1870's Bullet Lube, made with whale oil

[Don McDowell]

The best thing about jojoba it won't attack the paper like some of the petroleum/grease based stuff does.

[bobw]

[quote="Dan4570"]Hey all,it has been a while since I started a new thread on here. I was doing a little reading tonight and came across an 1870's bullet lube recipe. It was made with bees wax and Sperm Whale Oil.

Any body out there ever get a chance to experiment with sperm whale oil as a bullet lube additive? or know any one who has?
If so would yoube so kind as to share the results?

This has spiked my interest. My dad have a small bottle that was probably 60 or 70 years old but it was not enough to do anything with. The recipe called for a 1:2 mix of BW : SWO !!! I am thinking that sounds really soft and kinda pricy in the current whale oil market here in Montana. (cant even get a fishing license for them up here for making yer own whale oil)

By what I have read and researched I think my lube may be performing very much like the whale oil mix mentioned above ( and No, I am not giving out my recipe, I am currently working on patents for it and marketing it . Sorry.)
I can't be 100% sure however since I can't afford the whale oil to try it out. (given that I could even find it) I did find some stuff that is supposed to be almost identical but it is several $100's per gallon (3-400 apparently) so its off the menu for my rifles. they will just have to eat what I make, besides they have not complained yet! I can buy a lot of lead, powder, and cleaning patches for that kind of money.{quote}

Reproduction of the 1879 Sharps catalog as the source. page 31 paragraph #4. " For sporting cartridges, charge with the desired quantity of powder, placing a pasteboard wad upon the the powder, and force it down the full length of the follower. When using patched bullets insert upon the wad a lubricant disc composed of one part pure beeswax to two parts sperm oil in WEIGHT, to occupy three sixteenths of an inch in length in the shell."

" Dip the base of naked bullets up to the forward ring in melted lubricating compound, taking care to fill the grooves."

" Place the the bullet in the chamber of the bullet -seater, introduce the shell, and press it home with the hand, and the cartridge is ready for use."


3 sentences one after another in 3 paragraphs.3 separate paragraphs and 3 separate statements. The lubricant disc formula is NOT the same as melted lubricating compound ( it could be but does not mean it is). The purpose of lubricant disc is to keep your fouling soft not to lubricate your bullet ,it also serves as a gas seal to prevent gas cutting so you don't need exotic wad stacks to prevent gas cutting and blow by. I also believe it serves to evenly distribute the bump up of the ppb. 2 parts jojoba to 1 part beeswax by WEIGHT does this remarkably well. Doesn't mean you can't wipe,or blow between shots, lack of humidity mandates that as needed. Worked 140 years ago, works today 100 yds or 1760yds BTDT. Standard chambers are best for greasers and a handicap with ppb's. Original style chamber will give you no case stretch or separation. bobw

[squire]

I assume Steam Pump Oil is petroleum based....yes?

Yes, and specifically refined for use in steam machinery. Outside the presence of steam and heat it's very heavy stuff thicker than molasses.

[Dan4570]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the feed back. Just so ya know i have no intention of making SWO lube to sell I just wandered about it, historic research and curiosity.

To the fellow who actually got to test it I would love see those results if you can find it / still have them and would not mind sharing. I am sure others here would likely be interested too.
I would love to test it my self to make a comparison of what I make, compared to the original recipe, but since I can't afford it to buy it, someone else's results would be wonderful to see and hear about.

A friend of mine had found an artical where some fellow (silver tounged devil more like it) sweet talked a museum out of some SWO for making some patch grease for a historical research purposes. It sounded like the original recipe stuff he made reacted and performed very much like my patch lube. I have done around 60 shots out of a Lyman 50 cal rock-lock with no swab between shots. the test stopped because dinner was ready....we shot almost a whole pound of powder that afternoon, & had to re-knap the flint. and my gun grease will do 100's of rounds out of a cap'n ball revolver with nothing other than load and shoot it. I have done over 300 rnds out of a Uberti 60 Army, without cleaning it. It will keep them running well enough to re-fight the civil war any way.

The Sharps recipe struck my interest and deemed a little more attention.
I designed my bullet lube to perform for strings of shots with bullets made for BP. (deep grease gooves) I and some shooting budies run 20 + rnd strings with no swab or blow-tube and maintain hunting type accuracy out to 600 and 800 yds, without issue and easy 5-10 patch clean up with a little water. We are gearing up to compete this year at the Quigley.

I am interested in knowing if the Sharps recipe worked allong these lines. The ability to run strings of shots and hold hunting accuracy. It was supposed to work over strings of shots for the Buffalo Hunters of old to enable them shots before swabbing, ie they were not target shooting, but trying shoot as many buff as they could before they ran off.

Oh, by the way gents; I don't think we can use/recycle land-based-whale-lipo-fat to make an adequate oil for bullet lube additive,,,,,Mc Donalds has a lot of chemicals and salts and crap in the burgers....I believe that if we were to make and used it; it may eat the rifling right of our bbls !!!
( I still owe $1,500 bucks on my used Shiloh that is still on layaway ! I don't want to tear it up it's my first one and I've waited about 20 years to get one!)[/i]

Thanks again,
Dan