Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Battle of the Wet Lubes

Not sure of your intent, but many years back when I was shooting patched round ball competition, the single best competition patch lube I experienced, which also doubled as the single best hunting patch lube I used, was made from a combination of bees wax and rendered bear grease. Nothing else came close to working as well.

In competition, I could run extremely long strings, with excellent shot to shot consistency, before needing to scrape the breech plug to knock out some chunks of fouling. I used fairly high-end flints, so I could spend more time concentrating on the next shot with far less time spent scraping and knapping during a timed match. Very consistent. I shot very well back then, it was not uncommon for me to clean the 100 yard target off-hand in competition, though the example below I did drop 1-point. So, I was very particular to ball, patch, and lube combos as I could readily notice differences in results. In hunting, it was superior by far, not even a close second. Finding something that kept the fouling soft and the barrel clean like a wet lube, such as saliva, yet did not migrate into the powder charge while staying soft when temps were below freezing, and on top of that kept everything from rusting, this was the ticket bar none.

Back then I was killing bears every year, so I always had an abundant supply. In addition, I had access to a bee keeper, so bricks of bees wax was cheap and easy to obtain. I would cube the fat and store it in my large freezer. The rendered grease would go bad if not kept fresh, so I'd only take from the freezer what I needed that period of time, and render grease from that fat, same as you'd do with lard. I'd use a double boiler to melt the wax and make the mix. I had so much on hand that I was giving the stuff away by the pound to other competitors, and still was running out of freezer space to keep the bear fat. I stopped hunting bears about a decade ago, and still have about 20 pounds of the stuff that I kept because I'd been toying with the idea of competing again.

If you are a bear hunter, or have a connection to a bear hunter, I'd recommend you give it a try. If not, there was a company about 10 or 15 years ago that sold a bear grease lube and bear grease patches that worked as well as the stuff I made. Not sure if that company still exists, but if they do, it might be something worth looking at if you have a need to get the absolute most out of your patch lube. I do not believe there was a concoction used then that I didn't try. Back then, making your own custom roundballs, making your own patching cut at the muzzle, and making your own lube was the pinnacle of the game when seeking top performance. Much has probably changed since, but the old stuff still works very well.

Best