are there any lube alternatives at the grocery store?

[shoebox1.1]

i planned on using wonderlube 1000 or bore butter on my new 1860 pietta but reading another thread here made me think.... hummm some kind of lubricate thats not petroleum based.. olive oil i read? crisco? im a cheapskate lol whats laying around the house that would be as good as bore butter for my pistol? i mean to lube,protect and shoot with! thanks

 

[Smokin_Gun]

At the Store, Parafin Wax, Bees Wax, Olive or Soy Oil. Make some Lube pills...

Get the Parafin in the food section ...mixes with most anything...bees wax , Bolwax, olive oils, Borebutter, Lard, bacon grease, hog fat, ect. you get the picture.

 

[Hawg]

Olive oil is good to lube with. Crisco is a good over ball lube but it does get runny in summer heat. I've heard paraffin is good even tho it's petro based but I never had any luck getting it to blend with anything. Beeswax blends well with Crisco and/or olive oil for a better over ball lube than straight Crisco. Now you can lube the action with modern gun lubes just don't get it in the chambers or bore.

 

[Raider2000]

My lube is simple, unless some one buys me a tube of the Bore Butter or what not.

50/50 Bees Wax & Crisco is my bullet, wad & over ball lube.

Olive oil for the action & other parts of my pieces if I intend to shoot within a week or two.

Ballistol for longer durations.

 

[shoebox1.1]

so i can smother the entire pistol in olive oil as a good rust preventative? would it not be good on the wood grips? would it sour or make bacterical growth? lol maybe im overthinking things!

 

[kirpi97]

Now if you are truly a cheapskate like myself, go to your local hardware store and buy a toilet ring. There is your beeswax.

 

[Hawg]

Olive oil and crisco will get rank. Personally I use bore butter for the bore and chambers if I'm not going to be shooting for awhile. I use remoil in the actions and 3n1 as an external wipe down for nostalgic reasons. Balistol is good but hard to find locally.

 

[arcticap]

One of Bore Butter's main ingredients is mineral oil which is a pharmaceutical gastrointestinal lubricant that's superior to olive oil.
I believe that it's used as a patch lube too.
Mineral oil is also factory recommended for lubricating the cutting blades of electric hair clippers because it's safe for contact with skin.
It's available in pharmacies and in over the counter medicine aisles.
What's good about Bore Butter is that it stays put and doesn't run.
Bore Butter is somewhat like the gel form of mineral oil by virtue of it being mixed with a micronized paraffin wax.
IIRC Ballistol also contains a large percentage of mineral oil.

 

[Hawg]

What's good about Bore Butter is that it doesn't run

Haven't used it in summer heat have you? If anything it's runnier than crisco when the temp gets up.

 

[arcticap]

so i can smother the entire pistol in olive oil as a good rust preventative? would it not be good on the wood grips? would it sour or make bacterical growth? lol maybe im overthinking things!

You're 100% right.
But I was responding to the above post for use as a general rust preventative and storage lubricant and not specifically as an over the ball lube to shoot with.
If it gets too hot for soft lubes, then [waxed] wonder wads can be used to prevent chain fires or the homemade lubes composed of a higher percentage of bees wax.

 

[Hawg]

It's not real good for an overall rust protectant or storage lube tho it will work for those purposes. It's a lil bit on the messy side for those uses and stays greasy. I use it for bores and chambers but that's about it for storage use. You also said it could be used as a patch lube and it can. I use it for such sometimes but in summer heat it will bleed out of your pre lubed patches so you need to keep them in a plastic baggie.

 

[shoebox1.1]

im going to get some bore butter! lol

 

[Noz]

Lube No Nos

Don't use crisco. Contains salt. Go cheaper and buy unsalted vegetable shortening. Don't use bacon grease. Same as above but more so.
Unless you are really lucky, toilet bowl rings are not made of bees wax any more. Look at the box before you buy. If you find some bowl rings that have been in stock for several years they are probably bees wax. If they are, buy them. You won't find beeswax any cheaper.
Any "organic" fat, olive oil, vegetable shortening, unsalted lard, mutton tallow, home rendered deer tallow etc will protect the metal of your gun and do no harm to the wood. Mineral oil, vaseline, Ballistol etc also work well.
I am not a fan of overball lubes. I buy sheet felt from <http://www.durofelt.com/>, punch wads with an 11mm punch from Harbor Freight (six in a pack for around $5) 7/16 also works well. Soak them in melted bullet lube(1 part pariffin, 1 part mutton tallow and 1/2 part beeswax). Put these between powder and bullet. Enough lube melts out on firing to give some blown around lube and the felt disc seals the chamber and prevents chain fires. They also act as a scraper and keep the barrel fairly clean. Much cleaner to deal with than loose lube..