My own homebrew boolit lube quest

[MtJerry]

I just started casting this past summer and have spent a good deal of time perfecting my casting techniques and along with that a search for a simple, effective, and economical homebrew lube.

A few months ago a friend of mine here in Montana gave me a simple recipe to try.

8oz of Beeswax
4oz of safflower oil (has very high smoke temp)
2oz of Ballistol (non-toxic, organic gun cleaner/lube)

I couldn't get a local source for the Ballistal except from Midway and that kinda defeated the "simple" part of my search, so after some searching and research, I decided to substitute it with Hoppe's Elite Gun Lube.

I have shot it in my 44mag pistol (Ruger SBH), 357 mag pistol (GP100), and just this week tried it in my 357 maximum Handi Rifle.

I went over 2000fps for 100 rounds in the 357 max and there was NO leading, and cleanup was a snap. 1 patch of Hoppe's Elite gun cleaner, a few strokes of the bore brush and then 3 dry patches. Presto, clean gun.

It is a very soft lube that I can pan-lube with, smear it on with my fingers and I have even dipped the bases of some boolits in it for a few second and then wiped off the excess from the bottom. THe only thing I haven't tried yet, is tumble lubing as with JPW.

I think it would work fabulously with a lubrisizer ... which I don't have ... but it stays soft and should work well.

Anyway, I have my lube. Simple, effective, and economical. Just thought I'd share some of my success with others who may need the same.

[454PB]

For many years I used a simple home made boolit lube that worked fine. I used 50% beeswax, 50% parafin, and 2 ounces of Hoppes bore cleaner per pound.

[Bass Ackward]

Jerry,

If you want a really simple bullet lube try bees wax. No mixing, no formula, just the wax. It will surprise you at what it alone will do. Especially if your bullet fit is correct.

I have had some guys that get to be so proud of a lube they invented try it without knowing what they are using and then it deflates them when they find out.

Even a simple mix like Bees Wax and Mobil 1 added so that you get the a working consistency without heat will reach high pressures easily enough and the Mobil 1 won't contribute to thickening in the cold.

Lube is lube and you learn to use what you've got.

[NickSS]

I have been using a lube made from 50% bees wax and 50% crisco for almost 20 years for muzzle loaders, black powder breach loaders and smokeless loads in various black powder cartridges of yesteryear. Little or no leading, eazy cleanup and good accuracy. In the winter when temperatures drop below about 35 degrees it works better with a couple ounces of olive oil mixed into 8 ounces of this lube with black powder.

[357maximum]

lube absolutely will not work without ,eye of newt, leg of unicorn, or dragon scales...bass quit making it easy, and sucking all the fun out of it.....

[jballs918]

its not a leg of an unicorn, it is the horn get it right:-D

[mike in co]

its not a leg of an unicorn, it is the horn get it right:-D

no the horn is used for magic alloys that do 3000fps and do not lead...if lubed with a leg lube mix.....

[Ricochet]

My favorite lube of the moment is White Lightning bicycle chain lube, applied heavily as a tumble lube. Tumble lubing's slow, because you've got to wait on drying, but man, is it easy!

[357maximum]

no the horn is used for magic alloys that do 3000fps and do not lead...if lubed with a leg lube mix.....

Exactly what I meant...leg tallow goes in the lube,,,the horn get alloyed into the melt....one cannot make lube from unicorn horn....sheeesh....thought that was common knowledge...

[44man]

Although that lube will work for most anything, it is really a BPCR lube. Anyway, here is a site for Ballistol.http://www.wisementrading.com/ballistol.htm

[Char-Gar]

about 65/35 beesway to Vasaline. Soft enought to work through a lube/sizer machine, hard enough to stay put. Works fine on handgun at any velocity and rifle up to about 2K fps. Has worked for me for over 40 years.

[hydraulic]

I just finished making up this year's supply of bullet lube. I shot my buck the first week in November and have been rendering the tallow on the woodstove up until last week. Strained the liquid tallow, added an approximately equal amount of beeswax, let it set on the woodstove for a day to throughly mix, and poured it into tuna cans. I've been using this lube for years with black powder and smokeless and have never had any leading, rifle or pistol. Every so often I mention my 1/2 tallow, 1/2 beeswax formula, but I've never had anyone comment on it.

[ron brooks]

I've come to understand that the single most important thing to preventing leading and promoting accuracy is the bullet fit to the throat and/or barrel. From what I've learned here I understand that .001 to .002 over barrel is about right.

Is this correct?

Thanks,

Ron

[eka]

Ricochet,

Where do you get your White Lightening? Boyd's bike shop? I had some years ago for my mountain bike chain and best I remember it was kinda pricey.

Keith

[Ricochet]

Boyd's is the first place I'd look for it. I used to order a lot of stuff from Performance, though, and might have gotten this bottle from there. I'm out of cycling now, this is a leftover from the '90s that I recently decided to get out and try on boolits. It's currently selling around $12 for 12 oz., which is a little pricey, but it's nice slick, neat stuff. 12 oz. will lube quite a few boolits.

Good to see a fellow Bristolian on the board!

[slughammer]

... Every so often I mention my 1/2 tallow, 1/2 beeswax formula, but I've never had anyone comment on it.

Um, OK. How's it taste?

[mag_01]

Has anyone tried spray on furniture wax ?

[montana_charlie]

Has anyone tried spray on furniture wax ?
Tried some on my shooting bench...rifle didn't shoot any better.
CM

[RU shooter]

All this talk of different wax and whatever concoctions gives me the assumption that almost anything will yeild satisfactory results ? BTW Is there some mixes that are better for pan and cookie cutter lubing of boolits? I saw the one about the vasoline and wax , sounds easy enough for even me. and what kind of wax are the toilet rings made of and will they work mixed with something ???? Man o man with this boolit casting you really dont have to spend hardly any cash at all on anything to do it! My kind of hobbie!:drinks: ...............RU

[hydraulic]

Slughammer;

Not bad, with ketchup.

[Bass Ackward]

I've come to understand that the single most important thing to preventing leading and promoting accuracy is the bullet fit to the throat and/or barrel. From what I've learned here I understand that .001 to .002 over barrel is about right.

Is this correct?

Thanks,

Ron

Ron,

Great place to start in a bolt rifle. A lever might need a tad more depending on the situation. But a good foundation to begin with.

[ron brooks]

Thanks BA,

I wanted to make sure I was on the right track.

Ron

[robert william]

I have been using a mixture of one part bees wax to two parts vegetable lard. I use it for my 45-70 NEF, my SW 25 and on the minie balls for my p58 rifle musket. I get virtually no leading in the breech loaders and easy loading in my musket even during extended firing strings.:castmine:

[yodar]

In our archives,still,perhaps:

From a professional caster in Europe on the "other' list: Adrian Pittfield: I call it Adrian's Goo:

50:50 lithium grease cartridge (e\whole thing) and beeswax, melted together below the flashpoint of the grease (275 dF), and cast in 1" PVC tubes with 1/4" dowel in the middle -NO alox! smokes too much--excellent for pistols

From a professional Saeco Rep: SAECO Green: 1 lb paraffin
1/2 bottle STP
1 lb beeswax
as many green candles or crayons you can scrounge up
a hard lube,needing heat,excellent for all, rifles too

Yodar in orlando

[utk]

From a professional Saeco Rep: SAECO Green: 1 lb paraffin
1/2 bottle STP
1 lb beeswax
as many green candles or crayons you can scrounge up
a hard lube,needing heat,excellent for all, rifles too

Yodar in orlando

My SAECO green is soft, but I didn´t use any crayons or anything for coloring. Maybe the crayons made it hard???????
Also make sure you´re using pure paraffin and not a paraffin/stearine mix (some "candle waxes").

[Cayoot]

This is why I love this forum!!!!

So many cool thing to learn!

[Greg5278]

How about lubriplate grease? Maybe it needs a bit of wax depending of the application.
Greg

[Ricochet]

I know I've read of lubriplate in boolit lubes when I was a kid. Funny, that just crossed my mind a few days ago, too!