Patch lube/barrel seasoning?

[William]

Sounds like you found the right combo to suit your needs!

[fullstock58]

For hunting I use Tracks Mink Oil, good stuff!  Gerneral shooting at the range I use several things, Moose milk (water soluble oil/water) Lehigh Valley (orignal) and good old ballistol sportsman oil (best stuff ever I use this on all my firearms bores and metal) either straight or a water mix of about 50/50.
Now for my hunting patches I use a 35mm film container and trace around that on to my patch material (most likely pillow/matress ticking) I cut out the patches and heat up the mink oil in it's tin, I then lay a un-lubed patch down first then dip a patch in the mink oil and lay it on top of the un-lubed patch and repeat. IMHO that saturates the patch the best and they will keep a long time. Plus! you now can use the empty tin for flint and steel and also use it for making Char Cloth

[tatonka11]

A little dish soap and some water,cheap and readily avaiable 

[BRIAR]

I LIVE IN TN. AND THE WINTERS AINT TOO BAD BUT MY COUSIN IN MICHIGAN TOLD ME THIS IS WHAT HE USES THERE. HE MIXES EQUAL PARTS LARD AND BEES WAX HEATED AND MIXED REAL GOOD. HE PRE-LUBES A ROLL OF PATCH MATERIAL WITH IT, ROLLS IT BACK UP AND KEEPS IT IN HIS POUCH. TOLD ME IT WORKS JUST FINE UP THERE. HE HUNTS SO I KNOW HE USES IT IN WINTER.

[yoteslayer]

Just an up date, I've been playing aroud with my gp flinter trying to get to know each other so to speak! I've been using my mix with bore butter and bumbling bear grease! also taking my time getting her sighted in! found my best load for her and still need to finish sighting in!(just a tad though) She is now shooting groups at 60 yards you could put a quarter over!( Did I say I love flintlocks now!?) The other day I gave my son a run for his money at our local range with the flinter, He was shooting a modern,scoped inline thingy! He won closest to bull,two shot By only a 1/4" but my groups(two shots) were overlapin half ball and his were overlappn just a 1/8! Center of my groups were 3/4" out from center of bulls eye! His were out 1/2" from center! My two shot group was  about 3/4" low and left ,His were left and just a tad high! All the people at the range were so impressed that they started asking questions left and right about flintlocks and a couple of them said they are seriouslly considering getting into flintlocks!  Was a really cool day!!  Just though I'd share!!  Temps were 85 and the bore butter/bear grease mix held up, not runny at all!

[Otter]

Just read this string and wanted to see if anyone has tried mutton tallow instead of lard or another animal fat. I've been tinkering with making my own black powder cartridge lube and have had okay luck with it. Another experiment waiting to happen is to try Castor oil rather than olive oil. After all it was used as an engine lubricant for quite a few years. Has anyone out there tried either of these two? Other than beeswax the other fairly constant in my tinkering has been lanolin.

[William]

Just read this string and wanted to see if anyone has tried mutton tallow instead of lard or another animal fat. I've been tinkering with making my own black powder cartridge lube and have had okay luck with it. Another experiment waiting to happen is to try Castor oil rather than olive oil. After all it was used as an engine lubricant for quite a few years. Has anyone out there tried either of these two? Other than beeswax the other fairly constant in my tinkering has been lanolin.

Try some Jojoba oil as a lube.  It is very similar to sperm whale oil and doubles as a skin lotion as it closely mimics the natural oil your skin produces.  It is said to be an extremely good patch lube and you can purchase it at local beauty shops.

[Otter]

William, Thanks for that input. Sounds like a good idea and it could help by cartridge rifle lube too. Oops, didn't mean to use that dirty 9 letter word... What mixture has worked for you in cooler weather? Umm, Kansas cool that is.

[William]

I don't really have a set mixture for cooler weather, if it's too thick I just add more oil to it, and even at freezing temps olive oil is just thick, not frozen.  I think that for cold temps a mix of 9 to 10 parts olive oil to one part beeswax will give you a lube that you can work with your finger tips to use on a patch or get it into the grease grooves of your favorite conical.  Jojoba oil looks promising though, having an even lower freezing point than olive oil.  But it's expensive, so you'll have to judge for yourself if the benifits are worth the cost.  You can still find sperm whale oil though, which from what I've read is the best patch lube known.  The government banned further imports of the stuff but stock purchased prior to that is perfectly legal to posess.  There are some black-powder dealers/gunsmiths that bought it in 55 gallon barrels just before the ban went into effect and still sell it by the pint, but hard to find.

[Otter]

William, Thanks again. It's a good thing my wife's family are beekeepers!

[William]

I think you're set for life then as long as you plant some olive trees. 

[Otter]