Anyne using this SPG lubricant look alike?

[Jerry V Lape]

Some time ago this formula for an SPG look alike was posted:
40 parts mutton tallow, 40 parts paraffin, 20parts bee's wax. 

Anyone using this for patch lube and what have been the results?  I use SPG as a hunting patch lube and have gotten tired of the price for it.  If this look alike is a good performer I would mix up a supply.

[snapper]

I make my own version of bullet lube and it is easy and works great for accuracy.

equal parts of bees wax and crisco.  Add a table spoon or two of olive oil, depending on how soft you want it.

I use fist size portions of the wax and crisco.

Fleener

[snapper]

I forgot to add that I have never used this for a patch lube.  If SPG worked, this should as well.

Fleener

[Daryl]

Some time ago this formula for an SPG look alike was posted:
40 parts mutton tallow, 40 parts paraffin, 20parts bee's wax. 

Anyone using this for patch lube and what have been the results?  I use SPG as a hunting patch lube and have gotten tired of the price for it.  If this look alike is a good performer I would mix up a supply.

No - haven't used that one, Jerry.

I also have only used SPG for BP bullet lube, not as a patch lube.

The best accuracy I have achieved with a BP lube & bullets, was with 60: beeswax/40% Vaseline. I know Vaseline is a tabled as a petroleum product, but in this application it works as a terrific BP lube. I could fire 10 shots and push ALL of the fouling out the bore with a tight, dry patch, just as Paul Mathews said it would in "The Paper Jacket". That was with a lube wad and paper patch.

I also lubed the R.E.A.L. bullets for my .45 Longrifle tests with this beeswax/Vaseline mix - no lube ball used. The results were stellar and as expected - 10 shots, no wiping, then loading my normal .022" patch and .445" ball without any trouble at all using the rifle's 3/8" hickory rod,.  This proves the fouling in the bore was softened properly by the lube & that there was NO build up of fouling as happens with lousy lube.

To make it softer or harder, adjust the Vaseline content.

I have tried paraffin and olive oil in lubes and found them to not be as good as plain old Beeswax/Vaseline mix.

[Jerry V Lape]

Daryl,
Is that bees wax and Vaseline mix by volume or weight?

[davec2]

SPG ??  Synthetic Possum Grease ?

[Jerry V Lape]

DaveC2
Could be synthetic possum grease!  Best known to black powder cartridge shooters as a commercial lube which performs well in that sport to soften fouling.  Ialso  use it as a hunting lube in my flintlock but the price has gotten sort of high with a half pound of the stuff costing $17 plus $8 shipping.  I can obtain bees wax and Vaseline locally if that works as Daryl advises. 

[rfd]

fwiw, what i favor these dayze is a "loose" easy load (no short starter, "thumb" seating) that allows decent accuracy with no fouling control between shots, for out-of-pouch shooting. to achieve that with most of my trad ml's typically means a smaller ball diameter and not too thick a patch.  i can fire off *dozens* of good shots without the need for tube wiping.

the patch lube is super important, and what i now use exclusively is good ol' #1 gato feo that's been both rubbed ONTO the patch strip cloth weave and then heat gunned INTO that weave. these greased patch strips feel nearly dry to the touch, though in super summer heat i'll vary the grease formula by using more beeswax.

"gato feo" ("ugly cat") is easy to make - by weight it's 1 part mutton tallow (from dixie gun works, online - mutton tallow does not go rancid like other tallows), 1 part paraffin wax (gulf, bought online), 1/2 part beeswax (lots of sources).  put a small pot or big tin can into a large pot of water, heat the water to dissolve and stir up the ingredients.   pour into a milk or juice carton.  when cool, it'll slice up easily with a big knife into "cakes".

the 16"-18" patch strips are either rolled up (for muzzle cutting), or cut into squares (the width of the strip - width depends on caliber) for individual patches, or used with a ball board.   

this trad muzzleloader thing will always be a personal journey - who'd want it any other way?

[Maven]

Slightly OT, but SPG patch lube can now be had in tins:  http://www.shopspg.net/SPG-Small-Lube-Tin-lube-tins.htm  Mike Nesbitt favorably reviewed it in the current issue of "Muzzleloader."  Btw, the empty tins are also available.

[Daryl]

SPG ??  Synthetic Possum Grease ?

Steve Paul Garbie = SPG = the originator of this lube.

I mixed them by volume, seems to me.  I still have a bit left from the original batch. Suffice to say, more beeswax makes it stiffer, more Vaseline makes it thinner.

My mix, which worked so well for me, would go soft in my fingers and was easily hand-lubed into grease groove bullets, or wiped onto or into the sides of paper patched bullets before loading.  I used it for lube ball/wads as well.

Beeswax/DeerTallow was Elmer Keith's favourite BP lube.

[Sharpsman]

I haven't found anything that works better than Canola oil!

[Bob Roller]

In 1957  I started using an equal amount of beeswax-Crisco-mutton tallow and when needed
I still do.Never tried in on a patched ball but there's no reason it won't work.I used it for years
on grooved bullets with fine results with black powder and hot loads for a 44 Special and magnum
and no leading.
Bob Roller

[John SMOthermon]

Will soap and water remove the bees wax remaining in the bore after shooting?

[Hungry Horse]

Anything that leaves bees wax in the bore is a breakdown waiting to happen. Consecutive patches push that stuff down the bore and can eventually plug the flash channel in a percussion rifle with a patent breech. Over the years I've had two brought to me that way. Both were custom Hawken copies. The one with the slant breech had to have the breechplug pulled to get the gunk out.
 Steve Garbee is a sharp guy, and I use his lube in my black powder cartridge guns, but unless he recommends his bullet lube as a patch lube, I wouldn't use it.

  Hungry Horse

 

[axman]

Steve does use SPG for patch lube.

A half pound would lube a whole lot of patches btw.

[Daryl]

Anything that leaves bees wax in the bore is a breakdown waiting to happen. Consecutive patches push that stuff down the bore and can eventually plug the flash channel in a percussion rifle with a patent breech. Over the years I've had two brought to me that way. Both were custom Hawken copies. The one with the slant breech had to have the breechplug pulled to get the gunk out.
 Steve Garbee is a sharp guy, and I use his lube in my black powder cartridge guns, but unless he recommends his bullet lube as a patch lube, I wouldn't use it.

  Hungry Horse

 

I agree - so if using beeswax in a patch lube, use a thick enough patch that you are not LEAVING BW to build up in the bore.

When shooting a Beeswax/Vas. lubed bullets, then switching to normal patched balls after 10 shots in my .45 Longrifle, no wiping was necessary when switching - just loaded the patched ball and

 kept shooting.  There was no Beeswax seemingly left in the bore as there was no problem loading the patched balls. I switched back and forth twice, 10 shots with bullets each time - then loaded patched round balls to "Clean" the bore & fired that cleaning shot (normal load using LHV lube, so 75gr. 3F) - never any problem. That was my cleaning load.

[Dphariss]

Some time ago this formula for an SPG look alike was posted:
40 parts mutton tallow, 40 parts paraffin, 20parts bee's wax. 

Anyone using this for patch lube and what have been the results?  I use SPG as a hunting patch lube and have gotten tired of the price for it.  If this look alike is a good performer I would mix up a supply.

Just try the tallow straight. Beef tallow boiled 3 times will not rust the bore if loaded for months and loads easy and cuts fouling pretty good. I use Kidney fat" for the tallow its higher in oil. Deer tallow works but smells stronger.   SPG was never intended for MLs though it will work. Will get pretty hard in cold weather.
With the paraffin content of the the mutton mix its going to be pretty hard stuff in cool temps.
If its really cold pure Neatfoot oil (now industry uses lard oil for Neatsfoot or so I have read), or course will not get very hard in cold weather.
Dan