Mike in FL
50 Cal.
That makes sense. I learn something new here daily.
Ballistol-based lube?
- Thread starter YampaValleyMountainMan
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
The water acts as a carrier. Yes, once it evaporates it is pure ballistol left behind, but how much per unit of surface area? That's what the various concentrations control, is how much ballistol is evenly distributed per square inch, or centimeter, or whatever unit of surface area. For example, 1:5 would leave approximately twice as much ballistol per unit of surface area as 1:10.
Why would I buy a book when I’ve already experimented very similarly? Once I found the ball/patch combo my rifles liked, the lube didn’t really effect much outside a reasonable margin of error.
Have heard a lot of folks say the lube doesn't matter, but have managed to reduce group sizes from 2-2.5" to 1-1.5" at 50yds changing nothing but the lube, and have managed to get similar performance improvements with multiple rifles, just by varying the lube.
1. Why not simply draw the load?
2. Why Balistol?
3. Why not 50-50 beeswax/tallow?
I will not admit to the length of time I have had a muzzleloader remain loaded that did not fail to fire.
2. Why Balistol?
3. Why not 50-50 beeswax/tallow?
I will not admit to the length of time I have had a muzzleloader remain loaded that did not fail to fire.
I have used ratios from 4 parts water to 1 part of Ballistol to 7 parts of water and 1 part Ballistol. I saw no real difference in performance. I use a damp patch. All the benefits of spit with a bit of lubricant.
1. Not sure what "draw the load" means?
2. At the suggestion of many far more experienced shooters.
3. Tried it, in fact varied the concentration of beeswax, tallow, and olive oil, and experimented with it quite a bit. Even using an iron to melt it between layers to get thinner more even distribution.
Too messy, too much trouble, couldn't get consistent results, melts in the 100+ degreee Texas summer heat, however works great for lubing cast miniballs for my .58cal P53 musket, and sealing the cylinder chambers on my 1860 Pietta. I still use it for those things.
Last edited:
This actually works great at matches where am loading and shooting a lot, keeps fowling soft and almost eliminates the need to swab between shots, I got even better results using 1:1 simple Green / isopropyl alcohol. Tried it with Dawn / water but had mixed results, but need to experiment more.
I use the dawn and water at 1-1 every five shots between dry lube patches.
Save yourself some money.
Get yourself a bottle of mineral oil mix with some alcohol. Pour on your patches ,squeegee them out ,let it dry.
Get yourself a bottle of mineral oil mix with some alcohol. Pour on your patches ,squeegee them out ,let it dry.
Agreed. This is so simple even a child can understand it. However, people like to complicate something as simple as a hunting patch lube. This is not target shooting or competition shooting we are talking about here. We are discussing a hunting lube that may very well be exposed to harsh elements.
My God. Does anybody actually believe that 1/4 inch will make a difference on an elk?
I digress. I’m outta of this one.
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2009
- Messages
- 3,109
- Reaction score
- 3,068
i thoroughly detest ballistol and mixtures that contains ballistol.
Lots of stuff performs very well when used as patch lube.
i don't use black powder.
My hunting rifles are left loaded until fired at quarry, as long as 10 months. The rifles always fire.
My present patch lube consists of a mixture of 50 percent Softsole mink oil and 50 percent bees wax. Stuff is poured into a shallow can. At the shooting bench the patch is smeared with the lube.
50 percent Bore Butter and 50 percent bees wax also makes good patch lube.
This device contains five patched round balls for hunting:
The
Lots of stuff performs very well when used as patch lube.
i don't use black powder.
My hunting rifles are left loaded until fired at quarry, as long as 10 months. The rifles always fire.
My present patch lube consists of a mixture of 50 percent Softsole mink oil and 50 percent bees wax. Stuff is poured into a shallow can. At the shooting bench the patch is smeared with the lube.
50 percent Bore Butter and 50 percent bees wax also makes good patch lube.
This device contains five patched round balls for hunting:
The
Last edited:
beardedhorse
Pilgrim
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
- Messages
- 501
- Reaction score
- 396
Yampa Valley Mountain Man, did you get your elk? If you are Bob from Steamboat hope you did. I shot mine 45 minutes into the first day of hunting at 20 FEET. .54 round ball with beeswax and bear grease lubed red striped pillow ticking.
beardedhorse
Pilgrim
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
- Messages
- 501
- Reaction score
- 396
My experience with 4:1 water to Ballistol is the dried patches smolder. Not good on the range and especially bad in dry elk woods. So no Ballistol for me.
