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

[Bassdog1]

There are so many people using so many different things to lube I found myself confused when I got back into roundball shooting. I finally decided to get a liquid lube (Hoppes BP Lube) and a paste style (TOW Mink Oil) and got to shooting. I have tried Dutch's dry patch also with good results. I guess my thought process keeps wondering why the need for all of the different concoctions some of which are way more complicated than need be. I would bet that Mr. Flintlocks is also a good premade lube that can be easily purchased and allow more time to shoot and enjoy your gun.

 

[longcruise]

I guess my thought process keeps wondering why the need for all of the different concoctions some of which are way more complicated than need be

Yes, for sure! Not unusual for a patch lube thread to run on for six pages. Many seem to think that there is a magic lube that will be more accurate or solve any of a number of problems that usually have nothing to do with lube!

 

[Ed C.]

My 2 cents. Still trying to settle on something so I did a little experimenting today. At 50 yards, shooting 53 grains I did best using a 6:1 ballistol .015 wet patch with a touch of dawn and swabbing every other shot. The same thing with dry 1/8" felt over the powder wad also worked well. Without swabbing, loading remained easy but accuracy deteriorated. The store bought ox yoke wonder lubed patches were not as accurate and fouled the most.

 

[Mad L]

I've used this and that and mixed various recipes of Moose Milk....

I finally tried TOW's Mink Oil and found it the best, easiest to get, but then I tried Bear Oil and was even more impressed and now it is my favorite and go to. But I don't mix my Bear Oil and it does begin to solidify below 35 degrees.
But then I found Shenandoah Valley lube/cleaner. Good for wet patches but dried too fast for pre-lubing - However, following their instructions of "swabbing with a saturated patch at the end of the day" really did help in clean up when I get home (supposed to keep fouling soft until you get to it). So now, at the range, I usually shoot with either Bear Oil or Mink Oil but make my last couple shots with Shenandoah then swab out, load up, head for home.

There is still a couple others such as Mr Flintlock's I would like to try one day, but I still have two cans of Mink Oil, 8oz of Bear Oil, and two bottles of Shenandoah Valley on the shelf.

There ya go, you asked for "Best Overall" and I just gave it to ya!

Enjoy, keep your fire Bright and your flint Sharp!

 

[Carl.allen934]

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.

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.

I use white lithium grease I used to use the bore butter but it makes your gun inaccurate because it coats your rifling with wax. Back in the 70s i started shooting BP rifle cva sold a patch grease I used it and could shoot 100 yards off hand and hit clay birds set on the back stop every shot then I couldn't find it any more so I recently got on line to see if anyone knew what it was I found out it was white lithium grease so I bought a tub of it from my ACE hardware store and tryed it in my TC hawken 50 cal with a cotton 15 thousandths patch and a 490 round ball now off hand at 50 yards I'm in the 10 ring. Don't use bore butter to coat your barrel when your done use ballistol much better. I clean my bore with windshield wiper fluid cleans up great. I also use 90 gr of swiss 3f for my charge. I don't buy patches I use 100% cotton cloth I buy from my local fabric shop the lady there knows exactly what I want when I go in there. Try it you'll like your results.

 

[Carl.allen934]

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.

Oh yeah forgot to mention I use rubbing alcohol to swab between shots

 

[tjiann]

Man, this thread is a rabbit hole. One I'm enjoying. I'm going to give the Murphy's oil soap a try.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Man, this thread is a rabbit hole. One I'm enjoying. I'm going to give the Murphy's oil soap a try.

Yep, it wasn't as complicated back-in-the-day when there wasn't so much to choose from.

I'm happy with 60/40 cheap olive oil and beeswax. 50/50 IF the temp is going above 90°F and 75/25 if the temp is below 40°F
It works for chapstick or anyplace exposed to frigid wind, and helps to make leather water resistant, as well as protecting some metal surfaces.

LD

 

[ETipp]

I use white lithium grease I used to use the bore butter but it makes your gun inaccurate because it coats your rifling with wax. Back in the 70s i started shooting BP rifle cva sold a patch grease I used it and could shoot 100 yards off hand and hit clay birds set on the back stop every shot then I couldn't find it any more so I recently got on line to see if anyone knew what it was I found out it was white lithium grease so I bought a tub of it from my ACE hardware store and tryed it in my TC hawken 50 cal with a cotton 15 thousandths patch and a 490 round ball now off hand at 50 yards I'm in the 10 ring. Don't use bore butter to coat your barrel when your done use ballistol much better. I clean my bore with windshield wiper fluid cleans up great. I also use 90 gr of swiss 3f for my charge. I don't buy patches I use 100% cotton cloth I buy from my local fabric shop the lady there knows exactly what I want when I go in there. Try it you'll like your results.

I only tried Bore Butter as a patch lube first because I have some left over from years past. Hope to get after it again this morning and try a couple of other things for lube I have on hand. One of which is Crisco. I also have Go Jo, Petroleum jelly and white grease. I want to keep this as simple as possible and still get good results for target and hunting loads.

In one sense, the subject of patch lube reminds me of catfish bait. So many swear by different concoctions. However, I keep it simple, use live bait fish and most always do quite well. With that said, I have no doubts whatsoever that certain patch and lubes can and has made the difference out of a lot of ML.

After I am finished cleaning my ML, now that I live in the southeast, I oil the heck of the the bore. Just takes 2-3 dry cleaning patches to remove it, followed by snapping a cap before loading. Sometimes I shoot some air from my air compressor through the flash hole if I think some oil may be trapped in there.

 

[smokepolehall]

I have a tube of the T/C bore butter. I need to try it as something to see if it works at anything other than thread grease that i use it for on the caplock nipples n vent liners on my Flintlocks

 

[ETipp]

Oh yeah forgot to mention I use rubbing alcohol to swab between shots

Oh yeah forgot to mention I use rubbing alcohol to swab between shots

I think I'm going to give that a try. As of now, I use TC 17 and TC 13. They both work well but a little spendy and none locally can be had.

 

[ETipp]

I have a tube of the T/C bore butter. I need to try it as something to see if it works at anything other than thread grease that i use it for on the caplock nipples n vent liners on my Flintlocks

My .32 Crocket rifle likes the older and stiffer Bore Butter that came in a plastic jar. It was passed down to me so I don't know how old it is, but it is fairly solid. I do not like using thinner patch lubes such as Bore Butter in the tubes or Crisco as is. It needs to be thickened up for my likin.

I'm on the hunt for whatever type of beeswax folks like best for mixing up their own patch lube recipes.

 

[ETipp]

Yep, it wasn't as complicated back-in-the-day when there wasn't so much to choose from.

I'm happy with 60/40 cheap olive oil and beeswax. 50/50 IF the temp is going above 90°F and 75/25 if the temp is below 40°F
It works for chapstick or anyplace exposed to frigid wind, and helps to make leather water resistant, as well as protecting some metal surfaces.

LD

That's interesting and sounds easy enough. So you actually make up and store different batches for different temps?

 

[ETipp]

I use white lithium grease I used to use the bore butter but it makes your gun inaccurate because it coats your rifling with wax. Back in the 70s i started shooting BP rifle cva sold a patch grease I used it and could shoot 100 yards off hand and hit clay birds set on the back stop every shot then I couldn't find it any more so I recently got on line to see if anyone knew what it was I found out it was white lithium grease so I bought a tub of it from my ACE hardware store and tryed it in my TC hawken 50 cal with a cotton 15 thousandths patch and a 490 round ball now off hand at 50 yards I'm in the 10 ring. Don't use bore butter to coat your barrel when your done use ballistol much better. I clean my bore with windshield wiper fluid cleans up great. I also use 90 gr of swiss 3f for my charge. I don't buy patches I use 100% cotton cloth I buy from my local fabric shop the lady there knows exactly what I want when I go in there. Try it you'll like your results.

Are you mixing white grease with beeswax?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That's interesting and sounds easy enough. So you actually make up and store different batches for different temps?

Yes you heat up the cheapest olive oil you can find, and melt beeswax. I first did 50/50 by pouring a 1/4 cup of each into a small mason jar. Then I put the mason jar into a pot of water to heat up the oil and beeswax mixture and stirred it to be sure it was well mixed, then I let it cool. At the time it hadn't occurred to me that the room temp jar would cause the beeswax to harden quick before I could mix it, hence the need for heating up the mixed product in the mason jar.

It was a very hot summer so worked fine, but as the weather broke and things got cooler, I found the lube rather hard. So again I reheated the mason jar in a pot of hot water like a double-boiler, and added a little more olive oil, so it's a about 60% olive oil and 40% beeswax. This was great year round except when hunting in January near the freezing mark. So I took a second small mason jar, repeated the process but used a pre-heated jar, and put in 3/4 of a cup of very warm oil, and 1/4-cup of beeswax. This was rather soft when cooled but..., stayed soft in the very cold weather. The drawback is this "winter" mix gets sorta runny in temps up around 100.

You can use unsalted lard from the butter section of your grocery, or Crisco or other shortening from the baking aisle at the store if you don't want to use olive oil...I know one guy who likes to use cocoanut oil, but I think that's too pricey. Do not use parrafin as the wax.

LD

 

[Pilgrim]

I use white lithium grease I used to use the bore butter but it makes your gun inaccurate because it coats your rifling with wax. Back in the 70s i started shooting BP rifle cva sold a patch grease I used it and could shoot 100 yards off hand and hit clay birds set on the back stop every shot then I couldn't find it any more so I recently got on line to see if anyone knew what it was I found out it was white lithium grease so I bought a tub of it from my ACE hardware store and tryed it in my TC hawken 50 cal with a cotton 15 thousandths patch and a 490 round ball now off hand at 50 yards I'm in the 10 ring. Don't use bore butter to coat your barrel when your done use ballistol much better. I clean my bore with windshield wiper fluid cleans up great. I also use 90 gr of swiss 3f for my charge. I don't buy patches I use 100% cotton cloth I buy from my local fabric shop the lady there knows exactly what I want when I go in there. Try it you'll like your results.

I like the idea of white lithium grease. I am going to try it out of my 32 SMR.

 

[user 48702]

If I don't use spit patch, I use Foggy Mountain's Bearguard leather dressing. All natural, made from bear fat and beeswax. You can also use it for a bullet lube. For patches, just pass the patch across the dressing or drag your patching strip across the surface. If you decide to try it, just make sure you buy the "Original" with no pigment as they do make it in brown and black.

 

[ETipp]

Yes you heat up the cheapest olive oil you can find, and melt beeswax. I first did 50/50 by pouring a 1/4 cup of each into a small mason jar. Then I put the mason jar into a pot of water to heat up the oil and beeswax mixture and stirred it to be sure it was well mixed, then I let it cool. At the time it hadn't occurred to me that the room temp jar would cause the beeswax to harden quick before I could mix it, hence the need for heating up the mixed product in the mason jar.

It was a very hot summer so worked fine, but as the weather broke and things got cooler, I found the lube rather hard. So again I reheated the mason jar in a pot of hot water like a double-boiler, and added a little more olive oil, so it's a about 60% olive oil and 40% beeswax. This was great year round except when hunting in January near the freezing mark. So I took a second small mason jar, repeated the process but used a pre-heated jar, and put in 3/4 of a cup of very warm oil, and 1/4-cup of beeswax. This was rather soft when cooled but..., stayed soft in the very cold weather. The drawback is this "winter" mix gets sorta runny in temps up around 100.

You can use unsalted lard from the butter section of your grocery, or Crisco or other shortening from the baking aisle at the store if you don't want to use olive oil...I know one guy who likes to use cocoanut oil, but I think that's too pricey. Do not use parrafin as the wax.

LD

That sounds good, Dave. For this climate here, I think the 60/40 mixture would be the do all. I don't mind using olive oil but I do have some Crisco that was purchased just for patch lube purposes. Not sure if its unsalted or not, ill have to look on the label. I tried it as is out of my Crocket Rifle and the recovered patches were pretty much destroyed. Obviously it was too thin.

So what kind of beeswax do you use and where to get it? I did a net search and there's different types. I suppose its pure beeswax?


Thanks for the info.

 

[ETipp]

If I don't use spit patch, I use Foggy Mountain's Bearguard leather dressing. All natural, made from bear fat and beeswax. You can also use it for a bullet lube. For patches, just pass the patch across the dressing or drag your patching strip across the surface. If you decide to try it, just make sure you buy the "Original" with no pigment as they do make it in brown and black.

View attachment 191726

I'll see if I can locate some of that as well. I'm surprised its made of real bear fat.

 

[user 48702]

I'll see if I can locate some of that as well. I'm surprised its made of real bear fat.

Started using it in our shop as a leather dressing back about 1991, then the original manufacturer stopped making it. It has been back in production for a number of years, 15 years or so, under new ownership. Back in the early days, we even sold a few cases to the USMC for use as it was originally designed, as a boot dressing during cold weather training.