Hello all. A couple of days ago, I made up a patch lube of equal parts olive oil and water. After soaking the patches, I let them dry for 6 hours and put the patches in a film canister for storage.

I wanted to share my results in case anyone has ever considered this combination.

Bottom line: don't do it.

With a fan blowing on them, I gave the patches 6 hours to dry. Still the olive oil must have retained some of the water. In the span of 5 shots, 2 times I had to remove the lock and touch hole liner to put in some 4F to get the main charge to go off.

I was shooting a Traditions "Shenandoah" flintlock in .50 cal. Powder was Goex 2 and 4F. The only reason I can attribute to the powder not going off was moisture from the patches getting the powder wet. When I switched to store bough "pre-lubed" patches, the rifle consistently shot without any problems.

So I cannot recommend a patch lube of olive oil and water.

Semisane mentioned that he uses just olive oil without any problems, but he also dries the patches with paper towel. Maybe I will give that a try, but olive oil is kind of expensive.

On a brighter note, I did get to try out a new shooting accessory.I put together a "rod stand." It is a simple stand made from pvc tubing. It keeps your rods easily accessible when shooting and prevents them from falling on the ground. It works very well, but I do need to stuff a rag or towel down the vertical tube to protect rod tips and the pvc from getting banged up when you drop a heavy rod in there. Below is a picture of it from my session earlier today (well yesterday actually):