Hello: I am curious about different patch lubes. It seems all kinds of home made mixes and greases are used so i wondered why not use some kind of oil or transmission fluid etc. I am not trying to be funny i am really curious. Regards Dan
Patch Lube
- Thread starter gunbug
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
Blizzard of '93
Cannon
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2006
- Messages
- 7,237
- Reaction score
- 14
maybe you should give one of the various lube/wipe down products a try, my favorite is Go-Jo white hand cleaner. your mileage may vary.
I think you need to do some research. There are a number of good Petro. lubes for black powder. One of the most used is H#9BP Plus, its is a very good lube and cleaner. Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine the list is long. Plain old Vaseline is a by product of oil refining. Parafin is a Hydrocarbon a by product of oil refining and is used in many lubes.
Now if you talking about putting motor oil down the bore in big amounts yes. But notice how many use tranny fluid with great results.
These old tales need to be researched before they become just misleading. :thumbsup:
Now if you talking about putting motor oil down the bore in big amounts yes. But notice how many use tranny fluid with great results.
These old tales need to be researched before they become just misleading. :thumbsup:
Johnny Tremain said:
Just don't try to use bore butter when it's below freezing, because it becomes hard enough to hammer nails with. Been there done that (shooting in winter in Vermont). Otherwise it works just fine.
I like to use Stumpkiller's Moose Snot. It's a concoction you have to mix up yourself, but it doesn't freeze and also doesn't turn into liquid when it's hot out.
Use the search on the site to find it.
Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:
stewart.leach
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2007
- Messages
- 177
- Reaction score
- 124
I do my hunting with Maxi Balls lubed with TC's lube. ML seasons in CO are early, so have had no problems with stiff lube.
For competitions with 50 cal round ball, I start with a freshly cleaned barrel, fire one shot as a fouler, swab with both sides of a patch damp but not runny with "Mouse Milk", then load with patch just slightly moistened with same. My "Mouse Milk" is a derivative of the various "Moose Milk" recipes, most of which contain hydrogen peroxide. I don't want to put this oxidizer down my barrels, so simplified the recipe to 2 fld oz Ballistol, 2 fld oz Murphy's Oil Soap, and enough warm water to make up a quart. I take it to the range in small spray bottle.
Successive shots are swabbed, then loaded as above. Ramrod resistance stays the same shot after shot. Groups are good, 2-3 inches for five shots at 100 yards. When I get home the rifle is cleaned with hot water, dried, and then protected with a patch wet with Ballistol. I run a Ballistol patch down the barrel again two-three days later. Have never found any rust, but want to be sure.
Regards,
Grey Fox
For competitions with 50 cal round ball, I start with a freshly cleaned barrel, fire one shot as a fouler, swab with both sides of a patch damp but not runny with "Mouse Milk", then load with patch just slightly moistened with same. My "Mouse Milk" is a derivative of the various "Moose Milk" recipes, most of which contain hydrogen peroxide. I don't want to put this oxidizer down my barrels, so simplified the recipe to 2 fld oz Ballistol, 2 fld oz Murphy's Oil Soap, and enough warm water to make up a quart. I take it to the range in small spray bottle.
Successive shots are swabbed, then loaded as above. Ramrod resistance stays the same shot after shot. Groups are good, 2-3 inches for five shots at 100 yards. When I get home the rifle is cleaned with hot water, dried, and then protected with a patch wet with Ballistol. I run a Ballistol patch down the barrel again two-three days later. Have never found any rust, but want to be sure.
Regards,
Grey Fox
I wipe with stumpy's moose juice prior to shooting, every 5th shot and at the end of the session prior to cleaning.
I lube my patches typically with olive oil straight, but have used mixtures with bees wax and sometimes MOS, with great success.
I used to clean with hot water and MOS, followed with a liberal swabbing using bore butter. I found I would get brown/ reddish patches on subsequent wipings. Did not like this.
Now I wash with lukewarm water and MOS, dry the barrel and store with wd40 and wipe until next session with same.
prior to the next shoot, I wipe first with alchol patch, follewed with moose juice, shoot a fouler and start shooting with olive oil patches. Its been working for me, and your milage may vary!
I figure thats what L&C used (sweet oil) and no more reddish crud in my barrel(s)
accuracy has been good to great in the .40 so I am sticking with it. fouling has been minimal and I can get about 17 shots using 3f before I honestly need to wipe.
I lube my patches typically with olive oil straight, but have used mixtures with bees wax and sometimes MOS, with great success.
I used to clean with hot water and MOS, followed with a liberal swabbing using bore butter. I found I would get brown/ reddish patches on subsequent wipings. Did not like this.
Now I wash with lukewarm water and MOS, dry the barrel and store with wd40 and wipe until next session with same.
prior to the next shoot, I wipe first with alchol patch, follewed with moose juice, shoot a fouler and start shooting with olive oil patches. Its been working for me, and your milage may vary!
I figure thats what L&C used (sweet oil) and no more reddish crud in my barrel(s)
accuracy has been good to great in the .40 so I am sticking with it. fouling has been minimal and I can get about 17 shots using 3f before I honestly need to wipe.
I guess the choice comes down to what you want it to do for you. If you are on the range then the fluid type lubes are ok so long as the amount of fluid doesn’t kill the powder and it doesn’t dry up before you use the patches (not a problem if you wet them “on demand”)
I used Lehigh patch lube for a while and it’s ok ”“ dries up a bit on the range but keeps the fouling down. Also good for a quick wipe between shots if you are so inclined.
However over here we don’t have a freezing problem generally speaking.
Grease type ones don’t kill powder (i.e. don’t migrate into the charge as easily), don’t dry up (mostly) and keep the fouling soft (ish)
With this in mind I recently made up a batch of Stumpies moose snot. In good old Britain we don’t have Murphys oil soap (if you know of any please advise) so I substitute Pledge wood cleaner. It works brilliantly ”“ easy loading, good fouling control, doesn’t dry up quickly etc.
Recipe is in the members resources.
Harder to distribute on the patch than wet stuff so a bit more prep is required but well worth it.
I used Lehigh patch lube for a while and it’s ok ”“ dries up a bit on the range but keeps the fouling down. Also good for a quick wipe between shots if you are so inclined.
However over here we don’t have a freezing problem generally speaking.
Grease type ones don’t kill powder (i.e. don’t migrate into the charge as easily), don’t dry up (mostly) and keep the fouling soft (ish)
With this in mind I recently made up a batch of Stumpies moose snot. In good old Britain we don’t have Murphys oil soap (if you know of any please advise) so I substitute Pledge wood cleaner. It works brilliantly ”“ easy loading, good fouling control, doesn’t dry up quickly etc.
Recipe is in the members resources.
Harder to distribute on the patch than wet stuff so a bit more prep is required but well worth it.
nchawkeye
58 Cal.
I actually used SnoSeal for years, made a batch of Stumpy's Snot a few weeks ago, works as well (maybe even better) than SnoSeal did... :grin:
The way I apply to patches, I cut my strips of pillow ticking, put them on a newspaper, take a putty knife and spread with Moose Snot, doing both sides of the patching,roll up strip..Then put in microwave for 15-20 seconds to help saturate patching...Then put in the patchbox, tin, pill box, whatever you store your patches in...
The way I apply to patches, I cut my strips of pillow ticking, put them on a newspaper, take a putty knife and spread with Moose Snot, doing both sides of the patching,roll up strip..Then put in microwave for 15-20 seconds to help saturate patching...Then put in the patchbox, tin, pill box, whatever you store your patches in...
Pine-Sol works, too. Murphy's Oil Soap is basically a simple vegetable soft soap. There should be some equivalent in the UK. Check at a tack-shop to see what they clean those famous English Saddles with. :wink:
You're not adding a lot and it's just the emulsifying agent to make sure the oils smear and adhere. Murphy's just happened to test best in my sheet steel rust results. Everything I use in Moose Juice and Moose Snot either prevented, delayed or was neutral with the control test samples. The T/C #13 plate actually rusted faster than the untreated and the water treated plates!
I don't know if my original "Lube Wars" posts are still in the archives. Hard to believe it's been that long ago.
Try some Hydrogen Peroxide on bare steel for yourself. That or Clorox (never mix the two) are what I used to use to quickly darken (aka "rust") the wear spots on my formerely in-the-white Bess when I wanted to blend in where I had buffed out a rust spot. I would never use peroxide in my barrel. Left on the metal they oxidize (once again aka "rust") the metal very quickly. I guess the foaming action makes shooters feel it is doing something. It sure is.
Look at it this way. Your own spit is an excellent patch lube and water is a great black powder solvent. The only thing a more complicated lube/solvent should add is additional shots without wiping/easier loading, rust avoidance or consistancy (which leads to accuracy).
longcruise
70 Cal.
Anything with Murphs Oil soap in it leaves a hard to remove brown sludge in my barrel. Especially in the chamber end. Threw away anything that had it in it.
Glenfilthie
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2007
- Messages
- 667
- Reaction score
- 1
Can you use home brewed moose milk as a patch lube? I used to use bore butter and it worked fine but the bore really crudded up fast.
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
twisted_1in66 said:
If its that cold, my flinter is on the wall, and Im my shorts peering out the window
Glenfilthie said:
Yep. Liquid, grease versions or dipped and dried. Each rifle will tell you what it likes and dislikes. Your loading, powder choice, patch material, ball to bore size, cleaning and storing methods will further dictate what works for you. Some folks lube very lightly and others slop it on like cream cheese on a bagel. You can either alter your practices to your choice of lube or alter your choice of lube to your practices. Takes some experimentin and range time.
Marmotslayer - I'll PM you my address and pay the shipping for any rifles you can't deal with that have Murphy's in their past and you were intending to otherwise toss out. I seem to have figured out a work around. :wink: Luckily, none of my muzzleloaders have a "chamber end" so I guess that's part of my good fortune. :grin:
I like the original Lehigh Lube and the new version seems to have got back to that mix. I also like Bore Butter, though it is too messy for ball block or in-tin carry in my opinion and use.
Stumpkiller said:
May 2004 to be exact :grin:
[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/18363[/url]
Last edited by a moderator:
longcruise
70 Cal.
Well, thank you Stumpkiller, and, as my scandanavian ancestors would say, "your generosity will never be spoken of".
It eventually comes out with a brush and some carb cleaner, sometimes takes three treatments. I still have one of my family members guns that had two treatments and is still able to produce brown sludge. It shows up just as you are giving it a final wipe with a tight drying patch, and NO, it ain't rust!
I'm going to try the old electronic bore cleaner on that last one. Once it's clean, should be no further problem cause there won't be any more Murphs going into them.
You may never have noticed the gunk in your barrels "chamber end", but then again most people don't clean their rifles near as carefully and thoroughly as I do! :blah:
