bear grease

[ken]

Is there any advantage to using bear grease in a rifle bore? Will it season it ? How about hunting with it or just shooting at the range. I am hoping to improve accracy!!

[elk killer]

dont know if its advantagous or not..
its all i have used for 41 yrs..
hunting in all kinds of weather..
just use a warm water clean up..
works for me..!!!

[Mike R]

It is a traditional American lube, it won't turn rancid [if prepared right], some swear by it, but it is hard for many to obtain now...as for seasoning, that is a can of worms--some say yes, many say no such thing in modern steel barrels?  I use mink grease myself.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

I truly believe that Squire Boone would would not have used a patch lube with No.2 yellow USDA-approved food coloring and the cheapest of artificial commercial wintergreen essence in it on a long hunt into Kentucky.

Practically though, bears were readily available to him for rendition at nearly every bend in the river so he had lots of bear's grease. He gave his extra fine bear grease patch lube to his wife for making pies' crusts too, I think.     Lon

[B.Barker]

Bear grease for a patch lube is like any other lube it may give better accuracy and it may not. I got about 2-1/2" groups with bear grease with a .40 I just finnished and 5/8" groups with spit. So don't get bear grease thinking it makes every gun shoot better. It may and may not.

[ken]

I'll have to take it to the range and see what kind of group I get. Bear grease or bear oil? I can render it down that far.
P.S. My wife is not to fond of the pie idea.

[Michigan Flinter]

 I use bear grease in my .50 flint mountain rifle since the day I first shot it. It has a green mountain 1-66 70 Goex FFF .500 ball .020 flowered patch material.I am very happy with the way it shoots.It takes four patches to get it clean using only cold water followed with a patch with bear grease to lube the bore. One time I lubed the bore with RIG and it took about fifteen shots to get the rifle shooting the way it did befire the RIG lube. I have shot at least thirty times without ever putting a cleaning patch to it could of went longer with no problem.  Eric D. Lau Riverdale Mi.

[Long John]

I've been using a mixture of about 1 part beeswax and 3 parts bear oil/grease for many years and find it to be the best lube I have ever used.  I don't believe that rifle bores "season".  The temperature inside teh gun during the powder burn is north of 1800 F and any grease or other material that is in the bore will vaporize at those temperatures.

However, as a patch lube I like the bearegrease/bees wax mixture.  I can shoo all day without wiping between shots except under very dry conditions.  If a round loads hard I just put the next patch on my tongue while fetching the ball and the little bit of salive eases the loading.

I think that accuracy will be improved the most by finding the right ball/patch/powder combination.  I find no difference between using spit patch versus bear grease/bees wax lubed patches in terms of accuracy.  both will group well in my riflegun but by using the bear grease/bees wax patches I am using the same load for everything, all the time so I know exactly where my rifle is going to hit, all the time.

Best Regards,

JMC

[Leatherbelly]

 Hi guys,
  I tried bear grease for the first time yesterday. Temperature was a little over 50F. RH around 70.  A.025 denim patch saturated with BG, .490RB in a Rice B weight .50. Loaded like a champ,real slick and shot real good(one shot at end of day for experimental purpose). But, cleaning the rifle was a bear,no pun intended. For hunting I'll use the bear grease, for targets and range usage, spit or my own lube concoction will fill the bill.
  I swabbed the barrel about an hour or so after firing it. Lots of little "crunchies" near the breach and forward. That was after only one shot. Will tighten up the combination with a .495 ball next time.