Bore Butter - Grease - 'Lube'.

I recently watched some Joker showing-off his new 35 Million Dollar waterside mansion in Florida - all glossy polished marble - petrified wood etc - while 65% of Americans are just surviving from one paycheck to the next .. Hey-Ho.

 Gun lubrication is special .. We all want the best for our "Target Pistols".

You can spend big dollars on small cans of fancy gun oils at your nearest friendly gunshop where it will promise to make your bullets fly further and make your gun look the shiniest it has ever been ..

Americas favorites might be BALLISTOL or HOPPES No.97/8 while 'BREAK-FREE' CLP has miltech to impress anyone on the spectrum. (I've got some somewhere).

You would need your reading glasses to study the small print and still ignore the instructions on how to achieve the miracle results promised .. but warnings are hard to find (- THIS OIL MAY CONTAIN OIL. - OIL may be Oily).

I suggest that stuff claiming to remove copper or lead fouling should be given to your local MP as HEMORROID CREAM - to be used before important meetings - Certainly NEVER let your mates be tempted to smear it onto any gun - as it will dissolve that $2,000 rebluing job from the barrel and melt your steering-wheel faster than 'DIMP' insect repellant used to back when it worked on West Coast SANDFLIES (Technically elsewhere called 'Blackflies'). 

- Rumour has it that something called "Deet"  N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide might have been in there to slap all over - but that diesel, (Winter Formula) blended with lemon peel might have worked just as well, Great for nits too eh.

Returning 'on topic' .. Guess what police and customs search dogs are trained to sniff-out in gang fortresses, apart from mind altering substances & currency .. *GUN OIL*

Personally I have been using CANOLA OIL (Rape Seed Oil) from my kitchen cupboard - the cheap stuff - to wipe down my guns for years now - ever since I learned that it was actually Rape Seed Oil which was the main machinery lubricant for steam engines right up till the end of WWII and the last steam locos - and it gives you lovely soft hands that your significant other will appreciate.

PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

NOW  - if you ever get into shooting BLACK-POWDER  firearms you will come across mention of something called Bore Butter 

This is a magic potion that will grease your palms - put squirrels in the pot - enhance your ballistic accuracy - and make your sixgun as slick as a pork butchers' smallest sausage ..

They use Turmeric or some synthetic to colour it yellow - but my DIY version is from cow/sheep Tallow mixed warm 1:1:1 with Beeswax and Canola oil (or Olive oil) - some NZ lanolin, plus maybe a few drops of Wintergreen to mask the tallow stench. -  If you leave out the Wintergreen - you could spread this thick on your toast every day peppered with blackpowder until your pimples pop or your first heart attack.

I understand that some U S makers threaten to use 'Mink Oil' scraped from raw fur skins in their salve - and guarantee that it will re-grow hair on a bald mountain top.

Note 1: My mixture is much the same stuff as traditional 'Dubbin'(g).

Note 2: TALLOW. - From the point of view of lubrication of blackpowder firearms - Tallow is much the same stuff whether it is sourced from cow, sheep, or pig. This is 'rendered' ANIMAL FAT. - Rendering means heating to melt the raw fat and straining-out any solids. It may start as 'Beef Suet' - 'Lard' - 'Trimmings' or 'Dripping' - it might have gone "Moo, Hoink, or Baah" ... either way if you eat a lot of it - it WILL clog your arteries (ARTHEROSCLOROSIS) & cause heart attacks, - but it won't harm you when used for shooting unless you stand in front of the muzzle.

- My home-brewed greasilube is good stuff that you can happily also use on leatherware and wooden surfaces as a conditioner and sealant.

I know I'm being a little flippant there - but black powder fouling does stiffen revolver actions and clogs bores to impede loading while altering the impact point. - But once again I suggest - try not to use modern petroleum based oils on your front-stuffer - as when burnt with charcoal they go all hard and crusty.

Gun Powder works brilliantly to send lead balls onto target - but it is dirty corrosive stuff to shoot as only 43% of it turns to gas when it goes OOMPHA .. the other 57% hangs about as gritty sulferous solids trying to be friendly.

Sam Colt used to tell his customers not to grease their balls .. but nowadays the word is to use lube either 'straight' or as pre-lubed wads - for a couple of reasons:

'Lube' reduces bore friction to maximise velocity.

'Lube' of the right stuff helps soften bore FOULING and eases the wiping chore.

'Lube' slathered onto your revolver BASE PIN or "cylinder arbor" reduces how much gritty fouling can blow-back into the cylinder gumming-up its rotation - and helps the gun to keep firing.

'Lube' pushed into every loaded chamber mouth is reputed to prevent CHAIN FIRES by sealing the front of the chamber/powder from the flash & flame. - Link to a useful demonstration ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzkGsQWh4Gw

INERT FILLERS

Seeing as how I like shooting wimpy light loads - rather than KABOOMS  - 'Inert Fillers' - are used to position balls at the front of the cylinder without an air gap .. The classic material is "corn grits" -  but also-rans are semolina, coffee grounds, Polenta, Oatmeal, Bran, saw-dust, Rice? grass-seed, tissue paper, wool, - I guess just about anything lightweight & granular might be used that is genuinely inert and that won't explode or start forest fires. - I'm using medium/dark Prima Qualida Bean ground from the coffee I have drunk strong & sweet with a splash of soy.

GROUNDED - Waste not -Want not.

P.S: According to some U S Civil War histories - The Remington 1858 New Model Army revolver was both much stronger & prefered over the Colts revolvers -  but the original Remingtons in the day seem to have been considered inferior quality to Colts by combatants. - It is likely that the modern replicas are better made than the civil war units were.

Marty K.