Patch Lube Recipes

[Roger Fisher]

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

[Daryl]

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.

[Harnic]

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.

[Edd]

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

[bob in the woods]

I have used bulk WD40 , [ not the spray ] for patch lube for the last 22 years. Works for me.

[Jim Thomas]

I envy you  fellows who use spit.   I gag on the patch.     

Anyone have a good recipe for bear oil/grease?     

[BrownBear]

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.

[Roger Fisher]

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!!

[BrownBear]

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.

[Daryl]

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.
 

[BrownBear]

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.

[Dphariss]

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

[William Worth]

....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.

[T*O*F]

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.

[Daryl]

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.