Beeswax/crisco lube

[Bazoo]

I havent dont much in the way of experimenting with lube. I made a simple lube with beeswax and crisco in about 2:1 for pan lubing. Seems to work good for 357, 38, and 45 auto. I am in need of more lube presently.... Is there any reason to try something different for 44 magnum and 30-30?

[Outpost75]

It should work fine. I use 50-50 myself.

For high velocity, over 2000 fps rifle loads use 1:4 ATF and beexwax. No Crisco. Shelf life is better too.

[runfiverun]

I use 60-40-10 the 10 being lanolin as my black-powder lube.
every now and then I have to re-melt it and add a little more Crisco. [like in 2 years]
but it would work fine in many other applications.
I know it helps accuracy when thinly rubbed on the nose of many of my long bore riders.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Read the Crisco label where it lists the ingredients VERY carefully.
My wife uses it for cooking, and it says "Salt".

[GoodOlBoy]

yeah most commercial lards, and lard subs have salt in them... salt in a barrel leads to rust... Now IF you can find tallow for sale, OR if you know how to make your own tallow then tallow and beeswax works well. If you need it a bit softer still you can melt the mix and add in just a wee little bit of a non-salted oil like peanut, canola, or olive. Too much and the lube will be too soft and will melt in the summer.

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[toallmy]

Unsalted Crisco is available , I got a lb of it to mix up with bee's wax , plus a little bit of this and that , olive oil , lanolin ,a crayon ............

[Bazoo]

I didnt know that crisco had, or may have salt. I'll definitely look and find some without salt. Thanks.

[country gent]

My mixture is the emmerts improved version and it works well for most. 50% beeswax, 40% unsalted crisco, 5% canola oil, and 5% anahydrous lanolin. Pan lubes good and does very well. for a harder lube more beeswax for softer more crisco or canola oil. I have in a bind used unsalted lard or tallows but if not rendered correctly they can get rancid.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I started out 50:50 beef tallow and beeswax. Softer, more tallow, harder, more beeswax.

I pour it into small tubs, like one pound butter or margarine; and stick them in the freezer. That makes it easier to add one or the other.

[Bazoo]

Well... I have some serious leading using this lube with 44 mag loads. I mean, heavy leading from forcing cone all the way to muzzle. No biggy, just scrub it out, and start using gas checked bullets. I do have a slight tight spot at the threads it appears, When I slugged my bore. But it dont seem real bad. My cylinder throats are all larger than bullet diameter of .429.

I'll probably shy away from this lube soon as I get a lubesizer, and try something that would be better suited to 30-30 and 44 mag.

[runfiverun]

it ain't the lube that is the problem.
.429 is your issue try 430-431.
they might make it past the tight spot a bit better.

[RogerDat]

If I was pan lubing pistol bullets I think I would give tumble lube a try. Not saying it is "better" lube, just that if it works it is a whole lot faster. And it does work to the satisfaction of many people even in magnum rounds.

[Bazoo]

it ain't the lube that is the problem.
.429 is your issue try 430-431.
they might make it past the tight spot a bit better.

Okay, will do, thank you sir.

[Bazoo]

I tumble lube rifle bullets, It works okay. But it dont care for it either really.


If I was pan lubing pistol bullets I think I would give tumble lube a try. Not saying it is "better" lube, just that if it works it is a whole lot faster. And it does work to the satisfaction of many people even in magnum rounds.

[JSnover]

Hmmm. Never gave any thought to salt in Crisco. Been shooting my RB exclusively with black powder and Emmerts (50-40-10 Beeswax-Crisco-Canola oil) for almost ten years and not a speck of rust.

[54bore]

There must be 2 Types of Crisco? I just checked my Crisco Can, the can i have is fairly new, it is called 'Crisco Vegetable' and does NOT show salt anywhere in the ingredients? I have used this stuff to Season Cast iron Skillets after FULLY stripping them to bare gray cast, i have Cast iron Pans hanging in my basement that were stripped and Re Seasoned a few years ago, they look brand new. If any salt were present it would have shown up long before now

[Outpost75]

Real die hard black powder shooters around here use Goya Manteca instead of Crisco in their BP lube. This is an UNSALTED, filtered and refined HOG LARD product used in Mexican cooking. You can buy it at any grocery store. It does not require refrigeration and my experience has been that the 50-50 Beeswax-Manteca, what we call Confederate Army Lube, does not spoil or turn rancid as quickly as Crisco does. Then there are those fellows who want to be sure to use a pig lard product to make sure that any Jihadi terrorists they shoot with it will not to go heaven and get their 75 virgins... I suppose that might be important if you lived in Michigan or a sanctuary city.

192629

Then again, another option, my mentor Buffalo George Dega of Mirabello, Italy, says over there they use 1:3 OLIVE OIL and beeswax with BP in their 10.4x66mm Vetterlis and Swiss Federal rifles!

[OuchHot!]

What they didn't tell the jihadists is the 75 virgins ain't female.........

[Chill Wills]

Since the early 1970's, shooting C&B revolvers I have heard the Crisco salt warning. Back then it was GS talk and friends. No Devil Box to type on back then..

I have always checked the Crisco label. I have never found one around here that listed salt on it. Maybe it is a regional preference. I have seen the blue and yellow can, Crisco "butter flavored". Maybe it contains salt. I never get that one so don't check.

For what ever it is worth, at least here in the high country, I have never had lube go rancid, ether on or off bullets. Seems to keep forever. I have a coffee pot of lube with atoms in it twenty years old. Every so often, I add some. I keep my lube in a coffee pot to melt it on the warmer and it stays clean when not in use and pours well with the handle for pan lube or into the lube/sizer.

[Bazoo]

Heating lube in a coffee pot.... Thats genius.

[Outpost75]

I like the coffee pot idea too. In the humid, mid-Atlantic states you may need to refrigerate during storage to keep it from turning rancid in summer, but the natural yeasts in the air here make good sourdough bread and beer

[Chill Wills]

Heating lube in a coffee pot.... Thats genius.
The thrift store coffee maker is a really nice way to handle what can be a messy chore.
I can't take credit in any way for thinking that one up.
I was mentored on it a long time ago and I bet he did not think it up either.

[Chill Wills]

I like the coffee pot idea too. In the humid, mid-Atlantic states you may need to refrigerate during storage to keep it from turning rancid in summer, but the natural yeasts in the air here make good sourdough bread and beer

Every place has its pluses, not much chance of mildew here. But, I would really like the good sourdough and a some dark beer.

[tallwalker]

In the Louisiana swamp here. My Last batch of Crisco and Beeswax I made is going on three years now on the shelf in my barn. I just keep in in a small metal bucket that a citronella candle can in. Set it on the warmer and pour out what I need and put the leftovers back in. Haven't seen any problems at all.

[.22-10-45]

Wayne Swartz told me his pet schuetzen barrel was pitted when he ran out of regular white Crisco & substituted only thing he had in house..yellow butter flavored Crisco. I did an extensive test and write up of salt in mutton tallow back in the 1990's for the ASSRA Single Shot Journal. I have made up many experimental tallow based lubes for black powder..but won't use it for smokeless for fear of forgetting water-based clean up.

[Springfield]

I make my own lube sticks for my Magma sizer. I used to use an electric coffee pot but had to watch it real close as it was much hotter near the heating element, and the heat was non-adjustable. Now I just use a Corning Ware coffee pot and heat it on a hot plate. Melt and pour, couldn't be easier.