Does a "several days'" load exist?

[Naphtali]

If there is a patch lube that retains its lubricity and sufficient liquidity to be effective several days after being loaded, please identify it.

I'm pretty sure that if such a patch lube exists, it is not the complete "answer." What is missing is how to isolate such a lubed ball from contaminating the propellant, since the two will be in intimate proximity for those "several days." About the only ways I can think of are to use an over powder card of hard cardboard and/or several vegetable fiber wads to keep powder and lubricant isolated from each other.

Whether or not such loading is a good idea is not really my question - which is, if it can be done, how?

[omark]

I've used mix of beeswax and Vaseline and hunted more days than I care to admit and still had it maintain accuracy.   No wadding.        Mark

[Don Steele]

I suspect there is a large number of patch lube products and home-brew formulas that will meet your test of "several days".
The one I KNOW will work...because I have tested it is SPG.
Because I've wondered about that very question myself....I loaded my "hawken" with my hunting charge ( 90 gns. Goex) and a roundball patched with SPG saturated material and left the rifle loaded, in my garage, for a week.
At the end of the week took it to the range, put it on a good rest, and took out the X at 50 yds with the load that had been left in the rifle all week. I didn't chrono it, or do any other analysis...just took the kind of shot I routinely get at game where I hunt. 
Plenty good enough performance for me.
Hope this helps.

[EC121]

The first shot out of a clean barrel wouldn't necessarily need any lube for hunting.  Maybe an oiled patch with most of it squeezed out.  When you  pull a ball out after loading, the patch has most of the lube is squeezed out where the ball engages the rifling. 

[Joe S]

Neatsfoot oil or mink oil are good for many weeks.  At least.  Powder contamination does not seem to be an issue with these lubes.

[Daryl]

I use Neetsfoot oil for a hunting lube now. It's not expensive and remains a lube for a long time.  My .69 has been loaded now for 3 weeks. It will go off perfectly when I need it to and the ball will hit to the sights. This I know from past experience.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

When I load up for hunting, it is in a clear barrel.  I don't use any lube at all on the patch - just a dry patch.  It goes down easily 'cause there's no fouling.  Now, having fired that round into Bullwinkle, I load with an oil lubed patch ready for a quick second shot.  If I don't use it, I hunt for the rest of the day, or spend it dragging 1000 pounds of meat to camp.  but that evening, before I go to bed, I pull that round, or fire it off, and clean the rifle.  Then I reload, again with a dry patch, before I retire.  There is enough oil in the cleaned barrel to make loading the dry patch no more difficult than a lubricated one.  And the powder is in no danger of contamination.

[bones92]

D. Taylor Sapergia,

That is precisely what I have been contemplating, as well.  A dry patch won't foul the powder. 

Although, I'd probably be tempted to run a very lightly lubed patch down the bore after the dry-patched ball is loaded, just to have a thin coat on the bore surface.

[Naphtali]

As you almost certainly notice, I have not shot patched RBs in the past, only SPG-lubed conicals in my muzzleloaders. (The patched RB I fired from an original Hawken was loaded by the owner, so it doesn't really count.) Since my one of my two 72s will be completed in a few months, I decided to try it with RBs. I mean, what the heck. Five hundred forty grains is "sufficient" for whatever I might hunt in Montana.

I thank every person who replied for showing the potential problem I thought existed, in fact, does not exist.

[Topknot]

I use the Dutch  Schultz  method and have left mine loaded for extended periods of time in a clean unfired barrel and have never had a problem .

                                                      topknot

[T*O*F]

How do you think the old timers did it originally?  They kept their guns loaded all the time and behind or over the door.  One side of a patch was rubbed with tallow and loaded down.  The other side was dry.  Why does everything have to be rocket science with all these super concoctions that are better than everyone else's?

[Daryl]

I hadn't thought of using a dry patch as Taylor says he loads.  I've not had trouble with powder contamination in the past.  I expect a couple grains of powder might become oil-dampened, but that's about it. I use enough powder that I do not miss whatever "Might" or even has become contaminated.
I concur, Dave, but overthinking everything seems the SOP today.

[Arcturus]

I'm with T*O*F.  Rub some of your favorite animal fat on a patch and load it.  It worked three centuries ago and still does.  If one is really worried about powder contamination, it's a simple matter to load a thin disc of some kind atop the powder before sending the ball home, though it's not really necessary.

[longcruise]

Some things I have loaded and left loaded in excess of three weeks (some for months) and had no problem with ignition or POI

TC 1000+
corn oil
castor oil
crisco/beeswax
crisco alone
Dutch's dry lube

Too much of any of them could probably be a problem.

[smylee grouch]

I have not had a problem with just about every method discussed so far and have tried just about all of them. I used a dry patch in a clean bore for several seasons and seemingly had same point of impact or close enough. I also tried lubing the outer cecumferance of the patch and not the center where the ball would go against the powder, it worked too but seemed to be alot of xtra rig-mar-ol for the perceived benefit.

[One Eye]

Mink oil from TOW and a dry felt over powder wad has worked great for me.
One Eye

[Vomitus]

   I've had good success with Neetsfoot oil as a hunting patch.  I also take some NFO and mix it in with WWW fluid for my target/plinking load. The JP Beck shot the same with the target combo as it did with the hunting patch. Got lucky, I guess.

[Darkhorse]

I've been ML hunting for 39 years now. Early on, all I used was Crisco. No problems leaving it loaded for a week or more.
Had some problems with Wonder Lube. Quit using it.
TOW Mink Oil, no problems with leaving it loaded a week or more.
This year it's back to Original Lehigh Valley for both a patch lube and rust preventer during the hunting season. Afterwards it's back to Chambers Heavy Oil.
The Lehigh Valley will seem to dry out. But there remains a coating on both patch and bore. I've poured my powder in without running a patch through the barrel. No problem.
I recovered a patch after being loaded several days. No signs of burning or tearing. It does seem to shoot higher with the LHV.
80 grains 3F, .530 Round ball and .0175 Pillow Ticking.

[elk killer]

bear grease  ;D

[Dphariss]

If there is a patch lube that retains its lubricity and sufficient liquidity to be effective several days after being loaded, please identify it.

I'm pretty sure that if such a patch lube exists, it is not the complete "answer." What is missing is how to isolate such a lubed ball from contaminating the propellant, since the two will be in intimate proximity for those "several days." About the only ways I can think of are to use an over powder card of hard cardboard and/or several vegetable fiber wads to keep powder and lubricant isolated from each other.

Whether or not such loading is a good idea is not really my question - which is, if it can be done, how?

Well refined beef tallow. Or A patch lightly oiled with Neatsfoot Oil. Or Sperm Whale oil. Never saw a significant level of contamination and i have bot shot and pulled loads that were left loaded for several months.
People need to do some testing. Find what works. DO NOT use modern patch lubes and BP solvent lubes since many are mostly water and at best will dry out.


Dan

[Hungry Horse]

 It's hard to beat a mixture of venison, or mutton tallow, with a little  bear grease, or oil, warmed up so they make a lube about the consistency of shoe polish. Unlike some of the other lubes mentioned the flash point of this mix is quite high. Even in hundred degree whether I've never seen a smoldering patch.
 You will have to ramp up the oil in cold hunting situations, because tallow really locks up in the cold.

     Hungry Horse

[Dphariss]

I'm with T*O*F.  Rub some of your favorite animal fat on a patch and load it.  It worked three centuries ago and still does.  If one is really worried about powder contamination, it's a simple matter to load a thin disc of some kind atop the powder before sending the ball home, though it's not really necessary.

The animal fat needs to be free of salt or other contaminates  for use on or in firearms. This is why I boil tallow three times with the tallow allowed to cake then changed to clean water a boil again.

Dan

[Daryl]

I used to use a card wad between the loaded patched ball and the powder charge. After leaving my rifle loaded for 3 to 4 months -can't remember just how long, but discharged it after Christmas and it was loaded in Sept.

The charge manifested itself as if with a fresh load and hit centre on the "sighter" board, right on the sights. It did not foul, so the Neestfool oil did it's thing. I carried on shooting the "Trail" as if the gun was clean to start, and it was clean, merely having a charge in it, sitting for that length of time. Made no difference.

I stopped using a card after this as there appeared to be no problem with a simply Neetsfoot oil lubed patch.  I did find though, in the smaller rifles ike the .40 and .45, that a card between the patched ball and powder reduced the accuracy by about an inch at 50 yards, meaning the normal load opened to about 1 1/2", still within decent parameters for a hunting load. I did not work up a load for the waded load, although I am sure a bit more or perhaps a bit less powder would have done the trick.

[Topknot]

As Dan said earlier, do some tests to prove to yourself what works for extended periods of time. I have been doing such tests for the last few years with great success. This past year I have kept my deer rifle loaded one full year and when I shot it at a target , It hit where I was aiming. I then inspected the barrel and every thing was bright and shinny just as it was when I had first loaded it. My load consists of 75 grains of triple 7 and .25 denim patch cut at the muzzle. My patches were lubed by the Dutch Schultz method. Like I said earlier that I have gradually creeped up on this over the last few years and It works beautifully .
Ps  We have all heard what the EXPERTS say about triple seven being somewhat corrosive on barrels. I have proved to myself that it is not. that is if it is loaded like I have loaded. just my opinion and experience.

                                                                                topknot

                                                                               

[Mike Brooks]

I have used several things with good result. Wonder lube. Also a home made concoction of deer tallow and bear grease. Always shot to point of aim even after weeks of being loaded.