Black powder lube

[Will]

Since I know we have many lube experts here I thought it would be a good place to ask.
I have always shot inline muzzleloaders loaded with sabots and a jacketed or cast bullet. As of recently I got the itch to try a traditional muzzleloader.
I just bought a 54cal TC renegade and a 50 cal TC hawken. I do not have much knowledge about shooting these style muzzleloaders. I remember when I was really young Dad killed a few deer with TC maxi balls lubed with bore butter.
I would like some recommendations on patch lube and also conical bullet lube. There are all kinds of recipes online but I'm not sure where to start. Some think less is more with a patch lube and use ballistol cut with water.
My goal for these is to eventually just shoot paper patched cast bullets in it. I also am gonna try my hand at making my own black powder.
If no one is against it I will post some results here. (Not sure if there's much interest in black powder shooting or not)
Well that was long winded to ask for help with a lube. Guess I'm just a little excited about the new project.

 

[RBHarter]

The various ratios of olive oil and bees wax seem to make the top of most "traditionalist" lists .
With that said I've shot most of 2 tubes of bore butter and used up almost all of the store bought bore butter RB patches . My intention is to move to olive bee when the bore butter is gone . I went to a meet ,a social gathering really, and shot an 1858 Remington Army by Pieta all day with olive oil damp wads and ownself screen powder ,16 or 17 reloads no swab no cleaning . Alternate cylinders were slathered with bore butter just to keep the base pin free . I don't have any real data except the advice and coaching from the guys on gunslingers gulch . It is a great bunch that is very knowledgeable ,but also rather socially course with marginal vocabulary especially when it comes to poly ticks .
Back on track . My personal best has been 9 shots w/o bore swabs in a traditional style cap lock, the accuracy was very poor past shot #4 but it wasn't great with the maxi balls to begin with.
I've made several batches of ownself powder and find that 130 gr by loose fill volume delivered the same numbers as 90 gr of FFg Goex or 80 of RS Pyrodex . I have a puck press and ceramic burr grinder so a batch corned ownself is on the horizon also .
I have a cap maker on the wish list .....$80/1000 is hard to swallow for caps .

I shoot two 58's ,an Army and a Navy and recently acquired a Dragoon . I have 1 each Flint and caplock darengers and 4 Hawkins style rifles . Each of them came with "stuff" so using up supplies with a normal range trip being 20-30rounds 50 maybe with 2 rifles and 2 pistols and/or revolvers is a work out .

I'm always game to hear and see how the shooting goes .

 

[300BLK]

I've not found anything that works better on patches than Lehigh Valley lube. I can shoot all afternoon without fouling issues or losing accuracy.

Saliva is about as simple as it gets. Crisco is what I used back in the '70s, and palm oil will work nicely about 50F. I try to avoid water based lubes for hunting in cold weather, so will use mink oil for that.

 

[Ian]

Rendered Grizzly bear oil. Squoze him myself. Best boot lube and patch lube in the universe. Drives dogs crazy. Gojo creme hand cleaner works pretty well for a patch lube too.

 

[Brad]

For patch lube I generally used Vaseline hand lotion. Mixed roughly 50-50 with Hoppes 9+ I could shoot all day with no troubles. I know many who used hand lotion straight.

 

[yodogsandman]

Anyone remember the plastic patches that were used with RB's in the 70's. Kind of shaped like a small soft boiled egg dish with a hollow base and half round top for the RB to fit into. I used them in my TC .45 cal Patriot pistol. Otherwise, I'd use just Hoppes#9+ on the patch.

Tough to beat TC Bore Butter for Maxi Balls. I like the evergreen scented that comes in the soft squeeze tube. Check out Pat Marlins Lubers for these.

Both your TC rifles should be 1 in 48 twist and will shoot both equally well.

 

[300BLK]

Poly patch, eh? They reputedly didn't hold the ball in place and could cause barrel ringing. There is a more modern version that holds the ball, but I don't recall the name.

I have TCs in 50 and 54cal, and the 54 wil outshoot the 50 any day of the week with patched roundball. The 50 shoots sabots like a lazer.

 

[JWFilips]

I used Mutton Tallow /Bees wax /with Bayberry wax. Years ago Goex wanted to buy my recipe.( in the 90's) I sent samples to their international shooting team! It was well liked but they could not procure large economical supply of Mutton tallow in the USA so it needed to be imported from Australia !
That ended up being a deal breaker!
While I don't shoot much Flintlock Muzzleloader any more I still make up a small batch from time to time! if you want my formula and Sources just
Conversate Me! ( I think that is what it is called here)
Jim