Just made some Gatofeo #1 lube

[Elijah Gunn]

I have a couple questions as I think I may have done something wrong. I used mutton tallow that I bought from Dixie Gun Works, some beeswax that my neighbor got from his bees, and bought some of that Gulf parafin canning wax. I weighed the beeswax at 3oz, and the parafin ,and tallow at 6oz each. I melted it all together in a double boiler set up,and it filled a pint mason jar with a little left over. Then I let it cool on the counter.
What I ended up with reminds me of the paste glue we used back in elementary school. It is thick,and is somewhat crumbly. I have not shot with it yet, but I'm sure it would seal the chambers quite nicely just as it is.

1st question. Is what I described accurate for the lube when it is made correctly?
I was thinking that the lube would be just a tiny bit softer than how it came out, and not have the crumblyness that I mentioned.

Up till now I've used either straight crisco, or bore butter. They work ok but will melt too easy when it's hot. Thats why I want to make the Gatofeo #1.
I figured it would not have the melting problem the crisco, and bore butter do.
Question #2. Is there a certain temperature range that this lube works best at? Just wondering if in very cold weather that the lube would get too hard to work with.

I don't have any wads to use this with yet so I'll just use it over the ball for now.

Thanks Gatofeo for all your help here.

[AtlLaw]

Crumbly?     That don't sound good!   
I await Jawja tofu's reply.  I've got all the fixins but haven't mixed any up yet as I'm trying to get rid of my Crisco/B'wax mixture.

[Elijah Gunn]

Crumbly?     That don't sound good!   
I await Jawja tofu's reply.  I've got all the fixins but haven't mixed any up yet as I'm trying to get rid of my Crisco/B'wax mixture.

I was wondering if "crumbly" was the right word to use. Like I said, I'm sure this will work as it is right now. I'm just thinking it should have came out being a little tiny bit softer, and smoother.

[Gatofeo]

It typically comes out a little harder than lard, but I've never made a batch that was crumbly.
If you didn't get beeswax directly from a beekeeper, I'd suspect you used the synthetic beeswax now sold for toilet seals. Real beeswax can be difficult to find at times.
I have no clue. Your proportions are correct. Your ingredients are correct.
I don't use the lubricant named after me as a grease over balls. Rather, I use it to lubricate wool felt wads, patches for my .50 rifle, a bullet lubricant when used with black powder, and for dipping loaded heeled bullets into after reloading into a case (the formula's original purpose).
It's too hard to smear over the lead ball seated in a revolver chamber, unless you use the point of a strong knife.
It will soften in hot weather, but not as much as Crisco.
However, for cap and ball revolvers, it's best used as the lubricant for felt wads twixt ball and powder. I've used it in hot weather and the lubricant in a felt wad doesn't seem to affect the powder. However, the pistol was loaded the same day it was fired, so perhaps longer periods in very hot weather would contaminate the powder. I don't leave my cap and ball revolvers loaded.

[Elijah Gunn]

Thanks Gatofeo.
I did get the lube fixed. Last Saturday I just re-melted it in the mason jar double boiler set up. Then I let it cool in the pot with the hot water so it would cool nice and slow. I think the problem I had was the ingredients separating like you mentioned in the instructions in your sticky at the top of the forum. My neighbor is a bee keeper so I did have real beeswax, however there was a tiny little bit of impurities in the beeswax. I could see it settled in the bottom of the mason jar. I don't think that the impurities were enough to have caused my problem though.

I did try shooting with the lube by just putting some over the ball. Out of 36 shots I had 2 misfires which I believe were caused by some of the lube falling into a chamber after the last shot fired from a full cylinder. When I smear the lube over the ball some of it will collect on the left side of the barrel as the cylinder rotates past it. So I need to be a little less sloppy. Both times the misfired chambers went off perfect when re-capped.

When I cleaned the gun I noticed she was a little more fouled than usual, but that would be because I only used the lube over the ball. I did not use any wads at all.

I would say that the lube I made is a little bit harder than lard as you say in your post. When it is around 70 degrees it is pretty stiff, and you do need a knife to work with it, but when I was using it outside where it was close to 90 degrees and in the sun it softened up to where  I could get a dab with just a finger.

So now I need to get the felt, and a wadcutter so I can use this lube the way it is supposed to be used.

Many Thanks.