nasty smelling ammo. Might be good for hunting cats though.

  11. #11
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    I tried a bunch of different BP recipes a decade ago and the winner is Emmert's Modified. Still shooting it in my 45-70 and 45-90 target rifles out to 1000 yards with great results.
    50% beeswax
    40% Crisco
    5% jojoba oil
    5% lanolin

  12. #12
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    5050 Crisco and beeswax allways worked as good as anything for me.

  13. #13
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    When I first began shooting a BPCR, I used SPG, then, was referred to this forum for something (don't recall what) and stumbled across a recipe for Emmert's Improved. Since then, haven't found anything better and, yesterday, pan-lubed 400 305 grainers for my .38-55 Highwall using exactly the same mix posted by Country Gent.

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  14. #14
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    Dose all these lubes work good in ball and patch .also real bullets?
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  15. #15
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    In my experience there are two basic categories of BP lube. One kind works in most situations and the other does not.
    The ones that work do so with a blow tube or to a lesser degree - shooting dirty.
    If you wipe between shots (every shot) the lube requirements are much less for good accuracy.

    No lube to date that I know of works well shooting dirty or with a blow tube when the conditions are too hot and the air too dry. Then we wipe or foul out.
    Chill Wills

  16. #16
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by trapper9260 View Post
    Dose all these lubes work good in ball and patch .also real bullets?
    Haven't actually tried Emmert's in an M/L but don't see why it shouldn't work. Back in my re-enactor days, I lubed Minie boolits with 50/50 Crisco/beeswax and kept a shoe polish tin of the same mix to lube my patches for roundball. FWIW: I use Emmert's with both BP and smokeless in my BPCRs and have also used it to seal the chambers of cap & ball revolvers when loading roundball.

    Bill
    Last edited by Kraschenbirn; 01-13-2019 at 06:55 PM.
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kraschenbirn View Post
    Haven't actually tried Emmert's in an M/L but don't see why it shouldn't work. Back in my re-enactor days, I lubed Minie boolits with 50/50 Crisco/beeswax and kept a tin of the same mix to lube my patches for roundball. FWIW: I use Emmert's with both BP and smokeless in my BPCRs and have also used it to seal the chambers of cap & ball revolvers when loading roundball.

    Bill
    Thank you for your help.I was usen just Crisco for my minie and on my patch. I have some beeswax on hand.I will use that mix you gave . I get the beeswax from the hives that a bee farmer that when open the hive he take off the wax off of the inside cover and I let the bees take the honey out of it and then I pick it up. and clean it up for use of make my boolit lube and for the string on my crossbow and now I got another use for it now.
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  18. #18
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    Just about anything beeswax and a natural oil like olive, castor, sweet mixed soft enough and with perhaps a dash of lanolin should work fine. Personally, I'd stay away from anything with petroleum in it. First it isn't necessary. Secondly, I think it does more harm than good.

    Chill mentioned something I've learned as well, over the last 40 years. When it's hot and dry ain't much of anything gonna keep that fouling soft. A blow tube will help but not for many shots. I always end up wiping when it's hot and dry. Around here in the spring and sometimes in the fall it is so humid you think the fouling is gonna start running out the muzzle. The bore gets pretty soupy.
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  19. #19
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    That is better to know all that can be use in the mix.Thanks
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master Good Cheer's Avatar
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    Lanolin + Olive Oil + Beeswax = LOOB.

    For high performance I add some Imperial DAX pomade and a crayola for identification. Eh, but the fragrance pretty much prevents misidentification. Haven't yet figgered out a funny acronym for it though.

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