Bullet Lube

[686]

What Would You Mix With Bees Wax To Make Hard Bullet Lube? Something Like Magma Lube? How Much Per Lb. With Bees Wax ? Thanks

[mag_01]

:coffee: ---- 686---Paraffin will harden bees wax but in itself is not a good lube----- You will need Castor oil--- mineral oil--- lanolin and Ivory soap-- Look up Felix lube on this board and it covers this situation---And Felix is here if you have questions--Mag

[686]

Does Some One Have A Resp. They Use For Making Hard Bullet Lube.? What Would You Stay Away From If You Wanted As Little Smoke As You Could Get.? Thanks.

[DLCTEX]

Carnuba wax! My butcher saves the red rind from cheese for me. Dale

[Junior1942]

I use a semi-hard lube I call 411 to 1900 fps with no leading. It's by volume 4 parts beeswax, 1 part ATF, and 1 part lithium-base auto grease. The grease won't mix well, so during the melting/blending process squeeze the grease globules against the side of the container with a spatula or use a whisk.

[686]

still trying to find out if any one makes there own hard bullet lube. i thought there would be 1 or 2 that did. i'm thinking bees wax-paraffinum wax-some lanolin wheel bearing lube. do not know what parts with out trying. is there some one making there own hard lube? thanks

[felix]

Hard based lubes do not need beeswax, lanolin, etc. You can use straight up paraffins with crayons for color to differentiate which boolits have what. Paraffins come in various temperature grades, and some commercial wax varities have castor and/or carnauba waxes, or other hydrogenated oils (waxes) to obtain certain properties for making molds. Use this kind of a wax for pan lubing boolits only, because the wax is far too hard and dry to go through any luber machine, even with normal heat. This kind of wax has excellent cold weather shooting properties because it has great minute toughness and yet has excellent cracking ability, meaning it will generally fly off of boolits once broken by the force of fire (or industrial hammer). ... felix

[leftiye]

686, THAT was Felix. In the stickies at the top of this (did I say THIS?) forum is the thread with the Felix lube formula.

I myself don't really appreciate hard lubes FWIW. I'm a lot more interested in cutting edge lubricants, again FWIW. The subject is a lot more complex than you'd imagime at first glance. Lots of thangs impact greatly on what type of lube works best. Hard or soft lead, velocity, revolter or ritoofle, warm or cold weather, depth of rifling, dimensions of given revolver. Many of these (and more) variables actually dictate (reads require) completely different lubes.

As you haven't really said why you want a hard lube, it's really hard to be helpful. By the way, on of our members runs a business making lubes - Lars45 - that is. He has some super good hard lubes as well as softer ones. Bullshop makes several good lubes (see bottom of page) particularly a cold weather "Super green" or something like that. He's good with lubes, Lives in Alaska. So he might just know about cold weather lubes.

While you're at it go to search at the top of the page, and type in "lube". All the info you might need!

[yodar]

Carnuba wax! My butcher saves the red rind from cheese for me. Dale

Thats ordinary red paraffin wax, not carnauba on cheses. (analyzed by chemist father)

carnauba is HARD almost brittle. natural color kinda golden yeller

BETTER Janitor supply houses offer it. When I could get it I would grate it and use it for FLUX

When I want a hard lube I make saeco green from Jon Paul Jones' recipe (posted here before)

Uses paraffin, STP and Beeswax, 1 lb of each with green crayon or votive candle for color


Yodar

[Dale53]

Some years ago, Bill Ferguson "aka The Antimony Man" sent me a treatise on fluxing and suggested that most of us use entirely too much flux and that can cause all kinds of problems. He also sent me a flux sample that I believe is Carnauba wax (grated). I have, since, been using just a "pinch" in my 22 lb RCBS pot when I first melt. I do NOT flux or skim until I nearly empty the pot. When I refill, I again put a pinch of flux, stir carefully, and skim.

I have never had cleaner bullets and frankly have fewer problems in general. Bill is a trained metallurgist and knows whereof he speaks...

Dale53

[TAWILDCATT]

while your looking for the perfect lube go to a yard sale or flea market and get a electric deep fat fryer works great to melt lube mix and is temp adjustable.

[44man]

No one will ever convince me that hard lubes are any good. Felix, bullshops and Lar's lubes are the best ever made. There are 100 million formulas out there but none do as good.

[SharpsShooter]

No one will ever convince me that hard lubes are any good. Felix, bullshops and Lar's lubes are the best ever made. There are 100 million formulas out there but none do as good.

I'll second that remark. Those are the best lubes out there bar none. The crayon stuff is barely good for color.


SS

[Hardcast]

No one will ever convince me that hard lubes are any good. Felix, bullshops and Lar's lubes are the best ever made. There are 100 million formulas out there but none do as good.

44 man,

You probably have more experience than most of us shooting big bore revolvers so I'll ask your opinion. Which of Larson's lubes is closest to Felix lube? Which of Larson's do you think is the best pick for handgun boolits? I currently use Felix, but my neighbor who made it just moved away and I don't think I want to make it myself. So as long as I can buy something that works just as well, I'll do that. I'll ask Glen's opinion too, but I would like to hear yours. Thanks.

Neal

[Silvyus]

here is a mix I found on line I haven't tried it but you might want to try


A Basic Handgun Recipe......


Probably the easiest rounds to make lube for are the lower velocity handgun rounds...... 45 Colt (LC)....45 ACP....most 38 loads, that sort of thing. When you add a gas-check to the equation a basic handgun lube will will work fine with almost any handgun round. Within reason of course! A basic handgun lube can be as basic as this ;

1 part Beeswax

.75 parts petroleum jelly

.25 parts parafin (candle wax)

Place these ingredients in a double boiler heat until melted, mix well and you are done! I personally use a Large electric crockpot but wives seem to get upset when they notice that their crockpot is missing so check first. If, after the lube cools , you find that you want your lube a bit stiffer simply add a few small chunks of candle wax. If you want it softer, simply add more petroleum jelly. Then reheat , mix and let it cool. Once you have it they way you like, WRITE IT DOWN!!!! Take it from me, you wont remember!

The reason That I gave a general recipe is because you will find that there is a "sweet spot" when it comes to bullet lubes. It might take awhile to determine the best mix for your loads but once there you will be amazed! Alot of folks dont agree with the "sweet spot" school of thought and thats fine. Try this....go to some of your favorite reloading related websites and post a question asking what everyone thinks is the best bullet lube. One person may love brand X but the next guy will swear that brand X will not work. Why? The much sought after " sweet spot" thats why!

This basic recipe was given first simply because most casters cast bullets for handguns, not rifles. The rest of these recipes will be geared towards those deranged individuals such as myself that use lead bullets for everything. So, onward and.....well, onward anyway

http://castbullets.gunloads.com/luberecipes.htm