SPG lube...

[Harry O]

I have quite a few pounds of smokeless powder lube that I made myself and it is working great, but it does not work at all with black powder. So far, I have not been able to make a black powder lube that works better than SPG. SPG has done everything I have needed, but it is costly. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to score a lot of beeswax from a guy that was giving up beekeeping and selling out. I am ready to try again.

I have gathered a lot of different recipes for SPG equivalents. The one that looks good to me (based on what I have on hand) is:

40% beeswax
30% lanolin
30% canola oil

I assume I would warm the canola oil, melt in the lanolin, then melt in the bees wax and stir.

Anybody have any suggestions or comments?

[Lumpy grits]

I use DGL for everything.
SPG melts/bleeds in warm weather. DGL doesn't.
YMMV,
LG

[Skipper]

I use Paul Matthews' "Shows Promise Lube". Works very well

8 oz Yellow Beeswax
4 fl oz Pure Neatsfoot Oil
1 cake (3 .5 oz) Neutrogena Facial Soap

1) melt the beeswax over a low fire
2) stir in the neatsfoot oil until lumpfree
3) cut the soap into fine peels, then add to the melted mixture.

Don’t boil the mixture.

[TXGunNut]

Small tubes of SPG are a little pricy but the blocks are a better deal. A block lasts a long time for my volume of shooting.

[runfiverun]

actually you have it backwards.
melt the beeswax it melts at about 180-f, lanolin scorches at 150-f
so get the wax melted and add the oil turn down/off the heat and add the lanolin and stir continuously until everything is blended.

[chuebner]

You should try bullshop's NASA lube. Works with BP and that fad powder. I thin it a tad with EVOO for pan lubing my BPCR bullets and it is excellent stuff.

Charlie

[358wcf]

Gents-
With respect to posting #2 above, I don't know what DGL is or refers to- anybody care to enlighten me/others?
Many thanks-
358wcf Chuck

[EDK]

Gents-
With respect to posting #2 above, I don't know what DGL is or refers to- anybody care to enlighten me/others?
Many thanks-
358wcf Chuck

D*** Good Lube. Good stuff, very similar in appearance to SPG.

[Harry O]

actually you have it backwards.
melt the beeswax it melts at about 180-f, lanolin scorches at 150-f
so get the wax melted and add the oil turn down/off the heat and add the lanolin and stir continuously until everything is blended.

Thanks. I will remember that.

[country gent]

I use emmerts Improved when I can find beeswax. Its very close to your recipe. 50% beeswax 40% crisco shortening 5% canola oil and 5% anahydrous lanolin. Melt wax in a double boiler add crisco canola oil ad lanolin stir and keep liguid for a short while stiring. A double boiler is a good idea when melting waxs to help alieviate fires and schorching.

[Harry O]

I use emmerts Improved when I can find beeswax. Its very close to your recipe. 50% beeswax 40% crisco shortening 5% canola oil and 5% anahydrous lanolin. Melt wax in a double boiler add crisco canola oil ad lanolin stir and keep liguid for a short while stiring. A double boiler is a good idea when melting waxs to help alieviate fires and schorching.

Thanks for the information. Does the crisco ever go rancid with age? I do have a double boiler dedicated to lube experiments. Whatever I come up with, I am only going to mix up a small amount to start with for testing. Don't want to waste a lot with mixes that don't work out. I have had too many experiments that did not work out in the past. Regardless of the success as a bullet lube, it always makes good flux, though.

[runfiverun]

make sure to use unsalted Crisco.

I have a cup of the b-wax, Crisco, lanolin lube out in the garage it's been there ever since Ken sent littlegirl a black powder revolver for her graduation what? 3 years ago now.
I [I guess i should say she] bump[s] it with a little evoo [olive oil] when I/she want's to use it [the lube].

[John Allen]

I have been using Gatefeos lube with my blackpowder rifles and have been happy It was easy to make and has been working as good as DGL. I have some of Randys nasa but have not had a chance to use it yet.

[John Boy]

I have been using Gatefeos lube

John, just for historical clarification ... Gatefeo never invented this lube - he found it and originally posted the recipe. The lube recipe was in an April 1943 article of the American Rifleman

I'm glad he found and posted the recipe because I have used it for years in black powder and smokeless reloads. Also, for bullets with shallow GG's my go to lube is NASA Lube and IMO is at the top of the list for quality surpassing DLG and SPG!

Thanks Bullshop but some of us are waiting for the 'improved' NASA lube that was discussed in a long thread here a year or so ago

['74 sharps]

I've found that beeswax, a vegetable oil of some kind, and Crisco works as well as anything I can buy.....

[Lead Fred]

1 lb bee's wax

1 lb lard

8oz cornola oil

Only thing Ive ever used with holy black

[montana_charlie]

I haven't fired a grease grooved bullet for a few years, now, but I started off with greasaers and SPG.
During my first year of shooting BP cartridge rifles, I made some lube which was intended to provide the same performance as SPG, but at a lower cost.
My notes for that recipe are:

My goal was to duplicate SPG while reducing the cost. SPG is advertised to melt at 140°, but my thermometer says it liquifies at 130°.
Whatever...my lube melts at about 20° hotter than SPG, but closely duplicates it's body and consistency...though slightly less 'crumbly'.

In a double boiler, melt a volume of clean beeswax. Then add an equal volume of Camp Dry Beeswax Waterproofer (for boots) made by Kiwi.
(If Ace Hardware doesn't have any...they can order it.)

The Camp Dry will melt more reluctantly than the beeswax did, so a little stirring is helpful. But, they mix well and won't separate as the mixture cools.

12 ounces of beeswax (at $3.00/lb.) is $2.25, and $6.00 gets a 12 oz. jar of Camp Dry Waterproofer. That makes a pound and a half of SPG-type lube for $8.25. An equivalent amount of the 'real thing' is 46 bucks at Midway.

*** Having stated all of that, it's necessary to modify the mixture because the Camp Dry is no longer made.
Instead, substitute with Sno-Seal beeswax waterproofer, which comes in a 7 ounce jar. ***

CM

[Harry O]

I mixed up some last night. I looks like SPG, feels like SPG, and even smells a lot like SPG. The only thing to do now is load up some with it and see if it acts like SPG.

[salvadore]

I was told that Darr's formula lube is the same as or close to SPG.

[montana_charlie]

I mixed up some last night.

Which formula did you mix, Harry?