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Home made patch lube/bore wipe

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Jim C

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Can someone tell me what the correct mix ratio is of castor oil and denatured alcohol to use as a patch lube, and or for bore wiping between shots? :stir:
 
I just lubed some patches using 5 parts DA to 1 part Caster oil after reading about it, but haven't tried them out yet. Once the DA evaporates it leaves a fairly dry feeling patch that is slick to the touch. Putting the mix into a bottle and shaking the heck out of it is required to get them to mix well. I would imagine there will be some fine tuning of the ratio depending on the temp and humidity. There is a shoot Sunday I'm going to, but as I haven't tested out my accuracy with this new patch lube yet I probably will use my old lube. If you get a chance to try it I'd be interested in hearing what results you got with it, accuracy and ease of loading.
 
sounds pretty much like the ballistol and water mix many of us use. I have had very good luck with it, you will need to swipe between shots though as the other "wetter" mixtures seem to swipe while pushing the ball down, this way its a bit to dry to swipe.
 
Here we go again. :shocked2: There will be 400 responses before the mods pull the switch.
There are lebenty ten twenty dozen jillion patch lube mixes. :doh:
IMHO, none of them should include alcohol. :shake:
 
I think the only purpose of the DA is to dilute the castor oil since it evaporates as the dipped patches are drying. I've heard that it works so well it eliminates the need for wiping between shots, up to four or five shots. I'll give it a try and fill you in.
 
Okay I gotta ask. Where are you guys buying your Castor Oil. I haven't seen it in years and I thought they quit selling it because it could be toxic to small children. If I can buy it, I would like to try it for a lube. DANNY
 
Kroger pharmacy. on the shelf. Just like shopping for olive oil just in a different part of the store.
 
Ok you got me again. "Glow fuel?". Sounds like something I should learn so I can teach my grandsons something fun to get in trouble with.
 
I bought mine from a health store, the bottle says not to drink it, it's used to rub on the skin...Buying that way it is cheaper...It's slick stuff....
 
The fuel used in tiny 1 cylinder internal combustion diesel engines used to power model airplanes and boats. They don't have a spark plug just a glow plug.

I've never tried it but I would think a full synthetic motor oil like Mobile 1 or the "Castrol" version should work well as a patch lube or synthetic greases. As long as the oils has no base stock from petroleum that distills to tar fouling.

I'm a "dry patch" advocate distilled water & Balistol 7:1 mix and a single damp wipe between shots with Butches BP bore shine or any other BP cleaner. In freezing weather I use GM "Opticlean" windshield washer fluid.
 
The reason it was considered toxic, is if they got to much. Thanks everyone I'll look for it at the places mentioned. DANNY
 
The only thing in "Castrol" that is close to castor oil is first four letters of their name.

All of the oils they sell are either petroleum or synthetic oils that reproduce the best qualities of petroleum oil.

None of their products that I know of use any real castor oil.

Glow fuel, for those interested is a mixture of alcohol, nitro-methane and castor oil.
It ignites due to the heat of the small coil of glowing wire in the glo-plug.
The heat of the burning fuel reheats the wire so it can light the next fuel/air charge at the top of the compression stroke.

For those who are curious, there are also Diesel model engines which work off of compression alone.
These burn a mixture of kerosene, ether and castor oil. They can be identified by looking at the top of their cylinder head.
Rather than having a glo-plug, they have an adjustable screw (often with a cross pin to grasp)
which adjusts their compression.
The ether serves to ignite the kerosene and like the glo-plug engines the castor oil serves as the high temperature lubricant.

By the way. I have a lot of both types of these model engines. Their piston and cylinder are made from carbon steel and many of them haven't been started for years.
Even though they have just been sitting in various boxes, exposed to the air and humidity, the castor oil they used when they were last started has prevented even the slightest sign of rust from forming. :hmm:
 
Were those engines used for civil war scout aircraft or are they post 1865? :blah:
Point taken though! :wink:
 
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