Non-freezing bullet lube needed

[Fletcher]

OBTW - I cannot beat the price per ounce of that Mink Oil - but Just Good Lube
smells great and I think I have perfected my summer/winter formulas (mostly
for BP revolver shooting, but good for hot/cold ML also  

[Bigsmoke]

Plus you get my free shipping offer for a bottle of Ol Thunder and a tin of Just Good
Lube to TMA Members    but I'm prejudiced.  

John

[hawkthrower]

looks like this one got resurrected - got some stuff to try too, but I don't ship it!
You just make it at home with stuff you can get at the local hardware store......

If ya want the recipe that's free too - just ask and I'll send you a copy

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Tested in below freezing and it does not freeze - also the ingredients are all hydrophobic and do not absorb moisture. The ingredients also are lubricant and metal protection as well as being water repellent......

Patch lube is in the tin in the foreground...... The jars are Ed's Red cleaning fluid/metal protector

The recipe is based and is adapted from a formula in Hatcher's Notebook, Frankford Arsenal Cleaner No.18 and Ed's Red Gun Cleaner

Cheers!

[Uncle Russ]

Hawkthrower, I have been making, using, and promoting Ed's Red for many years.
It has served me very well, and I would expect nothing less from anyone else using it.

When I first started making Ed's Red I left the Anhydrous Lanolin out because it was so dadburn expensive. But that was the first and only time.
When "ordering on the Internet" became popular, I discovered I could buy Lanolin for at least one-half of what the Pharmacy at time was quoting me...I haven't missed using it since.
IMO, it is a must-have product if you plan on storing the muzzle loader for a while.

The initial investment, if you have 'nothing' on hand to start with, is a bit spendy but, depending on your modification of the original recipe to fit your own needs, your initial run will produce you several years shooting...I highly recommend this for groups, or clubs, that want the very best at very modest price.
BTW; My so called "shooting friends" have used far more than I have personally used.
I normally make the "one quart per part" when it comes to the ingredients, which results in over a gallon of finished product....now that's a lot of Ed's Red.
On the other hand, there's not a thing wrong with "cutting" that recipe to one pint, or one-half pint, per ingredient...just be sure you use all ingredients in equal parts.      

Uncle Russ...

[hawkthrower]

Russ,
Thanks for endorsement of Ed's Red - I think the stuff is fantastic, and because its mostly stuff that I keep in the garage anyway for other things it's convenient to make when needed - except for the lanolin. But since a family member makes salves, lip-balms and other "natural medicine" things the tub of lanolin was already in stock.....Beeswax too.

There's no question that the stuff works... and yes the lanolin is spendy even in bulk from the net,  but if you buy the brand name cleaner stuff off the shelf in tiny 1/2 pint bottles, the price starts looking way better! Especially if you seem to be cleaning something or the other frequently as I seem to have to do.... I've been using it for a while too and decided to mess with adding beeswax and additional lanolin and ended up with a recipe that works really well for patches that are still usable (flexible and won't freeze into a lump in the tin) in winter and won't freeze in the barrel.....Can't say the stuff is "scentless" though... but hey if it works!  

[Uncle Russ]

Russ,
Thanks for endorsement of Ed's Red - I think the stuff is fantastic, and because its mostly stuff that I keep in the garage anyway for other things it's convenient to make when needed - except for the lanolin. But since a family member makes salves, lip-balms and other "natural medicine" things the tub of lanolin was already in stock.....Beeswax too.

There's no question that the stuff works... and yes the lanolin is spendy even in bulk from the net,  but if you buy the brand name cleaner stuff off the shelf in tiny 1/2 pint bottles, the price starts looking way better! Especially if you seem to be cleaning something or the other frequently as I seem to have to do.... I've been using it for a while too and decided to mess with adding beeswax and additional lanolin and ended up with a recipe that works really well for patches that are still usable (flexible and won't freeze into a lump in the tin) in winter and won't freeze in the barrel.....Can't say the stuff is "scentless" though... but hey if it works!  
:notworthy
I have tried a few home-brews to get a paste "wax" consistency, and I can tell you it works for patches quite well but I still have considerable work to do on Maxi and Mini-Ball...it doesn't want to firm-up enough to stay in the lube grooves.

I also have a fresh 5# block of "paraffin for canning" that I will be experimenting with by adding to my bees-wax to see if I can't get better adhesion while still the using Ed's Red as the base.

Heck! It's all good....as long as we are all having fun why the heck not???  

Uncle Russ...

[RobD]

i've been using lehigh valley patch lube and like it a bunch, but my absolute Favorite bullet and patch lube is gato feo ("ugly cat").  won't freeze up, stays ready to use.  also, if yer patch/ball proportions are good, no barrel fouling wiping required.  the gato feo recipe is easy, each part by weight and i do each part in pounds for 2-1/2 pounds of the lube ...

1 part mutton tallow (dixie gun works)
1 part canning wax (gulf)
1/2 part beeswax

it's all melted down double boiler style and then i pour it all into a cleaned out milk carton with its to removed and allowed to cool.

the proportions above leave it soft to the touch, but it can be hardened up by increasing the beeswax content.  gato feo smells lots like lanolin due to the mutton tallow, which is great for yer skin - rub it in!    but as a grease lube for bpcr cartridges, or rubbed into patch strips and melted into the cloth weave with a hair dryer or heat gun for patched balls, this stuff is just great.  for a maxi or REAL or minie ml bullet, i just chunk off a cake of gato feo and rub it over the bullet sides, quickly filling up the grease grooves.  love the gato feo!  

(click image to see the short gato feo video)

[hawkthrower]

Gonna try paraffin as an add and see - I too need something that works for minnie's and conical pistol bullets - looks like rfd's recipe is similar minus the Ed's Red and sub mutton tallow for lanolin (although they are similar after all) then add paraffin......   hummmm back to the lab igor!

[Hawken]

Hunting in -37... Wow... I imagine you as that guy Robert Redford found on the mountain...

That would be.....HATCHET JACK!