Bear Grease Question

I ordered some bear grease from October Company and some pre-cut patches from The Possibles Shop to try out as I work up a load and get my rifle sighted in. Shout out to both companies, fast shipping, and quality products. My question is do I have to heat up the grease and dip the patches in or can I just rub the patches into the grease in the container it came in? I ask because I seen a YT vid from Ethan with I love Muzzleloading heat up his grease and dip the patches in but I'm guessing I can just rub them into the grease as I shoot them.

Rubbing will do, heat and dip will use it up faster.

Use that grease the way you want to. You can wipe the patch on the grease and load with the grease side on the outside of the ball or you can melt the lube to dampen the patch. Either way will work. The quick wipe is just as effective and uses slightly less grease.

"Lube" is a variable that you have to work out.
A fully saturated patch (dipped in melt) and/or a light wipe with your fingers will result two very different end groups at the target and the resulting bore condition.
You have to experiment and find what works best for you. It takes a bunch of shooting to figure it out.
The patch lube, the patch thickness and the powder charge are all variables that that work together and only the individual can find what works best for them and the rifle.

p.s. in personal experience, less lube is more successful.

Any grease lube , should be applied and then all excess cleaned off , as in put the patch on a smooth hard surface , and rubbed with a finger. This is done at the range , or at home , prepping to shoot . My favorite guns have either a side of stock grease hole to stack the sticky patches ready for use , or in a patch box with a lid. Many original guns examined , have traces of grease in the patch box. This has worked for me the last 30 yrs. ,or so..

Is that actual bear grease or just something called bear grease? The reason I ask is that it's illegal to sell parts of a bear in some states.

If you can't get real bear grease ,sheep fat rendered is close in performance to bear grease. In the 1970's Dixie Gun works used to sell rendered sheep fat , and called it "Old Zip" , patch lube. Since I couldn't use spit for lube , Old Zip was my "go to" patch lube for competition shooting. Been shooting m/l guns for 1/2 century , still using grease patch lube.

I love bear grease I have done both ways heated and dip but 99% of the time I just wipe the patch across the grease.

The October Country Bumblin Bear is a combination of beeswax and real bear tallow and another "natural" ingredient. I make my own bear-beeswax lube with no mystery additives at a fraction of the cost. My experience with solid lubes (at room temperature) is that melting it, dipping the patches in it until saturated and drying on a mesh screen is more efficient and actually less wasteful than rubbing it on the dry patch at the range. True, it will use up your container faster. Hot dipping gives me more consistent grease from patch to patch. How consistent can you be by wiping or using spit on the range? Any excess on cooled patch can be rubbed off with a untreated patch used for plinking. Done it with Young Country Arms 103 lube, ballistol-water mix, other commercial lubes. Use tongs when handling the fabric in hot lube and don't dry on newspapers unless you want to see the print on your patches. Even used some of the hot 103 lube to make and eat. popcorn. They said it was food grade, safe and used in a canning factory to lubricate conveyor belt machinery. Haven't seen it in years. I would not hesitate to eat my bees wax - bear tallow lube in a survival situation. I tried stringing dry patches with a needle and thread and hanging from the strap of my shooting pouch. Pull off a single patch, rub it In the grease hole of the poor boy and load. The excess grease that squirts out at the muzzle when loading gets rubbed on the stock or buckskins. Let us know if you are happy with the results of the patch and lube for accuracy, ease of loading, softening of fouling and how it works in hot and cold weather. Could you figure out your cost per shot for just the grease and patch?

While I've never used bear grease I do use mink oil, which is a grease. ANY grease lube is simply added by wiping a patch across the solid grease. I like lots of lube on patches and it has always worked for me.

Undertow said:

I ordered some bear grease from October Company and some pre-cut patches from The Possibles Shop to try out as I work up a load and get my rifle sighted in. Shout out to both companies, fast shipping, and quality products. My question is do I have to heat up the grease and dip the patches in or can I just rub the patches into the grease in the container it came in? I ask because I seen a YT vid from Ethan with I love Muzzleloading heat up his grease and dip the patches in but I'm guessing I can just rub them into the grease as I shoot them.

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I rendered about 30-35lbs or so of bear fat four years ago from a 400 lbs black bear I shot and came out with a bit over two gallons of fine bear grease I put it up in air tight mason jars. It seems to last for ever without going rancid and I use it in by cast bullet lube recipe in lieu of Neatsfoot oil.
For muzzle loading patch lube I much prefer winter grade windshield wash solution as it keeps the bore clean and works fine for repeat shots in competition. I would certainly prefer the bear grease for a hunt though as it will not soak into the powder as the wash would and potentially foul the charge .
Bear oil/grease was also well thought of in history for patch lube as well as cooking , skin and hair lotion, gun lubrication and medicine . Bear oil I've read does not congeal when cold but have not tested this out. I know Ned Roberts sure speaks highly of it in his cap lock rifle book.

M. De Land said:

. Bear oil I've read does not congeal when cold but have not tested this out. I know Ned Roberts sure speaks highly of it in his cap lock rifle book.

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Yes, pure Bear Oil DOES congeal!
At around 33 degrees or so it begins to congeal, you will see it turning from clear to white, below that it will stop pouring from a bottle, set it in the sun and it will liquify again pretty fast.
I just took my 8oz bottle out of the freezer (frozen solid) and it took near two days at room temp to fully liquify again.

I usually use it straight but thought I would mix some into TOW Mink Oil to soften it up. I find Bear Oil slides down the barrel smoother then Track's Mink mix so just wanted to try.
I have some 30 patches pre lube for a shoot last week but we got Canceled on account of 'Sheep' (btw: Sheep Ain't no Animal!!)

Gonna try them out at the Club Shoot Saturday (providing the sheep have moved on).

Myself, I just wipe one side across the lube, scrape off excess on edge of can, a quick finger rub to spread it, and lay it it in my patch can Lube Side Down.
When I load I pull out a patch and load with Lube Side Down (there is enough residue on the ball side).

Mad L said:

Yes, pure Bear Oil DOES congeal!
At around 33 degrees or so it begins to congeal, you will see it turning from clear to white, below that it will stop pouring from a bottle, set it in the sun and it will liquify again pretty fast.
I just took my 8oz bottle out of the freezer (frozen solid) and it took near two days at room temp to fully liquify again.

I usually use it straight but thought I would mix some into TOW Mink Oil to soften it up. I find Bear Oil slides down the barrel smoother then Track's Mink mix so just wanted to try.
I have some 30 patches pre lube for a shoot last week but we got Canceled on account of 'Sheep' (btw: Sheep Ain't no Animal!!)

Gonna try them out at the Club Shoot Saturday (providing the sheep have moved on).

Myself, I just wipe one side across the lube, scrape off excess on edge of can, a quick finger rub to spread it, and lay it it in my patch can Lube Side Down.
When I load I pull out a patch and load with Lube Side Down (there is enough residue on the ball side).

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Mine is pure white grease and remains the same in hot or cold weather. I rendered the fat in a crock pot for 12 hours and it came out in oil form with a amber color. I strained the cracklins out with cheese cloth and when it congealed in the sealed Mason jars at summer temperature here in AK probably 60-70 F. it was pure white and has remained so wither in the refrigerator or on the shelf in my outdoor shed.
I'm not sure how one makes the oil that supposedly does not congeal in cold weather. Perhaps there is another ingredient or method to get just oil instead of grease.

M. De Land said:

Mine is pure white grease and remains the same in hot or cold weather. I rendered the fat in a crock pot for 12 hours and it came out in oil form with a amber color. I strained the cracklins out with cheese cloth and when it congealed in the sealed Mason jars at summer temperature here in AK probably 60-70 F. it was pure white and has remained so wither in the refrigerator or on the shelf in my outdoor shed.
I'm not sure how one makes the oil that supposedly does not congeal in cold weather. Perhaps there is another ingredient or method to get just oil instead of grease.

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Not sure exact method used here, I got from someone else, but sounds the same.
First photo is Room Temp, it stays amber clear until low 30s then begins to thicken and turn white (second photo is what I still have in freezer - turns pure white).
The third photo is what I thawed and refilled the small bottle, you can see some on top still clear but rest stayed white but still pours.

Undertow said:

I ordered some bear grease from October Company and some pre-cut patches from The Possibles Shop to try out as I work up a load and get my rifle sighted in. Shout out to both companies, fast shipping, and quality products. My question is do I have to heat up the grease and dip the patches in or can I just rub the patches into the grease in the container it came in? I ask because I seen a YT vid from Ethan with I love Muzzleloading heat up his grease and dip the patches in but I'm guessing I can just rub them into the grease as I shoot them.

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I use this for a patch lube and just wipe the patch on it so that it's fully covered. Works great in my experience.

Dave Markowitz said:

I use this for a patch lube and just wipe the patch on it so that it's fully covered. Works great in my experience.

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I've not tried the grease alone on my patches but will give it a try. I've been very satisfied with the windshield wash for match work as it keeps the fouling down to a minimum. The wash works very well in cold weather as well because of the alcohol in it. It is comprised of alcohol, liquid soap and water, all very effective to de solve BP fouling !
Ned Roberts talks of using bear oil on his patches and for lubing the locks, barrels etc. There seems to be a distinction between use of oil and grease in his book.

As I understand it (could be wrong) the 'Oil' is rendered down and filtered clear where the 'Grease' is less rendered, more like lard or something in between.
Natives used Bear Grease a lot for water proofing buckskin, I have heard it also makes it stronger.
I have some "bear grease" for drum skins but it is very watery but it's also not clear, been meaning to try it on some rawhide.
A video I wonce saw of an Indian treating his buckskin it looked more like lard (but was described as "bear grease").

Mad L said:

As I understand it (could be wrong) the 'Oil' is rendered down and filtered clear where the 'Grease' is less rendered, more like lard or something in between.
Natives used Bear Grease a lot for water proofing buckskin, I have heard it also makes it stronger.
I have some "bear grease" for drum skins but it is very watery but it's also not clear, been meaning to try it on some rawhide.
A video I wonce saw of an Indian treating his buckskin it looked more like lard (but was described as "bear grease").

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Are you thinking the grease may need to be rendered more and perhaps at a higher heat to get clear oil ?

M. De Land said:

Are you thinking the grease may need to be rendered more and perhaps at a higher heat to get clear oil ?

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I do not know, never rendered fat myself.
However; when I think Oil, I think 'Thin and Runny, when I think Grease, I think 'Thick' and...well 'greasy' - like anything else. Think 'Automotive'; you dont put oil on bearings and you dont slap gobs of grease down the pipe labeled 'Grease'.

I read an article, somewhere, describing the process of rendering and it described how the fat would break down with a lighter area that would rise to the top, it said this would be filtered off and used for "medical, makeup, etc" (was not a ML article) and heavier stuff would sink to bottom, this would be the lard...then it said something (??) about the in between layer(s).

Perhaps if one rendered longer the 'oils' on top would burn off?? But I don't think you would want to burn off all the oils for I feel that would leave....perhaps...less desirable 'slick' "grease"??
I imagine like anything else there is an art and science to it all.

I know one on YouTube who renders Raccoon and even Skunk fat but he uses it for 'Candles'....made me wonder about it as a lube - he got a decent amount out of his coon for the video.

Mad L said:

I do not know, never rendered fat myself.
However; when I think Oil, I think 'Thin and Runny, when I think Grease, I think 'Thick' and...well 'greasy' - like anything else. Think 'Automotive'; you dont put oil on bearings and you dont slap gobs of grease down the pipe labeled 'Grease'.

I read an article, somewhere, describing the process of rendering and it described how the fat would break down with a lighter area that would rise to the top, it said this would be filtered off and used for "medical, makeup, etc" (was not a ML article) and heavier stuff would sink to bottom, this would be the lard...then it said something (??) about the in between layer(s).

Perhaps if one rendered longer the 'oils' on top would burn off?? But I don't think you would want to burn off all the oils for I feel that would leave....perhaps...less desirable 'slick' "grease"??
I imagine like anything else there is an art and science to it all.

I know one on YouTube who renders Raccoon and even Skunk fat but he uses it for 'Candles'....made me wonder about it as a lube - he got a decent amount out of his coon for the video.

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Mine looks just like your amber oil while still warm before solidification but then the whole thing turns to pure white grease when it cools over night. Stays the same wither summer hot or winter cold in my exterior shed. There is no oil on top or on the bottom just white grease top to bottom.
I wonder if reheating would separate oil from grease? I will give that a try and see what happens .