? Bullet Lube ?

[686]

i know this has been ask by many including me. this is for my 45-70 rifle bullets 1000-1800 fps, have not checked it yet. . i gather from most on here that a soft lube is better than hard lube. i have another star luber comming and thought i wiuld try a lube that does not need a heater base to use. i have shot 1000s of bullets with hard lube and have never had a problum. i know with a soft lube ( stickey ) i will have to stack them not to get them messy. i was going to start with one lube, work up a good group load then try different lubes, maybe 10 shots each to see what groups best, shoots with less smoke, and with little to no leading.. can any one help? thanks

[felix]

Keep in mind that you can make soft lubes that are not sticky. The viscosity and melting point should be balanced together for a particular boolit diameter, velocity, and lube capacity. ... felix

[686]

wow now i am realy messed up. a different lube because of velocity i can see, but for different diamter, ( .284 or .459 ) and, ( single or double deep or not so deep groves ) now that realy bugs me.

[686]

more help

[felix]

You must be specific. ... felix

[Larry Gibson]

A standard 50/50 alox/beeswax lube will fit your needs nicely from 300 fps to 2000+ fps. I use Javelina and it works from as slow as I can shoot them without sticking in the barrel to 2500+ fps without leading and excellent accuracy. Lars$% sells a very good comparable lube also. I believe it's advertised in the CastPics forum below.

Larry Gibson

[The_Montanan]

I got 25 pounds of refined beeswax, pretty sure it will last me a long long time for doing smokeless lube now. I had used it making a very good BPCR lube, but I no longer do BPCR.

Gotta get my 450 fixed for lubing and sizing though, as it needs a ring kit for it.

You all have a great day.

[jonk]

For 1000 fps I would bet even just a beeswax/vaseline mix would work. For 1800 I agree, 50/50 is the way to go.

50/50 beeswax and crisco would work well for blackpowder in this round too.

[BABore]

Each lube, whether commercial or homemade, has it's own hardness, viscosity, lubrication qualities, fouling, etc. Each boolit has it's own lube groove width, depth, and quantity. Velocity, pressure, boolit diameter, alloy, hardness, individual barrel attributes, and ambient temperature all come into play too.

There are big differences between lubes that don't allow leading, ones that shoot accurately, and ones that do both. Someone can give you advise on which lube might work for your particular's and it will probably be ok for general shooting. Best advise is to treat lubes like any other reloading variable. Work up a sound load, then try different lubes to compare accuracy. Just a few shots won't get it either. Some gun's need 30+ shots just to foul in right.

Leading is the last thing I look for unless it's blatant. Alot of times best accuracy comes just on the fringes of leading. Your almost exceeding your lube's abilities, but more importantly your not leaving so much as to create a fouling problem either. You need to look at cold, first shot flyers as well as "lube purging" flyers. They can all tell you something about what you need to add or take away from that lube. You will likely be able to get alot of forum help when you get that far along. It's much easier to help with a lube question when you can provide all the data on the load and what you see the current lube doing or not doing. Once satisfied, you can then tweak other loading variables slightly to see if your previously sound load can be improved. Then you will have a good load. Change boolit, alloy, velocity, etc. and you will likely have to start over. Same thing with other caliber's, just cause it works here, don't mean nothing.

[felix]

Excellent, BABore! ... felix

[686]

thanks BABore your thoughts are what i listed i was thinking of trying.

i was going to start with one lube, work up a good group load then try different lubes, maybe 10 shots each to see what groups best, shoots with less smoke, and with little to no leading.. can any one help? thanks


am i correct most on here like the softer lubes over the harder ones? i see a lots of resp. on here to make your own lube. 25 yrs i made some lube that was hard, had to use a light bulb to ger it to work in my star. this was before i new of hard lube. i wanted to make some hard 1 yr. ago and it was to soft. probley would have been good. i see the speed green lube looks like it is 2 things. 12 oz bees wak and 4 oz bull plate. i have both. how long would you cook it for after it melts together? i will be using double boler. i have been melting 2x6 in sticks and making my 1x4 in solid sticks for the star. i found it worked better with double boler than mircowave.

i have 3 different lubes comming to try. what are some comm. lubes would i could try? thanks to all

[BABore]

thanks BABore your thoughts are what i listed i was thinking of trying.

i was going to start with one lube, work up a good group load then try different lubes, maybe 10 shots each to see what groups best, shoots with less smoke, and with little to no leading.. can any one help? thanks It will take at least 4-6 shots to shoot out the effects/reamins of the previous lube, especially if it's a slick one. Clean the bore and it may take that many to reacclimate it to the new lube. Please be very aware of this as you can easily miss something important.

am i correct most on here like the softer lubes over the harder ones? All depends on the situation. For your 45-70 (1,000 to 1,800 fps), yes, soft, to ones just requiring a bit of heat work fine. Velocity will dictate lube quality (slickness), but it's tied in with the lube capacity of the bullet too. i see a lots of resp. on here to make your own lube. 25 yrs i made some lube that was hard, had to use a light bulb to ger it to work in my star. this was before i new of hard lube. i wanted to make some hard 1 yr. ago and it was to soft. probley would have been good. i see the speed green lube looks like it is 2 things. 12 oz bees wak and 4 oz bull plate. i have both. how long would you cook it for after it melts together? i will be using double boler. i have been melting 2x6 in sticks and making my 1x4 in solid sticks for the star. i found it worked better with double boler than mircowave.

i have 3 different lubes comming to try. what are some comm. lubes would i could try? thanks to all

Most lubes have way too much in the way of well, lubricant. Beewax and vaseline may work fine for you at 1,000 fps. Paraffin can be used to adjust hardness. Same with caranuba wax. Anything with Alox in in going to smoke some. Based on some new wax I'm playing with (microcrystalline, 160 F melt point), you could probably use that alone as a soft lube. Additions of mineral oil or vaseline will adjust softness. Paraffin to make it harder. Jojoba oil for added velocity/pressure.

One of the best lubes I've found for my 450 Marlin and 45-70's, at 1,500 to 1,800 fps is a variation of Mike's Magical Mystery Lube (search). His latest creation has just a touch of Alox 350 in it and no orange oil.

[Marlin Junky]

Based on some new wax I'm playing with (microcrystalline, 160 F melt point), you could probably use that alone as a soft lube.

Bruce,

Are you saying the microcrystalline is softer than Beeswax yet melts at 160F?

MJ

[357maximum]

Bruce,

Are you saying the microcrystalline is softer than Beeswax yet melts at 160F?

MJ

That is exactly what he just said.

[Marlin Junky]

That is exactly what he just said.

!! :-D

MJ