Hey guys I just bought my first muzzleloader from a guy who shot it and told me what worked good in it. So I'm shooting a t/c hawken .50 cal. It shoots maxi balls really good out to 100 yards. The only thing is the guy was old school and greased his only bullets with bullet lube. I'm thinking about making my own lube and pan lubing them. I'm thinking bee wax and Olive oil. Seems to be a general consensus that it works good. Anyone else have a homemade brew they use that works good?
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Maxi ball lube
- Thread starter MT_mulies
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bubba.50
Barefoot Hillbilly
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can't get much more basic than that. just play with the ratio of one over the other 'til ya get the stiffness or lack thereof that suits yer needs & environment. heavier on the wax in warm climes & heavier on the oil in cooler times.
heavy on the oil to a thick liquid consistency and it'll work good for roundballs too.
luck & have a good'en, bubba. (and welcome aboard)
heavy on the oil to a thick liquid consistency and it'll work good for roundballs too.
luck & have a good'en, bubba. (and welcome aboard)
Find out exactly what the 'oldschool guy' was the using for a lube and how he was applying it. If it truly works you have your start point and reference you can always come back to. If you really want to shoot maxis and have a proven formula why would you change it?
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Whatever recipe you settle on, get yourself some felt wads or "bore buttons" and use the same on them. In my experience almost every gun shoots even better with one of those seated between the powder and Maxi.... Or any other conical for that matter.
Patocazador
54 Cal.
Any oil/fat with beeswax to the right consistency will work fine. I use unsalted lard and beeswax.
I agree with BrownBear on the felt wads.
I agree with BrownBear on the felt wads.
Try a 1:1 ratio of olive oil and beeswax for the maxi-balls. I prefer a 2:1 ratio for round ball lube, but I'm not trying to keep the grease in a groove on a conical bullet, eh?
LD
LD
Billnpatti
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Start with bees wax as your base ingredient. It makes the lube thick enough to stick to your Maxi balls. Thin it with any animal fat or oil or any vegetable oil. Olive oil is very popular as is Crisco and both are inexpensive. Just do not use any petroleum based oils. There are a ga-jillion recipes for lubes and most are very good. Just do a bit of experimentation with the ratios of bees wax to oil/fat to find what works best for you. The more bees wax in your formula, the thicker the lube will be.
To make your lube, place your bees wax into a can and set it in a pan of water. Heat the water until the wax melts. Then add your oil of choice and stir well. I like to stir in about a tablespoon of Murphy's Oil Soap as the mixture cools. Whip it into the mixture until it is cool. The Murphy's will help with the fouling and it makes the lube nice and creamy. It's not essential, just something that I do and I have found it to be beneficial. Good luck! :thumbsup:
To make your lube, place your bees wax into a can and set it in a pan of water. Heat the water until the wax melts. Then add your oil of choice and stir well. I like to stir in about a tablespoon of Murphy's Oil Soap as the mixture cools. Whip it into the mixture until it is cool. The Murphy's will help with the fouling and it makes the lube nice and creamy. It's not essential, just something that I do and I have found it to be beneficial. Good luck! :thumbsup:
rodwha
58 Cal.
I use Gatofeo's #1 lube for my Lee REALs, pistol conicals, and felt wads. I have been told that it's equally good with patches.
By weight it is:
1 part mutton tallow
1 part paraffin wax
1/2 part beeswax
Gatofeo found this recipe in a very old gun magazine. This was a lube used on the old outside lubricated bullets of long ago. He claimed that this worked the best out of everything else he had tried including different tallows in place of mutton. I wouldn't be surprised if his environment played a part in that though.
By weight it is:
1 part mutton tallow
1 part paraffin wax
1/2 part beeswax
Gatofeo found this recipe in a very old gun magazine. This was a lube used on the old outside lubricated bullets of long ago. He claimed that this worked the best out of everything else he had tried including different tallows in place of mutton. I wouldn't be surprised if his environment played a part in that though.
bubba.50
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go shoot yerself a large 'possum, skin it, boil it in a large pot. then when it cools skim off the approximately 5 gallons of grease & you can keep yerself & several buddies in patch lube for the rest of yer lives. :thumbsup:
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I substituted unsalted lard for the lamb fat in the recipe and it has worked fine to lube wads for my revolvers. I've also used it for patch lube. I would guess lamb fat is better, but at the time it was hard to come by locally and was expensive to order. Did I say, I'm cheap.
So it seems muzzleloaders are pretty forgiving when it comes to a lube to use. I will try the felt buttons when I go somewhere that has them for sale. I live in a town of 1500 people and muzzleloading isn't that big here haha. Where do you guys normal buy off line? I've found track the wolf, amazon, cheaper than dirt and then just about any outdoor store has muzzleloading stuff. But is there a cheap site to buy accessories?
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MT_mulies said:
Usually "cheap" means you end up buying it twice....Many people make their own accessories.
rodwha
58 Cal.
For wads many of us punch our own. Durofelt.com has felt at a reasonable price, and our very own Ohio ramrod, who is a retired machinist, makes some accessories such as punches at a very reasonable price.
So far I have had him make me two wad punches, a short starter from a piece of antler that I had him also drill a shallow 1/2" hole to work as a palm saver, and a range rod with a screw in T handle.
I also cast my own projectiles to use that homemade lube with and cut my own patches.
So far I have had him make me two wad punches, a short starter from a piece of antler that I had him also drill a shallow 1/2" hole to work as a palm saver, and a range rod with a screw in T handle.
I also cast my own projectiles to use that homemade lube with and cut my own patches.
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Durofelt is good stuff and I have ordered and used their felt. I also made some wads from pure wool material my wife bought for a project. She had washed it, causing it to shrink tight for her project. She had a bunch of small pieces trimmed from the project an I punched them out to make wads. The pieces were between 1/16"-1/8" in thickness.
In the case of a 50 cal, I would find a piece of tubing or pipe with a 1/2" inside diameter and sharpen the outside edge to create cheap punch. At least that would be a start to try making some wads.
In the case of a 50 cal, I would find a piece of tubing or pipe with a 1/2" inside diameter and sharpen the outside edge to create cheap punch. At least that would be a start to try making some wads.
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Beeswax and olive oil is what I use.. But I don't lube them until I'm going to shoot them..
Pre-lubing lots if bullets or patches in advance is a good way to get "burned"
Lube can dry, crack, fall off, get dirty, corrode or rot fabric if left for extended periods of time.
I've also seen lube so hard that it was all still attached to the bullet after recovery in the target.
BrownBear said:
What a timely reminder, BB.
Bought a TC White Mountain carbine locally very cheap off of Armslist last week (under a C note :thumbsup: ) as expected, it definitely needed some attention, but is up and running well now.
Tried some patched rb yesterday and it was satisfactory.
Heading outback to the range right now with some of my own cast Maxis. Gonna try with and without the wads. Use mink oil on all conicals, BTW.
Axious to see the difference.
Good day, all.
