Bear Grease for lubricant?

[Riomouse911]

It was a premium lamp oil back in the day, not sure about lubing qualities.



That's even a century old.



Like someguy2800 says, it gets a bit chilly in Minnesota ya know. During deer Season, I'd remove all oil & grease from my deer guns, and use powdered graphite. Nothing at all also works at those temperatures. Just as he's saying he's not telling people not to switch to the way he runs his guns, I'm certainly not going to tell him he has to lube his guns. Seems to work for him.

I get the idea of removing oil-grease for a hunting gun in sub zero weather. That stuff certainly will gum up to the point where functionality is hindered or even stopped, but even then dry lube would be a great idea. For a duty or defense gun, the same goes. A non-congealing dry lube in place when its arctic-like outside.

But purposely not lubricating the moving parts on firearms and running them bone dry as a matter of daily practice? Ouch.

Those are his guns, he certainly can do what he wants with them. But I will respectfully disagree with the posters statements about “most modern guns not needing lubricant at all,” and I will suggest that anyone considering running any of their guns bone dry to seriously think twice if they expect to rely on it to function correctly. (Be it a new gun or old).

Stay safe.

 

[someguy2800]

I would estimate I've shot somewhere around 10,000 rounds of 9mm since doing away with the lube.

 

[someguy2800]

In my personal opinion if your carry gun requires a certain amount of lubrication to function reliably, then its not reliable enough to be a carry gun. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Bear Grease for lubricant?

Why?

 

[Riomouse911]

I would estimate I've shot somewhere around 10,000 rounds of 9mm since doing away with the lube.

Good deal.

 

[DR505]

I have an NP3 coated Combat Commander...it is a teflon impregnated nickel finish that won't corrode even after a 200 hr hot salt water spray test. That firearm can run pretty much without lube. Haven't tried any others.

 

[JohnKSa]

...I'm certainly not going to tell him he has to lube his guns.

Nor am I. And with this clarification from him: "Note I am not telling anyone thst you should stop lubing your gun or that there does not exist a handgun that won’t function without lube." it's clear that he's not suggesting that others to stop lubing theirs. Which is good, because I've personally seen guns that were temporarily reduced to paperweights by lack of lube.

I agree that extreme cold is, well, an extreme situation and may call for extreme measures. But it's not at all uncommon for guns to need lubrication to run, and there are lubricants (such as the one you mention and other similar products) that work in any temperatures, so even the extreme cold doesn't force one to go without any lubrication at all.

Some modern coatings (such as the above-mentioned NP3) will reduce, or perhaps even eliminate the need for lube in some cases, but there are still points like sears and other potentially high-wear areas that should be lubricated with something. As has been said, a little bit of money spent on lube can prevent a lot of money spent on maintenance/replacement.

 

[someguy2800]

Yes wear is another issue entirely and it is the reason I said modern handguns. I would not run a 1940’s colt or any old auto loader without lube because the steels they used in older firearms is no much softer than we have today and they did not perform the heat treatments and chemical surface treatments that they do today. The stainless steel and salt bath nitriding which is industry standard today is extremely wear resistant. As you can see from the slide rails on my guns, they have no problem resisting the forces they are being subject too. Maybe someday I’ll wear out the aluminum slide rails on my LC9S but I’ve already ran more money worth of primers through that gun than it costs, so I’m not concerned. I actually have 2 of them for the inevitable day that one gets broken, lost, or worn out. Pretty sure the SR9 and my SR40 will outlive me.

 

[Buzznrose]

Each and every one that I own including glocks, glock clones, ruger’s, S&W’s, Kahr’s, CZ’s, Wather, Star’s, and Colts. I only use oil on steel firearms for rust prevention, and all of mine run perfectly fine dry and stay cleaner longer. First thing I do when I buy a gun is clean all the oil and accumulated gunk out of them.

Glocks are tolerant to little oil, but they aren’t designed to run that way. The manufacturer has a lube requirement for a reason.

That said, you clearly made your point and claim to have no issues with a lack of lube, and I have no reason to doubt you. We can all agree to follow our own PM routines.

Take care,

 

[Slamfire]

Why use bear grease as a gun lube when you can rub it on your head for a full head of hair. This Atkinson's Bear Grease was sold for that purpose:





as from: Atkinsons

the logic is irrefutable, bears are hairy, therefore bear grease will make you hairy. Do you want your pistol sprouting hair?

Besides, I am sure there are better lubricants than bear grease. Just leave the bears alone, they don't need to be killed to make grease for guns.

 

[Jim Watson]

 

[d2wing]

My old uncle would call that a waste of bear grease. My Uncle said it was the best shortening you could get. My aunt that used it for pies agreed. For the reasons mentioned I would use a modern product designed for that purpose.
I also live in Minnesota. I agree that in sub zero or even below freezing oil can be a problem. Especially on a firing pin. I have used a light synthetic oil, graphite and Moly dry lubes. Moly can be corrosive. I do have some oil used by the military in artic conditions. I don't run my guns completely dry. Old timers would use kerosene.
It never occurred to me to use no lube. Since my methods work, I'll stick with it. I can see where no lube can be better provided it works on your guns. It's -11 degrees right now with wind chills in the -40 range. I used to live where it got to -45 once and -40 a few times. You could throw a glass of water in the air and it would freeze before it hit the ground.

 

[someguy2800]

I am curious how much grease you can render out of a bear, and where were commercial bear grease companies getting it from. I didn’t know there were market hunters for bear but I suppose there must have been.

 

[Buzznrose]

[/QUOTE]

That's even a century old.

[/QUOTE]

Or today in the Alaska Bush....

 

[Yukon_Cola]

[/QUOTE]
Or today in the Alaska Bush....[/QUOTE]

I'm from Alaska, lived there since I was a little older than 12. Spent a few years in the bush and I've never heard of bear grease until a few nights ago. I'm going to either buy some online or ask around and give it a shot.

 

[derek45]

 

[Jim Watson]

I once read that pastry chefs liked bear fat for baking.

My old uncle would call that a waste of bear grease. My Uncle said it was the best shortening you could get. My aunt that used it for pies agreed.

That Mobil 1 will make your dessert taste funny.

 

[12Bravo20]

For the guys not wanting to use any lubes in sub freezing temps. It won't hurt to use a good lube at all. In fact we used good old BreakFree CLP all of the time in Arctic winter environments without any issues.

Now what will cause issues during extremely cold temps is when you over lube and then go from cold to hot then back to cold right away. And it is NOT the lube that will cause the issues. It is the condensation that causes the issues.

And yes I went through the US Army Arctic Certification course a coupe of times while I was in. And we were ALWAYS taught to lube our weapons no matter what type of environments we found ourselves in.

 

[Slamfire]

And yes I went through the US Army Arctic Certification course a coupe of times while I was in. And we were ALWAYS taught to lube our weapons no matter what type of environments we found ourselves in.

Times must have changed. The Korean War added to the natural lubrophobia of the Army.They had problems with lubricants turning into goo at 40 below, and lower. That memory lasted beyond the Vietnam War. My Vietnam buddies were told to run their weapons dry. Vietnam was an entirely different environment, some locations swamps, hot and humid. Other locations high in the mountains.

The Army has been blaming oils and greases for all sorts of problems that it created, the earliest was a coverup of exploding low number M1903 receivers, which were burnt on Arsenal production lines. The Army never admitted it made 1,000,000 defective rifles, rather it kept them in service till they wore out, or blew up in the face of a Solider. More recently they cooked 5.56 ammunition and the M249 SAW to 165 F and had over pressure problems. The Army blamed oiled ammunition and absolutely ignored the fact the ammunition was spec'd to 125 F, not 165 F. Heat increases combustion pressures. I was never able to find out what the upper temperature limit was for the M249, most ground equipment goes to 125 F. Our active Ordnance Bureau poster claimed that 165 F was a valid requirement. But that fails the common sense test. Just walk over to a coffee pot and pour the contents over your head. Coffee pots run about 150 to 170 F. Your skin will peel off. Handing 165 F ammunition and guns off to Soldiers and expecting them to handle them at 165 F will hurt them.






Not as if bureaucrats care about their own people. Now how many decades did they let Marines drink polluted water at Camp Lejeune water? Betcha the bureaucrats in the Environmental Office drank filtered water from water coolers with 5 gallon water bottles.

The Iraqi war vets I talked to, depending on where they were, they were cleaning their weapons three times a day, because the sand clogged them up. I have Egyptian sand brought back by a visitor of the pyramids at the giza plateau. The sand is as fine as talc.

 

[12Bravo20]

Well in the late 80's and not the mid 90's we were always told to properly lube our weapons no mater what the environment was. And Yes I spent time in the jungles of Central America and also in the Middle East too. So it didn't matter if we were in the Arctic, mountains, tropical jungle or desert, we still lubed weapons.

Again the issue with lube in extreme cold temps is condensation that can and will freeze and lock a rifle up. This is caused by going from cold to hot and back to cold. I have seen weapons that were naked with BreakFree CLP still freeze up due to condensation.

 

[Jim Watson]

I think 165F is the temperature for accelerated stability testing.
That does not mean the gun and ammo is to be USED that hot.
I fear somebody did not understand his own specs and standards.

 

[d2wing]

Older petroleum lubes do get very stiff in subzero temperatures and can freeze. Modern synthetic oil doesn't. Nor do dry lubes. Some spray lubes are actually a dry lube in solution that evaporates leaving the lube. You young guys don't know the struggle.

 

[d2wing]

That Mobil 1 will make your dessert taste funny.

I didn't say anything about Mobile 1. Never used it in guns and rarely in vehicles.

 

[someguy2800]

I was cutting trees today and it was -15 F. The bar and chain lube would not pour out of the bottle so I grabbed some 20-50 brad penn racing engine oil to put in the saw and it was the consistency of honey. The snowmobile requires 0w-20 or it won't turn over fast enough to start.

 

[Jim Watson]

I didn't say anything about Mobile 1. Never used it in guns and rarely in vehicles.

Derek showed the motor oil after you said bear grease was good shortening

I hate explaining jokes.