Any Greasers Tried Beef Tallow?

[1minute]

Just looking for simple home lube recipe. Probably had a year's supply on the last prime rib I cooked up.

[NDuckhunter2]

It’s what they used originally, I bet it’s good stuff. My buddies and I have thrown away tons of fat off our deer, elk and bears, it’s pretty ridiculous to waste such a good resource but everyone is so busy it comes down to the extra time it takes . I’m going to start processing deer and bear fat for tallow this season for bullet lube. Not much to it, just takes time.

[ccongos@me.com]

It seems much easier to get beef tallow than lamb. So, I researched it. From what I read, it would work the same, it just goes rancid, where lamb tallow does not. Don't know why, it just doesn't. I have a container of 50/50 beeswax and lamb tallow and it's been a couple years at least, sitting out in the garage. Smells the same as it ever has.

[letfly]

I would be careful of beef tallow. Remember the Indian Mutiny! Lamb might be all right with the savages.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Bit of advice take it for what it’s worth.

Instead of trying to cook up some lube.

Learn to cast the perfect bullet, after that develop the perfect position for shooting, then develop the perfect offhand position. Learn how to mange the gun till you’re hitting 90% of your calls. That means developing a 1.5 MOA consistent load. Winning every match you enter, and becoming the best wind reader on the firing line also. All of this will probably take a lifetime or two.

After all that then take the time to cook up the perfect lube recipe. In 30 years I have yet to perfect the above. Until I do I am not wasting time on cooking lube.


Kenny Wasserburger

[Don McDowell]

You can mess with cooking your own lube,but not from that grease cooked off your prime rib with all the seasoning etc
Best to go with a proven lube and follow Kenny’s advise

[NDuckhunter2]

I enjoy making my own lube, works just as good as store bought stuff and is part of the hobby to me. I’m also more into the historical aspects of the sharps and other black powder cartridge rifles, so might be coming from a different place than the competition shooters.

[Don McDowell]

FYI hunting season only lasts a couple of weeks and takes 3 or 4 shots to fill the tags
Competition shooting is 1000’s of rounds thru out the year. The learned ability to read wind and mirage and building accurate loads also goes a long ways to assur those half dozen rounds during hunting season hit their mark

[NDuckhunter2]

Yup, I agree and people need to shoot from field positions not just from the bench or in a set position that most get in at the range. I’m lucky enough to own my own ranges so get to shoot almost everyday. My biggest problem is keeping up casting bullets and processing the brass fast enough to keep up, lol. 99% of the guys I see at a range are just shooting from the bench at targets 100 yards away.

[1578Tiger]

I use lard and anhydrous lanolin in my lube, That said, Kenny gives good advice,

[buffalocannon]

Sage advice, as usual, from Kenny W. Wish I could shoot as well as he does, but father time now has me by the balls. I just heat up pure beeswax and add pure avocado oil until I like the consistency. I mainly use it to treat the bore before a match. Seems to prevent excessive fouling and leading. Could all be voodoo? Still use SPG on bullets.

[77 sharps]

If you are a serious target shooter using active fouling control, Kenny is probably correct. But if you are a hunter or casual pinker that can live with 2-2 1/2 MOA when shooting near 20 shots in a string, then you would be better off making the lube used and recommended by the Sharps factory. The factory lube didn’t contain any grease, lard, beef tallow, lamb tallow or grease of any kind. The active ingredient was a liquid wax called spermaceti. The modern replacement is jojoba oil, which keeps the fouling very soft so it resists accumulating in the bore. The mixture was 2 parts oil to one part bees wax. I suspect that any cooking oil can be used but I haven’t tested enough to know for sure. Over twenty years ago when I started developing a hunting load I used SPG and was only able to get 5 shots under 2 1/2 MOA, DGL allowed 10 shots, but the jojoba oil lube allows around 20 shots still able to ring the turkey swinger. If you enjoy busting rock across a canyon or like to ring the steel at the range, if you can see it, you can probably hit it without wiping or blow tubing if you are using the proper bullets, lube, wads, and loading techniques. But tallow is not the answer.

[bobw]

There is a difference in using tallow( mutton, beef, buffalo) because it is good or because it was what they had. We can read various historical references to using tallow for a lube ingredient but was that because of what they had availible or because it was good.? That thought needs to be answered before assuming anything. Just like today because no one but an Eskimo can possess spermaceti. Those that know will tell you jojoba is its equal. When I lube and size greasers for my 86, trapdoor or roller I just use spg and not worry about it getting rancid. Bobw

[Coltsmoke]

Down here in Gawga when the yankees came thru during the war of occupation, they had to use possum fat, possums was the only thing left. Well, that and corn cobs, they found a use for them too. Be careful about picking up a cob in the south, no that ain't peanut butter. Anyway, now when we throw about 4 possums and some taters in that big ole iron pot and lite the fire, about an hour and you can start scraping the lube off the side of the pot.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Just looking for simple home lube recipe. Probably had a year's supply on the last prime rib I cooked up.

You of course, realize how much salt is in that grease off your prime rib?


Perfect recipe for a rotted out barrel.


Any perceived savings if that’s how close of a margin you’re running under, you might want to think about changing hobbies.

More trigger time, and learning the nuances of fouling control, wind reading, will be far move valuable to you over time.

KW The Lunger