Ever go "primitive" on a lube recipe????

[Dave Bulla]

Just wondering if anybody makes or has made boolit lube using all primitive ingredients such as tallow, bees wax, lanolin etc.

Reason I ask is I've been making what I jokingly call "Bulla-Bulla Boot Butter" for years as a leather dressing and I've had a couple people I've given it to say they were going to try it for boolit lube. Unfortunately, it was people I don't see but maybe once a year if lucky and I haven't heard back. My Boot Butter is based on rendered deer tallow and bees wax with a couple other ingredients that allow me to adjust hardness a bit. I put a couple wax toilet rings in it too because they are supposed to have lanolin in them. Yea, that's not exactly primitive but the bulk of it is. Never confirmed if it's true about the lanolin or not but it's what I was told. Sure is sticky enough to make it seem like it'd be true. This stuff is the best leather conditioner I've ever used.

My next question is, if I were to try this as a boolit lube, what would you suggest for starting speeds? What should I look for when shooting? If I get a bunch of leading, how hard would it be to clean it out????

I've been playing with 145gr collar button boolits for my 45-70 that have a HUGE lube groove. The buddy that made them just coated them with Rooster Jacket (I think that's what he called it) and said that is all they needed but he was going off what somebody else told him and we figured we'd give it a try. Accuracy was a bit poor. 3 to 3.5" at 50 yards... I want a lot better than that. In the interest of using what I've got handy I'm thinking of trying the Boot Butter and pan lubing unless somebody had a good reason NOT to do it.

Thanks

[fryboy]

hmmm a good reason not to try it ??? let me get back with you on that say on the second tuesday on the third month of june of say last year ..sound good to you ? i actually like rooster jacket within it's limitations , but as to the boolit it's self .. isnt it wider than it is tall ? even counting the grease groove ? :P what i'm suggesting is that in my experience bearing surface has alot to do with accuracy , true lube and sizing also fits in there but .... for the most part button collar boolits are designed for short range use [shrugz]
as for your boot butter , it's been proven time and time again that up to say mid-range velocities just about anything will work ( within reason that is , ie; gasoline is out etc ) you may have to adjust it for temp and pan lubing abilities and it doesnt seem that you have too many slickies in there to be detrimental , i dont believe that i ever heard that lanolin was in toilet wax , perhaps in the older ones that used to be made primarily of beeswax but nowadays usually they are made of what is termed slack wax with various sillycones etc in it to achieve the desired tack and consistency , try it and let us know ! ( and plz try it also with a boolit that you know the accuracy of to honestly compare it with )

[looseprojectile]

I use it on my Scarpa hiking shoes. Warm em with a heat gun.
One part beeswax and one part whitetail fat with a trollop of lanolin. A glob about the size of your thumb per pound.
I also have it in my old Lyman lubersizer. Works for smokeless and black powder.
Is sticky. No problem.

Life is good

[Jailer]

Just rendered 4 lbs of whitetail tallow last night just for this. Going to try it with beezwax and carnuba and see how I like it. Might try my hand at making some soap too.

[Dave Bulla]

Cool deal. Keep 'em coming.

Do you all add anything to sort of thin things down? I've found that deer tallow sets up pretty hard and the beeswax just makes it more so. Might be okay for lube but I'd almost bet it'd need heat. It'll set up pretty hard. Odd thing I've noticed with mine though, even though I do have an ingredient to thin it down it sets up rather stiff. About like shoe polish but just like shoe polish, if you "disturb" it, i.e. mash it up, it gets quite creamy.

[Jailer]

I'm going to try mine pan lubing so that should be about perfect for that.

[runfiverun]

you may want to add some lanolin to help it be tacky and stick to the boolits.
fryboy gave good advice above

[looseprojectile]

Perhaps I should have said that my lube with deer tallow and beeswax with just a little lanolin is just about the consistiency of the toilet bowl wax ring. I was thinking it needed something to stiffen it up a little. Sure is tacky. Needs no heat in the lubersizer.
Haven't messed with it in freezing temps but it doesn't seem to vary much with temperature swings from 40 -- 70 degrees F.

Life is good

[NoDakJak]

Smoke & Flame!! In the late sixties I shot some Bullseye Comp. A team mate decided that he should be able to shoot a 38 Special better than our 45 acps. His handloads used a lube that he had found in an old book about rifle shooting. Its main constituent was Beef Tallow. He bragged about how well it worked in his 32-40 and 38-55 rifles but evidently had not tested it extensively in revolvers. At the first match he fired that load we were shooting from a covered firing line. He was firing from the first firing point on the left end and I was at the second point. There was a slight breeze from the left that gently wafted the black smoke and terrible aroma down the entire firing line and it didn't take long before most of the competitors were complaining. When we were reloading he called to me and said, check this. Melted Tallow was dripping from the barrel. After another round it was also dripping from the cylinder. Midway through a rapid fire string I heard him scream. When I looked over his revolver was encased in flame and he was waving it wildly, trying to blow out the flame. Thank God he was soon successful as the revolver still had several loaded chambers. Some of the competitors thought that it was hilarous but it was actually a very dangerous situatation. Anyway, it put a permanent end to the smoke and stench from that end of the firing line. I think that it took several days to clear the stench from my nose. Neil

[drinks]

An old friend who shot ml, bp cartridge and smokeless cartridge in mostly .40 and up used only bee's wax, peanut oil and a few shavings from a bar of Ivory soap.
never had a problem with it.
I have use it some and it seems to work well.

[two dogs]

i use 50-40-10,bear fat, beeswax, olive oil in my 45/70 and 45 colt ,by pan lubeing.i ithik it would work in a sizer with a heater.

[Dave Bulla]

Glad to see all of the responses so far.

I have some lanolin from a group buy of Felix lube ingredients but I'd like to save it for that.

I guess my next question is, what does the lanolin add to lube besides making it sticky?

I don't think my boot butter in it's present consistency would have any trouble sticking in the grooves as it doesn't harden up real hard.

I've got some 35 cal cast leads I bought with a red waxy lube in them and I've noticed that on quite a few of them the lube has fallen out of one groove and out of both on a some of them. They are only loose in a zip lock bag and have been moved, handled, moved again etc numerous times so that may be part of the problem. My boot butter might smear out but I don't think it would fall out unless very cold.

[Larry Gibson]

I use a lot of beeswax and virgin olive oil in a 6 part to 5 part mix made in a simple double boiler on the electric stove. Easy to hand lube bullets and works very well in a 450 sizer. I've also a .45 and .50 cal luber that I think TC made to fit on a tube of 1000 Plus lube for muzzle loaders. You push the bullet in to a stop and then squeeze the tube to get the lube in the grooves. Then ext bullet pushes it out. Too bad they quit making them. I fill the empty tube with my lube (pours in easy when melted) and heat in a hot sink/pan of water and the lube flows easily into the lube grooves of my 45-70 bullets and my TC .50 cal MaxiBalls. The lube is great up through 1800 fps with no leading and minimal fouling. Great BP lube lube but it works just as well with smokeless.

Larry Gibson