Easiest Option For BPCR Lube...?

[Guy La Pourque]

Well boys, I loaded up my first ever BPCR rounds - 20 of 'em in 45-75 for a Uberti 1876 repro!

For this first batch I just used Bore Butter and plunked my boolits over top about 72 grains FFg and a felt wad. The rounds chamber but I have to go out and actually fire them yet.

The problem with Bore Butter is that it is sloppy to work with and I am not sure I got the amount of lube on the bullets that I want. Complicating the learning curve is the fact that I shoot in diverse conditions - in summer I shoot in 75 degree F heat and in winter I sometimes see temps down in the -20 range. Can one lube do it all?

Wish me luk on the range!

[John Allen]

If you are just going to buy lube check with Randyrat. If you want to make your own I use mutton tallow, beeswax, parrafin with some lanolin and carnuba

[runfiverun]

beeswax Crisco lanolin.
60-40-10 is about right.
adjust the Crisco to make the lube softer or harder for the winter/summer.

[country gent]

Bore butter may be soft enough to push thru a vetranairy syringe. This would save alot of mess and allow a measured amount in CCs to be inserted into the case. Tractor Supplys and such have syringes with some pretty big openings.

[Larry Gibson]

BP Lube

In a small sauce pan filled about 1/3 with water place a small (pint size) Pyrex measuring cup with the handle over the edge of the pan. Into the Pyrex cup pour in 4 oz of virgin olive oil and place the sauce pan w/Pyrex cup in it on an electric stove to heat up. I bring the water in the sauce pan to just short of boiling (this set up is referred to as a “double boiler”). Add pure beeswax to the olive oil until there is 9 oz of melted mixture in the Pyrex cup. I stir it with a wood tongue depressor or pop-cycle stick. This makes a 4 / 5 part mix (olive oil to beeswax). Of course larger amounts may be made but adjust the amounts to maintain the 4-5 part mix.

Once melted and mixed together that's it.

The melted lube may be poured into the reservoir of a lube/sizer. It will cool and harden in short order and is immediately useable. I leave the remainder of the mix in the Pyrex cup (wife made me buy her a new one after the first use) and store it in a quart Ziploc bag (keeps it clean). When more lube is needed just put the Pyrex cup with lube into the sauce pan of water and melt it on the electric stove again. It is useable this way until the mix is depleted or you add more beeswax and olive oil (in the proper 4-5 proportion) to make more. My last batch has lasted a long time with no deterioration.

With some bullets I hand lube them while watching a good movie on TV. I cut the wood tongue depressor at a 45 degree angle on one end making a sort of knife edge. I scrape a small amount off the cold lube mix and roll it between my thumb and fore finger. The lube becomes soft and malleable very quickly. It is then rubbed into the lube grooves on the bullets. I can usually do a couple hundred REALs or Maxi-Balls during a John Wayne flick. A couple paper towels control any messy fingers to keep the wife happy. I prefer this method over the pan lube method as I find that pretty messy. However, this lube works well with the pan lube method.

I have found this simple and easy to make lube to be every bit as effective as any of the witchcraft brews often recommended. I’ve also found it as good as SPG. I’ve not found any difference in the bore fouling using this lube with BP as with any other lube. The fouling remains as soft for as long as the others. Accuracy with this lube is also the equal of any others. I recommend it because it is easy to make out of inexpensive components and it works.

I use this lube for all my BP bullets (BPCR & P). It even works very well in smokeless powder loads upwards of 1600 fps. I also use it for all of my muzzle loading bullets and patches for use with BP or BP substitute powders.

Larry Gibson

['74 sharps]

Beeswax 50%, Crisco about 48%, and about 2% olive oil which can be adjusted according to outside temps for a lighter or heavier lube.

[Quigley284]

I all depends what your ultimate goal is. I use SPG melted in the same double boiler. I dip lube as cast bullets into the hot lube. I use a fired case that I cut the head off to clean off the excess lube. I am also a wiper. There are a thousand different ways that people use to get these guns to shoot. The secret is fouling control in the barrel consistently from shot to shot. I know that the SPG will fail at some point, but not yet. Hope this helps, Mike

[Don McDowell]

Lube can make or break you as far as accuracy goes, there's a ton of things that needs more attention than fiddlefaddlin with lube recipes trying to get the exact right amounts with good ingredients.
Bullshops Nasa, is very good, SPG is fine, DGL gets used quite a bit, Chill Wills makes a lube that is a proven winner, White Lightning, none of them are expensive, and buying a proven tested lube, will allow you time to work on important things like proper casting technigues, and loading procedure.

[bigted]

what Don said ... i spent 2 years foolin with recipes and rue the day i began that trail ... nough said as there are folks that do real well with their home made lube. i just know that my shooting suddenly went in hyper drive with SPG and i have tryed the Bullshops NASA lube to good effect.

[CanoeRoller]

The simple answer is to buy a BP lube, like SPG. You will be hard pressed to fine someone who does not think SPG is very good BP lube.

If on the other hand, you want to make your own, there are lots of recipes out there to choose from. The basic properties you want in a BP lube are:

Sticky to the touch (it needs to stick to the Boolit)
Hard enough not to come off the boolit until it needs to do so
Slippery (it does have to lube the barrel)
Combines with BP fouling to keep it soft.
Does not melt in a hot barrel.
Does not stiffen up too much in the cold.

This is asking quite a lot of one substance. Most home brewers, will start with a base of Beeswax, and add other substances to try to get the above features that they are most wanting. This is done with a combination of various natural oils, waxes and fats. Petroleum based products are generally avoided, as their chemical make up tends to combine with the carbon fouling and make it harder instead of softer.

Other substances you can add to a beeswax base include tallow, lard, or crisco (these are very similar to each other for our purposes here). Bayberry wax, Japan wax, Caster Oil, various cooking oils, and so on. Some lubes contain a small amount of soap such as Castille or Murphies Natural Oil Soap.

The lube mix that will make you happiest will depend on what you want to do. If you are plinking, or hunting you have a different set of priorities than a target shooter.
If you are a target shooter, it will depend on what sort of targets you shoot, and your goals there. Are you starting out and just want to have some fun while you improve your basic skills, or do you want be the next national champion?

[CanoeRoller]

The simple answer is to buy a BP lube, like SPG. You will be hard pressed to fine someone who does not think SPG is very good BP lube.

If on the other hand, you want to make your own, there are lots of recipes out there to choose from. The basic properties you want in a BP lube are:

Sticky to the touch (it needs to stick to the Boolit)
Hard enough not to come off the boolit until it needs to do so
Slippery (it does have to lube the barrel)
Combines with BP fouling to keep it soft.
Does not melt in a hot barrel.
Does not stiffen up too much in the cold.

This is asking quite a lot of one substance. Most home brewers, will start with a base of Beeswax, and add other substances to try to get the above features that they are most wanting. This is done with a combination of various natural oils, waxes and fats. Petroleum based products are generally avoided, as their chemical make up tends to combine with the carbon fouling and make it harder instead of softer.

Other substances you can add to a beeswax base include tallow, lard, or crisco (these are very similar to each other for our purposes here). Bayberry wax, Japan wax, Caster Oil, various cooking oils, and so on. Some lubes contain a small amount of soap such as Castille or Murphies Natural Oil Soap.

The lube mix that will make you happiest will depend on what you want to do. If you are plinking, or hunting you have a different set of priorities than a target shooter.
If you are a target shooter, it will depend on what sort of targets you shoot, and your goals there. Are you starting out and just want to have some fun while you improve your basic skills, or do you want be the next national champion?

[enfield]

Bees wax, lard, olive oil (or neatsfoot oil ) cant realy say I measure the % of each but the final result is gooey enough to press your finger in when its set up. ( too much wax makes it hard and it may not stick well in the boolit grooves ). I put some in a pan on the woodstove to melt and set the boolits in for a couple minutes, take em out with tweezers and set on wax paper. pop them off the paper when cooled and the excess stays on the paper. if you let them get too hot the bottom grooves may not retain enough lube, experiment a bit. blow tube seems to make quite a difference if shooting multiple shots.

[Guy La Pourque]

Well thanks a bunch boys!

The first trip to the range was a treat! The .45-75 with black powder is a sweetheart to shoot. When I cleaned her up afterward I saw no lead on the patches - just good ol' blackpowder filth and soot! The shop smelled like a wet fart after I finished cleaning up and all was right in my world. As that big Texan on Youtube likes to say, 'Life is good!'

I have a recipe from the cast boolit authorities that seems to be sanctioned by the BPCR crowd involving citronella candle wax. I can just imagine the reek that will result from fragrant citronella and beeswax mixing with the rot of blackpowder! I love this sport!

My accuracy wasn't good, I was shooting off hand and running about 5" groups at 50 yards - not counting a few pulled fliers. I weighed my cast boolits before loading them so I know they were consistent...probably windy gusts and shakey hands and bad eyes are to blame. Remedial practice is in the works!

Think I'm gonna need a Sharps or a Highwall sooner or later though...

[bigted]

while offhand is fun and useful i would recommend shooting from a rest to get the very best outta your loads and then it is easy to see what works and what dont. work on repeatable shoulder tucking, hold and how tight, where the rest is stationed on the rifle each time, as always ... trigger squeeze.

sounds like you are on the way to a full and busy life in your new addiction. this is going to be the best ride you ever been on ... have fun!

[Quigley284]

Be very careful going down that road, there is no cure. I get mad every time I think about all the time I wasted before I was exposed to a Shiloh. I might have been dangerous when the eyes were working better. +1 on the rest first. Find the best load then you can practice the awful hand. On a side note, welcome to the mold of the month club as well. Good luck, Mike

[Kraschenbirn]

You might want to peruse the sticky for boolit lube formulas on the Boolit Lube Page. There's a whole bunch of recipes...some simple, some more complex...for BPCR loads. In my experience, though, if you're gonna buy a commercial lube, SPG is hard to beat or, for a DIY pan lube, Emmert's is the way to go. BTW...I use Emmert's, year 'round, with both BP and smokeless in my .38-55 and my .45-70s.

Bill

[CanoeRoller]

These guy are right, you want to develop a good, accurate load, then start to practice off hand shooting. BP groups can be huge if you just put some parts together. With a bit of work, BP can rival the most accurate modern loads anywhere. Once you know what the loads can do, you can start to develop your technique, knowing when you are doing it right, and when not.