Beef tallow based bullet lubricant

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Beef Tallow based bullet lubricant

Some time ago I posted a question about using beef tallow as a bullet lube. The non-answers I got were to use lamb tallow which is like asking "what time is it" and getting the answer "two blocks down, best deli in town".

So, having used up the entire non-knowledge available on this forum, it became apparent it was experiment time. I had read that the old time "gut line" cowboys broke in a new rawhide rope with beef kidney fat because it was hard and did not get rancid.

My business is beef cattle so for our personal use we feed out a couple of steers very year. The last time we had steers processed, I had the packing plant save me the kidney fat from a couple of them. Not the body fat trimmings because it is soft like the marbling that makes meat tender. By the way, cholesterol is best when breaded and deep fried in lard...but I digress.

My method of rendering out about ten pounds of the kidney fat was to chop it in small pieces then by boiling, not frying, in a pot of water outside. This is something you DO NOT want to do inside because it is a fragrant process  Perhaps from the residue of what kidneys do. This did give me some concern that I would wind up with bullet lube that smelled like the men's room at the bus station but not so.

I boiled the fat about two hours until it was reduced to pieces of soft tissue then filtered the liquid through an old tee shirt and allowed the mix to cool. The result was a thick cake of very hard white tallow that faintly smelled like a cooked steak.

When mixed 60/40 with beeswax and softened with shortening to a workable texture it makes a good inexpensive bullet lubricant. I have some that has been stored in a can for almost two years and has not molded, or gotten rancid so it seems the old time brush poppers were correct. I use a small amount of oil of wintergreen when making the mix because that steak smell makes me hungry.

I hope this is an answer to the question about beef tallow. Check with a butcher shop or a processing plant for a source of kidney fat.

Yr' Obt' Svt'
Bunk

[treebeard]

I have only used a variety of store bought black powder lubes so can not ad much in way of knowledge on beef tallow lines. That said I enjoyed reading of your experiments with beef tallow. Non of the many lubes I have tried over the years claimed to use beef tallow in their formulas so I think you have broken new (old) ground.

[Coffinmaker]

HA!!

Think about it.  Using Beef tallow and Beez Waxz for your bullet lube and Cream-0-Wheat for yer filler, yer gonna get ammo that smells like Steak and Eggs with Honey toast.  Yer Posse gonna attach ya with knives and forks.  Yepper .... ammo that smells like BREAKFAST!!

Now we need an alternative that smells like Biscuits-n-Gravy.  Mix those up a Henry Magazine first thing at a CAS match.  Makin it smell like Steak-n-Eggs-n-Toast with Biscuits-n-Gravy just might get ya lynched 

HE HE HE HE

[hellgate]

Having read multiple discussions on bullet & BP lubes over the years I've come to the conclusion that most of the formulas work reasonably well until you get to real precision shooting like the BP silhouette (had to look up the spelling on that one) shooters. One ingredient that was mentioned for use in the US Army BP ammo was tallow but it was never mentioned as to which tallow it was: beef, lamb, deer, etc. I'm gonna assume it was beef. It must have worked reasonably well or the army would not have chosen it and probably did several trials to find the best formula.
The kidney fat vs body fat difference is interesting. I had not heard of its rancid resistance. It does have a different texture when peeled out cold. I've been using deer tallow only because that is what I have had available. Next time I will harvest the kidney fat separately and see if it is even better. I keep my tallow & lube in the freezer so I haven't had a rancidity problem. A nice big fat deer provides me with 3 or 4 years of lube so I may have a bit of a wait.
Interesting info, Bunk.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

NO NO NO Coffinmaker!!
You use butter flavored grits for filler and it smells like breakfast time in Georgia
For you northern folk grits is  hominy ground to about malt-o-meal particle size. Cooked and served with butter or good cream gravy.
Or left over {seldom} sliced and fried with syrup (aka lick) or molasses.
I am getting hungry wonder what fried thing we well have for supper?
Bunk

[john boy]

My lube for years has been pure white mutton tallow -paraffin and beeswax.  Use it for original gunpowder and smokeless.  No lube starvation or leading for any caliber that I reload

[Ranch 13]

Bunk when you render the next batch replace the crisco with jojoba oil.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Thanks I have tried olive oil and mineral oil as has been suggested. Both tended to sweat out, why I don't know. Something about the kidney tallow does not play well with an oil that has not been turned into a solid. Paraffin wax worked sort of but made a very hard lube. It took almost a 1:1 mix with shortening to soften it up. It would have made swell wax wads, but my system is using the Bottom Dealing Mike felt wad system, but thanks for the suggestion.
Bunk

[greyhawk]

Thanks I have tried olive oil and mineral oil as has been suggested. Both tended to sweat out, why I don't know. Something about the kidney tallow does not play well with an oil that has not been turned into a solid. Paraffin wax worked sort of but made a very hard lube. It took almost a 1:1 mix with shortening to soften it up. It would have made swell wax wads, but my system is using the Bottom Dealing Mike felt wad system, but thanks for the suggestion.
Bunk

Thanks for the info Bunk, we been using Beeswax and neatsfoot oil aboot 50/50 but the last batch didnt want to mix real well (had thought maybe "they" done somethin to the neatsfoot) and as well they neither of em cheap anymore - 1/3 beeswax + 2/3 tallow,  then cut it for softness would reduce the spend some . You maybe interested - have been experimenting with wads for pistol, tried some eggcarton impregnated with lube in a walker, seemed like a good result - triggered by the problem I had sourcing decent felt for wads - still working on that - but egg carton if it works is real cheap (or should that be cheep!) - just used two thicknesses of it under the ball - get it by dunking the flat strips in hot lube (gotta be hot!) till the bubbles stop coming out. Am gonna try your tallow deal for sure - would not have thought of the difference from kidney fat to body fat (allus overlok the obvious things)
cheers     

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Greyhawk
look for PURE neatsfoot oil because some of that stuff is a substitute for the real thing sort of like Gun Powder and 777. Not the same thing.
Bunk

[Ranch 13]

 Jojoba oil is the closest thing we can get now days to the spermicitti that is mentioned in high regard from yesteryear. Spermicitti should not be confused with Sperm Whale oil as while they both come from the same source they are intact different products, much like your beef kidney fat tallow is different than skimming the tallow off the top of a cold pot roast pot..

[Mogorilla]

I use a 1:1:1 ratio of neatsfoot oil (the pure stuff):beeswax: extra virgin olive oil for leather and black powder lube.   I was a food chemist for a while, all oils/fats will eventually go rancid, just some way slower than others.   Keeping what you are not immediately using frozen will extend the life of the lube for, well just about as long as your freezer keeps functioning.  I have not tried beef tallow as it and leaf lard are more expensive than the olive oil. Luckily I had a source for the beeswax, as it is rather expensive now too.

[Professor Marvel]

I have not tried beef tallow as it and leaf lard are more expensive than the olive oil. Luckily I had a source for the beeswax, as it is rather expensive now too.

I myself lucked into a cheap source of grungy looking beeswax at the local Asian market. around $4 a pound I think.

I can only imagine the extreme cost of the very rare leaf lard .... what tree would that be from?

yhs
prof marvel

[Dick Dastardly]

It's not so much the exact formulation of the lube, but the quantity that gets the job done.  This is the whole reason for Big Lube bullets.  They haul so much lube that the fouling stays soft and blows out with the following shot.  Thus, your last shot of the day and your second shot of the day encounter the same amount of fouling.  Guns run, accuracy stays and satisfaction is continuous.

DD-MDA

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Did a little research and found leaf lard is the swine equivalent of beef tallow. Apparently it is softer and had a higher melting point if Wikipedia is correct.

Dick Dastardly and his big lube, really big lube, bullets is what drove me to making my own lube. I think buying his bullet lube was putting the family of that guy in Montana to a four year expenses paid education at Montana U.
Since I grow beef cattle, and we feed out a couple of steers every year. the kidney fat is the result of processing.
Real Gun Powder rules!!
Bunk

[Professor Marvel]

Thanks Bunk -
I shall check with our local butcher ( still have a couple in town) and see if they have the kidney fat!

I have 2 of Dicks molds for the .45 Colt and I too have to fill the huge lube grooves...
yhs
prof marvel

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Hello Prof.Marvel
If you render the fat by boiling do it out side. I do mine in a big pot on a turkey frying burner. Low boil and watch it not to boil over. Boil until the fat is reduced to clear tissue then strain into another pot and allow to cool. I use a 60:40 mix with beeswax. My experience with using mineral oil or olive oil did not work, the oil sweated out, but YMMV.
Good luck
Bunk

[Dick Dastardly]

If you haunt the estate sales after the Christmas holidays you can get some once lit Christmas candles for nickles each.  The color and fragrance don't add anything to their use as bullet lube but the aroma is a good paring with the black powder smoke. . .

DD-MDA

[Mogorilla]

Ha, yes, leaf lard is the kidney fat from pigs.  It is difficult for us every day gents to get, as it goes to professional bakers and restaurants.   It is the bees knees for pastry crust.

[Crow Choker]

I have no information at all about using beef tallow for bullet lub. Never tried it, don't think I've ever used it, have no interest in doing so, and have no viable information to add to previous posts. Happy as a momma coon in a ripe sweet corn field using lub I can buy. I do make my own lube for revolver wads though, but that'd be highjackin' the post.  Just thought I'd do like our friend Coffinmaker and post a post I have nothing to add. Haven't posted much lately so just practicin'! I'll take any whippin's for doing so!