AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: wvmtnman on August 05, 2008, 07:01:12 PM
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I know this subject has been covered before but I was unable to find it. I am wanting some lube recipes. I will be shooting both patched round balls and minie balls out of a 58 caliber musket.
Thanks in advance, Brian
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I use Brylcream. It contains all the essential ingredients for an ideal patch lube and keeps the fouling soft. Contains no greasy kid stuff and a little dab'l do ya.
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I use Brylcream. It contains all the essential ingredients for an ideal patch lube and keeps the fouling soft. Contains no greasy kid stuff and a little dab'l do ya.
Now there is a new one for me! And I thought I had heard them all! You will likely need different lubes for the round ball vs minnie ball. The old tried and true spit works well for range shooting round balls. You'll need some sort of "grease" for the minnie--the old standby was Crisco. There are several commercial lubes on the market, but I presume you are looking for home recipes?
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I've been messing around just cuzz, while knowing full well there are lots of alternatives.
I've been real satisfied with two or three parts rendered deer tallow to one part olive oil, applied to a patch just before cutting at the muzzle. So far it has been producing perfect recovered ticking patches even with hot hunting loads in 50, 54 and 58 cal. 2:1 is fine in our cooler climate, but I'd go to 3:1 in a warmer place.
Further along the line of just cuzz, I'm tracking down some bear oil to replace the olive oil so I can use all local products. No good reason except to see what can be done with materials on hand.
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I'm tracking down some bear oil to replace the olive oil
I used bear oil for years. It made cleanup real nice. Still got a couple of bottles. The only problem with it was if you let the gun sit for a period of time, some kind of white fuzz would start growing out of the touch hole and clog it up.
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That's good to know. In our wet climate fuzz will grow on things and in places you never imagined!
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I tried a lot of weird concoctions recommended here but have gone to good old Hoppes #9+. It's the best stuff I've used, keeps the bore very clean when applied generously to pre-cut patches. Sopping wet is best.
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Harry,
Can't find it up here! Who sells it and for how much? Thanx,roy
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Hoppes #9+
Most outstanding commercial lube I've ever used for range work...have a case of bottles of it I bought from a business close out...shoot 50 shot range sessions, never wipe between shots, and can hardly get a trace of color out of the bore when cleaning up afterwards.
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Harry,
Can't find it up here! Who sells it and for how much? Thanx,roy
Here ya go Roy: http://www.wholesalesports.com/onlinestore/control/category/~category_id=11474/~pcategory=11471
It is as good as everyone here says, best darned patch lube I've ever tried!
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How does Hoppes #9 compare to LV lube? I'm stuck on LV lube, but am about out of it.
Maybe Daryl S. can shed some light on this. Hoppe's is available here locally. -Kid
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Hoppes #9 for me it works real good not going to change makes loading easy i love that stuff ;D
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When I went to dixons fair ,in the store they had Shenadoah lube which is the same thing just renamed. http://www.dixonmuzzleloading.com/index.php?section=muzzleloadingshop I dont know if they ship orders or not?
How does Hoppes #9 compare to LV lube? I'm stuck on LV lube, but am about out of it.
Maybe Daryl S. can shed some light on this. Hoppe's is available here locally. -Kid
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Hey Brian - minnies and other bullets will work well with 60% Beeswax/40% Vaseline. Yeah, I know Vaseline is a petrolium product and shouldn't work, but it does - just as well as SPG and Lyman's Black Powder Gold, also excellent bullet lubes. I use goo pure beeswax - from a bee keeper - not melted down beeswax candles which contain a high percentabe of paraffin. For me, that which doesn't work well.
: For RB patches, Hoppe's#9 PLUS seems to work as well as LHV for us - never have to wipe, clean shooting no matter the humidity and accurate - high or lower temps. I don't know how it'll work in the freezing temps- hopefully, my LHV will last through another year or more. I'm using it sparingly and trying for loads that work with spit during warm weather.
: One thing I've found, is it takes a different powder charge to shoot any other lube than what works well with spit. None of the rifles nor barrels I've tested shoot the same powder charge accurately with both spit and oil or grease lubes. for example- .40 shoots well with 55gr. 2f and patched RB with spit on the patch. To shoot 2F well with LHV it needs 70gr. With 3F, it's 50gr. with spit and 65gr. with LHV. The .45 likes 70gr. 3F or 80gr. 2F with LHV, but shoots spit with 55gr. and 60gr. Of course, this is due to the lubricity of the oil-type lubes compared to sticky spit. It is amazing that spit works so well - and it does.
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Over the years I've tried many differnt lubes.
As a born again BP shotguner I recently tried veg oil that I was using for cushion wads .It has worked real well in my .54 and .40 cal.After comparing it to some of the prelubed patchs I,m starting to wonder if thats what some of them are using
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I'l second (or is it fifth or 6th) the #9. A great patch lube but as a solvent, it does not cut it very well (pun intended). Last time I cleaned up after an extended shooting session I tried using it to wipe some of that stubborn black fouling off the stock in front of the lock. It barely touched it but a patch wet in plain old water cut right through it. Sooo, for me, the #9 will be in the hunting pouch as a lube but plain old water for clean up.
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Mike- there is little that does as well as cold water - which is why one of the most knowledgeable and respected muzzleloading (past) and modern ctg. gun maker in the world recommended it for their old Damascus BP doubles.
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Daryl, I have listened to you guys go on ad nauseum about using plain cold water to wash barrels, so I tried it after the last time I went shooting. It took me twice as many patches & twice as long to get the bore clean as when I use hot tap water & a few drops of dish detergent. Plain cold water might work in a pinch, but not as well as 130° F water with some dish detergent. I'm sticking with what has always worked best for me & with no flash rust either. ;)
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Interesting, Harry - you use what works for you, by all means. I don't understand about using more patches, though. I use one patch for cleaning and 3 or 4 for drying and that's it. Years ago when I used hot water, I used 1 for cleaning and 3 for drying, the last 1 coming out with rust on it. I quit using Hot water and go not more rust, nor have I ever rusted a bore since. They've been stored for up to 8 years without use and not rusted after being cleaned with cold water and nothing but WD40 to prevent rust after cleaning and never top-up with oil, either - no other preservative.
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Daryl, I usually use 2 patches whilst cleaning with soapy water, 2 more when rinsing, a couple more to dry, then a good flushing with bulk WD-40. I leave the barrel with the muzzle down for several hours or even overnight to allow any water in the breech to run out, then wipe with a patch or 2 lightly coated with more WD-40 & assemble again. Often the last of the dark fouling comes out with the WD-40 patch(s), it seems to collect in the grooves & doesn't always flush out easily. I never had the trouble on my hand rifled barrel, but this Green Mountain barrel seems reluctant to release all the fouling easily even though it feels very smooth when a patch is run down it.
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Interesting - I get no such fouling from the grooves on a WD40 patch run through my GM barrel after cold water cleaning. They come clean just like the other barrels I've used it in. :)
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I never had the trouble on my hand rifled barrel, but this Green Mountain barrel seems reluctant to release all the fouling easily even though it feels very smooth when a patch is run down it.
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Same here Harry. I've got five Green Mountain barrels on various guns. I have learned to use double patches, in an effort to get patching thick enough to dig in and get the final fouling out.
I have read and heard about folks cleaning up their guns with only two, three, maybe four patches. However, in an effort to really clean my barrels, I've always needed about ten diaper patches or more...
I've used hot water, cold water, saliva, solvents...you name it - still, in an effort to really clean a barrel, I need plenty of patches and elbow grease...
Edd
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since years I use as patchlube vegetableoil and water with a little splash (hope thats the right word)
of liquid soap, shake well before use. I never wipe between the shoots.
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THANK YOU EDD!!! :) I go through all sorts of patches cleaning this barrel & if you believe Daryl & Roy with their clean-up stories, you'd think they were shooting smokeless! Are you guys shooting Pyrodex guys?!
I think I tried something like your lube too cal.43, but I'm sticking with Hoppes #9+ now, it's cheap & works very well. ;)
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I'm wondering if like most other aspects of patches and muzzleloaders, thickness of a cleaning patch, at least relative to the diameters of the bores and the jags, doesn't have something to do with effort of cleaning. That's especially true when I hear Harnic's account of bits left behind in the corners of the grooves. I bring it up, because it seems like every time I use a different patch material, effort to swab is different and results are different.
Then there's the possibility of differences in "plain old water." That means a different thing at almost every tap. We've got a fair bit of iron in our water for example, and it doesn't clean nearly as well as the time I cleaned with distilled water.
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Water type could play a role BB. The water here is quite hard while the water where I lived at the coast 30 years ago was soft. I remember barrels being a lot easier to clean back then!
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Taylor, Ross, Crispy, Roy and I take the barrels off to clean. One patch is all that's needed to pump water in and out of the vent or nipple seat. Even when using Track's brass thingie attached to the vent, the cleaning is always the same - one ot clean, then 3 or 4 to dry using cold water - comes out spottless. Spray WD 40 in till it runs out the vent, then one patch to distribute and spray excess out the vent - say scenario every time. I have a pile of the same patches I've used many times. Between cleannings, they dry out and are re-useable. I use diaper meterial, denim or ordinary worn out flanel sheets, it all works the same. Sometimes you have to double it, sometimes not - dpeends ont he jag used. I use the same jab for the .40 as the .45. With the .40, nonthing needs to be doubled, but with the .45, the way undersize jag needs doubles everything but heavy denim.
: I have no idea where all your fouling is coming from, Harry - none of us have that problem here with the shooting regime we use. BP only. No wiping. Spit, LHV or Hoppe's+, same deal - no buildup in the grouves. Maybe you need to address your patch thickness? With a ball .005" under, I'm using a .019" denim (8 pound) for cool weather and a .0215" denim for hot weather as I've found in really hot weather the thinner, looser fitting denim will sometimes fail. This happened in both the .45 and the .69 - haven't experienced this with the .40 as I automatically use heavier patches in hot weather. Taylor tried the .019" denim in his .50, with a .495" ball that actually measures .497". He also had a range rod so he wouldn't have to remover and replace his ramrod each shot. The 3/8" steel rod practically seated the ball by it's weight alone. His .50 has deeper grooves than my barrels as it's a Rice. .016" I believe. The patches maintained their integrity in moderate temps, but a heavier patch should be used at Hefley. We'll be going out tomorrow for more testing, getting ready to shoot our Chunk match.
: I use the same 8 pound Denim (.019") for the .400" ball as well. With a gross diameter around the ball of .438", it has .016 compression in the .422" groove diameter. This seals no matter the temp, yet is easy to load if you aren't too limp wristed. No, I don't use or need a mallet.
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Re: the comment about using Pyrodex- in my experience, if you want trouble cleaning a barrel, just switch to Pyrodex. You can get your barrel clean today, go back tomorrow,get a dirty patch, then the next day , etc. Black powder is the easiest powder to clean up after. Easier than my 22-250, or other smokeless powder guns too.
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Kind of disappointed in this thread as I was expecting to read all sorts of alchemy as to what makes them shoot. Beeswax based lubes were common for bullets, as was sperm whale oil (bet that would be a little hard to try) . Reading about lubes used to be like reading favorite recipes for cooking. Lubes for targets should have a cleaning effect so that one can shoot a few shots without wiping. For hunting loads you need one that don't evaporate so that the patch don't catch fire and retain its integrity when shot. For hunting unless you have a lot of game to shoot at about any tallow should work. For cold weather shotgunning they used to recommend adding alcohol or antifreeze to the water for the cushion wads for their cleaning effect.
DP
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Thanks for those details Northmn. They're useful for my skull scratching. I know of a couple of folks here in Alaska with very old containers of sperm whale oil, so I might be able to snag a small sample just cuzz. Same for oil from bowhead and beluga whales. Even seal oil, come to think of it.
I was pretty disappointed too. Lots of remarks on commercial products but little on recipes, per the request. There's lots of discussions of homebuilding recipes on other sites though. If you want to pursue them, message me and I'll give you some links.
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Once more with feeling... Let's see where were we?? I've used the Hoppes #9 Plus enough to like it rather much during lower humidity days. And then there is that blend of 30% scented beeswax and 70% Crisco that works nicely for a patch lube too, in some of my guns.
Course I shot some of the best targets, in a recent match, that I have ever shot with any gun in my life. Costly shooting that stuff though!! The company calls themselves Eastern Maine. Their factory patch was blessed with their secret lube, on an .018 patch, wrapped around a .400 ball. Sho' did shoot mighty fine...
Edd
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: I have no idea where all your fouling is coming from, Harry - none of us have that problem here with the shooting regime we use.
I'm just lucky I guess Daryl. IF I shoot at Heffley this year, I'll show you how filthy this bore gets & how much work is involved in getting it clean. See ya in a couple weeks! :)
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Thanks Brownbear. I have several recipes in books on BP cartridge guns. I was always slightly amused at the concoctions. There is some indication that plain water does not work too bad on targets. I ran into one gentleman at out local shooting range with two beautiful Shiloh Sharps. He insisted that 30 wt motor oil was the only good thing for wiping between shots, which he had to do, and that all other stuff did was rust the bore. I had a gunsmith tell me that carburetor cleaner would clean out a bore in two wipes. He really praised the stuff. I used some in a breech loader and looked at the bore and shot the can and went back to standard cleaning. Marvel Mystery Oil was praised. Not by me. So far the old standbys are still here and being used. About the only thing that I read of recently that would work for cleaning was by Matthews when he mentioned adding antifreeze to water as it contains anti-corrosion additives.
DP
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A lot of modern shooters use carb cleaner in their bores - I'm talking about the modern BR shooters of the 1970's and 80's. It is not a BP friendly product, along with any other petrolium, except for vaseline IF it is mixed with beeswax. Other oils work well to with beeswax, ie: olive oil or neetsfood oil, but hese are bulelt lubes designed to allow repeated shots with lubed or PP bullets without having to wipe the bore.
; For patches, the best I've found so far, that shoot in all my barrels are spit, LHV and Hoppe's #9 PLUS. One gun, the .69 allows a wider range of lubes and even shoots baby-oil lubed as well as Mink-oil lubed loads equally well with anything else. I attribute this to the larger bore being easier to get to shoot than a small bore. The same goes for smoothbores where the larger the bore, the easier they are to get to shoot - IF you can handle the recoil, that is.
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Just a couple of random observations:
Oils or greases are not water soluble. Plain water will not dissolve them during cleaning, hence you must use a soap, solvent, or heat. This is one reason why so many concoctions use Murphy's, LHV, antifreeze, or water soluble oil for water clean-up.
If you use an oil or grease based lube, use the waterless cleaning method. Many use only Break-Free and patches to clean their bores. Or some use Go-Jo hand cleaner.
All of today's powders are glazed with graphite. What many of you think is fouling, is really the graphite residue. It's inert and harmless. Contrary to popular opinion of the Adrianne Monk type individuals, your bore does not have to be spotless and it won't rust. On the other hand, a perfectly spotless bore will encourage oxidation.
Your cleaning method depends entirely on the composition of your patch lube.
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Good point TOF! I hadn't thought of the graphite component. That could well be a large part of what collects in the grooves as it doesn't burn & also isn't water soluble. That also would be why the black residue I find after cleaning & rinsing comes out easily with WD-40 while soapy water wouldn't touch it.
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I have tried beeswax and olive oil as a patch lube and it was ok, but nothing spectacular. Does seem to work well as a leather dressing so all is not lost. Now I have pretty much settled on Ballistoil mixed with water. I use windshield washer fluid for a cleaner and it requires only three or four patches, including the last one saturated with Break Free CLP, but that is in round grooved rifling.
Your milage may vary.
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FWIW, long time habits that work perfectly die hard, even knowing there are other proven ways to do things...all I've ever used is a big 5 gallon bucket of steaming hot water & dishwashing detergent...and every cleaning session includes a couple dozen strokes with a bronze bore brush before final patching.
Years ago I clean until patches came back out snowy white...then one time for some reason I ran a bore brush up and down after I thought the bore was clean...the next couple of patches came out "black"...ever since then I never consider a bore clean until the patches are white AFTER a good brushing.
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"I have read and heard about folks cleaning up their guns with only two, three, maybe four patches. However, in an effort to really clean my barrels, I've always needed about ten diaper patches or more... "
I have been reading about this one patch thing for a while now.
Sorry guys I will have to see it to believe it.
10-12 Patches here easy.
With any of the lubes mentioned.
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Sorry guys I will have to see it to believe it.
Here's one easy, certain way you can that with 3 patches:
- Use a proper fitting PRB combination for the caliber bore you're using;
- Use Goex 3F powder
- Use liberal amounts of Hoppes #9 PLUS BP Solvent & Patch Lube;
- Shoot 50 shots at the range any time of year without wiping between shots;
- Get home and soak the bore in steaming hot soapy water while cleaning the lock;
- Pump flush the bore with the 1st patch;
- Make a couple dozen strokes with a bronze bore brush;
- Pump flush the bore with a 2nd patch;
- Rinse & pump flush the bore with a 3rd patch using steaming hot clean water;
;)
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RB,
I agree with everything you're doing except the steaming hot water.A good friend passed on used this same method. His long time friend and builder of this beautiful Peter Berry is still pulling rust out of a .40 Getz barrel. A real shame,and all due to old Pete's cleaning with steaming hot water. Rb,if you are using a water soluble patch lube,just give cold water a try.I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Very little risk of flash rusting. You can add the dish soap,but I don't think you need it. When I think my bore is dry,I librally shoot it down with WD40 till it runs out the vent.Then with a dry patch,I pump out the WD40 with a few strokes. One more patch to go at this point. Then I run a dry patch thru and put her away. 8) I have never shown a speck of rust in my guns,nor have I had any build up on their breechplugs. Nope,nine,nyet!
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Not a spec of rust in mine either in 18 years now.....note, you can't wait around to dry them though or you can get what is called flash rust, but even that just wipes right out...patch dry them quickly, then let the residual heat do its thing, then a couple of trips with a sloppy wet WD40 patch ;)
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I think a lot of guys who need a LOT patches to clean their rifles, aren't taking the barrels off to clean. When I did this, as in after a mere 20 shots on a Hefley trail, the patch count went up to about 2, sometimes 3 for cleaning, 4 for drying and 1 for oiling after WD40 40 spraying down the tube. When cleaning on the rifle, I plug the vent with a round tooth pick, then fill the tube with cold water. I let this soak for 15 min or more, then pull the plug and let the $#@* run out the vent- black as can be for just a split second, then the rest runs out clean. I then run a dry patch into it to the plug, then another. If that one isn't quite clean, I'll do a third. It usually comes out clean. Then I spray in the DW 40 till it runs out the vent, then another dry patch into the bore to soak up some oil and spread it around and blast the excess out the vent. I wad up a paper towel in the lock mortise to protect the wood while draining the barrel and when oiling. To clean the lock at Hefley, I remove it form the gun, splash water on it, scrub with someone Else's tooth brush, splash more water on it to rinse, then shake it dry, spray with WD40 till it litterally runs off into the fire pit, shake the lock, wipe it dry, then reinstall it when the bore is clean. This all takes about 10 minutes - except for the wait while it's soaking. That is the time for soaking a dry throat, and that cometimes takes longer than 15 minutes, but no longer than 30. So far I've rusted neither the .40 nor the .45 doing this. They clean like a polished mirror inside, one with rifling, of course.
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"...scrub with someone Else's tooth brush..."
;D
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AHA! So that's why my toothbrush tasted weird last year! >:(
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Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't been able to check back since I posted the question. My computer had a nasty virus. I'm not sure where I got it from but I was only here and a couple other ML sites the days things started to go funky. I will try the recipes I got.
I hunt with my rifles and I have always been a believer in target shooting with the same load you intend on hunting with. I know I may burn a little extra powder and spend a little more on lube but it is only a .36 caliber.
I use pillow ticking for patch material. Would I be able to dip the strips of ticking in the lube mixture while it is still in the liquid form? or is it better to rub the solid into the material?
Thanks, Brian
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I tried it with my various tallow/olive oil concoctions, and for my tastes it overlubed the patching. It didn't really work any better or worse than a thinner layer smeared on just before shooting, but man. It seemed to get all over everything when I was using the dipped patching. On seating the ball, lots of excess lube squeegeed out on the muzzle. I tried dipping precut patches too, with much the same results.
Except on the range I do most of my shooting using loading blocks. Keeping the excess lube contained in the field isn't such an issue then. Of course you've got some cleanup to do on the blocks when you load them at home.
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First post on this board:
I'm confused. The subject of the thread is Patch Lube Recipes. There are 4 pages of posts, most about cleaning after shooting, and only one post containing a patch lube recipe. Unless you count praises for a commercial product. Did I miss something?
My preference for PATCH LUBE isn't really a recipe. I use Ballistol thinned with plain water, varying from 5 parts water to 1 part Ballistol to 7 parts water to 1 part Ballistol. The ratio varies based on the gun. I lay the patches out on a sheet pan, soak them in the mixture, then remove them to a dry pan to dry out. This is usually done with a strip of ticking or drill, but sometimes I use precut patches, again depending on the gun. The dried patch material is stored in a medicine prescription bottle or ziplock bag.
I'll save my cleaning regimen for a thread on that topic, in case anyone asks.
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Sorry - most of the guys posting have run the gammut of various patch lubes in the last couple years, at the old ALR site. We, in our old age get sidetracked easily, it seems.
: I do recall some preferring spit, LehighValley Lube and Hoppe's which seem the best so far for allowing unlimited shooting without having to wipe in this rather stretched out thread.
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Nothing to be sorry about at all...the interrelationships between lubes/bore conditions/cleaning, etc are very close and commonly bleed across that blurry line...that's why nobody ever complains
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Ok short and to the point - Spit for line shoots and trail walks or crawls and bear grease for cold weather walks or hunting (via loading block)
Works for me :)
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concurr- but I'd probably use LFV for cold weather, That's when it shot the best for me. In this warmer weather target shooting, my rifle seems to prefer spit.
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Hoppe's #9 Plus is my choice. If I still hunted I'd still use a beeswax & Crisco shortening mix.
Mykeal, you will find with experience that all the best threads here tend to wander a bit. That often brings out the best information both on & off topic. Get used to it, that's how it works here.
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I drove down south to South Carolina just a few years ago. Some fellas down there in a BP shooting club were using a recipe that seemed simple enough. Those guys just opened a bottle of Dawn dishwashing detergent and squeezed it all over a shooting patch -- loaded said patch/ball and shot it. Most amazing thing too -- the President of that club placed first in the South Carolina state aggregate and placed first in some of the smaller matches also.
I discussed his Dawn patch lube with the President of the club. He told me that he encouraged all the members of their BP Club, to use that particular dishwashing detergent and that is how the whole club came to use that product.
Edd
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I have used bulk WD40 , [ not the spray ] for patch lube for the last 22 years. Works for me.
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I envy you fellows who use spit. I gag on the patch.
Anyone have a good recipe for bear oil/grease?
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The folks I know who use bear oil just use it straight on the patch. I'm zeroing in on a source to try mixing with deer tallow as an alternative to olive oil, just so I can use all local products. The only reason I'm not planning to use it straight is texture. I'd really rather have a paste for field use than a liquid. Suits my style of loading, shooting and hunting better.
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The folks I know who use bear oil just use it straight on the patch. I'm zeroing in on a source to try mixing with deer tallow as an alternative to olive oil, just so I can use all local products. The only reason I'm not planning to use it straight is texture. I'd really rather have a paste for field use than a liquid. Suits my style of loading, shooting and hunting better.
Try bear grease rather than bear oil!!
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The blackbear grease I've had kind of hovers between oil and grease at our average temperatures. Neither fish nor fowl for my uses. I want something a little stiffer. The brown (grizzly) oil I've seen is more like hot bacon grease in texture- just a bit "stiffer" than olive oil. I'm curious about using it because it's local and blackbear isn't. No self-respecting black bear is going to live on an island full of brown bears, even if it could survive the appetite of its big cousin.
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With the black bear grease/oil, I've found theoil from the insides, around the organs, you end up with a higher oil content, however, using fairly high heat to rend theouter fat, taken off the sides and rump, you end up with a white (or brownish) crisco-type grease, more like shortening. Left to sit at room temp over a fairly long period of time, this shortening will ooze oil, which can be poured off.
When we lived in Smithers, oh, so many years ago (late 70's) my wife, Tracy ran out of shortening when she wanted to make a berry pie. She 'stole' some of my bear grease and used that. That was the best crust she's every made. Light and fluffy - wonderful.
edited for spell check- good thing.
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I can imagine that crust! A neighbor uses blackbear oil from relatives in SE Alaska to cook donuts. You wouldn't believe the improvement over commercial donuts.
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With the black bear grease/oil, I've found theoil from the insides, around the organs, you end up with a higher oil content, however, using fairly high heat to rend theouter fat, taken off the sides and rump, you end up with a white (or brownish) crisco-type grease, more like shortening. Left to sit at room temp over a fairly long period of time, this shortening will ooze oil, which can be poured off.
When we lived in Smithers, oh, so many years ago (late 70's) my wife, Tracy ran out of shortening when she wanted to make a berry pie. She 'stole' some of my bear grease and used that. That was the best crust she's every made. Light and fluffy - wonderful.
edited for spell check- good thing.
I heard years ago that bear "lard" made the best pie crusts. Guess the "myth" was correct.
Dan
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....lessee here...patch lube recipe....that means cookin'....I'll do this like I do the rest of my cookin' (plain and simple).
Water, with maybe a touch of detergent.
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The folks I know who use bear oil just use it straight on the patch. I'm zeroing in on a source to try mixing with deer tallow as an alternative to olive oil, just so I can use all local products. The only reason I'm not planning to use it straight is texture. I'd really rather have a paste for field use than a liquid.
OK, two things:
1. Deer tallow. When you clean your deer, save all the fat, usually a big wad on the rump. Dice it very fine on a cutting board. It doesn't render as well in big gobs. Put the bits in a cast iron skillet and set the heat to the LOWEST POSSIBLE SETTING that will melt the fat, but not sizzle it. This is important. Bring a saucepan half full of water to a boil.....a simmer boil, not a rolling boil. Pour the fat into it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. This will clarify it and all the funky bits will sink to the bottom. Turn the heat off and allow to cool. It will solidify into a cake on top of the water. Dig the cake out and put into a storage container.
To use it, remelt a small bit and pour into empty percussion cap containers. You can antique the containers by burning the paint off with a propane torch and immediately rubbing it down with beeswax. To use, just rub your patch across the top of the container and load. You could also pour it into a grease hole in your gun if it has one. It works well as an original lube. Properly clarified, it will not go rancid. My batch is at least 12 years old and has never been refrigerated.
2. Bear grease: Render it out and put into a glass container. Set the container in the window. As the oil separates from the grease, pour it off into another bottle. Into the oil bottle, drop half a dozen lead shot, or a couple of small caliber lead balls and again set the bottle in the window. The lead will get fuzzy as it clarifies the oil. Siphon the oil off and discard the lead and stuff in the bottom.
Bear oil can be nasty stuff. It seems to be the ultimate penetrating oil. It will crawl its way out of most sealed containers, similar to LHV lube if you forgot to put the red plug back on the bottle. In addition to a patch lube, it is excellent for oiling your lock. It's slicker than snot. Mine is in a shampoo bottle with the little flip-top applicator and the whole outside of the bottle is covered with oil, even though it is sitting upright.
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TOF's got it in regards to bear oil crawling or running. When I rendered my bear fat I used a very high heat and I think that's why I got such nice 'shortening' from it. Too, I used only outside fat. The inside fat is what contains the most oil.
; One of the local loggers, a shooter as well, told me marmot fat was the best water proofer there was. I promptly climbed Hudson's Bay Mountain and shot a few, gutted and skinned them then saved the inside fat, handfulls from each marmot (mid fall & fat) in plastic bags, donned my "Trapper nelson" pack and climbed back down the mountain. The Marmot's were very tasty, but the fat - WOW! It is the oiliest, slickest, most water proofing 'product' I every handled. I used a low heat to render it out and it lasted several years for shooting and boot water proofing. The "Logger' later told me he stopped rendering it out and just thaws out enough fat to do his boots when they need it, rubbing the fat into his boots. For this, it works better than Dubbin, Mink Oil, Sno Seal or Paraffin White Gas. Incredible stuff. To remove it from your hands, you have to wash them in dish detergent 2 or 3 times. It is slipprier than LeHighValley Lube. It also shot well in my .58 as a patch lube.