Bullet Lube Recipes

Casting some Lee R.E.A.L 250 grain bullets for my TC Hawken .50 cal. Looking to make a batch of homemade bullet lube. I've seen all kinds of methods on YouTube, melting wax toilet rings, mixing Vaseline with bees wax and crayons in a pot. What is the cheapest and most readily available recipe with household ingredients? I have allot of grease in the drip bucket on my bbq smoker maybe that will work if I heat it up and filter out the small food particles with cheesecloth? Grease is Grease to me.

I use good old Crisco.

Straight crisco not mixed with anything?

deermanok said:

I use good old Crisco.

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Now there's a man with good sense! No reason to add anything to it. It would be like adding soda pop to top shelf bourbon.

Olive oil on felt wads. That's it.

wm

Thekingd93 said:

Straight crisco not mixed with anything?

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Yup, straight up!

Welcome to the forum, @Thekingd93 !

For household ingredients, Crisco is likely a good starting place, just to get you going. Meanwhile, if it were me, I would browse the vendor websites and order a cake of natural beeswax, and a tin of whatever commercial lube appeals to you. You can try mixing the beeswax with your Crisco to make it a little stiffer. Easier to store and less messy in the heat.

I'm still working my way through a supply of Old Zip Patch Grease from Dixie Gun Works. I'm down to one open tin, and one un-opened. This was a mix of sheep tallow and beeswax, although I don't remember the proportions. Dixie no longer carries it... We suspect somebody was offended by the name. Whatever...

There was a recent and pretty extensive thread about using meat drippings for lube. I believe the consensus, if we ever really achieved one, was that the fat in meat drippings was likely overheated, making them less satisfactory than tallow or fat that was properly rendered. It's easy to make your own tallow, and you can probably get the raw material (animal fat trimmings) for next to nothing from the local butcher.

I remember reading a while back in the memoirs of a leading shooting expert how he got his start in reloading, using black powder for an S&W double action .44 Special unmentionable. He made a viscous slurry of Ivory soap, swished his home-cast bullets in it, and let them dry. This apparently worked pretty well, although I have not tried it, and I expect there are some other lubes that might be better. However, his lube was cheap and it served his purpose. I don't know about now, but Ivory used to be real soap, made with fat. I don't know if their formula has changed or not.

Conventional wisdom maintains some sort of animal or plant-based grease is best for lubricants with black powder, and I think beeswax would be preferable in every way to paraffin, crayons, or old candle stubs for the wax component. I understand toilet rings have beeswax in them, but it has likely been adulterated with who knows what, and you will probably find straight beeswax is cheaper than a manufactured toilet ring anyhow. Even if it isn't, the little extra you spend on natural beeswax will likely pay off in terms of better shooting, softer fouling, and easier cleaning.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

Beeswax/lard/lanolin

2/3 Beeswax and 1/3 Bore Butter

Beeswax and lamb tallow.

2/3 beeswax and 1/3 jojoba oil

2/3. beeswax, 1/3 grape seed oil

White Lube carnauba, Beeswax and olive oil here. It will stay firm in the summer and still do it's job in the winter.
Dip lube and put them in a wood block. Makes a more enjoyable range day when you don't lube at the range.
Crisco is OK in the winter - a disaster in the 105 summer heat with sunshine though.

I use a 50/50 mix of beeswax and lamb tallow. Both available on Amazon. If your going to use this recipe buy the beeswax in pellets. It's easy to melt. And lamb tallow because it isn't supposed to turn rancid. I use it on .58 cal Minieballs and also make lubed felt wads for my 1858 .44 cal revolver. Works for me but there are many other recipes.

Save yourself some time and money. Len's Lube or MCM lube. Minie ball shooters in the N-SSA fight over which is best. MCM is a bit stiffer, like SPG, which is also very good. It's my BPCR lube.

I like a bees wax and salt free lard mixture, To make your lard(or any animal fat) salt free, put it in a pan 50/50 with water.Bring to a boil, let cool and skim off the fat, repeat as needed until the water does not taste salty.

Thekingd93 said:

Casting some Lee R.E.A.L 250 grain bullets for my TC Hawken .50 cal. Looking to make a batch of homemade bullet lube. I've seen all kinds of methods on YouTube, melting wax toilet rings, mixing Vaseline with bees wax and crayons in a pot. What is the cheapest and most readily available recipe with household ingredients? I have allot of grease in the drip bucket on my bbq smoker maybe that will work if I heat it up and filter out the small food particles with cheesecloth? Grease is Grease to me.

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You really don't need to lube R.E.A.L. bullets. Just use a lubed patch on top of your powder and below the bullet. Works like a charm for me!

Dan

I started using this formula for lubing BPCR bullets years ago. It works well on other muzzleloading applications.
50 % beeswax
40 % Crisco or lard
5 % lanolin
5 % canola oil

Deer fat rendered, mixed with murphys oil to softon it up and preserve it from spoiling.DONE

Steve Garby’s SPG mixed with 2 oz. Stihl HP synthetic lube. Zero leading and very little lube is required. You can thin with your choice of vegetable oil.