Anyone use bacon fat as lube or a lube component?

[Martin Luber]

Thinking of not only bp ctg and muzzle loaders but in general pistol use.

Thanks

[country gent]

I have used rendered bacon fat in my emmerts improved I use for BPCR silhouette.

Adding bacon fat has a side benefit as every one downwind gets hungry smelling it on the wind

[Delkal]

Why? You would have to boil it in water to get rid of the salt (maybe twice) then separate and dry the oil again Lots of work.

You would be better off buying a pound of fully hydrogenated lard for $3-4 dollars. Hydrogenated oil has a higher melting point than "natural" lard / manteca.

[Jeff Michel]

salt....... not good

[Winger Ed.]

You might be able to get to the same place without the salt by using lard.


There was a article in one of the ancient Lyman books about using (boiled off) chicken fat for patch lube.
The results were pretty good. As hard as that slimy stuff is to wash off your hands, I tend to believe it.

[country gent]

A lot of the early lube recipes were natural easy to obtain materials. Rendered animal fats, sperm oil, some soaps.

[Delkal]

I render a lot of fats for cooking. Chicken fat (shmaltz) will stay liquid with a reasonable room temp and will eventually have some harder fat separate out on the bottom. Great for cooking but not stiff enough for most lubes. Lard (from fresh) will get pasty and beef fat will get hard due to more saturated fat. Never tried it but lamb and bear fat should be even harder.

Salting and curing bacon will not change the oil makeup so the harness will be the same as rendered fresh lard. It will be the same as the semi solid Manteca sold in the Mexican groceries. The blocks of white lard you see in the baking isle have been hydrogenated to make it more firm and processed. No comment on if you should eat this but it would be the fat of choice for lubes.

[Feral American]

My bacon grease goes for cooking and I'd not waste it on bullet lube, not to mention the salt is enough for me to avoid it in a barrel bore.

For patch lube and general rust prevention of the bore in my flintlocks I use a 50/50 mix of deer tallow and bear oil. I think that's old school enough for the rock lock.

There's almost an infinite number of recipes if you want to DIY some bullet lube. I've played around with some of it myself but always seem to go back to something commercial for the time being.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I use Bear grease in my BP lube.

[challenger_i]

Save your bacon grease for your black-eyed peas and cornbread. If pig grease is what you want, use lard. I have had good luck with lard in my BP revolvers.

[Daver7]

I use Bear grease in my BP lube.

Years ago in a machinist hand book explained using bear grease as a cutting oil.
Tried to convince the boss the company should fund a bear hunt so we could have bear grease for cutting oil, got several crummy assignments after that.

[ChrisMChristian]

Years ago in a machinist hand book explained using bear grease as a cutting oil.
Tried to convince the boss the company should fund a bear hunt so we could have bear grease for cutting oil, got several crummy assignments after that.

LOL, now THAT is some darn good logic in my book. did it work?

[Jeff Michel]

Lard and beeswax was used as bullet lube during the War of Northern Aggression.

[challenger_i]

Lard and beeswax was used as bullet lube during the War of Northern Aggression.

And it still works!

[honus]

Lard and beeswax was used as bullet lube during the War of Northern Aggression.

It still works and it doesn't turn rancid like Cisco and beeswax.

[Dekota56]

Agree
I use lard as well. It works great on covering the patch.

[Eddie Southgate]

No .

[elmacgyver0]

I just tried some beeswax and olive oil, seemed to work pretty well.

[elmacgyver0]

I don't plan on using bacon grease for bullet lube, but I can't see any harm in it.
It can't be any worse than the nitre salts in the black powder, you do have to clean the gun soon after shooting anyway.

[Shanghai Jack]

I did the bacon grease but my dog kept eating my bullets. Switched to olive oil and some guy named Alphonse stole my bullets.