Patch lube for round ball shooting..........Lawdy.

[oldwood]

Been using Bore Butter and it's similar lubes for 20 + yrs.. Trick is put grease on the patch , and clean all excess grease off the cloth with finger , and load her up. Another benefit in using bore butters , if your preference in rifles , is open grease/ patch holes in the side of the butt stock , the butter lubes allow you to store prelubed patches ready for loading . Just stick a stack of prelubes in the hole , and go shooting.

 

[Coinneach]

At 100 yards off a bench with a BP muzzleloader? I'd have to see that to believe it. Thats some unbelieveable shooting, the stuff storied legends are made of.
I don't believe even Boone or Crockett could shoot that good.
Thats hard to do for an expert rifleman with an iron sight M14 match grade rifle.
Just goin from what I've seen and done from experience over the years at NRA high powered matches.

That small a group out to 100 metres (Australian Army) wasn't uncommon with trained marksman using our SLR (FN) 7.62mm Infantry Rifle back in the 70's.

 

[Pvt.Hardtack]

That small a group out to 100 metres (Australian Army) wasn't uncommon with trained marksman using our SLR (FN) 7.62mm Infantry Rifle back in the 70's.

If the FAs were that accurate with just iron sights, why didn't anyone use them in NRA High power rifle matches?
I use to participate in those matches in the 1990a and early 2000s. Only M14/M1As, some M1 Garands and a bunch of ARs were used, all match level rifles.
I've owned a few top shelf FN-FALs and none were even close to the rifles I mentioned previously as far as accuracy.

I'd still like to see someone group 9 and 10 ring that tight with a BP muzzeloader at 100 yards. I'm not talking about a benchrest rifle either, just a standard BP roundball muzzeloader.

 

[springfield art]

Been a long time since I shot patch and RB, and actually, that's all I really wanted to shoot. However, after owning a few TC ML rifles that did not play well with RB, I took the route of conical bullets. They have served me well overall. Took a lot of critters with them. But my heart is in shooting RB.

With that said, and before anyone makes the comment of "whatever your rifle likes best" or something along those lines, I am well aware of how some rifles prefer different recipes. What I am looking for is an overall patch lube, or a good starting point, if you will. The only lube I have ever used, to the best of my memory, was either Bore Butter or whatever some commercial patches were lubed with.

Reason for inquiring on this is simple. From my research I have found about a million different patch lubes that people swear by. From homemade to commercial. Its enough to make anyone's head spin. And yes, I have been taking notes.

Accuracy aside, there are other reasons why so many claim they like this or that lube better. Many swear some lubes will dirty up the barrels more than others. Yet many will say just the opposite. Some claim weather conditions is a factor. Some do not using spit due to it putting moisture down the barrel. Some use a wad on top of the powder due to concerns of the lube soaking into the powder. There are other reasons people site.

Moving along, I will certainly make my own patch lube if I know of a good starting point. If there's a commercial lube that is pretty darn good in many aspects, as well as many people have had good results with, then so be it.

Just looking for a general consensus on an overall good patch lube that has served many well in the past.

Oh, one last thing to note. I will be shooting a Crocket Squirrel rifle and a .54 Lyman Great Plains rifle.

Thank you.

.54 Lyman GPR's rock! Everybody seems to love them when they have them. I've claimed the actual 19th Century guys would have loved them, too!

 

[SgtMaj65]

Tried a lot of lubes and found TOTW mink oil best. It’s most consistent, and gives me the best accuracy with PRBs in my .50 Renegade and .50 GPR.

 

[Coinneach]

If the FAs were that accurate with just iron sights, why didn't anyone use them in NRA High power rifle matches?
I use to participate in those matches in the 1990a and early 2000s. Only M14/M1As, some M1 Garands and a bunch of ARs were used, all match level rifles.
I've owned a few top shelf FN-FALs and none were even close to the rifles I mentioned previously as far as accuracy.

I'd still like to see someone group 9 and 10 ring that tight with a BP muzzeloader at 100 yards. I'm not talking about a benchrest rifle either, just a standard BP roundball muzzeloader.

"If the FAs were that accurate with just iron sights, why didn't anyone use them in NRA High power rifle matches?"

Do you mean FN's (Fabrique Nationale) because thats what they were called in Aussie land the SLR 7.62mm (Self Loading Rifle).

I have no idea why your guys in the NRA didnt use them, but our service rifle matches had them, and our Army were well practised using them with great effect out to 300-400 metres on figure 11 (man silhouette targets).

To qualify for admission on the RAinf Sniper, course a Soldier had to prove his marksmanship ability with a reasonable consistency of hitting a Figure 13 target between 500 and 600 metres inclusive with the SLR.
Up until I retired in 2007, Marksmanship was an ongoing "trade skill" that had to be maintained by all our Combat Arms Corps, I'm confident that hasnt changed since then.

 

[mtfishn]

At 100 yards off a bench with a BP muzzleloader? I'd have to see that to believe it. Thats some unbelieveable shooting, the stuff storied legends are made of.
I don't believe even Boone or Crockett could shoot that good.
Thats hard to do for an expert rifleman with an iron sight M14 match grade rifle.
Just goin from what I've seen and done from experience over the years at NRA high powered matches.

This is the target in question. I remeasured it at ....2.4" on the last 4 shots, center to center. The whole point is not the group, just that I got improvement going from what I had always used...spit...to something new ..moose milk. In this case it helped. I'm not always this lucky. The front sight on this barrel covered about 8" at this distance and I had to hold the left edge of the front sight below the 3 o'clock position on the bull to account for wind.

 

[IanH]

At 100 yards off a bench with a BP muzzleloader? I'd have to see that to believe it. Thats some unbelieveable shooting, the stuff storied legends are made of.
I don't believe even Boone or Crockett could shoot that good.
Thats hard to do for an expert rifleman with an iron sight M14 match grade rifle.
Just goin from what I've seen and done from experience over the years at NRA high powered matches.

I only ever shot this rifle at 100 yards once, just to see what it would do. Three shots at the 3" pasty, peek through a spotting scope, one shot at the top center of the paper to confirm necessary elevation correction (single hole level with and left of bull). Three shots doesn't mean much but now you have me wanting to put up a clearer target and spend some time shooting more careful, longer strings to see what this rifle and shooter can REALLY accomplish.

Kibler SMR .45, .445" cast round ball (roof jack lead), .018" cotton ticking, 2:1:1 water, PAG 100, Maxima 927. No wiping between shots, ever.

 

[Bunk]

View attachment 255170
This is the target in question. I remeasured it at ....2.4" on the last 4 shots, center to center. The whole point is not the group, just that I got improvement going from what I had always used...spit...to something new ..moose milk. In this case it helped. I'm not always this lucky. The front sight on this barrel covered about 8" at this distance and I had to hold the left edge of the front sight below the 3 o'clock position on the bull to account for wind.

At my advanced age I am doing good to just see the target at 100 yards.
I date back to corrosive percussion caps and DuPont powder in the oval can with the small brass screw in cap.
But still shooting
Bunk

 

[mtfishn]

I only ever shot this rifle at 100 yards once, just to see what it would do. Three shots at the 3" pasty, peek through a spotting scope, one shot at the top center of the paper to confirm necessary elevation correction (single hole level with and left of bull). Three shots doesn't mean much but now you have me wanting to put up a clearer target and spend some time shooting more careful, longer strings to see what this rifle and shooter can REALLY accomplish.

Kibler SMR .45, .445" cast round ball (roof jack lead), .018" cotton ticking, 2:1:1 water, PAG 100, Maxima 927. No wiping between shots, ever.

View attachment 255175

You definetely got this one figured out! Good shooting!