Shenandoah Lube

[Daryl]

OK- many months have passed since we've been unable to buy LeHighValley lube. Has anyone tried this stuff yet?  What about the Hodgdon or Hornady Solvent and Preservative? Both of these, the Shen. product and the Horn/Hodgdon's come in the same bottle as the old LHV. So- who's tried it and with what ball and patch?

[BrownBear]

I bought a bottle of the Shenandoah and have tried it some, but not systematically.  I'm more inclined to my own tallow-based lube or other "greases" than to liquids, so it's certainly not an informed comparison with my old bottle of LeHigh.  I just never used the Lehigh much as a patch lube either.

With that as a preamble, I gotta say I can't tell the difference between them, either as a lube or for periodic bore swabbing.  I'd bet it's going to take some long bench sessions and maybe a chronograph to find any difference, because in offhand shooting to 50 yards I see no difference between Shenandoah and LeHigh in POI, fouling or patch condition.  I haven't tried loading either one, then letting the gun sit overnight, much less all day, to check for ignition.  But that's the root of my nervousness about the liquids anyway.  That and packing a squirt jug of lube on hunts rather than a very small tin of grease.

So I'm certainly not the one to offer any definitive answers.  But if my limited "tests" are any indicator, bring the benchrest and the chronograph if you're looking for differences.

Edit:  I reread and see that you asked for calibers and loads.  This was done over several range session, basically with whatever rifles I had along at the time.   So far I've done it with 3 different 58 cal cappers and loads ranging from 80-100 grains of Goex 3f, pillow tick patches and .562 balls; a single 54 cal capper with .530 balls, pilow ticking and 90 grains of 3f; a 50 cal flinter with .490 balls, ticking and 80 grains of Goex 3f; and, a 50 cal capper, .490 balls, ticking and 80 grains of Goex 3f.

One last edit:  I forgot to say that I also tried Hoppes #9 Plus as a lube and bore swab alongside the Shenandoah and LeHigh.  I couldn't tell any difference between the three of them, so write me off as an unsophisticated tester of liquid lubes.

[Hank*in*WV]

I've tried Shen. lube in my .40 Rice barrel, round bottom rifleing. It shot to POI just as well as LVL but after awhile it started getting a little tougher to load. Got to admit it wasn't an exhaustive test. I'll have to go out with it a couple of more times to see how it does.

[bob in the woods]

I'm sticking with bear oil.  Season opens Sept 1st. I need to restock!

[Daryl]

Thanks guys.  Pretty much the info I was looking for.  In long term storage with a loaded barrel, Taylor found some rust at the patch. Seems the LHV evapourated, then absorbed moisture at that point.  The rest of the bore didn't rust, though, which I found interesting. Use of Hoppes # 9 plus showed no such rust. We seem unable to get the Hoppe's here any more - unfortunate. Back to mink oil for hunting.

For range shooting, I/we use pre-cuts & pre/lubed in tins, carried in the hunting bag. Simple and easy. Back to the windshield/washer fluid - just bought another bottle of -35F fluid for mixing up another batch. Couple ounces of soap and it's done.  I can lube the ptches in the tin the day before shooting and they stay wet all day. No buildup of fouling with this stuff, spit or LHV - ever.

[BrownBear]

I keep hearing about the windshield washer fluid, and will have to give it a try.

In reading your description of your hunting strategy, it occurs to me that I'm also using prelube patches.  On hunts I "load at the muzzle" into a loading block.  The tallow-based lube holds up real well in the block, basically all season long and until I get around to loading and shooting the balls in the block.  I've been guessing that the various liquid lubes would evaporate before long, and that, more than anything else has kept me from using them in my hunting loads. 

[Harnic]

We seem unable to get the Hoppe's here any more - unfortunate.

Wow!  I'm glad I grabbed a couple pints of Hoppe's 9+ last spring!  I like it a lot.  Works better than Crisco/beeswax mix & is a LOT less messy!

[Daryl]

I like the windshield washer fluid for target shooting, trails and such.  It's quick and easy, cheap - $3.00 per gallon pluss a squirt or two of soap.  It soaks into the patches quickly too, shoots well - not too many faults.  You'd not use it for hunting as rust and drying would happen - but - it does keep the bore fouling soft from the previous shot while cleaning as you load the next. I prefer to use LHV or Hoppe's 9 Plus- but alas - it's not to be found.  While Hoppe's works well as a lube in all my guns, it still doesn't deliver the shot to shot velocity constancy that spit or water (WWFluid) based lubes do.  No 'prepared' lube does, except WWFluid comes closest.  I found spit to remain supreme in regards uniformity.

  I just don't 'lick' the patch & cal that lubed, but let them soak up a saturation level of spit prior to loading.  When using spit, I have 2 or 3 pre-cuts in my mouth all the time, replacing one used with another while loading.  Having one in the mouth actually helps the saliva glands keep producing.  I wash patching twice, 1st time with soap and the second, a full 'wash' cycle without soap - heavy rinse, I guess you'd call it.

heh, heh,heh - didn't hit 'caps' and got 4 instead of $

[Leatherbelly]

 Daryls,
   you need to look around,I get mine for 2.99 a gallon.

[billd]

That must be a Canadian price.
Bill

[Canute Rex]

I have a couple of bottles of the Shenandoah Lube and have been using it alternately with Permatex hand cleaner. No difference in POI, as far as I can tell. The Permatex seems better in terms of keeping the ramming force low over a number of shots. I like the Shenlube as a cleaner. Both dry out overnight in the loading block. My impression is that cleanup goes faster after using Permatex.

[T*O*F]

I like the windshield washer fluid for target shooting, trails and such.

WW solvent is just water with methly alcohol added to keep it from freezing.  It usually says what the freezing point is on the bottle.  The summer stuff has less alcohol.  You can make your own using a hydrometer to control the mix.

A blue dye is added.  Look around the solvent bottle on an old car to see what the long term results of that are.

[Harnic]

If I ever try home-brew lube again, it'll be my old hunting lube, 3 parts Crisco to 1 part beeswax.

[billd]

I'm using Shen now since I ran out of LV a few months ago. For me Shen shoots just as good but it doesn't protect from rust as long as LV.

I had a 6" piece of a getz barrel lying around. I liberally coated one end with LV and the other end with Shen and set it aside . About a week later the end with LV had a wax like coating and the end with Shen had sort of cyrstalized, hard to describe but a translucent white crusty coating, like frost. A few days later I found the Shen end starting to rust, the LV end still waxy.

Bill

[Daryl]

Thanks guys - I use WW fluid as it's easy to mix up and works wel for target shooting. So does spit. The Shen. product I saw at Dixons was in glass bottles, not plastic, so I didn't buy any for testing due to shipping problems.

The new .32 flinter will likely see only spit, and maybe something else for hunting if I use it for bunnies in the winter.