Crisco?

I think...

...Brian is relating things about as realistically as possible when he says, use what works for you.

I have kept my shortening (I can't really use the term "Crisco" any longer since I am using a cheaper generic substitutes) based lube for long periods of time ( a year or more) in my shooting box with no evidense that is it changing its chemical composition or physical properties. I think that may be due to the possibilty that mixing it with toilet donuts may stabilize the organic stuff. Pure shortening may go rancid but I could never get pure shortening to work anyway. Too runny in hot wx.

I don't see an accumulation of goop on the revolvers because I am pretty fastidious when it comes to cleaning.

I might add that along with the Cattleman I bought used yesterday was an almost full container of Thompson's Bore Butter. This pistol had not been handled in about ten years. All of the supplies that came with it had price tags that revealed that they were purchased a long time ago. (Hornady bullets for under ten bucks.)

Anyway, this bore butter has set up over this long period to the point where it is just about the same consistency as the bore lube I cook up myself. It is not like what I have purchased more recently which is like snot.

It still smells like a brothel but it might actually work.

Why in the name of heaven do they put perfume in Bore Butter?!
 
To overcome that natural stink of black powder that we all know and love so well?

It's a delightful and nostalgic burst of olfactory joy to myself. My wife says that it's like the ultimate fart.

Do you seriously use shortning and urinal cakes?

I love reading about all of the old creative ideas, and this one has got to be the most truly out there I've ever read. If it works, what the heck. I'd have been afraid to use it, concerned about salt, bleach, borax, etc, some ionic cleanser/disinfectant that might be added to it.

One of the craziest/most creative ideas I ever read was using wax dictaphone cylinders as bullet lube. the shooter was a writer/researcher, and he would keep his 1920s era dictaphone on hand rather than taking notes. He'd melt down the used cylinders for bullet lube. Did it work? :confused: Must have.
 
Brian....

....Not urinal cakes....

I am talking about the wax rings (which I affectionately call "toilet donuts") from under toilets.

About two of these rings combined with a standard size can of all vegetable shortening makes enough bore lube to fill three of the little plastic soup tubs that I get from the Chinese joint down the street. I love them. They are virtually indestructable. The lid goes on and seals like Fort Knox. It is completely waterproof. And the soup is good too.


These cups are completely indispensible to the black powder shooter.
I keep my bullets in them. I keep my cleaning patches in them. I keep my lube in them. In fact, I go out and buy stuff just to keep in them.

Any black powder shooter who does not have about half a dozen of these tubs should be horsewhipped. I can't help there because I don't have a horse.

Anyway....back to toilet donuts....

They run about a buck ninety seven at Home Depot. You have to use the ones which DO NOT have the black plastic form. That form is made of a very low density plastic which will melt at about the same temperature required to liquify the wax ring. (BTW...I know they are not wax). So two wax rings cost 3.94 plus tax. A can of shortening is about 2.39. That makes the equivalent of about three hundred bucks worth of Thompson's. I made a batch a year ago and I am not half way through it yet.
 
I see now. Yes, it's a wax. A very low grade of petroleum wax. It's a lot gunkier than beeswax, and does have pretty low melting point. You'll find it in a lot of really cheap outdoor candles, too.

After all of the toilets I've dealt with in my life, I'd rather grab a rabid rattlesnake than ever touch another of those gruesome things.

I'll bet that does make a great blend for over bullet gooping.

Have any of the people here ever used wax over powder wads in BP cartridges?

You used to be able to get sheets of wax. Warm them up a little, then press the sheet over the mouth of the cartridge, then seat your normally prepared lead bullet. Lots of people chose this method rather than conventionally lubed bullets.
 
Enough of this.

Top this. Here's the tub of Crisco I bought in 1979 after having acquired my first gun (SS 1858 Remington). Now, over THIRTY-TWO YEARS later, it is a bit translucent with a yellowish tint, is a little tackier than the Crisco I bought last month and smells like old socks. Would I eat it? No. Would I use it in my cap-and-ball revolvers? Yes, I have as recently as last year when I ran out of new stuff. Did I experience any trouble using it whatsoever? No.

I've already drawn my own conclusion.

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Now I know that canister's special purpose in life, and why I never threw it out- just for this thread in 2011:cool:
 
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After all of the toilets I've dealt with in my life, I'd rather grab a rabid rattlesnake than ever touch another of those gruesome things.
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I know that Doc isn't using used toilet rings to save money.

Now, if he was a trapshooter... :p :eek: :p
 
Andy....

....I thought about taking this in a humorous direction but I think I'll just let folks use their imagination.

I like humor but sometimes I get myself in trouble because humor doesn't transmit well on this one dimensional medium.

:)

To be square, I only use new rings.
 
model p, canned, oxygen free environment isn't the same as being a film on metalwork.

As I said, all organic oils harden, you can look at your pots and pans for proof. Look at your linseed oil cans. Saturated fats like crisco is are slower to crud up, while unsaturated fats have open points that oxidize or "gunk up" more readily.

To all the people who use crisco, more power to ya. If it works, it works. Myself, I will never suggest vegetable oils on metal because of the real risk of letting the stuff curdle on your metals. Doc has a good plan, I think, using the toilet rings to blend, as it will isolate the gunk and prevent forming a film.

Anyone of you can test this. wipe a heavy film of linseed oil on your wife's best cookie sheets, stick it in the oven on low, and wait for her to find it. Then go lube all of your firearms with melted crisco, to see if it works in long term storage.

I put this out here because it was a possible problem that I thought the OP should be aware of.

This whole issue is why Whale oil was the preferred product of gunsmiths and clock makers. Whale oil was practically immortal, and petroleum lubes are a product only perfected in the 20th century.
 
Lard oil used to be used by machinists. I don't think I'd use lard, either, but I'm sure that it has been used quite often.

Bill atkins, the old express rifles are sometimes loaded with either overpowder wads, or in many cases, cream of wheat. it's a lot les dense than meal, I imagine just plain wheat bran would function pretty well, too.
 
model p, canned, oxygen free environment isn't the same as being a film on metalwork.
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The lid has a big crack in it. LOL!

Anyone of you can test this. wipe a heavy film of linseed oil on your wife's best cookie sheets, stick it in the oven on low, and wait for her to find it. Then go lube all of your firearms with melted crisco, to see if it works in long term storage.
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Linseed oil isn't Crisco. LOL again!!

Take a bottle cap of gasoline and put a match to it and see what happens. Then go put motor oil in the oil pans of all your cars and see how it works. What the heck does that prove? Your problem is that you are making assumptions by comparing apples with oranges. Not all vegetable-based products exhibit the same properties, just as not all petroleum-based products are the same. I've already discovered that and no longer use olive oil to lube my cap-and-ball revolving pistols.
 
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I can tell ya this for a fact. Most petroleum based lubes when used as an overball lube leaves one gummy assed mess that's tough to clean out.
 
I think I'll just start using cooked grits for overball lube and just do my shooting during breakfast...or at least before I add the butter and salt. :D

I guess y'all would disapprove corned beef hash, but it does have saltpeter in it.
;)

As I said, all organic oils harden, you can look at your pots and pans for proof
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Um...maybe it's just my part of the country, but that film of cooked oil on iron pans supposed to be there- for protection and a non-stick surface. Talk about an angry southern feller when I found a friend that didn't know better trying to clean it off! :mad: It's called "seasoning," and that's what I thought was good, positive and wholesome not only for iron skillets, but also for the gun and barrel.

I guess I'm the only guy that's actually tried to season a barrel the same way an iron skillet is- in the oven with lard. I can say I really didn't see a difference in the way it shot at all, but it did improve loading- as it was a flintlock pistol.
 
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Bullet Lube/over ball grease defined.


Something slick and greasy to keep fouling soft.

Something sticky to keep slick stuff where you want it.

Something kinda hard to make slick-sticky stuff easier to handle.


Whatever you choose for these properties will probably work.

Generally accepted, organic based for black powder, petroleum based for smokeless, but not always.
 
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