Bear grease as a component of bullet lube

[L Ross]

Oh boy, black powder lube for muzzle loaders and cartridges, did I ever play that game. Bear fat, deer tallow, elk tallow, buffalo tallow, sheep tallow, horse tallow, lard, bees wax, sperm whale oil, jojoba oil, petrolatum, steam cylinder oil, graphite, Ballistol, and spit. Emmerts, Pope's, Hudson's, buffalo hunters, Creedmoor shooters, Garbe's all of that good clean fun. Then I bought a hunk of NASA Lube from Bullshop. For me that was when I stepped up my BPCR game. First ever true 1 MOA group at 200 yards from a C.Sharps .45 2 1/10" from cross sticks no less. Less fouling, never a speck of lead, easy cleaning. Whaaaaaaa, I can't make it myself!!!! It smells funny. It doesn't smell organic or old timey and the old fellers I revere did not have it. NASA Lube is the easiest pan lubing gunk I have ever seen. Bullets push out of the cake backwards with my thumb with the grooves neatly full of lube. If I can get enough of it on a bullet, such as Dick Dastardly's Big Lube Bullet, and I can fire 30 rounds out of my 73 Replica and 50 out of my SAA replica in .44 w.c.f. and not even have to use Swiss.

Yessir, as patch lube you cannot go wrong with bear oil. I wouldn't want to make biscuits with NASA Lube either. Take pains to re-render the bear oil with water a second time to get all the natural animal salts out if you are going to wipe down your guns with it so's they don't rust. I like and admire folks who use as much stuff from a critter they kill as they can and saving the bear fat is one of those things. Sinew from deer and even better, elk is another. Not sure if I could still brain tan a hide as it is really hand on the hands, but probably if the necessity were there. Some folks can't even seem to bother to get most of the meat off of a carcass based on what I have seen with my own eyes.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

So then, please tell us what's better than animal fats, plant oils, and beeswax for black powder bullet lubricant?

I’m not claiming it’s bad, I’m stating that we may be a bit too nostalgic about the stuff.

I don’t think the old timers seized upon animal fats as a lube for projectiles because they felt it was the best material, I think they used it because - it was all they had. That doesn’t mean it was a bad idea, quite the contrary, it works rather well, other than the fact that it does become rancid.

Perhaps we venerate these old solutions for the wrong reasons.

 

[Ian]

I’m not claiming it’s bad, I’m stating that we may be a bit too nostalgic about the stuff.

I don’t think the old timers seized upon animal fats as a lube for projectiles because they felt it was the best material, I think they used it because - it was all they had. That doesn’t mean it was a bad idea, quite the contrary, it works rather well, other than the fact that it does become rancid.

Perhaps we venerate these old solutions for the wrong reasons.

I think your point is rather misplaced. So far, no one of which I am aware has come up with a synthetic or petroleum-based black powder lubricant that outperforms those made from animal and plant products.

Further, having spent several years researching, compounding, and testing several hundred smokeless powder bullet lube recipes using every class of oil, grease gellant, and wax that there is (except flouropolymers for safety reasons), I found that the best there is is the original NRA formula fir most things and for extreme hot or cold and high velocity a sodium soap grease made with a petroleum wax that is UNrefined as possible and cold-pressed castor bean oil outperformed everything available. 100+ year old technology outperforming space-age lubricants. So no, newer isn't always better.

 

[Maven]

Josh, et al, I know you asked about bear oil as a BP/Pyrodex bullet lube, but I've never tried it*. However, here's a lube recipe that works with conicals and patched RB's and can use any vegetable oil you have on hand (as per Stumpy's PM to me) rather than the specified and hard to find castor oil. Btw, you can adjust the proportions so that you have a stiff or softer lube, ether of which will flow through a lube sizer (or you can skip that and smear it on with your fingers):

Stumpy's Moose Snot

A premium multi-shot between wiping (10+) patch lube stable over a wide temperature range.
SPECIFICALLY designed for use of patched round balls in a loading block

Beeswax 2 oz.
Castor Oil 8 oz.
Murphy's Oil Soap 1 oz.

Heat beeswax in a soup can set a pot of water. ( A double-boiler. I keep my beeswax in a one pound coffee can and measure out what I need by melting it and pouring it into measuring cups). Add just enough water to the pot so that the inner can does not begin to float (should be just short of the lube level in the can). Heat the water to a low boil. In a separate can, add the castor oil and Murphy's oil soap (cold). Once the beeswax is melted, swap the castor oil can in the pot of water for the beeswax. Add the beeswax to the oils. It will clump up. Stir with an ice tea spoon as the mixture heats up. When it fully melts there will often be a scum that floats to the top and just won't mix in. Be patient. DO NOT COOK THE MIXTURE. Once the solids are dissolved there is no need to heat further. Skim the scum off. Remove the mix from the heat and wipe the water off the outside (so it won't drip into the container when you pour it out). FINAL TOP SECRET STEP: Add a generous teaspoon of Murphy's Oil Soap and stir vigorously. This last step makes the lube frothy, smooth and more smearable - really adds to the appearance; though it doesn't seem to matter to the function of the lube. Clamp the can in the jaws of a vice-grip pliers and pour into the waiting tins. Allow to cool a half hour.

I've made and used this lube for years and with patched RB's you can get 10 accurate shots before you need to wipe your rifle's bore. With conicals, I'd wipe after every other shot and use an over powder wad for the best accuracy.


*Black bears aren't unknown in my small city or even in my neighborhood, but I've no desire to shoot one.

 

[abj]

Joshua, My BP Minie ball lube is 50/50 with a touch of Lanolin. It is way too soft in the warm weather. (above 70 F) I do use that blend for patching RB's all year. I did not go back and reformulate for summer but I would think 70 BW to 30 bear would be close. A friend of mine who lives in MN uses the 70/30 for his leather dressing and longbow strings.
Just because I could, I hand lubed some 32's with the 50/50 and loaded for SP-101 in .327 mag, man they were the most accurate loads ever until the soft lube built up and caused flyers, lube purging Is my analysis. I had to disassemble the gun to get all the bear oil and carbon cleaned up. My next batch will be 70/30.
Tony

 

[abj]

One more note, RB eluded to the oil possibly going bad. We rendered 3 black bears, ten years ago and poured it all up in quart canning jars.
It was just warm enough to pour, and put the lids on. we did not use the water/oil method just a very very low heat. Ours has not turned. I keep an open jar on the casting bench to lube sprue plates and such and it is fine also. Warmed up it is a great pentrating oil but will dry out and turn hard if heated too much. It makes the best round ball patch lube I have ever used when mixed with beeswax and lanolin.
Tony

 

[Ian]

The grizzly bear oil I rendered over a decade ago hasn't gone off yet either, but it smelled so bad to begin with who could tell!

Yes! 70/30 makes excellent leather dressing! I salvaged a cracking top-grain leather rifle sling I made as a kid using that after trying Lexel, neafsfoot, and saddle conditioner on it at various times through the years. Two treatments of bear oil and it is still soft and supple with no hint of rot all these years later being stored in the safe with a Goldenrod. Probably not the best to smell like a ba-aar when stalking Bambi but hey, at least the keepsake is preserved.

A word of caution, if you treat your boots with bear oil it can straight up send a dog out of its everloving mind.

 

[fiver]

you want rendered mink oil for those anyway, it only takes one Mink per boot...LOL.
but it's like magic.

 

[L Ross]

you want rendered mink oil for those anyway, it only takes one Mink per boot...LOL.
but it's like magic.

"Lynn? Are you skinning mink in the basement again?" "No Mom."

 

[Chris]

"Lynn? Are you skinning mink in the basement again?" "No Mom."

Reminds me of an old joke:

Tourist talking to a local mink rancher: "Sir, how often do you skin your minks?"

Mink rancher: "More than once a year makes them ornery."

 

[JonB]

Oh boy, black powder lube for muzzle loaders and cartridges, did I ever play that game. Bear fat, deer tallow, elk tallow, buffalo tallow, sheep tallow, horse tallow, lard, bees wax, sperm whale oil, jojoba oil, petrolatum, steam cylinder oil, graphite, Ballistol, and spit. Emmerts, Pope's, Hudson's, buffalo hunters, Creedmoor shooters, Garbe's all of that good clean fun. Then I bought a hunk of NASA Lube from Bullshop. For me that was when I stepped up my BPCR game. First ever true 1 MOA group at 200 yards from a C.Sharps .45 2 1/10" from cross sticks no less. Less fouling, never a speck of lead, easy cleaning. Whaaaaaaa, I can't make it myself!!!! It smells funny. It doesn't smell organic or old timey and the old fellers I revere did not have it. NASA Lube is the easiest pan lubing gunk I have ever seen. Bullets push out of the cake backwards with my thumb with the grooves neatly full of lube. If I can get enough of it on a bullet, such as Dick Dastardly's Big Lube Bullet, and I can fire 30 rounds out of my 73 Replica and 50 out of my SAA replica in .44 w.c.f. and not even have to use Swiss.

Yessir, as patch lube you cannot go wrong with bear oil. I wouldn't want to make biscuits with NASA Lube either. Take pains to re-render the bear oil with water a second time to get all the natural animal salts out if you are going to wipe down your guns with it so's they don't rust. I like and admire folks who use as much stuff from a critter they kill as they can and saving the bear fat is one of those things. Sinew from deer and even better, elk is another. Not sure if I could still brain tan a hide as it is really hand on the hands, but probably if the necessity were there. Some folks can't even seem to bother to get most of the meat off of a carcass based on what I have seen with my own eyes.

I never heard of a second "water" render to pull out salts. It does make sense, but I haven't had a rusty ML barrel yet?



for reference, my post earlier in this thread, from 3 yrs ago

Long before I ever cast my own bullet or even a round ball, I was shooting Muzzle-loaders (early 1990s). A good friend told me Bear grease was "THEE Thing" for patch lube and he gave me a small open top pail that was half full, he said it had been in the cold corner of his cellar for more than a decade, probably two. It stunk, but good. He told me to fry some Tators, and that'd clear up the rancid smell. I did that...sadly I did that in the house, boy did the house stink after that. The bear grease still smelled rancid.

A couple years later, a co-worker went bear hunting...He got a bear. He saved my some of the fat, on my request, so I could render it. He gave me a 5 gallon bucket of smelly meat/hide covered fat. What a mess that was. Rendering it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be...I didn't have large cooking vessels back then, so I did several small batches. At least the end product didn't smell that bad, I ended up with about a gallon of grease. It was a thick white grease at room temp. I had never heard of Bear oil before? I then processed (pressure canned) the grease in one Qt canning jars for long term storage, after the jars cooled to room temp, they were half clear oil and half white grease. So I learned then what bear oil was. That was 25 years ago, I still have two sealed Qts left and a partial open container in the freezer.

I have never experimented with it as a lube ingredient, I've just used it "straight" for patch lube for RB, and I also use it like gun oil on my muzzle loader guns. I've thought about mixing it 50-50 with Beeswax to make a lube for ML conical bullet, but the little bit I shoot those, I've just used TC's wonder lube, and I haven't used up the first container of that, that was bought in 1990, so I haven't had a need to make any.

 

[JonB]

I’m stating that we may be a bit too nostalgic about the stuff.

Myself, I'm not nostalgic about Bear grease/oil. 30 yrs ago, I was told it was "Thee thing" to use. So, I processed a lifetime supply and it works good for me, so no need to explore any further.

 

[JonB]

Is always sad to hear stories of poorly cared for meat, or in this case fat. It all needs to treated with the same care and respect, kept clean and cooled as quickly as possible. It shouldn't stink! Render it low and slow and do not scorch it! Filter and pour into glass jars; seal airtight and keep in the freezer. Best pastry shortening known to man!

I'm not sure if Paden is still around? this post was on the first page of this thread from 3 years ago and I should have replied 3 yrs ago, LOL.

Stink...
Bear fat smell (that isn't rancid) will have a smell and the particular smell of one Bear's fat is likely produced by that Bear's diet...add to that, we all have smells we dislike, that others really love. Like Alox, I don't mind aloxy muzzle smoke so much, but some here find it nauseating. My Dad had fond memories of the farm he grew up on, and loved the smell of fresh cut alfalfa...myself, I thought fresh cut alfalfa smelled like vomit.

Anyway, the Bear fat I rendered in the 1990s did stink (not a rancid stink), and even though the rendered grease/oil wasn't as strong of a stink, it still did stink ...and 30 yrs later, the grease/oil still has that same stink.

 

[Paden]

I'm not sure if Paden is still around? this post was on the first page of this thread from 3 years ago and I should have replied 3 yrs ago, LOL.

Yup, still kicking, thanks.

Everybody's sniffer and taster is different...and sadly some have that genetic quirk that makes cilantro taste like soap to them...

Anyway, during butchering in the field bear fat needs to be kept absolutely clean, and it should be cooled as quickly as possible and bagged separately from the meat. Under no circumstance should it ever be allowed to come in contact with the hide/hair. Provided the bear hasn't been on fish, nasty carrion, or other garbage, and provided it's properly cared for and rendered, the end product is pure creamy white, and has almost no smell at all. It's truly fabulous for making the most delicate pasteries, frying doughnuts, etc. .....But if it shows up in a 5 gallon bucket mixed with hide and god knows what else, as was described, it's not fit for consumption! Granted, if it's just being used for bullet lube that's a different matter entirely.

 

[Ian]

Everybody's sniffer and taster is different...and sadly some have that genetic quirk that makes cilantro taste like soap to them...

Stink bugs. Cilantro tastes and smells exactly like a stink bug. Yes, I do know, don't ask, it wasn't intentional. Good to hear from you, Paden.

 

[Paden]

Stink bugs. Cilantro tastes and smells exactly like a stink bug. Yes, I do know, don't ask, it wasn't intentional. Good to hear from you, Paden.

Sorry to hear that! lol. Stink bugs are one of the foulest, most offensive things I know of...besides maybe rotting whale blubber on the beach. Love me some cilantro, tho!

 

[JWFilips]

We get stink bugs in the house when I bring my citrus trees in for the winter month. But I have a Big ( and I mean Big) Yeller taby cat that hunts then down and lets us know of their presence! a paper towel with Dawn Detergent takes care of them with no smell!

 

[fiver]

can't do cilantro, parsley all day no problem, but cilantro tastes too much like dirt to me.
can' do that other southwest spice everyone thought should go on everything a couple years back either.

 

[JWFilips]

fiver...... European Decent?

 

[RicinYakima]

can't do cilantro, parsley all day no problem, but cilantro tastes too much like dirt to me.
can' do that other southwest spice everyone thought should go on everything a couple years back either.

Me either. Taste like Ivory soap Mom used to wash my mouth out with when a kid.