Olive oil question

[hanshi]

Way back when I shot .58 minies the beeswax/Vaseline mixture I used was great about staying in the grooves and not drying and crumbling out.  I seem to recall testing the mix with the addition of another substance, but memory fails me as to what it was.  This was around 50 years ago.

[Mad Monk]

Way back when I shot .58 minies the beeswax/Vaseline mixture I used was great about staying in the grooves and not drying and crumbling out.  I seem to recall testing the mix with the addition of another substance, but memory fails me as to what it was.  This was around 50 years ago.

Was it possibly lard or Crisco.  You are taking me way back in time when our standard .50 caliber T/C load used a mixture of beeswax and crisco or beeswax and lard.   The last thing you wanted in the bores was the commercial lubes out there in the market.  Often just repackaged automobile wheel packing grease.

[Daryl]

In the 70's a lot of guys were using crisco shortening for bullet lube in their TC maxiballs.
I used it as well in the 38" twist .50 I bought from Les Bauska, until I got a Lyman mould casting an adjustable bullet - 3 square grooves.
IIRC, the lightest bullet it would cast was 450gr. but it was a flat nose bullet and shorter than the .50 TC Maxiball. That is
when I came across Beeswax/Vaseline in 60:40 mix (volume) as a bullet lube - American Rifleman, I think it was. I mixed some up
and it was very much superior to Crisco, both as a lube and less messy. It also stayed, as Hanshi noted, on the bullet a
lot better.  With that bullet and lube, it was a MOA rifle, with a fresh crown.  The BW/Vas. lube was a superior black powder bullet
lube back then and still is today, in my honest opinion.  I've now used SPG - excellent lube, as well as Lyman's Black Powder Gold,
also a good working black powder bullet lube. Actually I have both SPG and Lyman's lube in a pair of bench mounted lube-sizers. I used
the BW/Vas for hand applying to bullets for ML rifles, .45 and .58.

[Kary]

I used straight extra virgin olive oil for years and years a patch lube, with absolutely no issues. I would pre-lube about 30-50 patches and put them in a small baggie or plastic container.The only issue I have seen is that it’s messy as I’ll get out! After shooting all day your hands and fingers are a total oily mess. These patches weren’t totally sopping wet with olive oil, merely dipped and wiped and then put in the container.I’ve recently switched to an olive oil/ bees wax mixture with a little bit of Murphy’s oil soap added to the mix. I pour that into an Altoids tin that I’ve worked over and allow it to solidify. It works ok, I’m still working on the consistency.

[Hungry Horse]

 The only way a muzzleloader shooter should be messin’ around with Olive oil, is if he’s the camp cook, or his mountain man name is Popeye. JMO.

  Hungry Horse

[Dave Marsh]

HH I am with you.