Black Powder Shooting

[83nubnEC]

Has anyone heard of a 50-50 mix of water and Dawn liquid soap as a roundball patch lube and if so, ever tried it. Watched  a video of it being used in a smoothbore and they said they could shoot  without swabbing the bore most of the day! Shot about 20+/- shots in the video and then ran a patch down the barrel with very little residue on the patch.

[Mule Brain]

It is actually better with 40d/60w mix

It's all I have been using for years, and that led to that video getting made. I showed my friend and he told the video guy about it.

Here is Dawn in action! Five shots on the bear target off hand at 50yds. No swabbing between shots! Any questions

[Bob Roller]

I used something called "Black Solve" which was a concentrate and came in a small bottle and made a quart of cleaning solvent.y had silicone in it and worked realy well as a loading aid on a patch and tight ball.I used cleaning patches for the M1 Garand.Don't know about Dawn but does get my cargo pants clean and it won;t hurt to try it and see.
Bob Roller

[83nubnEC]

Thanks Mule Brain:  the picture answers my next question as to the effect the mixture has on accuracy. Will try it the next time out and compare it to my Moose Milk mixture with Ballistol.

[wolf]

https://youtu.be/nnpUtxsIYb8?t=3

here is the video, i am olskool on youtube that asked him to try it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Kurt]

Hello, This is my first post, and I just came from the range testing a rifle using this lubricant formula. I believe it has increased my accuracy. I also always had trouble with the first shot from a clean bore being a flier, but this seems to have eliminated that!

[Mule Brain]

Hello, This is my first post, and I just came from the range testing a rifle using this lubricant formula. I believe it has increased my accuracy. I also always had trouble with the first shot from a clean bore being a flier, but this seems to have eliminated that!

There you have it! It aint tough folks

Good to hear it's working for you

[wolf]

it is all i use, except when i hunt,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Kurt]

What do you use when hunting, please?

[Daryl]

Tracks Mink Oil mostly
 Have used Neetsfoot Oil.
Both work perfectly.
Mink oil is melted and pre-cut patches soaked, lightly squeezed out, the patched balls carried in loading blocks.
Paper ctgs for large bore rifle carried in coat pocket.

[Kurt]

Thank you!

[Bear River Tom]

Mule brain, how exactly do you prep your patches?  Do you soak them in a strip and cut at the barrel or cut them up and store them in a container? I'm kind of new to this and looking for a good patch lube...

[MuskratMike]

I also use either pure neatsfoot oil or a 50/50 mix of pure neatsfoot oil and track of the wolf mink oil. I melt a tub of mink oil in an old sauce pan, as soon as its melted I pour in an equal volume of the neatsfoot oil. Give it a stir to mix the let it cool and solidify. I used to use precut patches that I would lube ahead of time, but recently I have started pre-greasing strips of patching material and cut at the muzzle. Both work equally well, I had some patch knives made from antique straight razors that have deer antler handles so I want to use them.

[Horton]

I use my 1-1-1 cleaning mix with the same results it does work I shoot repeatedly without swabbing between shots. Really it’s just using your cleaning solution to lube your patch while it cleans your bore. I’d imagine any cleaning agent with some form of lubricant wether it be dawn or Murphys oil would work.

[Dphariss]

If I am correct soaps/detergents are corrosive. I quit using water lubes decades ago.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Anything that dissolves and removes ALL of the fouling from your previous shot, and pushes it down the bore with the ball onto the powder charge, every time you load, will work.  That includes and is not limited to Vaseline Intensive Care hand cream, Crisco shortening, Mink Oil, Neatsfoot Oil, and concoctions employing soaps and water.  But be aware that the patch has to be of sufficient thickness to carry enough lube3 to do that job.  If the patched ball skips over the fouling, even once, it will continue to do that until you cannot get another ball down the bore.  And then cleaning the barrel will be required.  So there is a happy spot with ball alloy, ball diameter, patch thickness and strength, and enough lube to work efficiently.  It is not rocket science.

[Daryl]

Has anyone heard of a 50-50 mix of water and Dawn liquid soap as a roundball patch lube and if so, ever tried it. Watched  a video of it being used in a smoothbore and they said they could shoot  without swabbing the bore most of the day! Shot about 20+/- shots in the video and then ran a patch down the barrel with very little residue on the patch.

None of the lubes I use, require wiping, cleaning or swabbing for an entire day's shooting on the range, including up to and over 100 shots fired. Use a decent patch and ball combo - all "wiping' reduced to unnecessary.

[MuskratMike]

Powder, Patch, Ball, Ca-bang, Repeat! That's all there is to it. We tend to over think everything.

[Dphariss]

Shooting offhand as was stated in the 18th c “is a poor test of a rifle”.
Very few MLs today shoot rest matches because, IMO, schuetzen shooting became popular in probably the second quarter of the 19th c in American and there was big money in it. It lived on in places where there were Beef matches shot at an “X” and Turkey matches often with the turkey’s head and neck as the target and they were shot from prone over a chunk or from a plank leaned on a saw horse or something similar. My 50 cal “chunk” rifle shoots ver good with a .500 ball, 109 gr of Swiss FFF. I use the water soluble oil and water patch lube with the fairly heavy patches allowed to dry. The barrel is 4150 GB quality and has narrow lands and they are probably only .009” deep, never bothered to check. It is wiped every shot with a “heavily damp”, not dripping, patch both sides and a dry patch both sides. It will, in good weather no shooters errors shoot the same spot at 60 yards. Its a Jim McLemore barrel 1 1/4” straight x 44” which he tested with a Pete Allen percussion action with a scope rail. He told me that with 120 gr of FFF and a teflon patch it would shoot the same hole at 100. I never had a reason to doubt this. And its a gain twist which he would not tell us what it was. We virtually never get to shoot without a wind where I live or at Cody WY. The best 10 shot sting measure match I ever shot with it was a 4.087” string. This is an average dispersion of .4087” and I had a wind gust push one WAY out 2 1/4” from center (my ballistics program tells me that a 10MPH cross wind at 60 yards will give almost 4” of drift. 6 of the 10 would hit a dime centered on the x. Wind varied significantly in direction and velocity and caused some “problems” besides the big flier. I never bothered shooting a slick lube from the rifle. A long time shooter, who is VERY good, stated it this way. “You don’t have to wipe but you have to wipe to win.”
When I shoot one of the Bridger Mtn Men matches I shoot a “hunting weight” rifle without wiping for the most part. The steel plates are hit or miss and an edge hit counts as much as dead center. Though one barrel seems to need a little wipe now and then. But I use a slick lube too. Usually beef tallow. Or a “grease” that is a mix of Neatsfoot and Beeswax. I carry patches in a patch box on these rifles and don’t want oil soaking into the wood. Or in my hunting pouch for that matter.
So it depends on the game you are playing. Hunting a not a good “game” for a dry lube. And I have not shot the heavy rifle in about 8 years since problems with the range at Cody caused the matches to end. This group was shot in one of the last matches as I recall. But the plan is to start them again at my home range. Or maybe at a friends range.
And this was a from a “plank rest” which is not as steady as prone over a “chunk”.

[5judge]

Am interested in trying the neatsfoot oil lube. my apologies if the has been discussed in this thread, but what are the details of use of neatsfoot oil? Wet the patch, squeeze out excess, then what? Allow to dry to the degree it does or load immediately? Thanks.

[Mule Brain]

Mule brain, how exactly do you prep your patches?  Do you soak them in a strip and cut at the barrel or cut them up and store them in a container? I'm kind of new to this and looking for a good patch lube...

I cut out the patches and put them in an snuff container, then add the lube. I carry it this way in my bag, and at the shooting range as well. Works like a charm!

I can cut 50 patches in less than a minute  LOL

   

[Daryl]

I like these patch containers for pre-lubed patches, just as Mule Brain noted above.
Even .177 tins for 500 pellets are large enough for larger calibre patches. Fruit candy
'tins' also work for large calibre patches, in this case, 1 1/2" for my .69 patches. I pour
lube over the patches, then squeeze them out to pout the excess back into the container,
no matter what type of lube is used, from water soluble oil/water to any of the oils. Greases
like Track's Mink Oil is melted and poured over the patches, then they are squeezed to remove
the excess.

[Marvin S]

I use liquid hand sanitizer for patch lube and pan wiping etc. I have cases of it left from the corona scare. Offhand targets.

[Mule Brain]

^^^^^^^^^

Dang fine shootin