I use bear oil, sperm whale oil and neatfoot oil and they will all work.
I got a bottle of sperm whale oil from a friend who got some from one of his friends who had a bunch he had come across someplace years past.
My 16 bore with .008" deep grooves loads very nicely with this stuff using a .662 ball and a .012" linen patch. It is a little different color than my almost gone other Sperm oil. But the guy swears that its Sperm whale oil. I have no way to test and don't really care if it works well.
Bear oil is good and more solids can be removed by putting a couple of lead balls in the container. I used one in about a cup of oil in a glass jar and quite a bit of "bear lard" formed on it.
I don't use water based lubes at all. Water is a poor lubricant.
Some rifles shoot better with a greased patch, lube rubbed just on the barrel side. I use SPG bullet lube and my 54 likes it but I only use it for serious target work and use oil for hunting. Too much oil (or any liquid) in the patch will contaminate the powder for a distance back from the ball if so I wipe them pretty dry for the first loading. In the field with a fouled barrel I leave them a little wetter but not dripping by any means. Over powder wad of some sort may eliminate the problem.

Dan