coon fat

[k morgan]

is anyone using coon fat or grease for patch lube, and what are the results

[mikeo]

I have used a lot of it, really nice grease/oil. As with bear fat, don’t burn it.

[MeliusCreekTrapper]

I just started to render down my first batch yesterday. Did you add anything, like beeswax, to harden it any?

[smylee grouch]

I always thought that good pure bear oil was about as slippery as it gets. That was until I dipped my finger in some of mikeo's coon oil. That stuff is like silicon snot! 

[Daryl]

I always thought that good pure bear oil was about as slippery as it gets. That was until I dipped my finger in some of mikeo's coon oil. That stuff is like silicon snot!

Same with Marmot Oil.  Maybe Eastern Ground Hog would be close as well.

[k morgan]

I have several groundhogs to skin so might try it , will have buckets of coon fat

[k morgan]

what is the best way to render, by the end of trapping seasons my boots are very greased up and shedding water

[Daryl]

The marmot fat was so tenacious, I had to wash my hands twice with REALLY hot water and dish detergent to cut the oil
& clean my hands, after bagging it for the freezer. It never really got hard in the freezer, either - always squish-able.
The logger friend who told me about it, used it for waterproofing his boots. He would just rub a 'frozen' chunk of fat into his
boots when they needed it. Just the heat of your hands would soften it into an oily lump of fat.
I used my propane casting stove with a pot. Even though I used too much heat, the marmot oil didn't turn into lard, like bear
fat does, under the same circumstances.
A double boiler is the recommended method.

[Clark Badgett]

Wonder how chicken fat would work. My wife cooks chicken 6 days a week it seems. 

[snapper]

K Morgan

Why do you have several ground hogs to skin?   Did you trap them for their pelt?    For food?

If for their pelt, what are they used for?

Thanks

Fleener

[k morgan]

I trap for a living. ground hogs are winter caught for hide market, fly tyers use some , baits for trapping coyotes

[mikeo]

No need to add anything to it.

[Daryl]

I trap for a living. ground hogs are winter caught for hide market, fly tyers use some , baits for trapping coyotes

Trapping ground hogs in the winter doesn't compute for the area I hunted ground hogs, nor marmots for that matter.  Those, and the ground squirrels, hibernate all winter long
and go into hibernation by September. The ground squirrels here in BC, go under by mid August.
Where, pray tell, do your trap them? Country, State?

[R.J.Bruce]

Poster over on the Modern Muzzleloading Forum, screen name Idaholewis, has several threads there in regards to his rendering down the fat of the skunks that he is constantly live trapping from around his home. The images of the final product show a brilliant white tallow that is pretty firm at room temperature. He claims that there is no skunk smell. He uses it in lube recipes for lead conicals.

[Daryl]

The fat from inside the cavity around the organs is where the highest concentrate of clear oil comes from.
Fat from the outside of the body, is there the lard-type harder 'shortening' comes from. A mixture of the two,
at least from the bears I've rendered, should produce an end product that leaches oil over time if stored at
room temperature & is quite soft at that temperature.

[MeliusCreekTrapper]

This past weekend we had our club shoot, air temp was 12 degrees, very little wind and sunny. I usually spit patch, that wasn't going to work. I melted some rendered coon fat and dipped a roll of ticking patching in. Squeezed most of it out. Let it dry overnight.
The shoot on Sunday, the patches worked great. I cut them at the muzzle, easier for me to deal with a strip of cloth and a knife than trying to pick up individual patches in the cold. We shot 15 shots, three targets. A break to pull and post between each target. I never swabbed and the last shot loaded as easy as the first. No real change in accuracy, as far as I could tell. Just off hand shooting. Cleanup was very easy.
I am definitely happy with my first use of coon fat. I have a pile on the fur shed floor I will be rendering down into smaller containers. I would definitely recommend it experiment with coon fat as a lube, especially in cold weather or for hunting when the load stays in the gun for some time.

[OldMtnMan]

Can a patch lube get too slippery and become worse?

[Hungry Horse]

It all has to do with the fats resistance to heat. No heat resistance, no good. It doesn’t matter how slick it is.

Hungry Horse

[OldMtnMan]

Thanks.

We need a chart showing heat resistance for all the different fats.

[Daryl]

LHV and Mr. Flintlock's Lube - very slippery and for me, an extra 10gr. needed for the same POI and accuracy.

[WaterFowl]

I always thought that good pure bear oil was about as slippery as it gets. That was until I dipped my finger in some of mikeo's coon oil. That stuff is like silicon snot!

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Wow  found using a  little bear oil goes a long ways for lube..preferred using below freeze temps.slip city!

Get a kick out of rendering bear grease..

Coon oil sounds like greased lighting....No experience.

Found extra slippery lubes harder to control.(consistency or wetness of patch lube)

Finally settled on Mink oil as a cold weather hunting patch lube....

Your mileage may very...according to latitude.

It would be interesting to find out how coon oil reacts to different powders at different climates.

Like Darrel....had to up the load 10 grains to hit POA..with super slick lubes...

Coon On!

[MeliusCreekTrapper]

I was definitely shooting high that day, about 2 inches at 25 yards, 6 inches at 50. Could have been the coon fat lube versus regular spit patch, could have been the bright sun on the sights. Could have been the extra jacket I had on, it was 12 degrees Farenheit out. I'll have to do some bench testing and see what POI difference there is.

[Not English]

Mellius Creek, I'd be interested in your results.

[Daryl]

When I shoot off the bags and want the same POI as offhand shooting, I found I had to hold/grip the forend in my left hand (right handed shooting) and rest the back of that hand on the bag.
If I did not do that, the groups did not hit to the sights set for offhand shooting.
Now, with a new rifle I just use that technique for sighting in and know I will hit centre shooting offhand.

[Ric Carter]

Lubes CAN be too slick.
As for coon oil, I saw reference in an old journal that stated if you get one drop of coon oil on a buffalo robe, it would eventually completely soak it. A bear is basically a big coon, so it probably would work the same!
Another old book I have from the early 1900's, it was apparent that skunk oil was a big commodity. It never did say just what they were using it for, probably a perfume base.

Dr. Google sez;
https://www.leaf.tv/articles/skunk-oil-uses/