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So have been out of the game for a while. Back when I was muzzleloading a lot Bore Butter was all the rage. Awaiting arrival of traditional percussion cap, .50, plan to shoot round balls and pillow ticking. So what is the preferred lube these days?

Also, both #10 and #11 caps fit most traditional muzzleloader nipples right?

Thanks
Bees wax and grape seed oil, vary the mix for the season. Its’ also good on crackers.
 
Spit patches are fine if your standing on the range but shouldn't be considered a real lube. Spit patches dry out, do not protect the powder from excessive moisture on a damp-rainy day, Do not provide lubrication when pulling a ball at the end of the day-hunt -week or month. Try to find a lube that doesn't solidify extremely hard when temps get cold. I have pretty decent luck using plain old olive oil.
 
Since 1980, Spit for PRB. You never run out, never leave it at home.

I have used vegetable oil if I plan on leaving it loaded all season.

Never heard anybody say Bore Butter was worth having.
Well, now you've read (not heard) someone say Bore Butter is worth having! I love it, have used it with no problems at all since it became available, and have no need to use anything else!
Jayhawk Dan
 
My flintlock buddy from out of state would come up here summers and shoot in my outback. His normal shooting routine back home would be 3 or 5 shots and go clean it up. Up here we would both stay at it for at least 35 shots each. I used spit. His was bore butter in a T.C.
Once he got to about 18 or so he had a tremendous time with accuracy. The bore was fine, but that butter had gotten everywhere in the summer heat. Stock, trigger, barrel etc. A real mess. He said it was like holding a greased pig and was afraid the gun was going to go backwards past his shoulder and into the brush! I just smiled and kept on spit patchin', no problems.
 
So have been out of the game for a while. Back when I was muzzleloading a lot Bore Butter was all the rage. Awaiting arrival of traditional percussion cap, .50, plan to shoot round balls and pillow ticking. So what is the preferred lube these days?

Also, both #10 and #11 caps fit most traditional muzzleloader nipples right?

Thanks
I prefer the grease I wring out of a bear’s tail. Not a dead bear, a live big one. You don’t get as much from a small bear and if you use a dead one you can’t run it down and wring out some more. As to swabbing the bore… I use the tears of the weak ( or people trapped in an elevator the morning after taco night).
 
I prefer the grease I wring out of a bear’s tail. Not a dead bear, a live big one. You don’t get as much from a small bear and if you use a dead one you can’t run it down and wring out some more. As to swabbing the bore… I use the tears of the weak ( or people trapped in an elevator the morning after taco night).
Lol! If you can do all that, why even bother with a gun?
 
AN age old SCOTTISH fomula ,calls for the same afore mentioned Bear Tail oil, tempered with a WEE bit of Maiden Water . The FIGHT for the bear oil, will have you properly stretched and warmed up enough to collect the Main ingredient. lastly there should be enough of your own fresh blood to adjust the viscoity to the ambient tempature.......... Be Safe >>>>>>>>>>>>Wally
 
Bore Butter is trash.

It’s a holdover from years and years ago when guys would buy CVAs and a tube of it from the local shop. In truth, it makes a lousy patch lube and an even worse lubricant.
Being you might not be talking about Thompson Center 1000+ bore butter, then very well.

If you are, you are sadly msitaken. We have used it here in the raining hunting seasons for decades.
I DO NOT use it for patches, I use the Number 13 bore cleaner. For patch lube.
The bore butter I use for end of the year cleaning and put away, also on revolver shanks.
 
Depends ... well, lots of options and there will even be MORE opinions, haha, but I do see BB going out of favor in COLD weather. Once did a shift at scoring at the last shooting station as a MZL snowshoe biathlon event up in Vermont, whilst a balmy 17-degrees-F out, and within one1-hour I witnessed 8 broken ramrods on arms like T/C Hawkens and Lyman GPRs, 7 with Bore Butter and 1 with spit lube.

Note that none the flintlock shooters broke their rods, but whereas flints are a different animal and typically require somewhat more 'care', dare I say it ... maybe they were more experienced shooters or familiar more with lubes, loading, and/or issues in cccold weather.

What I like ....

WARM weather - Hoppes' BP Patch Lube 9Works fantastic ... shoot all day without swabbing!
Hoppes is great and has been the best lube I've ever found for any caliber. And yes, you can just load-shoot, load-shoot all day long with NO bore wiping.

Absolutely! Mink oil (TOW) is my choice for the woods and gets used a bit even at the range. I consider "Bore Butter" to be garbage. Spit lube is what I started with and used for years. It's excellent and about the only negative is that it can dry out. I never use it anymore since I started running dry years ago.
COLD weather - aka below freezing ... Pire, rendered Mink Oil from Track of the Wolf, $6 a big tin, the last time I ordered.
 
I keep both TOW mink oil and a can of my homemade in my shooting bag. Love them both. Really it's which one I see first that I pull out and use. The consistency of both is equal.
 
Well, now you've read (not heard) someone say Bore Butter is worth having! I love it, have used it with no problems at all since it became available, and have no need to use anything else!
Jayhawk Dan
It may be a geographical thing. Here in Texas almost ANY oil based product will turn to a watery substance in the heat. Maybe that's why spit works so well down here, and may well freeze up north.
 
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