Your Fav. Vegetable Oil for Making Lubes

Billy Boy,

But is grapeseed oil slippery?

I use oil of Olay

RanchRoper said:

Yup. Might be why I crave popcorn at the range,

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Hm. This idea may have more merit than appears at first snacky glance.

In a pinch, popcorn could be used in lieu of wasps nest, no? Gotta love dual purpose stuff.

Cottonseed oil is some pretty good stuff. I don't recall ever hearing it mentioned here. We use it during our fish fries. Cottonseed oil doesn't hold the fish flavor/smell as bad as other oils. It seems to work as well as olive oil for me.

Cottonseed Oil: Uses, Side Effects, and Possible Benefits
https://www.healthline.com/health/cottonseed-oil

50/50 Bees wax and extra virgin olive oil works well, and the oil wont go rancid.
In hotter climates maybe a bit less oil and a bit more wax for thickness!

Haven’t read all the post, so if already noted pardons. All vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature, Hydrogenated oils, such as Crisco, are solid at room temperature, as in not a pourable liquid, as are animal fats like lamb, pork or beef tallow. All my black powder lubes are bees wax based, so if I want a softer lube I add what ever vegetable oil is in the pantry, most often olive oil.
I don’t shoot many patched loads, none in rifles and only a few in single shot pistols.

It seems you gents are keying in on different things.

My main interest is lubricity, with a secondary interest being easy swabbing.

I am perplexed as to why high smoke point would be beneficial, as one would think the ideal scenario is that wharever you use allows easy loading, but then burns out when the trigger is pulled. Any residue left in the barrel could lead to errent shots. This is exactly why it's good practice to take a "fouling shot" last thing before you go hunting. It is on my hight power rufles as well. I clean my .270, and THEN take a shot to check zero. Then Im ready to hunt.

So wouldn't higher smoke point mean more residue left in the barrel after the shot? I will be curious to hear a well reasoned counterpoint on this.

Clearly the ideal doesnt exist, I just want to use that which is slick, and leave little after the shot. Just anecdotally, it would seem that organic stuff would be better at this.

If it wasn't, then we should all be using Kroil. But...barrel residue isnt just about the next shot, it's also about cleanup too.

Sentry44

Has anyone ever tried petroleum jelly???

I’m not sure high smoke point makes much difference unless you are using an extremely heavy load and easily combustible patch. Smoke point makes a difference when frying food.

As far as petroleum jelly some have probably used it but I would stay away from it as a patch lube because of petroleum products tendency to cause hard fouling.

TDM said:

Canola oil, no particular reason. Have used olive oil too, see no real difference between the two.

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less expensive. Undoctored first press olive oil is pricey

BlackRock52 said:

less expensive. Undoctored first press olive oil is pricey

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Yep, and if you buy cheap olive oil you never know what your actually have. The cheap brands are cut and diluted with various other vegetable oils.

To me, petroleum jelly is gonna be like the peanut butter Hornady puts on those PA conicals.

It's 'sticky' rather than 'slick.'

Hard to believe that would be a benefit for EITHER loading or swabbing.

Sentry44

All my BP shooting has been in California (in the 80s) and then last weekend here in TN on a balmy day. All I’ve ever used for lube is Crisco or Lard. Worked great. Might not when it’s 95 at the shoot, so beeswax looks like it might be in my future.

Cleanup magic has been a Tbsp of TSP in about a half gallon of hot water. Bing, bang, boom, clean as a whistle. Can’t forget to oil it up good after.

But, that’s with a hooked breech TC Hawken…. Gonna have to change up a little with the Kibler 40 FL I’m fixin’ to start shooting and find a different method.

If Jojoba oil is considered a vegetable oil then esterified jojoba or an ester of it is similar to Sperm Whale Oil which is no longer marketed. Rendered bear oil with beeswax is a home made favorite but neither are vegetable oil nor handy to come by in the grocer store aisles. Rubbing alcohol does have water in it. Will it dampen the powder when mixed with cooking oil, 50-50 mix?

beardedhorse said:

Will it dampen the powder when mixed with cooking oil, 50-50 mix?

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I often use 91% rubbing alcohol. Never 70%. Sometimes denatured alcohol but it increases the cost unnecessarily.

Given the water content, it needs to be shaken immediately before application. As to water/powder, the way I do it is; shake, apply and use when the alcohol has evaporated. The water goes away with the alcohol as it evaporates. The advantage of denatured alcohol is that it evaporates faster.

So, you can see that the alcohol is not a functioning aspect of the lube. It's only purpose is to spread the oil quickly and consistently. The ratio of oil to alcohol is to control the amount of oil remaining. This I took from Dutch's system.

My first experiments with this were with castor oil but my frugal bone said "try cooking oil" and results were the same.

If you want the slickness oil there is it’s Castor Oil.
But Super slick oil usually isn’t considered as the oil that makes for the best accuracy.
Thats why the zero slick spit patch and the dry lube system works so will for accuracy.
They provide some drag to the PRB to give time for the powder burning pressure to become more stable.

You don’t need a parachute to jump from an aircraft but you do need one to jump a second time.
A clean dry bore can be loaded with an un-lubed dry PRB and fired with great accuracy.
But you likely won’t be able to load again without a hammer with all the dry crusty powder fouling spoiling easy second loading.

Remember the patch lube sole purpose is to add softening to the powder fouling to allow subsequent reloading.
Patch lube doesn’t add to the accuracy of the load but can detract from the load’s accuracy if the wrong lube or incorrect amount of lube is used.

Were there any experiments with Teflon as a patch lube so years back? It doesn't qualify under a vegetable oil list of lubes but I know if was used on non stick pans and skillets in lieu of vegetable oils. Breaks down around 500 degrees Fahrenheit and is considered harmful to human health.

beardedhorse said:

Were there any experiments with Teflon as a patch lube so years back? It doesn't qualify under a vegetable oil list of lubes but I know if was used on non stick pans and skillets in lieu of vegetable oils. Breaks down around 500 degrees Fahrenheit and is considered harmful to human health.

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The minutemen used to offer Teflon patching but I don't see it on their site any more. In fact, there site has dropped a bunch of items. Maybe they have stuff that's not on their site. Could be a phone call would clarify.

https://minutemanproducts.us/

Canola oil is part of the mix.

N.Y. Yankee said:

Of all the different oils, Crisco, Corn, Canola, Olive, EV Olive, Peanut etc. etc., Im wondering, what is your favorite to use in making mixed lubes and why? What are the properties of the different oils that you are aware of?

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the cheapest olive oil that I can find. This is usually not a good oil for eating, so...,
IF not that then unsalted lard...
Just about all, or all, work fine with black powder
I mix mine warm with melted beeswax and allow it to cool and become a grease.

LD