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Homebrewed lube mix w/tallow

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Gatofeo’s #1 lube is a traditional outside lubricated bullet recipe from the late 1800’s and published in a magazine in the 40’s IIRC. Out of all of the lubes he said he tried this worked the best, and it works on felt wads, my revolver bullets, my rifle conicals, and I’ve been told on patches for PRB.

By weight it is 1 part mutton tallow, 1 paraffin wax (Gulf Wax), and 1/2 part beeswax.
 
Dave I like melted beeswax "cut" with melted fat...lard (unsalted) or tallow in a 1:2 ratio. On the hottest days I like a 50:50 mix. For conicals I like 3:2 Beeswax to lard or tallow...usually tallow on bullets as it has a higher melting temp than lard, so it's a lot stiffer.

LD
 
I believe it was Dixie Gun Works used to list equal parts beewax, mutton tallow and unsalted lard (or Crisco) by volume heated to melt and blended.

I use mutton tallow and beeswax 50/50 as a lube to roll the edges of my shot wads in. That would be too thick for patch lube in our winters here.
 
Thanks for the thoughts folks. I should have mentioned beef tallow is what I have. Rendered it from trimmings a friend (meat-cutter) saved for me. Possible use, patch lube for rifle and ball lube for cap n ball.
Dave
 
Thanks for the thoughts folks. I should have mentioned beef tallow is what I have. Rendered it from trimmings a friend (meat-cutter) saved for me. Possible use, patch lube for rifle and ball lube for cap n ball.
Dave
I rendered some deer tallow and while its a bit stiffer than others, it worked just fine as a patch lube.
 
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I use to use Mutton tallow with bees wax and paraffin mix and I would get hard crud ring just above the ball seat now with 100% mutton (melted in double boiler patching dipped and extra squeezed out)no hard ring and now great groups
 
Beeswax and paraffin wax are...well they should be imo.... a thing of the past. I never understood the reason behind using something as nasty as wax in your bore.
 
Beeswax and paraffin wax are...well they should be imo.... a thing of the past. I never understood the reason behind using something as nasty as wax in your bore.

Like all things, often the manner in which something is used is more important than what is used.
 
There are 100's if not thousands of lube recipes and they all work for someone, and don't work for others. This fact tells us at least two things about lubes.
1. Their performance is highly subjective.
2. That they all perform essentially the same function.
Knowing this, I always question what it is about a lube that makes someone like or dislike it.
 
There are 100's if not thousands of lube recipes and they all work for someone, and don't work for others. This fact tells us at least two things about lubes.
1. Their performance is highly subjective.
2. That they all perform essentially the same function.
Knowing this, I always question what it is about a lube that makes someone like or dislike it.

For me it was that it was a very old traditional lube, but also that Gatofeo claimed to have tried most everything else out there and found this to work best. Honestly I’ve tried very little, but then, as this has worked on felt wads, on pistol bullets, and on REALs, and supposedly also works on patches too, I’ve found no reason to try anything else when this works wonderfully and I can make it myself. Wonderful is hard to beat.
 
So the use of Bee's wax does not leave a waxy substance in the bore that is hard to remove and causes more fouling with each shot? I would like to try it in smoothbores with olive oil or peanut oil.
 
Don't use peanut oil. My recommendation. use olive oil or animal fat, beeswax will not leave a nasty residue.
olive oil is recommended.
 

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