Deer Tallow Lube--- An update

[BrownBear]

A year and a half ago (midwinter) I made up a couple of different batches of lube using deer tallow and olive oil. One was 1:1 and the other was 2 parts tallow and 1 part oil.

This is the first "warm" day I've tried using them. Okay, warm is a relative thing. It was over 60 degrees! I was shooting 50 cal with 80 grains of 3f under .490 balls and ticking patches.

In the past in cooler conditions I've said the 1:1 was like vaseline and the 2:1 was like tub-style bore butter. Today I have to downgrade that to the 1:1 being little more than oil, and the 2:1 more like vaseline.

Recovered patches and the target showed no real difference between them, lubing and cutting patches at the muzzle. Both sets of patches looked great, and accuracy was as good as it should be. The oil was a PITA to use without spilling, and when you got it on your hands new cast balls were about as slick as anything you ever tried to handle.

Here's the interesting part: I had precut and lubed a bunch of ticking patches with the 1:1 when I first made the lube 18 months ago. Those things would blow and shred with every single shot. Yet applied at the muzzle the 1:1 worked just fine. Obviously there has been some deterioration going on with those old patches.

I'm going to make up some 3:1 and try that for "summer" use up here. I'm betting in even warmer climates I'd end up using either straight tallow or a very little oil at all.

As many of you know, it feels darned good to be shooting balls you cast yourself, patches you cut yourself, lube you made yourself, a horn you made yourself, and a rifle you made yourself! Only 16 days to deer season!!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[rafterob]

Animal and vegetable fats go rancid when exposed to oxygen. Like most other reactions, the warmer the temperature the faster this occurs. To limit this reaction do three things. Refrigerate, store in an airtight container (zip-loc bags with excess air pressed out)and keep out of the light. When fats become rancid they are acidic, hence the damage to the patch material. I pre-lube strips of pillow ticking, roll them tightly and store in a ziploc bag folded inside a paper bag in my refrigerator. Take one or two strips with me to the range in a film canister (if you can still find those). I make up my patching once a year and find no degradation when following the above guidelines.

 

[sniper68]

That's a fact. Probably like most, I learned the hard way many moons ago.
Even though I don't use animal fats anymore, I still freezer bag them and store them in the freezer.

 

[BrownBear]

Good points. I'd guessed that rancidity (oxidation) would go to work on cotton sooner or later, but I didn't have a meter on how long it would take. There's little change in smell after 18 months, and that from a guy with a nose tuned to rancidity from a couple of decades in the fish business. Sounds (or smells) as though smell isn't a good indicator.

Good tip on the freezing. I go through patches fast enough that if I made prelubes they'd only be around a couple of months or so, but the freezer looks like a good antidote. It would be interesting to see just how long I could let the patches sit around before integrity was affected, but I'm not about to start dating patches as a routine matter. Freezers are easier!

 

[rabjr]

I settled on a 1:1 1/2 ratio of deer tallow/bear oil mix thats working great for me Brownbear. Perfect consistency and I'm getting one ragged hole at 50 yards in my new .58 rifle. Should be about the same substituting olive oil for the bear oil.
http://nimrodsplace.com/nerifle22.html

 

[BrownBear]

How would you compare the consistency of that mix with some other familiar product? I can almost guess what it would be like with the olive squeezings rather than bear drippings, but I'm wondering if it's a little stiffer with the bear. I'm pretty happy with the 2:1 for our average temps and 1:1 for cold weather, but they both softened up a bunch once temps topped 60 degrees.

I was just sitting here pondering (staring out the window actually) the effects of adding just a bit of beeswax for summer use. All the materials are on hand and I'm running low on lube, so the beeswax ponder just might turn into an experiment.

 

[rabjr]

It's very easy to spread, sorta like what T/C's wonder lube is like on a warm day, just before turning liquid.

 

[BrownBear]

Sounds real similar to the olive oil version at 60-65 degrees, so it may be slightly stiffer at warmer temps than I think this one may be. I guess I was worrying about what would happen to it at something like 80+ degrees. None of that to worry about here, but you've inspired me to track down some fat from our local bear. I'm not inclined to shoot one, but several guides are friends. Hmmmmmm. Local deer and local bear sure makes more sense than imported olive oil and beeswax.

Thanks!

 

[rabjr]

Yep, I had been mixing bear with beeswax for a few years now and last year I rendered a bunch of deer tallow. Started out experimenting deer tallow/olive oil and after really thinking about it, why not try mixing them both. After all the tallow ain't much different from the beeswax. And I have to say both me and my rifle are very impressed with this lube. :thumbsup:

 

[buttonbuck]

I mix 1/3 of each tallow of deer, bees wax and olive oil and found it to be great in all weather. doesn't go rancid at all.