BP lube?

[tomme boy]

Why can't you use the same lube as a CF round? I have a lot of lube that I made up for shooting 45acp and it works really well. Can't I just thin it down a little to use it as a lube for my ML?

[Larry Gibson]

Quality commercial BP lubes like SPC can and are used in CF rifle loads with smokeless powder. I make my own BP lube with Beeswax and olive oil and it also works fine in smokeless CF loads up through 1800 - 1900 fps. I also use it for lubing my maxi Balss and patches for RBs in my muzzle loaders.

Oops....got distracted and left the main crux of the answer out......normal CF lubes are based on petrolleum products which gum up with the BP fouling. As mentioned by others the two are not really compatable. BP and it's residue are water soluable, petroleum and water don't mix is the simple answer.

Larry Gibson

[montana_charlie]

Why can't you use the same lube as a CF round?

The ingredients in lube intended for use in smokeless loads may not be compatible with black powder.

Black powder leaves a lot of residue in the bore, and that fouling needs to be moist when the next bullet passes through.
Lubes intended for use with black powder contain only natural substances, materials which don't react with BP fouling to create 'asphalt' in the bore.

Generally speaking, petroleum products are not compatible with black powder.
If your lube contains paraffin, automotive lubricants, or 'toilet ring wax' it is likely to cause problems.

That 'asphalt' I mentioned is nasty stuff ... and very difficult to get out of a barrel.

CM

[Springfield]

Paraffin works fine as a BP lube as it is more refined than most petroleum products. Been using it for years in all my BP cartridge guns. They all just wipe clean with a pass from a bore snake.

[tomme boy]

Well I tried some today on some maxi balls. I shot 20 of them an I just got done cleaning the barrel at home. There is a lot of lead in the barrel. Look like some extra cleaning is in the works. Might just stick with round balls.

[EDK]

Do a search on home made black powder lubes. The other guys told you why the modern lubes won't work..and you now see what it does. Lars at WHITE LABEL LUBES made some great stuff several years back, but has had problems getting the raw materiels. Very similar to SPG and DGL...tan color; smells like neatsfoot oil; works great.

[cajun shooter]

Do a search of the BP Lube Recipes in the BP section and you will find all you need. You will always have problems when you try using a smokeless powder lube while shooting BP. The two have different burning traits with the bp shooting much hotter and needing natural fat products. A good simple MZ load is Beeswax and olive oil with anywhere from 8-10% Lanolin mixed in.
The best commercial lube that is for sale at this time is SPG.

[Dale53]

I shot black powder muzzle loaders and black powder cartridges in competition for years.

I used my home made Emmert's lube (50% pure natural beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Canola oil by volume measure) with excellent results. Use a double boiler to avoid overheating the lube (too much heat destroys it). I later modified the lube by replacing the Canola Oil with Anhydrous Lanolin. The addition of lanolin increased the life of the lube without damaging it's accuracy results.

I gave SPG commercial lube a long range test. SPG works well but is very expensive. Emmert's does the same thing with MUCH Less cost.

FWIW
Dale53

[montana_charlie]

There is a lot of lead in the barrel.

Congratulations ...
Do you have a breech plug wrench?
CM

[tomme boy]

Congratulations ...
Do you have a breech plug wrench?
CM

It is a T/C New Englander. So I'm not able to take it apart. I got most of it out. It looks like most was at the muzzle end. It is really tight on the muzzle end of the barrel. Almost like a choke. I had to send it back to T/C when I first got it many years ago because of the whole barrel being way too tight. No matter what I tried to shoot, you had to beat it down the barrel. Now it is tight the first couple of inches, then it almost feels like it tapors out the rest of the barrel. They must have lapped the bore.