By Jim
There’s all sorts of newer gee whiz gun oils on the market these days. To me, one is about as good as another, based on my usage experience. Being an old school Marine, I’m sort of partial to CLP from Breakfree. Why not ? Although there’s probably better products available, we were issued this stuff by the gallons for our old M16A2’s back in the day. I’m very familiar with the stuff having used it for over a decade in the Corps.
But what about black powder guns ? Yeah, not so much.
Let me explain something about the Holy Black. Modern gun lubricants are petroleum based oils. The partially burned residue from black powder mixes with the petroleum oil and forms a corrosive tar. In only a few shots, this tar can cause binding in the moving parts of a black power firearm. So what’s the solution ?
Jojoba oil.
Think about this for a moment. At one time, black powder was the only gunpowder available for almost 400 years. How did the people of the past, especially during the American Civil War period and beyond keep their guns from jamming due to the fouling build up ? They used spermaceti. From sperm whales. Regular whale oil was made by boiling whale blubber, but spermaceti was a much better grade of oil. Why ? Because spermaceti is technically not an oil, but a liquid wax ester. Found in the heads of the sperm whale, this liquid wax had many uses. It was a clean burning oil for use in lamps at night during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was also used as a lubricant for firearms. Being a wax, it didn’t combine with powder residues and cause the guns to jam — especially revolvers at the time. It had high heat and high temperature resistance.
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Whaling has been banned because of hunting over pressures and is no longer available on today’s market. But there’s a substitute that IS available. Jojoba oil. This stuff is almost chemically identical to spermaceti as they are both a liquid wax ester. Like spermaceti, it doesn’t form a hard sludge with burnt gunpowder and it doesn’t bind the moving parts of the gun. It keeps the fouling soft, and makes cleaning the gun easier.
I keep a smaller squeeze bottle for application, and a larger jug for refills. Unlike modern gun oils that are full of sometimes toxic ingredients, the jojoba oil is actually pretty good for your skin so you don’t have to worry about getting it on your hands.
I use it on my black powder revolvers. It has a smoke point of 383*F, a flash point of 563*F, and a fire point of 640*F. The possibility of setting your pistol on fire while shooting is slim and none. It doesn’t make a greasy mess like using gun grease or Crisco does. The only warning about jojoba oil is — don’t ingest it. It does contain erucic acid, which has been known to cause heart damage. But it’s OK on skin because jojoba oil is used in some pharmaceuticals and in make up, lotions, skin and hair conditioners.
Now you can use it to lube your grubby charcoal burners.
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