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Thread: SPG recipe

  1. #41
    Boolit Master
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    I was in the local grocery store yesterday and saw Murphy's oil soap on the shelf.
    The bottle label said “New Formula”.
    This new version may or may not work in any lube recipe that used Murphy's oil soap as an ingredient.
    Testing with a small batch would be wise until this new formula Murphy's oil soap proves its self.

  2. #42
    Boolit Master quail4jake's Avatar
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    Can others who fool with this stuff please reply with thoughts on lanolin. I've landed at 10-20% to make lube sticky so that it clings to lube grooves especially on expanding balls which won't be loaded in a brass case but are handled open and loaded into paper cartridges. My questions are: 1)at what percent is minimum performance and what percent diminishing returns? 2) What does lanolin contribute to lubricity? We use jojoba oil for lubricity but can lanolin replace it? (except that jojoba oil is a liquid component and lanolin soft solid). Thoughts? Overthinking?

  3. #43
    Boolit Buddy
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    Lanolin is a very high strength lubricant often used in industrial drawing operations. Such usage places much higher demand on a lubricant than cast bullet situations.
    As far as I know there is no dismissing return but a little goes a long way and a lot is unnecessary expense. My BP/Schuetzen lube is the same proportions as Emmerts lube but consists of beeswax, tallow and peanut oil plus lanolin. It's been a while since I made any or looked at the recipe but the amount of lanolin is something like 2 tablespoons per pound of lube. My lube stays put in lube grooves.

  4. #44
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    Gato Feo #1 ... the one and only Ugly Cat, and in his words ...

    GATO FEO LUBE
    ********************

    by weight ...

    1 part mutton tallow (dixie gun works)
    1 part canning wax (gulf)
    1/2 part beeswax

    Yes, canning paraffin is a petroleum product, but it's also pure paraffin. There are no scents, unrelated oils, glitter, etc. such as are found in decorative or scented candles. It's pure, and that' why I specify it.

    When I first began using canning paraffin, I too wondered why it didn't create the tarry fouling when used with black powder, as other petroleum products do. Fact is, I posed this question in various message boards years ago. A chemist provided what seems a plausible answer: Canning paraffin lacks the hydrocarbons found in other petroleum products. Apparently, these hydrocarbons are the offender.

    I'm no chemist, and I don't have access to a lab that could test for the presence of hydrocarbons, so I remain uncertain if what he said is true, opinion or S.W.A.G.

    All I know is that canning paraffin -- the same translucent stuff that is melted and poured into the open mouths of preserve jars, does not create the hard, tarry fouling I typically find with other petroleum products (automotive grease, transmission fluid, rifle grease, lithium grease, etc.).

    The natural greases (animal and vegetable in origin) also dissolve more easily in soapy water during cleaning. Petroleum grease resists dissolving and tends to float around in the water as tiny clumps, often sticking to the steel surfaces of guns and requiring additional cleaning.

    Canning paraffin works. I can't explain it. The original 19th century factory recipe called for "paraffin" and that was the only description. There are different types of paraffin, but I chose canning paraffin for its purity and availability. Luckily, it worked just fine and I didn't have to search for a more esoteric paraffin.

    Perhaps it lacks the hydrocarbons that are claimed to be the culprit. Perhaps not. But I do know that canning paraffin is the best paraffin I've found and it doesn't create a hard, tarry fouling when used with black powder.

    I've made other variations of Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant with substituted ingredients, including old candles, and the resulting lubricant is not as good.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The old recipe I found only listed:
    Tallow
    Paraffin
    Beeswax

    No specifics beyond these were given.

    The recipe was originally used by factories for bullets that were outside lubricated, as found on heeled bullets. The only heeled bullets loaded by factories today are the .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle, and the .32 Short Colt (occasionally loaded by Winchester).

    I used the above recipe and assembled it with mutton tallow, canning paraffin and beeswax because it's what I had on hand when I found the old recipe.

    I have a Marlin Model 1892 rifle that uses heeled bullets, which I cast myself. After using the lubricant with .32 Long Colt reloads, I decided to try it with felt wads for my cap and ball revolvers, and patches for my CVA Mountain Rifle in .50 caliber.

    Doing so, I was impressed with the old recipe assembled with mutton tallow, canning paraffin and beeswax. I've also used it with black powder loads and lead bullets in my .44-40 and .45-70 rifles, as well as .45 Long Colt revolver.

    I used very specific ingredients, but didn't change the ratio of 10/10/5 parts.

    I first posted the recipe -- with mutton tallow, canning paraffin and beeswax -- about 1999 or 2000 on many message boards. Shortly after posting it, someone dubbed it "Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant" and the name stuck.

    Did the old factory recipe specify liquid or solid paraffin? I don't know. I suspect it was solid, because the lubricant must be sticky and solid, to stick to the bare, smooth lead of an outside-lubricated bullet not protected by the case. Only a very small portion of the bullet is inside the case -- the heel -- the rest of it is exposed to grit and lubricant wear-off while carried in pockets and game bags.

    Modern .22 rimfire lubricant that covers the bullet is much harder and tenacious than the old factory recipe I found.
    I suspect it's entirely wax of some type, with no grease or beeswax.

    From what I've observed -- tiny teats on the point of the lead .22 bullet -- it's applied by dipping the completed cartridge upside down in melted wax up to where the bullet meets the brass case. Dipping in melted lubricant was the old method and is evidently still used today.

    I know of liquid paraffin used for lamp fuel, but don't believe I've ever seen it. Perhaps I simply haven't recognized it.

    Interestingly, one muzzleloading outfitter's site claims:

    WARNING: Paraffin and other petroleum products can cause "Cook offs". It is neither fun nor healthy to have your musket unexpectedly fire while you are loading.

    This is the first warning of this type I've seen, and I've been using black powder for nearly 40 years. I don't understand how a "cook-off" can be generated by paraffin. Does he mean it creates longer-lasting embers?

    The age-old definition of "cook-off" means that the gun metal becomes so hot that the powder is ignited by this heat. This is a common problem in machine guns, and perhaps semi-autos fired quickly with a great deal of ammo, but in a black powder rifle?

    The owner of the site clearly has a great deal of experience in black powder shooting, but i have to doubt this assertion. I've yet to hear of anyone experiencing unexpected ignition by using petroleum products. I and others have learned that most petroleum products, when used with black powder, create a hard, tarry fouling. Of this there is little doubt.

    Canning paraffin lacks this characteristic. A chemist wrote me long ago that canning paraffin lacks the hydrocarbons that petroleum greases and oils contain. I don't know about this; I'm not a chemist, petroleum engineer or geologist. However, I DO know that I don't experience the hard, tarry fouling when using canning paraffin.
    Whatever it lacks or possesses, it's clearly different from other petroleum products.

  5. #45
    Boolit Buddy
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    Regarding cleaning:
    The ingredients for homemade soap are animal fat, wood ash and water. A traditional black powder lube leaves the animal fT in the bore. The black powder provides the wood ash. Add moisture from a blow tube between shots or clean with water after a shooting session and you are making soap in the barrel.

  6. #46
    Boolit Master


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    The "paraffin" used in lamps is another name for kerosene.
    “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
    ― Mark Twain
    W8SOB

  7. #47
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by missionary5155 View Post
    Good morning
    I am partial to 55-45% beeswax and Olive Oil.
    By weight or by volume?

  8. #48
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by greenjoytj View Post
    I was in the local grocery store yesterday and saw Murphy's oil soap on the shelf.
    The bottle label said “New Formula”.
    This new version may or may not work in any lube recipe that used Murphy's oil soap as an ingredient.
    Testing with a small batch would be wise until this new formula Murphy's oil soap proves its self.
    Murphy reports that the formula is the same. Had the same concern and getting an answer was like pulling teeth but they finally answered, Same soap.

  9. #49
    Boolit Master
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    Always weigh your ingredients. Use a kitchen digital scale, a good one will be accurate to the tenth of a gram. Keep good records of how many grams of each ingredient is used so your lube can be duplicated again in the future. Also make note of temperatures and order the ingredients were combined. A lube recipe isn’t just a list of ingredients, if should describe the steps use to make it.

  10. #50
    Boolit Buddy
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    In regards to PURE paraffin oil........it is not the same as kerosene. It is more refined to ensure cleaner burn and less soot( ie carbon) . I use it in my Aladdin mantle lamps...it is more expensive but it produces almost no odor or soot...something I like, as apposed to kerosene which is quite strong in the odor department! The paraffin oil I use comes in different sizes (quart, gallon and 5 gallon) It will also Harden somewhat at colder temps. I've never used it in a lube so I have no input for how to mix it. I found some interesting stuff on homemade lubes might have to give it a whirl. I'm getting low on the SPG I bought years ago.
    Last edited by echo154; 08-25-2021 at 10:10 AM.
    Do I have a knife....Ive got my pants on don't I.

  11. #51
    Boolit Bub
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    Many years ago, before SPG, Bill Ballard made the things required to shoot the Sharps rifles. In his catalogue was information on how to patch a bullet and other things you needed to know to get your BPCR working. There was a recipe for lube. It was; 1 part bees wax, 1part paraffin wax, 2 parts crisco . It looks and performs like SPG and I used it for years with success.

  12. #52
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    Hard to beat the old NRA lube (aka "Gato Feo") - 1 mutton tallow, 1 paraffin wax, 1/2 beeswax, all by weight, double boiler cooked.

  13. #53
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
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    SPG is good, but doesn’t work as well for me as does GF # 1. Normally I wipe between shots, but was working on hunting loads with both. After three shots with SPG, I had to pound a wet patch through. Not so with GF’s lube. I could push the rod through the barrel.

  14. #54
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    I recently used a friend's NASA lube concoction and Really liked it a Lot, but it's Very greasy, sticky. But boy does it work no less than Awesome.

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