love me gato feo, a fabulous lube for all venues of real black powder firearms. i used to use if for lubing bpcr/tr bullets but for the last few years i only paper patch, so i continue to use it as a traditional muzzleloader patch and wad lube.
as mentioned, its a three part concoction (by weight, not volume) that's homogenized double boiler style. the filtered beeswax and gulf canning wax are easy to get, not so these days for the mutton tallow that we used to get from DGW - no longer, though they claim it should again be available next year. it's the tallow that does yeoman amount of lubing, the rest are "binders" more or less, where additions and subtractions can change the final density of the lube and yet still work exceedingly well.
this lube is a 19th century firearm formula that was resurrected and redefined years ago by "mr. gato feto" and published his work with it on various firearms forums.
GATO FEO LUBEby weight, double boiler melted ...
1 part mutton tallow (dixie gun works)
1 part paraffin canning wax (gulf)
1/2 part filtered beeswax
"but isn't paraffin canning wax a petroleum product"?a chemist provided what seems a plausible answer:
PURE canning paraffin lacks the hydrocarbons found in other petroleum products.
apparently, these hydrocarbons are the offenders with black powder guns.
