over powder wads and olive oil ?

I have some untreated wonder wads from Oxyoke and I want to treat them with olive oil to load under REAL bullets.
What procedure do you guys use to treat them ? Dip or soak or etc.?

rebs said:

I have some untreated wonder wads from Oxyoke and I want to treat them with olive oil to load under REAL bullets.
What procedure do you guys use to treat them ? Dip or soak or etc.?

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Geez, I've seen all kinds of 'potions' suggested with ML'ing, but now, Olive Oil? Geez, some guy will be posting you need Extra Virgin or a specific brand. No offence, but, holy cow!

Olive oil has been used for a long time. I've used it since my entry into muzzleloading last year. I continue to use it exactly as the OP states because it works. Period. Have you tried it, @springfield art? If not, don't knock it. It's cheap, simple and effective. It's no different than all the bear grease, moose milk and the rest except that I can stop at the store and buy a bottle of olive oil off the shelf for cheap. I suppose you have something better, cheaper and more universally avalable?
I simply put a bunch of felt wads into a ziplock bag, drizzle some oil all over them and mildly agitate to give them a thorough coat.

wm (only slightly offended)

springfield art said:

Geez, I've seen all kinds of 'potions' suggested with ML'ing, but now, Olive Oil? Geez, some guy will be posting you need Extra Virgin or a specific brand. No offence, but, holy cow!

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You have got that right Springfield, all olive oil is not the same, holy cow all ya want, I have used olive oil all my hunting life. Not saying it is for you, just saying.

springfield art said:

Geez, I've seen all kinds of 'potions' suggested with ML'ing, but now, Olive Oil? Geez, some guy will be posting you need Extra Virgin or a specific brand. No offence, but, holy cow!

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olive oil and bees wax makes great patch lube. can make to the consistency your gun likes and good to go. guys been using it forever

springfield art said:

Geez, I've seen all kinds of 'potions' suggested with ML'ing, but now, Olive Oil? Geez, some guy will be posting you need Extra Virgin or a specific brand. No offence, but, holy cow!

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Where you been hiding cousin?
Your at least one decade out on here!

I put a small amount of olive oil in a small bowl, put in the wads and stirred them around, then spread them out on a piece of aluminum foil. they didn't dry out and are still soaking with olive oil. Maybe I have too much on them ?

Put them on a piece of paper towel and give them a quick press. If they aren't dripping you're good.
Leave 'em in the ziplock bag.

wm

springfield art said:

Geez, I've seen all kinds of 'potions' suggested with ML'ing, but now, Olive Oil? Geez, some guy will be posting you need Extra Virgin or a specific brand. No offence, but, holy cow!

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You're kidding,,,,,, right?

Next we'll hear that the Alamo fell because they ran out of Olive Oil!

rebs said:

I put a small amount of olive oil in a small bowl, put in the wads and stirred them around, then spread them out on a piece of aluminum foil. they didn't dry out and are still soaking with olive oil. Maybe I have too much on them ?

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Squeeze the surplus onto your dinner salad and you're good to go!

Interesting that someone whose ostensibly been here a while is bent on olive oil.
I just put the wads in a screw top tin with about 1/16 inch of olive oil in it. I shake it around every once in a while. Works for me with the sky chief method or otherwise. Just to cause great offense here, I also use it after cleaning my weapon or mix with bees wax for patch lube or on my barrel after cleaning.

I use pretty much nothing but olive oil for my patches and it works great.

For over powder wads I would be tempted to do a little soak and then squeeze out as much as you can do it's only lightly lubed.

springfield art said:

Next we'll hear that the Alamo fell because they ran out of Olive Oil!

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Nope, they had plenty, it was the overwhelming Mexican forces.
In fact, it was the olive oil that the Mexican general was really after!

Joking aside, they had a range of animal products available that was far more suitable to controlling fouling and preserving firearms that used BP.
Post ww2 children have grown up with petroleum products propelled with the supposed superior backing of science that anything else is but a joke or comical.

Agreed. Back in the late 1870's the Swiss Federal government formalised the mix of tallow and other naturally-derived lubricants to use not only as lubes, but also cleaning agents for their new breech-loading small-arms. Being Swiss, they adopted the natty title of 'waffenfett' - 'gun grease'. Catchy, huh?

They continued to use that, and NOTHING else, as lubricant, cleaner and preservative on ALL their small-arms until the adoption, in 1957, of a self-loading rifle. Due to the stresses and strains involved in the action, it was felt necessary to add a spiffy newly-developed ingredient that made it black and VERY messy in use.

Again, that great Swiss comedic trait came out, and since it was designed for automatic weapons, they gave it the catchy title of 'automatenfett' - automatic gun grease.

Here's the skinny from our dear and much missed friend of all things Swiss - Frank van Binnendijk - AKA Guisan - in answer to a question about the use and properties of the 'black stuff'...

..I don't think it's that simple, although the Molybdenum Disulfide is an important content it also has it's weak points as it binds with moisture and that is something we don't want in guns, the auto parts grease was made for cars and not for guns.
The PDF sheet reads that the grease is made to the armies requirements and it is not the complete recipe, it only lists viscocity, melting point, some of the ingredients and a few other things but that is more as we ever knew before.
Mike besides the old yellow grease I have nothing to compare it with so I don't know.
I found a little more also but that was less interesting...
www.lba.admin.ch/internet...ENFETT.pdf
It's more about how to clean it off and if toxic (not).

I have three Swiss unmentionables, one dates from 1914, and is a conversion of a 1900-made rifle, the other dates from 1944. The odd one out is a 300m match rifle that uses a 1954 action. All are utterly indistinguishable from new from one end of the barrel to the other - all kept like that using nothing more than *'sheep grease'.

*I have a 2.5kg tub of it, my widow can sell off whatever is left......

I have used olive oil on rifle patches with good results, but prefer a bit thicker lube like Mink Tallow. While I use olive oil saturated wads for my”over-shot wadding for my SkyChief loads in my smooth bore, I avoid using olive oil saturated and drained for over powder wads. Even with an over-powder card I find the olive oil seems to continue migrating even after excessive squeezing/draining…and don’t want to risk it reaching the powder over time. Additionally, while the olive oil add weights to the over “shot” wads to help avoid interfering with the patterns, the weight of an olive oil saturated over “powder” wad seems to produce occasional donuts in my patterns.

I use olive oil and beeswax blend (75/25) on my felt over powder wads.
Melt the mixture over low heat and dip the wads in for about 30 seconds to absorb. Set them on paper towels to air dry and put ‘em away.
When I load my rifle I can see just a bit being squeezed out of the felt. It helps keep the fouling soft.

One thing more, I think I see less leading on the barrel by using the oil soaked wad. Not sure if others have noted it.

if you want to completely saturate the wads with the olive oil, use your or somebody else's food saver with the jar vacuum attachment. put the wads in and pour some olive oil over them and turn the unit on. it will replace all the air in the wad with liquid.

Daryl Crawford said:

One thing more, I think I see less leading on the barrel by using the oil soaked wad. Not sure if others have noted it.

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I have yes