Fly said:
If you never used it, then why even comment.I had
never used it till a few months ago & found it
to be good for not only cleaning the bore, but
a great lube also.
I,m not trying to get on you in any way.But we
all learn from one a other.It just like the mineral oil.
I mixed some in my bees wax & shot it threw my
Gibbs.It patterned as good at 200 yards as my
paper patch bullets.
Fly :v
THEN USE MINERAL OIL.
There are variables. Petroleum oil is BAD if it gets mixed with fouling and then the gun is fired, petroleum WAX is not a problem.
But if using unsuitable materials (and this may not be apparent until the problem is seen and requires rectifying) and the shoot DOES get a build up especially in the breech it may be REALLY HARD TO REMOVE. It requires BREAKING IT OUT. I posted this simply to INFORM SHOOTERS OF POTENTIAL PROBLEMS. I am not holding a gun to anyone's head to keep them from using what ever they want. But there are POTENTIAL PROBLEMS that do not exist with animal fats so far as I know. Nor is this SPECULATION.
Its a potential problem I don't need.
We have shooters who think having a near permanent build up in the bore (seasoning :rotf: ) is a good idea. I don't.
The fact that I have been shooting MLs for 45 years or so without using petroleum oils for patch lube tells ME its probably not needed.
Various natural oils, I mostly use animal oils and tallow, protect the bore while hunting and do a pretty good job of softening fouling. Beef tallow works surprisingly well in some rifles and anyone can get the base material and make it.
I used to make sheets of olive oil and beeswax for lube wads in BPCR loads but have gone over to SPG lube instead. So I have used Olive oil in a lube. Just don't see the point.
Being a long time friend of SPG I have learned, through him, a great deal about lube components and what works and what does not.
I have numerous other reasons for not using petroleum oils as patch lubes. For one thing while known in ancient times they were virtually unknown in Colonial America and even in 1859 only 2000 barrels of petroleum were produced in the US. Most fine mechanisms were oiled with Sperm oil even into the 20th century. Bear oil was also highly prized for firearms use. While many like to use Olive oil I doubt that most people would use it on firearms back in the day but this is speculation. Whale oil was a better choice and for the hunter bear oil was easy to make and was actually sold by bear hunters according to Ned Roberts. Kill some bears, sell the hides, render the fat to oil, keep some for personal use and sell the rest.
Deer and beef and I am sure hog fat makes an excellent tallow for patch lube if properly made. For most people in early America this was a cheap, easily obtainable and effective as a patch lube and bore protectant.
Tow and tallow was used to wipe fouling from bores. For one thing it did not wet the bore and allowed the rifle to be reloaded immediately without fear of wetting the charge after it was wiped.
Also animal oils are not likely to damage traditional stock finishes as petroleum distillate can. Petroleum oils also cause a form of wood rot that blackens the wood and weakens it. Old firearms with black streaks in the stock are an example of this. Since I don't use plastic stock finish I try to keep petroleum off the wood.
But there is little hype in magazine ads for tallow or other suitable animal based patch lubes and it can't be bought at Wall-Mart in a suitable form...
Shooting a ML lets me connect with my ancestors. So I tend to stay with traditional stuff for other than lock lubrication or storage protection. Sperm oil is now too hard to get to lube a lock with and there is no downside to petroleum or even synthetic lubes. Functionally they are the same as Sperm oil.
Dan
EXCERPT:
TECHNICAL DATA SHEETS FOR BALLISTOL Contents Ballistol contains medicinal grade mineral oil, alkaline salts of oleic acid, several alcohols, Benzyl Acetate and an oil from vegetal seeds. The mineral oil is unchlorinated and conforms to the specifications of US Pharmacopeia XX
...wuz anything ever intended to be used as patch lube? :idunno:
