Patch Lube

[brad925]

Anybody got any recipes? Wondering if bottle of liquid Alox i got with a sizing die for my 45-70 cast boolits would work for that. Or maybe my other home made boolit lube.

[wgr]

alox does,nt work well with bp

[missionary5155]

God morning
For many years I have used olive oil & beeswax in varying combinations (50-50 is the basic starting point) for all my BP shooting. Never has failed, tastes great, many other usages & is the ONLY lube my #1 wife will permit me to make & use in the house.
Mike in Peru

[Nappers]

I use a brand called 3 Rivers from a store in Oregon. Good stuff, it's a great patch lube and a solvent to clean.

The below is taken from Muzzleloading forum who brings this site up quite a bit. Never used it but a lot of people use it.

Stumpy's Moose Juice

A general purpose blackpowder solvent and liquid patch lube. Shake well before using

Castor Oil 3 oz.
Murphy's Oil Soap 1 oz.
Witch Hazel 4 oz.
Isopropyl Alcohol (91%) 8 oz.
Water (non-chlorinated if available) 16 oz.

I dip my patching in this twice and let it dry laid flat on wax paper in between. Makes a semi-dry patch material that's easy to carry & use. If you don't mind carrying a little bottle it's a GREAT liquid lube as is.


Stumpy's Moose Snot

A premium multi-shot between wiping (10+) patch lube stable over a wide temperature range.
SPECIFICALLY designed for use of patched round balls in a loading block

Beeswax 2 oz.
Castor Oil 8 oz.
Murphy's Oil Soap 1 oz.


Heat beeswax in a soup can set a pot of water. ( A double-boiler. I keep my beeswax in a one pound coffee can and measure out what I need by melting it and pouring it into measuring cups). Add just enough water so the inner can does not begin to float (should be just short of the lube level in the can). Heat the water to a low boil. In a separate can, add the castor oil and Murphy's oil soap (cold). Once the beeswax is melted, swap the castor oil can in the pot of water for the beeswax. Add the beeswax to the oils. It will clump up. Stir with an ice tea spoon as the mixture heats up. When it fully melts there will be a scum that floats to the top and just won't mix in. Be patient. DO NOT COOK THE MIXTURE. Once the solids are dissolved there is no need to heat further. Skim the scum off. Remove the mix from the heat and wipe the water off the outside (so it won't drip into the container when you pour it out). FINAL TOP SECRET STEP: Add a teaspoon of Murphy's Oil Soap and stir vigorously. This last step makes the lube frothy and smooth - really adds to the appearance; though it doesn't seem to matter to the function of the lube. Clamp the can in the jaws of a vice-grip pliers and pour into the waiting tins. Allow to cool a half hour.

Note: it if is a hinged tin - line the edge that has the hinges with a strip of aluminum foil so it doesn't ooze out before it cools.

[Nobade]

olive oil/beeswax for hunting, spit for the range in small calibers, moose milk for the 12 bore at the range. (ain't got enough spit for those big patches!)

[Maven]

Brad925, I've made and used "Stumpy's Moose Snot" (recipe in post #4), but substituted olive oil for the specified castor oil (hard to get locally). I'm happy to say that it works very well. Btw, it is very easy to make.

[KCSO]

Best I have found is Bear oil and bees wax or in the winter straight bear oil. First you get you a bear... second is sheeps tallow. In case you wonder we do our own meat. I render out my own salt free lard from hoog, bear and do sheep tallow. Tallow was the old Dixie ZIP lube. I still have a couple cans of sperm oil but i am lothe to use it as it is so rare.

[P.K.]

Quick and easy patch lube, 50-50% Murphy's oil soap and tap water. AKA "Moose Milk."

[waksupi]

Quick and easy patch lube, 50-50% Murphy's oil soap and tap water. AKA "Moose Milk."

This is the first time I recall seeing Murphy's used in Moose Milk. Doesn't it gum the bore a bit?

[hobbles]

50/50 mix most times, 60/40 others..
Sometimes I just use the GoJo. Even with the mixture it cleans the barrel when loadin the next load. I'm lazy..

[waksupi]

I've used Goop too, it did seem to work ok. I guess I should have mentioned, I use water soluble oil, and water for my Moose Milk. Ballistol and water also works. I went to the Dutch Schultz method of patch lubing for hunting. Saturate the patches with the Moose Milk, and let dry. This way you can leave the rifle loaded, just as you can if you use any other oil based lube.

[P.K.]

This is the first time I recall seeing Murphy's used in Moose Milk. Doesn't it gum the bore a bit?

Not too badly, at least with a patched ball which is all I've ever used it on. Of course the few times I have used it was on the range. Push ball, cut patch cap and fire. Swab and repeat. Too much of a good thing in this case will cause a hang fire or worse, digging out the auger to pull the ball. Then you have the "gum" to clean out. BTDT.

[daschnoz]

I use Emmerts Lube. Mix it 45/45/10

[Maven]

"I went to the Dutch Schultz method of patch lubing for hunting. Saturate the patches with the Moose Milk, and let dry...." Waksupi

Two comments on lubes, with Dutch Schoultz' method first. (1) I e-mailed Mr. Schoultz about water soluble machining oil several years ago and he replied that he no longer recommends using it: It contains too many "unfriendly" additives now. Rather, he currently recommends Ballistol and water at the same dilution(s) as with WSMO. (2) Several members of the American Longrifle site also questioned the use of Murphy's Oil Soap as a patch lube ingredient. They too thought it might gum up the bore and a few found that it left hard to remove deposits there. Interestingly enough, Dixie used to sell "Old Slickum" patch lube, which looks and smells suspiciously like MOS. I've used Old Slickum and found that it worked very well. However, I'd be leery of using liquid lubes in freezing weather or when hunting, i.e., when a patched RB is left atop the powder charge for more than a few minutes.

[P.K.]

"I went to the Dutch Schultz method of patch lubing for hunting. Saturate the patches with the Moose Milk, and let dry...." Waksupi

Two comments on lubes, with Dutch Schoult'z method first. (1) I e-mailed Mr. Schoultz about water soluble machining oil several years ago and he replied that he no longer recommends using it: It contains too many "unfriendly" additives now. Rather, he currently recommends Ballistol and water at the same dilution(s) as with WSMO. (2) Several members of the American Longrifle site also questioned the use of Murphy's Oil Soap as a patch lube ingredient. They too thought it might gum up the bore and a few found that it left hard to remove deposits there. Interestingly enough, Dixie used to sell "Old Slickum" patch lube, which looks and smells suspiciously like MOS. I've used Old Slickum and found that it worked very well. However, I'd be leery of using liquid lubes in freezing weather or when hunting, i.e., when a patched RB is left atop the powder charge for more than a few minutes.

Great point, I was going to revise my post but since you mentioned it first, it's all yours. My recipie was only used in warm weather. In colder wx I use bore butter on pre cut patches since the BB in those temps has the consistancy of solid deoderant one could use an old container of deoderant for this purpose too. I keep one of the little travel size sticks in my kit. Simply warm up a few table spoons of BB on the stove and pour the liquid into the clean and reset deoderant stick container.

[Pigslayer]

Try "Old Zip Patch Grease" from Dixie Gun Works. Made from Mutton Tallow & Beeswax. I love it! I've tried others including Bore Butter. The BB worked but I really wasn't impressed with it in cold weather.
Try some "Old Zip Patch Grease". I think you'll be pleased.

[Maven]

No problem at all, P.K.! Two additional lube ideas: If you can get deer tallow, try it. I obtained some from one of our members and mixed up some with a a few tablespoons of liniment (with oil of wintergreen) so that it would smell like yellow Bore Butter. It works very well. However, you want to add the oiniment or oil of wintergreen to the cold deer tallow and THEN slowly melt them together. You'll understand why this way is better than the reverse if you've done it! The second one is from the ML Forum: A member there claims that Liquid Wrench is an excellent patch lube. I bought a small bottle last week, but haven't yet tried it and probably won't for a couple of weeks. Maybe one of you will try it and let us know how it works?

[izzyjoe]

i've heard deer tallow works great, and olive oil.

[Tom-ADC]

Bore Butter or Wonder Lube.

[waksupi]

I've been looking for my old notes, and am still searching. Some years ago, I used up a summer trying out different lubes. I tested probably a dozen of old recommendations, and some new things.

I do recall whale oil, for all it's hype, would foul a barrel badly after about 10 shots. It's winning point, was it was non-drying. But, it would leave smouldering patches regularly.

Vaseline hand lotion, was around 12 shots before the barrel was fouled.

Bore Butter in cold winter could bring shooting to a dead stop after about 8 rounds. Goop hand cleaner was good for 15-20 shots, before I would start getting fouling in the lower part of the barrel. Also left smouldering patches.

Any lubes that we know to leave smouldering patches are banned from our shooting ranges, due to usual high fire danger.

I know I tested at least a dozen different things, and as I say, I am still looking for the paperwork on them. I do know that moose milk, with the old water soluble oil came way out on top.