SPG recipe

[DGV]

Does anyone have any idea what SPG contains. I know Beeswax is a large percentage. What else is in that $4.00 a stick stuff?

[Maven]

It's a trade secret, but it smells and feels like white Crisco to me. If you have a cheese grater, you may want to shave ~1/2 cup of beeswax and add it 1 tablespoon at a time to 1 cup of melted, white Crisco/Crisco substitute until you get the proper consistency. Pour it into a pre-heated or at least warm lube-sizer when finished. Two cautions: (1) Don't overheat the mixture* and (2) don't use your wife's cheese grater as the beeswax will mess it up but good. Hope this helps!


*Using a simple double boiler will prevent overheating eliminate the danger of the blend catching fire.

[Tom Herman]

Does anyone have any idea what SPG contains. I know Beeswax is a large percentage. What else is in that $4.00 a stick stuff?

Hi DGV! The folks here turned me onto a dead ringer for SPG:

2 parts by weight Paraffin wax
2 parts by weight Sheep Tallow (Dixie Gun Works)
1 part by weight Beeswax

The stuff looks like SPG, and has the same consistency and feel.
I'm pretty frugal, and didn't like the idea of spending $30 a pound on SPG, either. Especially when I can make a dead ringer at about $5 a pound!
I bought a large pile of the sheep tallow from Dixie gun Works for about $3 a pound. It's very reasonable price. You can use beef tallow, but the sheep variety has lanolin in it.
The melting point of the lube is about 140 degrees fahrenheit. It works well in cold to warm climates, may be a bit low in melting point for desert work.
I use it with my cast bullets in midrange loads to about 850 FPS. Calibers used are .38 SPL, .44 SPL, .45 LC and .455 Webley.
All loadings (50/50 lead to WW with 2% tin for mold fillout) exhibit very good accuracy with little to no leading.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Larry Gibson]

I use 6 parts beeswax to 5 parts virgin olive oil for my PB lube and for velocities under 1600 fps with some smokeless loads. Works every bit as good as SPG. I blend it in a Pyrex measuring cup in a small sauce pan with water in it as a double boiler on the kitchen stove. I then leave it in the Pyrex and put that in a gallon zip lock for storage. To use It can easily be remelted and poured into the 450 lubrasizer or a small amount scraped out with a tongue depressor for hand lubing bullets. Precut patches for a muzzle loader are easily lubed by putting them in a small sandwich ziplock with glob of the lube and microwave them until the lube is melted and soaked up. Easy to figure how much lube to use by just adding more if necessary. A few lbs of beeswax and a bottle of virgin olive oil go a long way.

Works for me.

Larry Gibson

[leadman]

I read once where there was vaseline in SPG. Has anyone used this in their lube?

[andrew375]

I read once where there was vaseline in SPG. Has anyone used this in their lube?

Yes, for my .577 minies. 50/50 Vaseline and Beeswax.

[jdgabbard]

Yes, for my .577 minies. 50/50 Vaseline and Beeswax.

And if you need to stiffen it up a bit, try some parafin mixed into that. Then you have Old NRA lube, which in my experience, works great!

[EDK]

Does anyone have any idea what SPG contains. I know Beeswax is a large percentage. What else is in that $4.00 a stick stuff?

A lot of people have wondered...and experimented to find...what the contents are. From the smell, I think there is some neatsfoot oil in it. Similar products are DGL and LARS' White Label Black Powder Supreme. I've had good results with all three.

LARS has a link at the bottom of the page, makes a good product, is one of our guys here....and it's less than $2 a stick. I buy his..and his other lubes for smokeless...and spend my limited time on more productive aspects of casting and reloading.

[Dale53]

Lars will also sell you his black powder lube by the pound. Right now he is out of stock (I suspect it is seasonal) but it's well worth waiting for.

I, personally, use his Carnauba Red for my smokeless powder lube with great results.

Dale53

[Junior1942]

Lots of people use my "Junior Lube." The recipe is here: http://www.castbullet.com/makeit/lube.htm

You can make your own for maybe 50¢ a stick.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I am partial to 55-45% beeswax and Olive Oil.
I would NOT use any lube with BK that has any petrolium product involved. Petrolium tends to make BK fouling gritty and crusty. Natural oils keep it soft and more removable with the next shot.
The GREAT thing with Olive Oil/ beswax is it is usable for many other applications ranging from skin to leather to coffee......
Mike in Peru HE is Risen !!!

[tbeazlie]

Coffee?

[jdgabbard]

I would NOT use any lube with BK that has any petrolium product involved. Petrolium tends to make BK fouling gritty and crusty. Natural oils keep it soft and more removable with the next shot.

You do realize that Petrolium oils ARE natural

Just because we refine them doesn't mean their not something the earth made. Just something that it tried to bury, and for good reason if you ask me.

[DonH]

I may have misread but I have been under the impression from SPG (his own writing) that the lube contains refined beeswax. SPG may contain a petroleum product (vaseline) but given fouling issues related to combining BP and petro stuff, I would bet a few pennies against it.

I have used SPG lube. Don't now because I enjoy tinkering and making my own but for those who don't want to bother, they may buy good, less expensive lube but will never go wrong with SPG. It was formulated for both BP and low velocity smokeless loads. As to cost, does anyone know how many bullets can be lubed with a 30 lb block of lube? Out of one 3 lb coffee can of my own lube I lubed my own bullets for BPCR and Schuetzen for 3+ seasons plus a bunch for others then gave the goodly amount left to another guy new to the sport. IOW, a little goes a long way.

[Rattus58]

You do realize that Petrolium oils ARE natural

Just because we refine them doesn't mean their not something the earth made. Just something that it tried to bury, and for good reason if you ask me.

Petroleum oils are indeed "natural"... however though I haven't run into any issues with my guns personally, I can say this... most petroleum products are more difficult to clean over vegetable products... but in fact protect longer, in my environment. Hawaii.

[country gent]

I use both SPG and a homemade version of Emmerts Improved. Both work good for me in Ohio heat and humidity. I do bow tube though. If you look at the old soap recipes and BP lubes a lot of the ingredients other than lye are the same. One plus to the fats and steam oils is the ability to hold moisture and keep fouling soft. Some lubes don't and in heat dry weather the fouling hardens making a crusty hard fouling that needs softened to be removed easily.

The emmerts improved I make is basically
50% Beeswax
40% Crisco vegetable shortening unsalted
5% canola oil. olive oil can be used also
5% anhydrous lanolin.

I mix this in a double boiler add Beeswax Crisco and oil heat and melt when liquid add lanolin stirring and mixing well. I sometimes add a single drop of murphies oil soap as an emulsifier to help mix blend it all. Pour in moulds or let cool in a block and use as needed.

[INTRLOPER]

If you believe the scientists, Vaseline, mineral oil, and even asphalt were veggie oils once upon a day. I have used Vaseline and mineral oil in black powder lube with no issues and I am sure anyone who has bought commercial BP lube likely has too. Personally I believe the scientists as would anyone who has waded through a black bubbling swamp of rotting veggie things. Every step is pretty convincing as to where gas/oil come from in my opinion.

I have tried the pure bitumen used to make asphalt also, but only in smokeless soap based lubes. Did not see much point in pushing my luck with the bitumen too far I guess. Using it with BP might be a bridge too far? Then again maybe not, I don't know as I simply did not have the urge to find out. Maybe some day if I ever get truly bored I will try it in my least favorite front stuffer. I do know that when one cooks bitumen with soap you get a hint of a familiar smell of a lot of the old school 50/50 bullet lubes exude.

[Skipper]

I use Paul Matthews' SPG copy:

2 parts yellow beeswax
1 part Pure Neatsfoot Oil
1 part Murphy’s Oil Soap

[StrawHat]

Many years ago, Wes Kindig shared this with me regarding BP lubes. Allow me to paraphrase, “ ...whatever you choose to make you lube with, use a medicinal grade... “. He explained that the medicinal grade of Vaseline and mineral were refined enough to remove whatever caused the tar like residue that was talked about.

So far, Vaseline and mineral oil have worked fine as ingredients for me.

Kevin

[Lead pot]

I been shooting muzzle loader and black powder cartridge rifles since age 13-14. We milked a lot of cows and used bag balm or udder balm if you want to call it that on them to keep them from getting sore. When time came to make patch rolls I used straight bag balm for the round ball front stuffers. I have found nothing that works better than it or straight Vaseline and it is still my major additive in my lube. In fact I use mineral wax for a carrier or soy wax.

Years back, I can't remember if it was on the old shooters forum or Graybeard, but Steve Garbe has a enlaw down in New Zealand that spilled the beans on his lube.