Patch lubes

[mr.flintlock]

I began shooting muzzleloading rifles in 1970. One of the things that I enjoy about it is the endless experiments that I can do by trying different loads,powders,patching materials and patch lubes. For patch lubes I have tried Crisco,spit, commercial lubes,bear grease and concoctions that I have made. For hunting I prefer bear grease because when I load my rifle the first day out I leave the barrel loaded for the rest of the season until I shoot a deer.I only sweep the powder from the pan before returning to camp or home. I don't worry about the bear lard drying out. When at the range if I use bear grease I have to swab the bore between shots. Through experimenting with different mixes I came up with the following formula: 2 parts olive oil, 2 parts water and one part alcohol. This really works well for me. I keep it in a little squirt bottle and shake it up and squirt it on my patch. When at the range I can shoot all day and there is no need to swab between shots and I have yet to have a patch burn through. For a while I used a 50/50 mix of olive oil/water but by adding the little bit of alcohol it seems to help the oil and water to mix a little better.

 

[Greebe]

Thanks for sharing. Don't know where one would get bear grease though if you don't hunt bear.

 

[George T.]

Sounds cheap enough to try! Thanks for sharing. Geo. T.

 

[nchawkeye]

You could substitute coon grease, very similar...