bore butter substitute recipes

[tecum-tha]

Since I am shooting my original jaeger rifle with an old wrought iron barrel, I have to use lots of borebuttter on my patches, otherwise the wrought iron barrel is too dry after wiping.
I almost used 1 tube of yellow bore butter on 6 of my long patching strips and that is not very economical and I don't like the gummi bear like smell of the stuff.
Anyone knows a good recipe that handles and feels the same as bore butter? I have some cedar or birch oil to add smell to it :wink:
Thank you!

 

[BrownBear]

I've been using a deer tallow/olive oil blend for years and it works as well or better. Problem is, it's temperature sensitive, turning hard or soft as the air temp changes. I've had to prepare different blends for using different times of year. You could do the same with crisco or lard I guess, but I haven't tried them.

Recently I've been playing with the mink oil tallow from TOW. It's a lot more temperature stable and works as well or better. Best of all, it's cheap. Doesn't look like it in the picture but that's a big tin for not much money. Just smear a little on the surface of a patch---- You don't have to saturate it.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu might try running a lubed cleaning patch down the barrel to grease it BEFORE you load the powder and bore. I found that helps in my smoothbores. I have also tried lubing the barrel AFTER I seat the PRB, or the OS Cards on top of a shot load. That feeds lube into the cloth patch around the RB, and protects the shot in such a load from Rubbing against the sides of the bore as the load comes out of the barrel. I found that the bore remains slick even after I wipe out the BP residue- something I was not expecting.

Take a look at Stumpy's recipes in the "Member Resource" section. You can modify these to meet your requirements.

And Check out Dutch Schultz' Website, for his dry lube recipe. Basically, he uses water soluble oil, or now, Ballistol, thinned, by mixing them 4-6 parts water to 1 part oil. You soak the patches or fabric for your patches in the mix, and then dry the fabric in the sun. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, or aluminum foil and just set the fabric strips laid out on the pan, in a sunny window. The Water helps distribute the oil throughout the fabric threads, and then evaporates, creating a " Dry Lube". How much oil is left depends on the ratio of water to oil.

Dutch's website: http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/

I hope all this helps.

 

[tecum-tha]

Usually I shoot Dutch Schultz recipes and dry lubed patches. It works great on my modern steel barrels. This barrel is from approx. 1745 and is rifled. I usually wipe in between shots with moose milk. I guess some crisco mix will be ok as well as the Mink Oil stuff from TOW.
I will have to experiment around a bit....

 

[Tom-ADC]

I like Wonderlube 1000 Plus but all my rifles are modern repo's.

 

[Barney]

BrownBear....thanks for the heads up on the mink oil from TOW. Been hunting for some pure mink oil and that is the cheapest I've seen so far.

 

[BrownBear]

One note-

The online pic and the one in their catalog shows a 6 oz tin. Mine sezz 8 ounces, and it's a whole lot of the stuff, considering the small quantity needed on patches. It's an even better deal than it looks like!

 

[jtmattison]

Beeswax and olive oil in a 60:40 mix oil to wax.

HD

 

[ohio ramrod]

Since they stopped the sale of real sperm whale oil in the late 60's ( Dixie sells a synthetic for $3.50 a pint that I cann't tell from the origional, of which I have a few ounces left for comparison. )I've had good luck with 80% lard (crisco will substitute)And 20 % beeswax for temps above 32 F. And pure lard below 32F.However I personably believe olive oil, castor oil or any vegatable oil will work with the proper amount of beeswax to give you the consistancy you want.

 

[fyrfyter43]

I use Stumpy's moose milk as a dry lube. I mix it up and soak my patching strips in it. Then I lay them out on a piece of waxed paper in my "shop" to dry for a few days.

Worked great Saturday in the snow and temps in the mid-teens.

 

[doublesnider]

I have found that I can replace boreButter for a mix of vaseline+bee wax, fron 40/60 to 60/40 (depending on how hard you like it.
It is a wonder lube (put intended), is cheap and works.
I have tryed olive+beewax but it had bad odor after a year.
JMHO
Martin

 

[catman]

http://www.geocities.com/birddogsix/guns.html

Good patch grease..

 

[flintlock10]

I have been using bore butter for years in my investarms .50. A very good mate asked me about mink oil and I'm curious about that stuff as well.
What is the difference between mink oil that TOW sells and the mink oil that you can buy in any shoe store? Can I use mink oil intended for boots in my .50 bore? Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? :grin:

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have a tin of Kiwi mink oil, I believe purchased at Wal-Mart. It does not list any other ingrediants, just mink oil.
My current lube(s) are a mix of beewax and sperm whale oil (purchased many decades ago and my last) or b'wax and peanut oil. I choose peanut oil because it does not burn except at very high temps, is, IMHO, very slickery and is almost archival in it's resistance to spoilage. (I have stored peanut oil for up to five years without spoilage)

 

[Black Hand]

Since they stopped the sale of real sperm whale oil in the late 60's ( Dixie sells a synthetic for $3.50 a pint that I cann't tell from the origional, of which I have a few ounces left for comparison. )

Jojoba oil - It is very similar to whale oil chemically. I've been wanting to try it, but haven't gone looking for it yet.

 

[rr11]

The mink oil from track melts on a hot day. Do not know the differance Kiwi mink oil does not melt at 90 degrees. I use Tracks mink oil in the fall and wenter. In the summer I use bore butter.

 

[BrownBear]

I have been using bore butter for years in my investarms .50. A very good mate asked me about mink oil and I'm curious about that stuff as well.
What is the difference between mink oil that TOW sells and the mink oil that you can buy in any shoe store? Can I use mink oil intended for boots in my .50 bore? Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? :grin:

In some past threads folks have said that the mink oil for boots has petroleum products in it and some other stuff I don't remember. Haven't tried it myself, but I hear good reports in spite. I have to guess though, that it's about 10 times as expensive as the real stuff from TOW since there's so much in the TOW can and it costs so little compared to the stuff for boots.

I like the thoughts behind peanut oil, and thanks to whoever posted that. I want to give it a try.

But in the couple of years since this old thread was first started, I've garnered a little more experience.

Swampy sent me some of his lube made using deer tallow and bear oil, and maybe something else. Dunno about any extra ingredients, but I do know that it works and for some reason is not as temperature sensitive as my tallow/olive oil blend.

A bear guide buddy just gave me some oil from a decent sized brown bear taken out on the Alaska peninsula, and after deer season closes I'm going to speriment with that. I sent half of it to Swampy for his own speriments since he's the one with the experience. One or both of us will report back sometime in the next few months, I'm sure.

Thanks again Swampy for putting my feet on this path! :hatsoff:

 

[Rifleman1776]

The mink oil from track melts on a hot day. Do not know the differance Kiwi mink oil does not melt at 90 degrees. I use Tracks mink oil in the fall and wenter. In the summer I use bore butter.

I use mine for leather treatment. Have never used as a patch lube.

 

[Greyfeather]

Since they stopped the sale of real sperm whale oil in the late 60's ( Dixie sells a synthetic for $3.50 a pint that I cann't tell from the origional, of which I have a few ounces left for comparison. )

Jojoba oil - It is very similar to whale oil chemically. I've been wanting to try it, but haven't gone looking for it yet.

I use it and consider it my first choice for patch lube.
John

 

[duca]

I use TOTW mink oil with alittle Beeswax. Works pretty good. Also use Ox-Yokes, and Ol' thunder