Lubing Wads

[California Kid]

What do you guys use for lubing your cushion wads for a Fowler or shotgun.
Anybody try a moose milk type lube for use at the range?

[Dave K]

I use olive oil. I used to use Veg. oil and it worked good as well. The olive oil does not get the smell to it that veg. oil can get. I put all the cushions I will use in a tub of olive oil to soak,then dip them out and allow them to drain of any extra oil. I place all these in a zip lock baggy. I do shoot allot while hunting, but I made up so many a few years back I have not had to make up any for a few years now. All of my fiber cushions are cut down to about 1/4" thick, as it give me better patterns.

[markwi]

I have been using Crisco, so far so good. I shoot with guys that use moose milk and they like it. Mark

[T*O*F]

I have been using Crisco, so far so good.

I put just enough Crisco into a skillet to be 1/2 the thickness of the wad deep.  The heat should only be hot enough to melt the Crisco, no hotter.  Throw in a couple of handfuls of wads and scramble them around a bit.  Stack them on several thicknesses of newspaper and put several more thicknesses on top with a baord and a weight.  Let em sit for about an hour and place in a zip lock. (I am talking about fiber wads, not felt or hard cards)

Once melted, Crisco never rehardens.  Even after having drained and pressed them, oil will still ooze out in hot weather.  One other advantage is that after they get a bit old, they will disintegrate at the muzzle.  If you want it to smell like popcorn when fired, use the butter flavored Crisco.

[JCKelly]

The Modern Guys, i.e. percussion revolver shooters, have been known to lube their over-the-powder-under-the-ball wool felt wads with a mix of,  by weight, 1 part parafin (the stuff for canning at grocery store) 1 part mutton tallow (from Dixiegunworks) 1/2 part beeswax. Understand it was published in American Rifleman 1943, resurrected by one "Gatofeo" on another forum. Less messy than Crisco, as good or not I don't know.

[rifle]

I'm the one that first posted the formula using beeswax/paraffine wax and mutton tallow in equal amounts for use in making "lube pills" or lubing wool wads. I posted the formula to help people get a simple easy formula for the lubing of cap&ball revolvers. I posted on several forums for years(till the lube pills were accepted and their use spread)about the virtues of "The Lube Pill" over the powder and under the ball in the cap&ball revolvers. I wasn't the first to share the use of grease cookies in cap&ball revolvers or the use of lube/wax saturated into wool wads. Elmer Kieth probably was the first to share that in print in his book "Six Guns". He used wool from old hats to make wool wads and saturated them in some type of lube. I'm not sure if he put the lubed wads over or under the balls though.  Anywhooo......that's besides the point and who cares right?
All I want to say is that that formula (beeswax/paraffin wax/mutton tallow) is for use in cap&ball revolvers where the lube has to be solid to be able to be used without rendering the powder charge  useless for being mixed with soft lube. A lube pill (grease cookie) has to solid enough to be handled. The wool wads have to be lubed with solid lube so the lube isn't squeezed out into the powder.
Using that above formula in a shotgun bore would work but probably not well. Using mutton tallow alone (without the wax) saturated into the cushion wads would be better. You know the lube would be kept off the powder by the over powder card that would be under the cushion wad.
I've read that mutton tallow is a fine lube to use with blackpowder and it seems to work well for me. I couldn't say it works better than plain ole olive oil. Olive oil is cheaper and easier to find though.

[Daryl]

Further to JCKelly's post- beeswax (natural) is superior to parafin (petroleum based) when used in BP firearms. We found this when using both in Ctg. guns.

As to Elmer's use of lube soaked felt (hat) wads, the lube he used was deer tallow mixed with beeswax and the lubed wad was placed between the ball and the powder. The powder was a cylinder-full, with room for the wad and ball, of course.  For different locals with different climates, one will have to experiment with the amount of beeswax, which hardens the lube.  it must be soft enough for the powder to turn it into a lube to soften the fouling, yet be hard enough not to spoil the powder charge.

Experimenting with a lube ball beneath the ball might be interesting and something worth pursuing.

[northmn]

Many use the old VM Starr method and use a souple of card wads which require no lube.  TOF's method works good for hunting wads.  When shooting trap, plain water on a thinner fiber wad was a good way to keep things a little cleaner for reloading.  Another very good lube for trap type shooting especially in cold weather is winshield washer fluid.  I now use no lube and card wads for hunting.

DP

[Daryl]

For the shot loads at your local rendezvous, Taylor used an 1/8" card over the powder, then a gob of spit (applied carefully, of course, then a fiber wad, then shot, then thin "B" wad.  His gun shot very cleanly and well. I used my 16 bore for the first 6 shots with 2 1/2 drams of 2F, then 1/8" card, then Track lubed wad, then 1oz. shot, then thin "B" wad in brass hulls.  This-too shot quite cleanly although my single miss was with this load- I merely shot behind the bird.  With Taylor's 15 bore Manton double, I missed no more birds. Due to it's 'fit' I wished I'd used it for the whole match of 10 shots.

I don't know what the lubed track wads are actually lubricated with, but they work well in my 16 Husky for both shot and round ball loads as well.

[California Kid]

Thanks for the replys. I have heard that the circle fly lubed wads that track sells are very good, but to me they are expensive. Will probably try olive or vegatable oil,, and maybe moose milk. I'm trying to figure out a way to lube just the edges of the wads to make them lighter. Maybe it doesn't make any difference?

[Dave K]

Yes, that does make sense. But the lube will migrate into the wad anyhow. I use the olive oil now, but used to use veg. oil. I cut all my cushions in 1/2, which is roughly 1/4" thick. I have no problems with the wads being too heavy and putting a hole in the pattern. You don't want the cushion wringing wet, you want it well drained. Let it drain and when they feel almost dry to the touch, but ooze a little lube when pinched between the fingers, they are perfect.

[James Rogers]

I split mine also. The best way I have found to get the edges saturated is to roll them in a  pan of shallow  beeswax/oil mixture and then split them.