Lube wars-the summary.

O.K., there. :blah:
Next, conicals. I think the stuff is just stiff enough to make a good conical lube.
how many have made Stumpy's stuff to date?????
Stumpy, Maxi,Daryl.......and so on.
My last batch came out very much looking like "heavy" cream you cook with.
Does NOT taste like it though! :nono: The stuff does wash off with plain hot water very well.
Anyone research the web for prices of Castor oil by the quart, gallon and so on.
Remember guys, I got bees wax on ebay for about $3.60 a pound, far cheaper than ANYWHERE else by a wide margin.

 

Did some "surfing". The cheapest I've found castor oil is 4.99 for 16 oz. That would easily make over a pound of Stumpy's Moose Snot. It was from a "health food" supplier so it's likely very good quality.
Now we can easily get the price BELOW a tube of Bore Butter and have a superior product to boot.
Speaking of boots the stuff makes a great leather treatment too. ::

 

That's about the same price as what SIG sells, I'd imagine. SIG is an RC airplane fuel manufacturer and blender. The price in the States is probably a lot lower than what we get strapped for it, up here. Castor Oil is an excellent high-heat, high film-strength, rust preventative lubricant.
: To date, there is no synthetic lube that will match the properties of Castor Oil.
: Being vegetable instead of mineral, it should be much better as a BP lube, mixed as recommended. I know the lube I mixed up certainly appears and feels as if it will work better than any comercial stuff. I've yet to see a really good cold weather comercial lube. Besides, I'd rather mix my own so I know it will work.

 

I had such good luck shooting the flinter .40 Bucks I decided to try the conicals and Stumpy's Lube.
I grabbed the Renegade .58, some solid base minies, and charged with 100 grains of 1.5 Swiss. Big mistake. Had nothing to do with the lube.
I forgot those solid minies weighed over 600 grains. :curse:
I got off all of six shots before I quite due to PAIN.
Those suckers clocked about 1330 fps and kicked like a mule.
I'll try the Stumpy's lube on something a little more civilized! :cry:

 

[Stumpkiller]

The best price I've found on Castor Oil is $18.22/gallon from Cedarvale http://www.bulkoils.net/carrieroils/castor.htm but I haven't purchased it there yet. So far I've been using 4 oz bottles from CVS ($4.19, or $3.89 with their card). I have learned that not all castor is the same. Each batch of seeds gets two 'squeezings'. First squeeze is clear and is the pharmaceutical/ internal use kind. Second squeezing is amber or yellow in color and of lesser value - used in lubericants, soaps, etc. It would seem either would work as a m/l lube???

Beeswax I get from www.beeswaxfrombeekeepers.com for $18.00/3# shipped. This is top quality wax.

 

[blackpowder shooter]

A club member that is into blackpowder cartridge gave me his lube recipe for shooting conicals. HE mixes 4 onces of extra virgin olive oil to 1 pound of bees wax. He instructed he to put the lube melted in a cake tin to the hieght of the lube lands on th bullet. Put the bullets in the lube and allow lube mixture to harden, then cut the bullet out. Have not got around to trying yet, put sounds like it should work.

 

b/p shooter:
that IS a great lube. I've used it for bullets in the past. Stumpy's castor oil would work in place of the olive oil also.
By all means make some. It's easy Just be advice don't you your good cooking pots to melt the stuff as the beeswax is a bear to get out of a pot! Use a tin can or conatiner you will use only for lube.

 

[cayugad]

I made some of the lube and I must have done something wrong. It is far to liquid state to ever attach to a conical. It does have a nice slippery nature to it. I thought I would remelt it and add more bees wax to it. I need to go back and see if I was using the right reciepe...

 

I'm thinking I might be adding a half ounce or so MORE beeswax than Stumpy does, but the texture of mine is very similar to what he sent me. mine sticke to a bullet very well indeed.
4oz. castor oil, 2oz. beeswax, 2 tablespoons Murphy's.

 

[cayugad]

I used Stumpkiller's finals solution when I made mine:

Here's the latest, most goodest formulation:

2 oz. Beeswax (4 tablespoons)
8 oz. Castor oil (16 tablespoons)
1 oz Murphy's Oil Soap (2 tablespoons)

Through various batches I have arrived at the following proceedure for the best results.

I see that your mix is a little different:

4oz. castor oil, 2oz. beeswax, 2 tablespoons Murphy's.

This might account for the rather liquid state of mine. Altough I reheated it and added a little more bees wax and last time I looked it is setting up real nice. It is very slippery if that is a plus. I am going to give it a try once my new .54 caliber Renegade gets here with some R.E.A.L. conicals I have all planned out for it... ::


an added note, I found my castor oil in small 4 ounce bottles at Wal-Mart. The woman who helped me find it was curious at best when she noticed I wanted four bottles. She said a little goes a long way, and I only smiled and told her I knew that.... :winking:

 

[Stumpkiller]

That's the stuff.

8 oz. Castor oil (16 tablespoons)
2 oz. Beeswax (4 tablespoons)
1 oz Murphy's Oil Soap (2 tablespoons)

One trick that I've found is to add a teaspoon of Murphy's oil soap just after everything has melted and just before pouring and stir it in rapidly. It froths up the mix and gives it a really nice, even consistancy (kind of wood-putty stiff).

If you want a liquid lube/solvent I have this mix:

3 oz. Castor oil
1 oz. Murphy's Oil Soap
4 oz. Witch Hazel
8 oz. Isporopyl Alcohol
16 oz. Water

This is my spin on the generic Moose Milk solvent.

 

formula for lubesizers ( it

 

Another one that works very well for all slugs with BP is 60% Beeswax, 40% neetsfoot oil. That[s all that's needed. Changing vaseline for neetsfoot oil works just fine as well.
: I used the vas/beeswax lube on some 200gr. REAL bullets in my flinter and bored a 1" hole for 5 shots at 50yds with it. I was able to load a tightly patched ball right after this without having to do any sort of swabbing or cleaning of the barrel. To me, this is a real test for a ML lube, being able to load a patched ball without loss in accuracy, AFTER shooting slugs. That shows the bullets lube is keeping the fouling soft so it's easily shoved down with the ball. It also worked with the 180gr. ball-ets I had, with their factory white lube. I was shooting 80gr. 3G GOEX with both ball and slug & all went into the same group at 50yds., but opened to 1 1/2" due to slight verticle stringing with such diverse projectile weights, 134gr. to 200gr.

 

[RussB]

Folks I have to go with Jim Webber on his lube. But, just for "grins & giggles", I did make up a batch of Moose Snot.
I am very anxious to give it a try.

Lube receipes are many and varied. Most are TOP SECRET stuff, with the use of everything from the estrogen of the female flea to bat dung, and a strong sprinkling of "old wives tales" added for flavoring. Some of these are very good, some are not so very good, and others "stink". It's still all good clean fun, and adds yet another dimension to our wonderful sport......one of those things that ya'jes gotta try fer yerself.

I have used Jim's receipe for about three years now, and it's a darn good one. Much, much better than most. I also use FWFL, or a modification thereof, for the vast majority of my cast bullet shooting, using smokeless.

I guess that I, most likely, spend as much time on the range as anybody here. I am retired, and trying like Hell to play catch up for all the time I missed while slaving my butt off over the years. Now, having said that, let me say I probably average shooting about 1-1/2 pound or so of Black Powder every week, weather permitting. In doing this I have established a few thoughts on what a good lube should be. So far, I have found NONE that are perfect. I have found that the addition of Anhydrous Lanolin to just about any lube receipe will improve it's qualities,....greatly.
Just my thoughts on lube, FWIW
Respectfully, Russ

 

[doverdog]

As far as prices for castor oil goes, have you checked Wal-Mart? I was going to buy some there the other day but they were out at the moment. The price on the empty shelf was $1.97 for 4 oz., noticeably cheaper than the $4+ at CVS.

 

[cayugad]

I was at Wal Mart today and talked to the lady in the pharmacy department and she said if I wanted they would try and find me castor oil in larger bottles which she thinks they could get a better price on. I told her I did not want to put them to any bother but if they got some in the bigger bottles I would sure be interested. I know she is wondering what on earth I would use that much for. I was in last week and purchased some of the castor oil. I figured since I was in that area today I would pick up a little more... Never know when I might need some Moose Snot.. ::

 

I shot my .44 Pietta today to chrono some light 777 loads and used STUMPKILLERS MOOSE SNOT over the ball. I swear that stuff is responsible for cleaning up the gun so well, quick and easy.
Gawd, I LOVE this sight 'cause you can talk about so many different things INCLUDING lube! ::

 

[Rebel]

Lube, Lube, Lube, is that all ya can talk about. Why can't we talk about something new like LUUUBBBEEE. ::

 

Have any of you fellers got any experience with lubes for BP shooting with paper patch bullets in a breechloader? I have tried several things in my 45-70 Sharps and have not found a good lube that will keep the fouling soft in hot dry weather. I have to shoot, push a patch or two through and then shoot again - would be nice to shoot at least 5 to 10 in a row...

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

There you go Stumpy - a whole new market for yer experimntashun just opened up :: You know what they say... build a better Moose Snot and the world will slip on your door step!