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

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ETipp said:
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.
Click to expand...
Honestly the best patch lube I ever used was Mr Flintlocks, but it's so hard to find
 
LSB said:
Muzzleloading deer season in South Dakota is the month of December. One word pretty much describes South Dakota in December-COLD. Therefore for hunting in December I use mink oil that I get from TOW as a patch lube. I know that mink oil doesn't freeze while I have read that many of the other patch lubes will freeze solid in the barrel when it is extremely cold. I cannot prove this but I have read it enough to believe it. Since I often don't unload my rifle for several days at a time during deer season, I use a felt wad between the patch and the powder. This gives me piece of mind that the mink oil cannot contaminate the powder charge. Just what works for me.
Click to expand...
Does TOTW sell mink oil or the mink oil paste?
 
flntlokr said:
Pretty much the only reason I can come up with for adding bees wax is that it makes the lube 'stiffer' in hot weather. I gave up on all forms of greasy patch many years ago, except for hunting. Soapy wet, or spit works well and gives you a clean bore for every shot.
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Newbie asking what keeps soapy wet or spit from affecting the powder? Do you use a wad or something?
 
I too have pondered this for a long while. The advantage of a spit or h20 based lube is that it helps clean the fouling as you load and push the ball down. This is great at the range when you are shooting within minutes of loading. But when hunting, and leaving the patched ball in place for an entire day, then it is possible that it will dry out, so maybe not shoot exactly the same as if it was still damp. Thus the oiled patch for hunting, but then all the issues of h20 solubility that you mention come into play. The big R question, RUST, comes down to how much your local climate can tolerate water in the bore before it becomes a major problem, and how often one swabs it dry.
 
Pilgrim said:
Does TOTW sell mink oil or the mink oil paste?
Click to expand...
It’s paste, but few oils stay animal oils stay oil at room temp. Bear oil and sperm oil do.
However oils are hard to carry in a HC way. Oil bottles were corked or plugged. Screw on lids were rare. Bottles always fall over and leak.
I buy mink oil from Track. But only for the nerd factor as I can’t say it works better then plain lard, that I use a lot.
I THINK bore butter gets a bad rap because it turns brown when exposed to air. Folks clean and then give a wipe of bore butter. A few weeks later wipe their guns and get a brown patch.
Well that must be rust they think and then bore butter rust your guns. I don’t THINK it does, but a brown patch is unnerving.
But lard and mink oil do too ( shudders)
A paste can be carried in a small tin and works great.
The late Dutch Schultz found his best shooting with a oiled patch so light it was ‘dry’
I’ve not found that useable my self, but on his worse day he could outshoot me I’m thinking.
I THINK we try to over think lubs.
JMHO
 

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