LARD ....... ?

T

the Black Spot

New member
Got 4 lbs free lard. Question on ingredients:
Lard
Hydrogenated lard
BHA
propyl gallate
Citric acid

This ok in cap and ball or blackpowder cartridges

Thanks
 
yep.

lard is very stable. i've also used crisco.

cleaning blackpowder guns is soooo much fun. 30 min shooting, 1 hour cleaning.
 
donuts_zps9eb2e3ff.jpg
 
I came across a tub of Snow Cap lard in my basement and, being too cheap to throw it out, I developed a protocol for loading .45 Colt and .44 spl BP cartridges with it.

Charge the case with BP, insert a .060" Walters Wad, then a card wad punched from a milk carton, compress by hand with a dowel, then a measured dollop of lard using a modified aluminum measuring spoon, and finally seat a bullet on top. With the extra lube provided by the lard, I believe you could shoot these things indefinitely and not worry about fouling. Folks have also commented on the flame/fireball, even in broad daylight, so I think the remaining lard atomizes and ignites coming out of the muzzle, adding to the fireball. :D
 
Jbar4Ranch is there a bullet in this mix????? or was the obvious left out????

I will have to try the Lard, I love fireballs
 
Sorry about the donut joke earlier....

On the serious side, I have read recipes that include mutton tallow. I have always wondered two things about a comparison of mutton tallow and lard.

To open the post I must tell you that I have never used either mutton tallow or lard in a bore lube recipe.


But even if I did I think I am not a serious enough shooter to be able to detect a difference in the performance of lubes in which mutton tallow was used rather than lard.

So question 1. is: For those who have compared it, is there a difference or would lard work as well as mutton tallow?

I have looked into the chemical differences between the two substances and from the little bit of information I am able to gather, tallow is just a different name for the same substance I know as lard. I am assuming that any chemical difference that would be significant enough to influence its suitability as a component in bore lube, would stem from the fact that it comes from a sheep rather than a steer.

So question 2. is:

Are there others among us who use the words "tallow" (not "Mutton tallow", just "tallow") and "Lard" interchangeably?

Question 3. is:

Why are questions 1 and 2 important?

It would be important to know if both mutton tallow and lard perform in substantially the same way when used as a component in bore lube.

Point 1 - Mutton tallow is expensive (I have understood it to cost almost twice as much as lard. 5.75 plus shipping from DGW for 12 to 16 oz.)

Point 2 - Mutton tallow is not easy to come by. (I Called a local butchering and rendering company and they did not have any, never handled it and didn't know where to tell me to go to find it. They had plenty of lard.)

So it would be important to know that a component of bore lube that is somewhat rare and also somewhat expensive could be substituted by one which can be bought for four bucks a pound at any grocery store.
 
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Lard comes from a pig. Tallow comes from everything else. I never tried tallow so I can't help on that.
 
I have read recipes that include mutton tallow.
Click to expand...

I bought a tub of sheep tallow from Dixie Gun Works in order to make the period-correct Civil War-era lube for .58 expanding balls, which was 3:1 or 8-1 beeswax/tallow.

Here is the mutton tallow:

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=3686

This was what was actually used on Minnie balls during the CW. I find it to be a very hard, wax-like (obviously) lube that is good for long-term storage as it does not leach into the cartridge paper wrapper under normal temps.

The stuff I use for N-SSA shooting is far more gooey. I use Crisco and beeswax for my N-SSA shooting lube, and I will even add vegetable oil to it to make it softer.

I made a bunch of period cartridges and shot them, and while not as easy to shoot as my modern lube recipie it worked well enough.

Steve
 
i use unsalted crisco that i harden up a little by adding beeswax(for summer shooting). i never found any thing better for my mini ball rifles, since i started shooting black powder with a 89.00 rem zouv repo in 1967. today i own two navy arms zouv,s a navy arms bufflow hunter and a TC big bore, i shoot the 575312 lyman mini. eastbank.
 
Eastbank

Your recipe sounds identical to what I am using now.

Up until recently I hardened up crisco with the wax rings from under toilets. It works fine for cap and ball revolvers which is all I was shooting.

Now shooting BPCR I need a lube that is a little stiffer so I eliminated the wax rings and moved to beeswax. I have a constant cheap source of beeswax and so using it actually made my bore lube cheaper than when I was using was rings.

The reason I asked the questions I did a few posts above is that mutton tallow has some serious supporters who are long time shooters. People on this rofum who command my respect and to whom I should be paying attention.

So if they say that mutton tallow is better than Crisco, I am interested in finding out more about it.

And if lard gives substantially the same performance as mutton tallow, I might try that first.

Also, as Hawg said...I was incorrect when I spoke of lard coming from cows. I guess to me, it doesn't come from pigs or from cows. It comes from the grocery store...... :rolleyes:
 
The advantage that mutton tallow has over lard is:
I. I tends to remain stable longer than lard and does not become rancid.
2. It is sticky as all get out and helps the lube stay on the bullet.

It is not readily available so I use Dick Dastardly's pearl lube formula.
I part soy wax, 1 part toilet bowl wax(not really a wax anymore but it works. Avoid the ones that have fiber in the compound. Makes a real mess)and 1/2 part of vegetable shortening. Adjust quantities to suit you hardness criteria.
 
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