Best Black Powder Lube for hot humid area?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Howdy all,

Here it is usually hot and HUMID, What BP lube recipe do you recommend for a area like this? Also need to know how to make lube mold for a Star Lube Sizer.

Thanks in advance,

Sam

[chuebner]

Sam,

You might want to try Emmert's Lube, 50% beeswax/40% Crisco/10% canola or peanut oil. It works well in both my trapdoor and Sharps with 32" barrels. I pan lube all my BP boolits so I can't comment on making lube sticks. Our conditions here in SE Florida are much the same as yours, hot and humid.

Good luck,
Charlie

[geargnasher]

I don't have a Star sizer (yet) but I've seen it mentioned here several times that it is possible to just melt it and pour it in like with a Lyman, Saeco, or RCBS sizer.

Another tip would be to cruise over to Castpics.net and check out the Felix Lube thread under "member's articles" and somewhere buried in the discourse is a really good discussion of making lube moulds. Many good ideas there.

Gear

[Hip's Ax]

I agree about the Emmerts. My black powder shooting buddy used Emmerts I made at Raton this year and he was quite happy with it. I do the modified version though, 50% beeswax, 40% Crisco, 5% jojoba oil and 5% lanolin. Just a word though, we wipe with oil and water every shot, we don't blow tube. That may make a difference.

[SharpsShooter]

No recipe for you Sam, but I have really had some great results with Bullshop's NASA lube. I use it for all my BP loads and two smokeless loads to 1800fps

SS

[John Boy]

Hello again Sam!
Lubes:

1. 40% Parafinn - 40% Mutton Tallow - 20% Beeswax
2 . + 1 for Bullshop's NASA Lube

Mold

[Muddy Creek Sam]

John,

Is that 1 1/4" PVC?

Thanks,

Sam

[cajun shooter]

Sam, John Boy is a friend and a wealth of info but don't use the molds shown for your star or you will have air pockets. Use the 1 1/4 without the center dowel which is for RCBS or Lyman. You also want to spray inside with cheap Pam so that the lube comes out easy. If you want some with out making then the NASA that Bullshop sells is a fine lube.

[1874Sharps]

Sam,

A good ol' reliable commercial BP lube is SPG. I like it for my 45-70 because I can shoot a 15 to 20 shot string in the highly hot and humid area I live in without swabing the bore or blowtubing before accuracy degrades. I am not saying other lubes will not do the job for you, just that SPG works well for me.

[Hip's Ax]

Hello again Sam!
Lubes:

1. 40% Parafinn - 40% Mutton Tallow - 20% Beeswax
2 . + 1 for Bullshop's NASA Lube

John, do you shoot the black powder target matches at Millville?

[John Boy]

John, do you shoot the black powder target matches at Millville?

HA ... rarely. There are 2 matches a year and light attendance. Not to say that I'm not on the 600yd infrequently though as a club member. During the week, it's like having ones own private range.

Bayshore Sportsmen Club in the Villas holds 100-200-300yd SS or 50-100-200yd lever matches nearly every month. I frequent these matches regularly. In addition, from Jan - Mar there are weekly 25yd offhand Schuetzen matches. I'm there nearly every week with a 25-20 or a 38-55.
http://www.getfave.com/locations/974...sportsman-club

What part of Jersey are your located? If it's not a long ride, I'll send you our match schedule if your interested

As for this recipe ...

40% Parafinn - 40% Mutton Tallow - 20% Beeswax

It is rumored from multiple sources to be the 1st cousin of SPG and doesn't cost $3.75 a stick to make!

The lube that I use and have found to hold up in all types of weather environments is:
6oz Mutton Tallow
4oz Bayberry Wax
2oz Beeswax
2oz Jojoba Oil (chemically determined to be the same hydro-carbon chain as sperm oil. So is Meadow Foam Oil)

[Hip's Ax]

John,
Agreed, I've been a member at Millville for about 10 years and I usually practice on the 600 a few times in the spring and then again in the fall. It feels like a personal rifle range. Frankly, I've been there on weekends too and its still a good chance you'll be alone on the 600.

Thanks for the offer but no lever rifle or Schutzen rifle here yet. I have 13 active NRA rifle classifications now, so many rifles, so little time.

I'm from the Newark area and it takes me about 2 hours, maybe a little more to get to Millville provided I leave at O'Dark Thirty (which I always do). Was just there on Friday the 2nd and planned to be there this past Friday as well (practicing for an upcoming 3x600 match at New Holland).

Unfortunately I had a tree from a neighbors yard fall and crush my garage last week, been a daily PIA trying to deal with that ever since.

Like that lube formula! I have all of those ingredients on hand, I'll have to whip up a batch!

[John Boy]

Let me digress to tell you folks my bayberry story:
I wanted to make my first batch the old fashion way ... gather the berries and boil off the wax instead of buying a pound for 14 bucks.

Have a few bushes in the back yard but not enough for a good batch of wax. So, I found a median strip on the Garden State Parkway that was nothing but bayberry. On one hot sweaty day, in a pair of shorts and a T shirt, I'm out there stripping them little white barries and filling a 5 gallon pail. Happy I was - until the next day.
I started to scratch and then scratch some more. So I look on my body and there were over 40 little red dots ... Chigger Bites! Chinese Torture was nothing like I went through for a week - bites on my legs, arms, arm pits, croch, in my hair and even 2 or 3 on my winnie.

Now I buy my bayberry or pick em in late September or October when it it is COLD Only and wear long shirts and pants

[Hip's Ax]

John,
Thats a great story!! I'll be telling that one around the camp fire.

Question, do you just boil the berrys and scoop the wax off the top?

I have 20 pounds of bayberry wax but I bought it off of EPay for (if I remember correctly) 6 or 7 bucks a pound. I'm sure thats a lifetime supply for me.

Never have been able to locate any real Japan Wax, some contend it is carnauba wax but it appears to actually be a vegetable tallow rendered from certain bushes. I do have a one pound sample of synthetic Japan Wax from Strahl & Pitsch but without the real deal for a comparison I haven't done anything with it yet.

Then again, now that I have your lube formula this is my first batch of lube using bayberry wax and mutton tallow even though I've had both for sometime.

So many possible ingredients, so little time.

[John Boy]

do you just boil the berrys and scoop the wax off the top?

I mash the berries instead of dropping them in boiling water. Yield is better when the wax creates a skin on top of the water.

Japan wax - too expensive for my wallet

[Hip's Ax]

Is it hot water?

Too expensive? You mean you know where to get the real deal?

[John Boy]

Is it hot water?

Yes, real hot - boiling. And no, I'm not knowledgeable of the real Japan wax at a reasonable price

[missionary5155]

Greetings
WEll it is not hot here in Illinois NOW but I use a simple blend of 45 % olive oil and 55% bees wax. That is about the ratio for my HOT weather (humid) Black shooting. It is ajustable for cold weather by adding just a little more olive oil.
It stays soft and will keep fouling soft. Above 95 degres and DRY is a situation I do not face here BUT again simply adjusting the blend would take care of it all.
THis mix can also be used as boot water proofer, lip balm, coffee sweetner, leeker tent seam stopper, leather treatment......
Melt the wax carefully over a small gas flame and add the olive oil to it. It works well through my older Lyman 45 luber.

[cbrick]

Howdy all, Also need to know how to make lube mold for a Star Lube Sizer. Thanks in advance, Sam

I like John Boys PVC idea, here is one that I made a few years back. I use a Star so no hollow sticks.

It's a 2X8 slit up the middle with a sheet of rubber in between the two halves to seal the bottom of the tubes, holes drilled to hold 1 inch ID aluminum tubes.

Once the lube cools I pull the aluminum tubes out and use a 1 inch oak dowel to slide the sticks out. They come out much easier if the lube is cold, they can spend a 1/2 hour in the freezer or just held under cold tap water for a bit.

The aluminum tubes came from a local metal supplier, they even cut them to length for fee, nice. They are 4 inches long but I didn't account for lube shrinkage while cooling and I get a minor hole on the end, much like a boolit base if there's not enough sprue only larger. The tubes should have been 5 inches so I could trim off the end but it doesn't really matter or hurt anything.

Rick

[burch]

O.K. i`m at a loss here. What are these tubes used for ?

Burch