Sperm Oil?

[Smokey Plainsman]

I have read that the old timers loved to use sperm whale's oil for lubricating and protecting their muzzle loading rifles.

Anyone know where to source sperm oil? I understand it is hard to find now, is it okay to buy old stuff? Also I've heard of jojoba oil which is supposed to be so chemically close to sperm that is even smells the same and is a great sub for such a product.

Thoughts?

 

[Grenadier1758]

Get the jojoba oil.

 

[Gene L]

Same place you get whale steak, Smokey.

 

[BrownBear]

I have read that the old timers loved to use sperm whale's oil for lubricating and protecting their muzzle loading rifles.

I got to try some recently, courtesy of a friend with an ancient can still having about an inch in it.

Gotta guess that a lot of it's rep comes from a time when it was readily available and relatively cheap. If bear oil had been readily available and cheaper in those days, I doubt we'd here mention of sperm oil today.

I frankly couldn't tell a lick of difference between the two. Bud even offered to give me some of his stash, but I turned him down. I have a lifetime supply of bear oil and just don't need one more thing on the shelf. If you have access to bear oil, rest easy and be happy! :thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

It is illegal to sell it these days and since the seventies or so. I had some old oil but it’s long since gone. I don’t know what the laws are reguardind the sale of old stock.
Mink oil, lard, bear oil, tallowall work real well. Olive oil also is a good oil.

 

[Gene L]

Mineral oil is fine and cheap, and water soluble. Or so I've read.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Mineral oil is not water soluble.

 

[Gene L]

No, it isn't. It's a petroleum by-product.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Right on!.... :thumbsup:

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

As is ballistic oil (Ballistol), yet it become in solution with water? :idunno:

I'v several friends who've dealt with bruins in such lands as Alaska. They weren't after their oil, though!

I'd love to source some bar's oil if sperm oil isn't so readily available these days.

 

[Black Hand]

CITES https://www.cites.org/

 

[Doc Arroyo]

There was a certain U.S. military oil (I think that it was for electric motors) that is sometimes available in surplus shops. A couple of Vietnam vet friends of mine remembered that it was 100% whale oil. They both used it exclusively on their rifles. I never saw much difference, so I continue to use store bought oils.

 

[nhmoose]

https://www.buybeargrease.com/bear-grease

 

[coloradoclyde]

As is ballistic oil (Ballistol), yet it become in solution with water? :idunno:

Does it?...I don't think so. It is an emulsifier.

To quote the MSDS

Solubility in Water:.... Not easily. Emulsifies.

 

[M. De Land]

Just as good of oil for guns as sperm oil is rendered bear fat oil.
Ned Roberts book says there is nothing better for patch lube or lubing a gun after cleaning.
Animal fat does not make the tar that forms from petroleum oil and combustion.
It also is said not to congeal in cold weather although I have not yet tested that aspect.
I rendered about two gallons last year after taking a really fat boar black bear in regular hunting season.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've heard of jojoba oil which is supposed to be so chemically close to sperm that is even smells the same and is a great sub for such a product.

It was thought to be such..., but it's not shown to protect as well nor hold up like the original product in both lab and lay testing.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

Good advice from the others. I had two pints of sperm whale oil I bought from Brownells decades ago. The cans were starting to rust away from the outside so I decided to use it. My current patch lube is a mix of beeswax and the whale oil. Works fine for me. When gone I'll probably switch to Jojoba or a high temp resistant cooking oil.

 

[necchi]

I don't think so. It is an emulsifier.

To quote the MSDS

Solubility in Water:.... Not easily. Emulsifies.

What's that mean? Honestly?
What does "severely hydrolyzed" actually do to the mineral oil??
Do any of the other additives to Ballistol "change" the mineral oil properties of Ballistol's content?
Is NAPA "water soluble oil" the same?

 

[Black Hand]

I don't think so. It is an emulsifier.

To quote the MSDS

Solubility in Water:.... Not easily. Emulsifies.

What's that mean? Honestly?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion

 

[necchi]

I get that, Thank you.
So Ballistol is like salad dressing or Skim milk?
I was trying to ask how an emulsion applies to sperm whale oil?
And/or how the topic was change from sperm whale oil to deriding a completely different product.
Jojoba oil has been found to be about the closest processed oil to replicate Sperm oil as we traditional muzzle loaders have used Sperm oil as patch lube.
But does poorly as mechanical lubrication and metal protection.