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Crisco for Round Ball?

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One has to ask what you are going to do with the gun. Plinking, woods walks, novelty shoots, hunting changing lube is not worth a hill of beans. Shooting hard competition lube can be the difference between 44 1 x and 49 2x

So true!

I think almost any lube can be worked on with a focus on accuracy and a final good result. There's a lot more to it than a couple three shot groups!
 
Good old fashioned spit works great. It's free. easy to apply, accurate, and keeps you shooting all day, and you never have to worry about forgetting it at home or running out. It's also non-toxic, fat free and tasty.
 
Good old fashioned spit works great. It's free. easy to apply, accurate, and keeps you shooting all day, and you never have to worry about forgetting it at home or running out. It's also non-toxic, fat free and tasty.
But saliva has been shown to cause cancer.... but only is swallows in small amounts over long periods of time.
 
I did a good bit of testing with several lubes, Crisco didn't do well. what I ended up finding worked best as far as accuracy was for me was to saturate my patch material in straight ballistol, let it dry. then when I load I spit patch it. it is deadly accurate and the patches are perfect and I can shoot them again with no problem if I want to,,,,,,,,,
 
I used spit patch for years and results were very good. Later I tried Crisco and used it until I eventually discovered Hoppes BP Lube. Hoppes is my standard for all shooting outside hunting, mink oil for that use. I've even used plain water when shooting shot after shot. I say, if it works then use it.
 
Where hunting is concerned, I've used TOTW mink oil, mutton tallow, bore butter, Crisco, and maybe others which I've forgotten.

I've settled on Crisco as the best choice for me. Super accurate, easy reloads, inexpensive, easy cleanup, and a lower freezing point than the others. It just works great for me.

I used it this past Saturday again and took a buck with the load. It's a topic in the hunting section now.

The load hit right where I wanted and the insurance load went down bore very smoothly. I've especially had troubles with the mink oil reloads when it's cold.

Best regards, Skychief.
 
I shot my 40 cal mountain rifle today. I had it sighted in at 50yds I decided to take it out to 80yds. I was using .395 RB with .018 pillow ticking. it was soaked and dried in ballistol then spit patched when loaded. I was using 55gr. of 3F goex. the 4 shot group at the right was the first shots, I adjusted and was to far left and brought it back a bit. the ones in the red is the group after sight in. the thing is this power shoots tighter at 80yds than at 50! these were off a bench,,,,,,,,,,,,,
zZteZVnl.jpg
 
Thanks for the great information. Now I am about 15 shots into the muzzleloading hobby / addiction. I have a .50 Kentucky flintlock I put together from a Traditions kit, and just purchased a CVA .50 cal Hawken rifle (cap lock).
I found a great group of people to shoot with, so hoping to learn more on the journey.
Thanks
Jeremy
 
Crisco was used over the ball in percussion revolvers to prevent chain fires,

Once or twice until the Crisco melted, made a big mess.
Actually, if you use the proper size round ball in your revolver, you don't need Crisco or anything else over the chamber mouth. You're shaving a 0.001 to 0.002 ring off the ball when you load it.
No sparks or flame is getting past the ball. Not when the clearance of the ball to chamber wall is absolute zero.

I would't and haven't used Crisco or any other cooking oil or grease for a patch lube. It burns.
Try some ChapStix instead. (yeah, the same stuff you put on chapoed lips) won't burn, works great.

Fact is, two of the more popular (and most expensive) patch lubes are naught but tubs of re-labled ChapStix!
I think the Buffalo Bullets lube is one of them.
 
i am new to muzzle loading. I have a .50 cal Kentucky rifle by Traditions. I am using .490 ball and pillow ticking (.015) patch. I was wondering about lubing the patch with crisco. Is that an issue?
Thanks
Jeremy Bays
I use balistol as a lubricant. I works well and partially cleans the barrel. Bill
 
I can understand using Ballistol for lube, and cleaning, but to use Ballistol and then spit patch it I don't buy. I don't think I'd want that in my mouth!
 
Just asking because for a spit patch I usually put the patch in my mouth while I am pouring the powder.
 
From the Ballistol MSDS, but I still wouldn't put it in my mouth.

"Non-Toxicity
In experiments with rats and rabbits the animals' entire intestinal tract and stomachs were filled with Ballistol. The animals showed signs of uneasiness. After the Ballistol had been evacuated from their bodies as provided for by nature, the animals without exception appeared to be in excellent condition and showed no adverse prolonged side effects. It was not possible to establish an LD 50.
Ballistol does not contain ingredients considered hazardous by OSHA. It does not contain any ingredients, which normally may be considered harmful or fatal if swallowed, BUT DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING, ASPIRATION CAN OCCUR. CONSULT A PHYSICIAN IMMEDIATELY. It does not contain any ingredients which may be toxic for warm-blooded organisms, reptiles or aquatic organisms, if used as directed. However, Ballistol may kill small insects such as aphids, mites, chiggers, ants, termites, spiders or wasps etc. by mechanically clogging up their respiratory systems, as most oils will. "
 
By the way, with an untreated strip of patching material, I put the end of the strip in my mouth to moisten the material. Saliva moistened or spit upon patch, same thing for all practical purposes. Actually the material in the mouth is more likely to get the same amount of moisture in the patch material.

I have a small bottle of the seven parts water to one part water soluble oil that I use to moisten the patch material before I load the ball and cut the patch at the muzzle.
 
I top off the chambers of my revolvers with Bore Butter. No to very little fouling and the powder mess practically just wipes off of the gun. I would imagine it would work great in a rifle?
 
I think the butter flavor is salted. Hope he was telling a story or instead of swearing by the butter flavored Crisco, he will be swearing at it. Hope he cleans his gun really good and doesn't leave a buttery patch loaded for any period of time.
 
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