Crisco over the chambers, pros and cons

[Stantheman86]

I figured , after shooting with nothing over the chambers all summer, I'd give this old tub of Crisco I found in my garage another shot

Mastering the right amount of "finger dab" takes a little practice. It's sloppy and it gets all over the gun. Plus , luckily I wore "range pants " for constantly wiping my hands off on.

30 grain charges in both of these guns, they kept going through 5 cylinders each with the Crisco but still got a little gummy. It did keep the fouling softer. The bore was way easier to clean after shooting too.

As a plus it gets all over the inside of holsters and will condition them as you reholster the guns.

I honestly don't know if it's not just simply easier to take a break after 3 or 4 cylinders of "dry chamber" shooting and take a minute to break the guns down and wipe the cylinder face , forcing cone and arbor with a baby wipe. Then relube the arbor.

I have used Tallow before and it's easier to work with, but I only use it with Walkers and Dragoons that foul up quicker

 

[Pete453]

Not a fan of crisco, I prefer a lubed wad under the ball or bullet, but your 44 Navy is sweet! I would love to have one in a London model with steel grip frame and trigger guard. How does yours perform?

 

[J dirt]

Crisco alone works alright. I much prefer crisco and beeswax mixed at about 50/50 ratio.

That produces a lube that stays in place in warm weather. This mixture remains in the chambers until firing sequence is complete and keeps fouling soft.

Lube over the balls is the preferred method employed by top shooters for a reason.

 

[Flint Striker]

I don’t like crisco because it’s too runny on its own with any kind of warm or hot weather. It’s cheap and comes in a huge can, so maybe that’s a pro. The ingredients list citric acid, so that’s probably not great to put in contact with your gun though.

https://crisco.com/product/all-vegetable-shortening/

 

[Stantheman86]

Not a fan of crisco, I prefer a lubed wad under the ball or bullet, but your 44 Navy is sweet! I would love to have one in a London model with steel grip frame and trigger guard. How does yours perform?

Thank You

I love the .44 Navy "fantasy guns", I've owned several of them , both steel and brass framed.

This one is super accurate, along with the new Dance Brothers. Pietta is doing something right because every new Pietta I've gotten shoots like a laser

 

[Stantheman86]

I don’t like crisco because it’s too runny on its own with any kind of warm or hot weather. It’s cheap and comes in a huge can, so maybe that’s a pro. The ingredients list citric acid, so that’s probably not great to put in contact with your gun though.

https://crisco.com/product/all-vegetable-shortening/

I think Wonderlube is basically vegetable shortening and beeswax

Crisco seems safe to me, it has never appeared to damage any bluing

 

[deermanok]

My wife was going to toss a half can of Crisco because it expired.
I saved it from the trash can and have been using it for a patch lube.
Seems to work OK.

 

[Eutycus]

But do add the bee's wax. Crisco gets "gooey" by itself in the hot weather. But we are headed into some cooler months.

 

[cynthialee]

I used Wonder Lube until I ran out. Sometimes I use Dixie Mini-Maxi lube but that stuff is nasty.
Lately I been using Bag Balm because I couldn't find my Dixie Lube. (found it the other day right where it was supposed to be...behind something else) Sure it is a petroleum jelly base, but that hasn't proven to be an issue. I tend to only fire a single cylinder of rounds, then clean up and reload the pistol. The lanolin in the Bag Balm is good stuff for my hands. I just rub the excess.

As for that Crisco. Works great in the Fall and Winter but once it heats up...goopy mess. A couple of shots in and the Crisco in the unfired chambers has been melted and blasted into all parts of the pistol. I know I tried it a few times. Screw that noise.

 

[Flint Striker]

I think Wonderlube is basically vegetable shortening and beeswax

Crisco seems safe to me, it has never appeared to damage any bluing

I used it on a couple percussion revolvers and it was ok, but very runny and messy in 80 degree heat. With bore butter, I’d sometimes find “wads” of it intact down range after shooting. Crisco would almost liquify just in sealing the chambers. I didn’t realize at the time that crisco had anything acidic in it, but by just good luck I also removed all of it during cleaning.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I use a plastic knife as given out at fast food restaurants to apply lube and keep my fingers clean.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Crisco is about the wustest stuff possible for lube, C&B or ball patch. Too hard in cold weather, gooey mess in hot and does a poor job of lubeing. I have tried a bunch of different lubes. Chicken fat might be the only thing worse than crisco.

 

[Eutycus]

Down here they sell alot of Puro Monteca (pure lard). You can even get the unsalted. How would that work?

 

[Eutycus]

It seems a 3-way mix of Crisco, Lard, and Beeswax would work pretty good.

 

[Horse]

Tried it once many years ago, an unnessary and messy step. It does fry up chicken ok.

 

[Stantheman86]

I used Wonder Lube until I ran out. Sometimes I use Dixie Mini-Maxi lube but that stuff is nasty.
Lately I been using Bag Balm because I couldn't find my Dixie Lube. (found it the other day right where it was supposed to be...behind something else) Sure it is a petroleum jelly base, but that hasn't proven to be an issue. I tend to only fire a single cylinder of rounds, then clean up and reload the pistol. The lanolin in the Bag Balm is good stuff for my hands. I just rub the excess.

As for that Crisco. Works great in the Fall and Winter but once it heats up...goopy mess. A couple of shots in and the Crisco in the unfired chambers has been melted and blasted into all parts of the pistol. I know I tried it a few times. Screw that noise.

The beef tallow I get from Ebay soap maker's supply places is really good, it stays solid in the heat and really keeps the fouling soft . I don't really shoot more than 4 or 5 cylinders anyway , before it's time to take a break, clean the gun out, hang new targets, drink some coffee etc. I'm not standing there loading 20 cylinders in a row or anything

There is better stuff but I'm not dropping $10-15 for a can of Minuteman Lube that won't even last 100 rounds, the Tallow is about 20 bucks for a gallon container

I'm not a fan of lubed wads mainly because I had a bad experience in a Lyman Plain Pistol where a lubed wad was compressed and ruined the powder charge.

 

[Stantheman86]

It seems a 3-way mix of Crisco, Lard, and Beeswax would work pretty good.

I've wanted to try lard, just to try it .

 

[Stantheman86]

Down here they sell alot of Puro Monteca (pure lard). You can even get the unsalted. How would that work?

It's Historically Correct for the 1830s and 40s, because the US Mounted Rangers used Pork lard from their rations over the ball or Pickett bullet to keep fouling down from those big, dirty 60 grain charges so they could reload the gun for a 2nd time. I don't imagine they were putting it on in combat but probably over the first loading done in camp

 

[Stantheman86]

I used it on a couple percussion revolvers and it was ok, but very runny and messy in 80 degree heat. With bore butter, I’d sometimes find “wads” of it intact down range after shooting. Crisco would almost liquify just in sealing the chambers. I didn’t realize at the time that crisco had anything acidic in it, but by just good luck I also removed all of it during cleaning.

I don't think it hurts metal or bluing, people used to smear Wonder Lube all over their T/C Hawkens back in the 90s and "season " the bore with it, plus all the Skirmish shooters who dabbed the bases of Minies with Crisco back in the day and probably got it all over original rifles

 

[Flint Striker]

The beef tallow I get from Ebay soap maker's supply places is really good, it stays solid in the heat and really keeps the fouling soft . I don't really shoot more than 4 or 5 cylinders anyway , before it's time to take a break, clean the gun out, hang new targets, drink some coffee etc. I'm not standing there loading 20 cylinders in a row or anything

There is better stuff but I'm not dropping $10-15 for a can of Minuteman Lube that won't even last 100 rounds, the Tallow is about 20 bucks for a gallon container

I'm not a fan of lubed wads mainly because I had a bad experience in a Lyman Plain Pistol where a lubed wad was compressed and ruined the powder charge.

Just from observing how beef fat behaves on my cast iron skillets, I think beef tallow would be a good component in a black powder lube. It’s sticky (persistent), hard to remove even with fairly hot water, and goes solid at room temp. It’s not very flexible, so I think a mix with beeswax might be good. But it’s protective on my skillets, so it should be protective on a muzzleloader too.