I know slipperiness impacts velocity. After that, I don’t understand why some lubes are better than others IF each lube keeps some consistency across commonly encountered temperatures. I’ve used sunscreen when I had nothing else, for hunting. Loaded nicely.
Other tasks performed by lubes include keeping fouling soft and ensuring bore conditions are consistent shot-to-shot, without contaminating the powder charge. Some lubes do a better job of that with one powder than another ( e.g. I have problems with the build-up of a hard ring of fouling when shooting Swiss, if the patches are lubed with neatsfoot oil; switching to olive oil will usually "stretch" the number of shots before that happens, but I have to tweak the powder charge a bit to retain the same POI). But yeah, almost anything even slightly lubricous will work for one shot, or just a few shots.
V. M. Starr's solution to this in his shotguns was to use dry wads. After loading the shot but before seating the over-shot wad, he'd spit down the barrel onto the shot. It worked for him, and still works today (with the added benefit of eliminating the competitors who get the swoons at the very idea!).
I've fired entire aggregates with neatsfoot oil without problems, and it is consistent across a broad temp range. Olive oil will do about the same. Jojoba oil works well, but it can be hard to source a consistent product. Some of the commercial mink-oil leather dressings seem to change occasionally, judging by their melting points. I know match shooters who swear by Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotion. Petroleum-based lubes are easily available but tend to cause fouling problems.
Castor oil and cod-liver oil work for match shooting, but I don't use them when hunting. I've seen deer when they notice the strange scent: their eyes dart around and they get a bit jumpy.
One things good lubes have in common is consistency and availability. I mostly use neatsfoot oil because it is generally available, and remarkably consistent. Same with olive oil, if you use the same brand of "extra-virgin olive oil"; other grades, and between brands, aren't as consistent.
If range conditions are not what you were expecting, and fouling buildup makes it hard to load, you can "tallow" the barrel each shot. After loading but before firing, run a patch lubed with your patch lube (but a little wetter than usual) on a snug jag down to the ball and back out. This will give you consistent shot-to-shot bore conditions, but you may want to fire the first tallowed shot as a sighter to see if your POI has changed.
