Traditional grease

[laney1566]

What grease was used as a patch lube in the early 1800's. Bear grease or the like?

Also...Is there a grease that will stay inside a patch box (not the kind on the butt of the gun)in warm weather without lubricating your shooting bag? Bore butter gets runny.

 

[longcruise]

I think they would have mostly used just about any kind of rendered fat from whatever animal was most often available. In other words, lard!

 

[rafterob]

Crisco holds up well and should be fine in your neck of the woods. Pre lubing a strip (or pre cut ) patches is the way to go if you want to carry lube around in your bag.

 

[nw_hunter]

If you like to use Bore butter,you can stiffen it up by adding some bee's wax to the mix.It works better as a bullet lube , but will still work as patch lube.

 

[laney1566]

Interesting...How much would you mix with large tube of BB?

 

[laney1566]

Crisco holds up well and should be fine in your neck of the woods. Pre lubing a strip (or pre cut ) patches is the way to go if you want to carry lube around in your bag.

I have pre-lubed and ironed it into the strips. I cut at the barrel. I keep bore butter in the bag for cleaning purposes after I have run moose milk through it.

 

[rabjr]

You can buy Bear grease here, not sure their mix and how hard or pliable it is as I make my own lube. http://www.octobercountry.com/products3.php?productid=157

You can shoot yourself a deer and render the fat (tallow), if you run it through a grinder first before rendering, the rending time will be a fraction of normally cubing it. Once you have this rendered tallow, you can add to it to get the right consistency, bear oil, olive oil is what I do. I'm sure but there are other things you can try if you want. I found deer tallow easy to get, bear oil not so easy for a lot of folks and olive oil makes a very good substitute.
http://nimrodsplace.com/nerifle22.html

 

[J.D.]

Spit won't run in hot weather. Isn't all that great for hunting, but works great for plinking or targets. Just suck on a coupla dry patches while you are shooting. They will get wet enough to swab the bore as you are shooting.

God bless

 

[rabjr]

I must make one thing clear. I am only interested in a hunting patch lube and make that. Sometimes I forget some people are just looking for a range lube.

 

[ohio ramrod]

While most of the old timers used whatever was available on the frontier often mixed with beeswax. Those who had access to it and could afford it preferred sperm whale oil which was considered the best. I used to use sperm whale oil in the late fifties and early 60's ( and I still have a few ounces left). It makes a great patch lube but as a rust preventive it isn't that great.Dixie gun works sells a synthetic sperm whale oil that compares well to the origional. ( I cann't tell the difference. ) And the price is reasonable. myself I keep going back to the 80%lard 20 % beeswax that was recommended to me when the sperm whale oil was no longer available.

 

[tg]

Modern axle grease should work, they had wagons with axles in the past so grease is grease :hmm:

 

[Coot]

Isn't "modern axle grease" a petroleum product?

 

[SimonKenton]

Can't seem to find lard in Noo Yawk City but will 80% Crisco/20% beeswax work? :hmm:

-Ray

 

[rabjr]

Can't seem to find lard in Noo Yawk City but will 80% Crisco/20% beeswax work? :hmm:

-Ray

Yes.

 

[ozark57]

Can't seem to find lard in Noo Yawk City but will 80% Crisco/20% beeswax work? :hmm:

-Ray

When it gets cold, use 10% beeswax. :thumbsup:

 

[laney1566]

thanks...i'll try the 80/20 mix. A tube of bore butter is around 7 bucks now.

 

[the11]

Can't seem to find lard in Noo Yawk City but will 80% Crisco/20% beeswax work? :hmm:

-Ray

Go to a butcher and ask to buy some pig fat, and make your own. A lady in my church showed me the easiest way to render it. Put it in a roasting pan, and put it in the oven at around 300. It takes a bit longer, but it does not stink up the house, and is almost impossible to burn this way.

Strain it through cheesecloth, and then eat teh cracklin's with salt.

Then take the lard (while still melted) and mix it with at least as much water, heat it on the stovetop STIRRING CONSTANTLY until it boils. Then take it off the heat, stir for a little while longer till it coos a bit. Then set it aside to cool. After it is cooled down a bit put the whole pot in the fridge overnight. Then, the next day, the lard will be solid on top of the water, and you can take it out and scrape or cut about 1/4 of an inch off the bottom of it, as this is where the remaining salts and other crud will be accumulated.

I am still in the process of building my GPR flinter, (stupid job gets in the way) and have never even shot a BP gun before, so I cannot attest to lard's effectiveness as lube. But I have rendered lard many times because once you've had pie crust or biscuits made with lard, you never go back.

 

[Pork Chop]

Wally world usually has lard...

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu should find Lard in one lb blocks in the coolers where butter is sold. If not, ask the staff where the lard is. I have seen it on shelves- not cooled, in the baking aisle, in one store. Once, it was in the meat counter. Its commonly sold for people who know how to make good pie crusts. :thumbsup: I am sure that even in New York City, there are people who still know how to do that.

 

[tg]

"Can't seem to find lard in Noo Yawk City but will 80% Crisco/20% beeswax work"

We used to use crisco for patch lube back in the late '60's early 70's before we learned about all the "right stuff" to use.Now I like Bear oil and bees wax, that mix sounds good for cold weather I usually use a 60 oil/40 wax as it does not get that cold around here, I soaked my fiber wads in the same stuff when I was playing around with them but generally do not use them anymore, just the shot card and powder cardworks for me but I am not a learned shotgunner.

"Isn't "modern axle grease" a petroleum product? "

Yeah, I was just having a cynical moment,I do that a lot reguarding old and new methods and items :grin: