weather protection?

[Kurt]

Does anyone use anything to add additional protection to a rifle or Fowler they hunt with in Fall and Winter conditions? Is there anything that was used historically? Thank you, Kurt

[rich pierce]

I wax my guns heavily during hunting season.

[smylee grouch]

I do the same with wax for the stock. I use a cows knee over the lock and  a mix of bees wax and bear lard around the pan.

[WKevinD]

My stock is waxed, heavily and I seal around pan and pan to barrel with grease. I also carry a "chapstick" in my bag for touchups around pan after I check my prime.

Kevin

[Mike Brooks]

I wax stock and barrel. I also stay home when the weather is bad.

[Kurt]

I have been doing some reading about rifle builders and the traditional way they finish their rifles, and linseed oil and the more durable tongue oil seem to be most often used. Permilene is frowned upon as unorthodox. The rifles are wonderful to me and I know some people who would never hunt theirs, but I can't think of a better ambition for them. Wax was what I was thinking but it was not very available to early colonists. I plan to use it. Staying in the cabin when the weather was bad was surely a practice in the day. Thank you to you all!

[john bohan]

You got it right Mike, stay home when its bad out.

[Carl Young]

Wax was what I was thinking but it was not very available to early colonists.

Kurt I'm curious about why you think bees were in short supply? My European ancestors arrived in the early spring of 1619 in Jamestown.They were well educated (Cambridge) and kept journals. No mention of a lack of bees/honey/wax.

I'd like to hear what you think.

Regards,
Carl

[Kurt]

Carl, The British brought the honey bee to the "continent" it was not a native inhabitant. I don't know when it would have become prolific enough for beeswax to be readily available but I have read it was not until much later. I do know that the colonists made candles using tallow rather than wax.

[Carl Young]

Thanks Kurt. This is what I was thinking of, a fellow professor (etymologist) put me on to this a few years ago. I had forgotten about honey bees being a different species.

"Native bees are the primary insect pollinator of agricultural plants in most of the country. Crops that they pollinate include squash, tomatoes, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. Native bees were here long before European honeybees were brought to the country by settlers (honeybees are not native to North America). Honeybees are key to a few crops such as almonds and lemons, but native bees like the blue orchard bees are better and more efficient pollinators of many crops, including those plants that evolved in the Americas. Native bees are estimated to pollinate 80 percent of flowering plants around the world. Native bees are the primary insect pollinator of agricultural plants in most of the country. Crops that they pollinate include squash, tomatoes, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. Native bees were here long before European honeybees were brought to the country by settlers (honeybees are not native to North America). Honeybees are key to a few crops such as almonds and lemons, but native bees like the blue orchard bees are better and more efficient pollinators of many crops, including those plants that evolved in the Americas."
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-many-species-native-bees-are-united-states

I appreciate the correction.
Regards,
Carl

[smart dog]

Hi Kurt,
It would not be linseed oil rather a linseed oil and resin varnish.  The oil alone is not very weatherproof and takes forever to dry.  No gunsmith of the period would tolerate that so they made a varnish from it that dried much faster and was better protection.  They used linseed oil as a base not because it was particularly good but it was cheap and available.  Moreover, the dull or low sheen "in the wood" oil finish is mostly a modern fashion.

dave

[J.M.Browning]

A word of caution-little point in using something traditional if your going to fetch the ingredients in a automobile , I do like beeswax the mailman delivered in a right hand drive Subaru .

[Steeltrap]

A word of caution-little point in using something traditional if your going to fetch the ingredients in a automobile , I do like beeswax the mailman delivered in a right hand drive Subaru .

They actually had Subaru's in the mid 1700's.  Only one horsepower....but none the less......

[Kurt]

I was just giving a tip of the hat to those who build guns as authentically as they can when suggesting beeswax may not be an authentic weather repellant.
I suspect without evidence that the grim found on the stocks of otherwise well-maintained early American rifles was some combination of soot and whatever they used to protect the rifles from rust. Deer tallow, pork fat, I don't know. According to Wikipedia coal mining began in the US in 1701 and coal oil was developed in the early 1800s. Coal oil eventually replaced whale oil as a means for lamp oil, and coal became the main heat source in the 1800s and into the early 1900s. I suppose deer tallow, whale oil, or bear fat could be used as a weather shield. I don't know. I do know where you can get some bear fat.

[Mike Brooks]

I have seen several contemporary longrifles ruined by the use of animal fats as a protectant. Specifically bear oil and sperm oil. Both were walnut stocked and went punky soft, wouldn't hold a group anymore due to the damage. You could gouge wood out with your thumbnail.  I think it was some sort of bacteria that grew in the rancid oil that softened the wood.

[axelp]

I use a wax lube to temporarily weatherize my guns when I am out in the woods. It's often hard to predict weather and although I usually avoid standing out in the pouring rain with or without my guns, there are times when it happens. Also the morning dew can be an issue. I try to keep my guns covered at night but when your sleeping on the ground under a tarp... its no wonder why most guns of the 18th c did not survive for us to enjoy and admire today. My wax lube solution is adequate, but my guns do show evidence of where they have been and what they have done. If I needed them to stay pristine and untouched, I would probably use a modern more effective solution or leave them at home. When I am dead and gone, my grandkids and great grandkids will look at what's left of these old guns and see the evidence of the fun Grandpa had running the woods with them.

K

[smallpatch]

In my finishing process, I will add several coats of spar varnish. I figure they use it on boats, so it should be good for an occasional downpour.