Anybody use plain Crisco as patch lube?

[Skychief]

How does it work? Thanks!

 

[trent/OH]

I used it before I found Ballistol. At the time I usually spit-patched except for hunting, when I switched to Crisco. I didn't have a problem with it, but my wife doesn't use it in the kitchen, so a tub of Crisco would have lasted about 6 lifetimes. Also, Crisco can get pretty stiff in cold weather.
If you use it, be sure to use the regular stuff, NOT butter flavored, or any other type with salt in it.

 

[Walks with fire]

I have tried just about every patch lube I could get my hands on and they all worked fairly well. Different barrels have different preferences as far as patch lubes go. I use Criso shortening in my 2 TC's and they seem to prefer it to anything else I have tried. I don't see any need to try anything else. I never have tried the Balistrol as lube but others speak very highly of it. I also have a bottle of the original Leheigh (sp ?) and others say it works great for their rifles. My TC rifles don't care for it as much as the Criso. I live in PA and don't do a whole lot of summertime or real cold winter shooting so Crisco works well for me. My rifles also like a spit patch or even dry patch. Mink oil in the winter never shot real accurate in my TC either.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

I tried it when I first started shootin BP. Thought it was kinda messy and out here it's so dry in the summer I need a water based lube. Do some experimenting with it and other lubes. GW

 

[zrifleman]

I used melted Crisco for 10 yrs in muzzleloader matches and for hunting as a patch lube. It's still good as far as I am concerned. I have been using whale oil in my .40---no complaints---I can load and shoot all day without cleaning. I just started using BPCR pan lube for cast bullets in a .50 and a .54. The barrel stays pretty clean between shots but I am still experimenting with it.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

yeah I used it for some time, then got to experimenting and found other stuff that did well. you can't go wrong w/Crisco.

 

[musketman]

yeah I used it for some time, then got to experimenting and found other stuff that did well. you can't go wrong w/Crisco.

Just keep an eye on your barrel length, because as you know, Crisco is Shortening. :rotf:

ahem, Crisco tends to run a bit in warmer weather, other than that it worked OK for me.

 

[longfowler]

Crisco is OK,just don't use it in real cold weather - or it'll freeze in the barrel, and you'll break your ramrod. lesson learned, I now use olive oil.

 

[brubincam]

-----liquid crisco works better than the solid but is very sloppy-----

 

[buttonbuck]

A friend of mine perfers crisco to leftover sunblock from the first gulf war. Yeah I tried to tell him about petro products. He also shoots american pioneer powder Anyway...it works ok I perfer using deer tallow, bees wax and olive oil mixed in equal proportions.

 

[oldwolf]

I am using Crisco for my Duro-Felt wads in my revolvers. Seems to be working as well as the T/C Bore Butter I used prior.

 

[agill]

Works good in Virginia.

 

[cowpoke1955]

I've used Crisco, but now I use Ballistol. Crisco worked well, but as others have said, in warmer weather it tends to melt and get messy. If there was nothing else around, I'd have no problem with using Crisco again.

 

[SimonKenton]

I tried Crisco about 30 years ago but the girl I was out shooting with used to kid me that I was shooting "burnt French fries". DID kinda smell like that. :grin:

-Ray

 

[Vaino]

I first used Crisco 30 yrs ago and found it to be sufficient and had no problems w/ it except that once I loaned a friend some of my Crisco patches while squirrel hunting and didn't know the vintage of the patches and after a few hrs I met him and he's cussing a blue streak. The pillow ticking, cotton patches were rotten and tore at the muzzle. Haven't used it since, although if used "fresh" they'd work just fine.....Fred

 

[Frank/Pa]

I used it about 30 years ago in a cap and ball revolver to seal the cylinder holes. It kind of smelled like fried chicken. :grin:

 

[Raider2000]

I still use Crisco for patch lube, I just keep my patches in a small tin seperate from everything else for just in case purposes.

 

[sproulman]

in summer i see a lot of crisco/bore butter users at range but they dont use a lot of it,just enough that patch is little slick.

in winter, they use HOPPES NO.9 PLUS,i see a lot of that being used.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Does anybody get patches that hit the ground smoldering when using Crisco or other grease patches? Most of the BP shoots here won't allow them on trailwalks for fear of setting the world on fire. :hmm: GW

 

[paulvallandigham]

Generally, you only get burning patches if you use: a. The substitute powders, that burn at a much higher temperature than does BP; b. large quantities of FFFg powder behind a thin patch( Usually thinner than .015"). It seems that once you load more than 70 grains of FFFg in any barrel, you chance seeing burned patches, particularly if they are .005, or .010" thick.

Crisco seems to melt somewhere between the boiling point of water( 212 degrees F. and the burning point of paper( 451 degrees F. Since BP ignites about 460 degrees, I suspect crisco is melting or burning up as the PRB moves down the barrel, and is consumed on those THIN patches. That leave the patch itself to catch on fire.

If you use a thicker patch, it holds more grease, and the patch makes it out of the barrel and cools in the air to keep from burning, before all the grease is consumed.

You might pay better attention to barrel length, caliber, powder used, and load used, in addition to patch thickness and how the Crisco is put on the patching in the future, to figure out the true source of the problem of burning patches. A folded cleaning patch use as a fire wall between the powder and the PRB is an easy solution. ( it also gets rid of those dirty cleaning patches!)