BTT
[FYI: I use "pearl lube" on all my BP loads...works like a charm in the 56-50]
Stolen with permission and appropriate credit is attributed from The Open Range forums...
Compliments of Hooplehead
Historical Black Powder Bullet Lubricants
Composition of Extensively Used Bullet Lubricants
(E.H. Harrison: American Rifleman, Jul '65)
1. U.S. Army 1855 - 1 beeswax, 3 tallow.
2. U.S. Army 1861 - 8 beeswax, 1 tallow.
3. U.S. Army 1873 - 8 bayberry wax, 1 graphite.
4. U.S. Army 1880 and thereafter - Japan wax.
5. Sharps Rifle Co., 1878 - 1 beeswax, 2 sperm oil.
6. Massachusetts Arms Co. (Maynard rifle), 1890 - 1 beeswax, 3 tallow.
7. Marlin Firearms Co., 1891 - 1 beeswax, 4 tallow.
8. Smith & Wesson, 1891 - tallow.
9. H.M. Pope, about 1900 - 3 mutton tallow, 2 bay wax, 1 beeswax, 1 steam cylinder oil, .2 of 1 acheson graphite. The bay wax could be omitted.
10. Automobile door latch stick lubricant, U.S. Patent 1,920,161
11. (1931) - 5 paraffin wax, 3 petroleum jelly, 2 oil.
12. A large police department, 1962 - 1 beeswax, 1 paraffin wax, 1 cosmoline. Notes: "Cosmolene" in this context refers to dark petrolatum with no anti-corrosion additives. Refined yellow petrolatum (petroleum jelly, Vaseline) may be substituted.
13. Any mixture containing paraffin wax *must* include a plasticizer, such as petrolatum. Microcrystalline petroleum waxes may be used as-is.
14. The 1:3 beeswax/tallow mixture (or any composition composed mainly of tallow) is probably the most traditional choice for "primitive" shooters. The 8:1 mixture is rather stiff, and better suited to conicals, paper cartridges, and the like. For paper-patched bullets, I'd be inclined to try the Sharps formula, substituting Dexron II/III automatic transmission fluid for the sperm oil.