Grease Gun - Chassis Grease -Grease Fitting

[BerdanIII]

Does anybody make a fitting for the common, garden variety grease gun that would allow you to use multi-purpose grease on boolits? I know there's a patent out there, but I can't seem to find out if anyone actually put in into production, limited or otherwise. I know that it would be messy, but in the limited tests I made, it beat the tar out of the lube on commercial bullets and Liquid Alox.

[mike in co]

seems a std "zerk" grease fitting in the side of a regular lubersizer. or make a tool to do your sizing in, with a fitting....missing the big pic.

how are you going to size ?

lube them there

mike in co

[StarMetal]

First off most commercial lubes suck. There are some good ones. LBT is one of the best. The grease is too messy. It's also too much lube for your bullet. More or slippier lube is not the answer.

I'm working on a new lube and have been talking to 357maximum about it. So far in my tests it's excellent. I'll have to try it in HV in fast twist bores to see how it does there before I unleash the formula on you all.

Joe

[canebreaker]

Zerk fittings can be found at hardware and auto part stores. They have pipe threads starting with 1/8"and up. Some stores offer the tap and drill bit as a kit.
Not going to say anything about the mess.

[BerdanIII]

canebreaker: Thanks, I'll look around.

Mike in co: I'll be shooting as-cast.

StarMetal: Yep, it's messy, but it's cheap and has worked in my rifle. A fall-back position would be a pan-lube, but I'd like to avoid the whole "half-pound of this, quarter-pound of that, two squirts of virgin squid ink" thing. I'm kind of lazy (and cheap; did I mention that?).

The ideal would be a Pope-type lubricator without the expense.

[Triggerhappy]

Berdan, One other thing to consider with grease, it can exude oils into your powder. Might mix some up with some wax of one sort or another to bind it a little. Less messy, easier to use in a sizer if you go that route, and it would protect your powder a little better. I would worry about putting straight grease on the bullets because if you get them hot enough it can migrate.

Just a thought.

[Wally]

Triggerhappy..

I blend Lithium grease with 50% church candlewax...this allows me to melt & pour (molten) into my Lyman sizer. It works nicely for me. The church candle wax is 51% beeswax.

[Triggerhappy]

Wally,

I've been wanting to try something similar. I have some red EP wheel bearing grease and thought about mixing it with some beeswax, not sure about the mix percentages yet. Possibly some candle wax or paraffin just to make it a little harder if it needs it.

[runfiverun]

triggerhappy p.m. jestergrin his name is cliff
he recently sent me some b-wax red gease lube he makes but i didn't ask him the proportions.
it is what he uses and is very happy with it.
all he does is heat up the wax/ grease and stir, looks like a fair all round lube up to maybe 2-k.
i think i would add some ivory flakes to it if it were mine though.

[LeadThrower]

I tried the 50/50 moly grease/beeswax mentioned in one of Fryxell's articles on LASC. I didn't find it to pan lube well and so rubbed in with a finger -- I had no lubrisizer. As mentioned in the lasc article, it gives a good cloud of smoke but it certainly works. It's soft as is, but some paraffin would stiffen it up in a hurry, I'm sure.

[BerdanIII]

Triggerhappy,

I used a waxed paper disc on the bases of the boolits I lubed with grease and seated them so the base was in the case neck. I normally load the night before I go to the range, so long-term storage isn't an issue. You're right, though, the stuff can creep, possibly screwing up the powder and/or killing the primers. I'm just looking for a slightly neater way to lube.

[leadman]

I was a Foreman in an auto repair shop here in Phoenix and we had some issues with most of the red greases as they like to seperate and melt in the heat here.
The grease actually dripped off the chassis components onto the ground and would run out of the front hubs when the dust cap was removed.
We finally went to Ford specification grease and this stopped so would probably be a safer choice to help prevent powder contamination.
I am going to try making some lube with this grease as soon as I get the time.

[mtgrs737]

Beeswax will hold onto a certain amount of other lubes, some waxes will not, and allow the lube to bleed out. This is why beeswax is so valuable to us who make lube. If you want a lube that will stand up well in a hot barrel, try one of the synthetic lubes with a high melting temperture.

I wonder if you could drill and tap a Lee push though die so you could screw in a zerk in the side and use a grease gun to lube boolits like a lubersizer does? Just a thought.

[StarMetal]

Beeswax will hold onto a certain amount of other lubes, some waxes will not, and allow the lube to bleed out. This is why beeswax is so valuable to us who make lube. If you want a lube that will stand up well in a hot barrel, try one of the synthetic lubes with a high melting temperture.

I wonder if you could drill and tap a Lee push though die so you could screw in a zerk in the side and use a grease gun to lube boolits like a lubersizer does? Just a thought.

The Lee push through isn't a contained type sizer. The portion of the die that does the sizing is but a small collar. You'd have one big mess if you did that.

You weren't clear in your opening paragraph if beeswax does or does not allow the lube to bleed it. I think you meant it doesn't.

Joe

[jdgabbard]

Honestly... I think you would have better luck with using one of the formulas for lube. Felix is good, and I've had outstanding success with the Old NRA formula. Simply put, its 1 part Beeswax, 1 part Parafin, and 0.5 - 1 part vaseline. Easy to make, and works well. The hardest part is simply getting the vaseline to mix in. But once it does it makes a very tacky, waxy lube. I added some carnuba to my last batch to help wipe the barrel a bit.

[StarMetal]

Just about anything will work, to a degree, as bullet lube. Look at the LLA. Or the Johnson Paste wax coating. Here's what you look for in a good lube. Does it keep the barrel from leading, does it work both in the low end up to the extreme such as HV in a fast twist...even HV in slow twist, does not affect accuracy, is it good both in warm and cold weather, and it let's you shoot many shots before your barrel needs cleaned.

Heck, beeswax alone will lube...to that degree I mentioned. Lots of us get the whiz bang ideas of add this, add that. STP for example, or ATF oil, etc.. They work to a degree...that's where they fool you. Until they are thoroughly tested, like 357maximum and a few others do, you don't know if they are a good lube or not. Bassackwards makes sure they work in both hot and cold temperatures.

This takes lots of testing and shooting. I'd pay particularly close attention to what 357maximum says.

Joe

[zxcvbob]

Beeswax is getting hard to find. Has anyone found a decent substitute? Maybe "soy wax" from the craft supply store, or toilet wax rings? (or possum fat, or bear grease, or...) I'm serious about the first two.

You could put a zerk fitting on your gun barrel :kidding:

[StarMetal]

Beeswax is getting hard to find. Has anyone found a decent substitute? Maybe "soy wax" from the craft supply store, or toilet wax rings? (or possum fat, or bear grease, or...) I'm serious about the first two.

You could put a zerk fitting on your gun barrel :kidding:

Remember in the quote above about pay attention to 357maximum?

Here's his lube:
I get my microcrystalline wax frome here:

http://www.blendedwaxes.com/blendedw...ne/default.asp (http://www.blendedwaxes.com/blendedwaxes/paraffin++microcrystalline/default.asp)

I have used a few grades and find the BW-430 to work the best. The company is excellent when it comes to customer service also.

I use the following lube for all my loftier goals in singlehot HV pistols and rifles. It does slow loads well also but is not neccessarry.

1-14oz tube of cheap MAG1 multipurpose lithium grease (Wal of china mart)
2 lbs of the micro 430 (blendedwaxes.com)
1 lb of canning/candle parraffin (craft or grocery store)
1 block of Yaley solid candle dye (do not use the flourescent colors, they just settle to the bottom...ask BaBore bout that :shock:)(craft store candle aisle)

I have made lubes that were real soft by excluding some or all of the parraffin...but I took a good idea too far and accuracy suffered...the lube needs some body to it.

It takes alot of steady heat to mix and you are getting real close to the poof point of the waxes...so do it with a well fitting lid handy just in case. Cook on med-high for 1/2 hour minimum after all the gooey lumps go away. Do not use a lithium COMPLEX grease too much of a good thing and the lube star will drip off the muzzle like a leaky faucet and accuracy gets iffy in hot weather.


And for domestic harmonies sake ...do it outside. :oops: it smells like an engine fire while being made. I pour it into pint jelly jars or blocks...then melt and pour into the sizer...............lube sticks are a royal pain in my :veryconfu.
__________________


You don't need beeswax with this lube.

Joe

[Nose Dive]

have tried, blended and like....
1 lb bees wax
1 lb Vaseline
1 lb Parafin wax
couple crayons - no paper
2 tbls spoons STP or 'synthetic' motor oil..say 30 weight or so

Put in double boiler,,,melt it all up, stir to suit...can 'pan lube' or pour in mold and lubrize....

I use BLUE color crayons... Cheap, works, can do it all my self...

[tommygirlMT]

Hey, StarMetal, I just checked out the online wax supplier you listed a link too. Good source. Question? Have you ever used their "Cheese Waxes" as a bullet lube basic ingredient instead of bee-wax? From the listed description of the basic clear base wax BW-100F it sounds like it would be darn good stuff to use in boolit lube "BW-100F: A flexible, non-cracking, Clear wax blend with excellent coating properties and internal strength"


Also, back some what on topic with the original discussion of this thread --- provided one did have a simple push through sizer/luber die set up with a grease zerk fitting drilled and tapped into the side would a standard hand pressed grease gun have the necessary pressure to effectively lube the boolits provided a reasonable soft boolit lube such as Speed Green was used. I'm not talking about using chassis grease in the gun I'm talking about filling up the grease gun with boolit lube. Would it work or would the boolit lube be too stiff for a grease gun to effectively pump into the lube sizer die? What I'm thinking of is a 1-1/4" threaded die that would screw into the big threads on a reloading press with the 7/8" bushing removed that accepted Star Sizer dies upside down and an addapter that snapped in like a shell holder to accept the Star Sizer plungers.

[geargnasher]

Tommygirl, a standard chasssis grease gun can develop well over 10,000 psi, (which is enough to extrude standard boolit metal). The problem would be on the suction side, the lube would need to be pretty soft or warm for the spring plunger to keep the piston fed. I think it would be fine if you wrapped a medical heating pad around the reservoir of the gun.

I also think this is kind of reinventing the wheel, one would be time and money ahead to just save up and buy a Magma or Lyman and hand or pan lube in the meantime and use Lee push-through dies.

Gear

[Ricochet]

Berdan, One other thing to consider with grease, it can exude oils into your powder.
I've tried using straight automotive grease. Worked great when loaded and fired immediately. If I waited a few days, I got lots of dull booms with low velocities and unburned powder left in the bore, and got one boolit stuck partway up the bore. It was due to oil creeping out of the grease and contaminating the powder. The primers always fired, but the powder wouldn't light and burn properly.

[zxcvbob]

Hey, StarMetal, I just checked out the online wax supplier you listed a link too. Good source. Question? Have you ever used their "Cheese Waxes" as a bullet lube basic ingredient instead of bee-wax? From the listed description of the basic clear base wax BW-100F it sounds like it would be darn good stuff to use in boolit lube "BW-100F: A flexible, non-cracking, Clear wax blend with excellent coating properties and internal strength"
The cheese wax costs more than the microcrystaline wax. The "duck wax" OTOH is half the price and it looks promising too (and with a name like "duck wax", how could it not be good )

[tommygirlMT]

<snip> I also think this is kind of reinventing the wheel, one would be time and money ahead to just save up and buy a Magma or Lyman and hand or pan lube in the meantime and use Lee push-through dies. <snip>

I already have both Lyman lubra-sizer and several Lee sizer dies. I like the push through from the base method that the Lee dies use a whole lot better then the nose punch method of the Lyman. I've been eye-balling the Magma copy of the Star for a while but havn't jumped yet.

I've been thinking though that with a reloading press mounted unit that opperated like the Lee sizing dies but took Star style push through dies one could conceivably build a lubra-sizer unit that could handle much larger calibers above and beyond the 58-caliber limitation of the Magma/star style dies. The star dies measure exactly 0.750" on their outside diameter from what I've researched. I was thinking make a unit that screws into either a 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" press head thread (I've got presses in both of those large die sizes) and that has a 1.000" bore to take an oversize version of the star dies (simply enlarge all dimensions by 33.333-> %) allowing a lubra-sizer that could potentially accept up to 77-caliber. Allowing me to lubra-size cast bullets for my 15mm BESA, 20ga. & 12ga. full-bore diameter solid slugs, etc. Stuff that right now simply doesn't get sized and is shot as cast and that I have to either pan-lube or tumble lube. Then all it would take would be a simple bushing that snapped into the 1.000" bore of the die and brought it down to 0.750" and you could use standard size Magma/Star sizing dies in it as well.

[geargnasher]

I already have both Lyman lubra-sizer and several Lee sizer dies. I like the push through from the base method that the Lee dies use a whole lot better then the nose punch method of the Lyman. I've been eye-balling the Magma copy of the Star for a while but havn't jumped yet.

I've been thinking though that with a reloading press mounted unit that opperated like the Lee sizing dies but took Star style push through dies one could conceivably build a lubra-sizer unit that could handle much larger calibers above and beyond the 58-caliber limitation of the Magma/star style dies. The star dies measure exactly 0.750" on their outside diameter from what I've researched. I was thinking make a unit that screws into either a 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" press head thread (I've got presses in both of those large die sizes) and that has a 1.000" bore to take an oversize version of the star dies (simply enlarge all dimensions by 33.333-> %) allowing a lubra-sizer that could potentially accept up to 77-caliber. Allowing me to lubra-size cast bullets for my 15mm BESA, 20ga. & 12ga. full-bore diameter solid slugs, etc. Stuff that right now simply doesn't get sized and is shot as cast and that I have to either pan-lube or tumble lube. Then all it would take would be a simple bushing that snapped into the 1.000" bore of the die and brought it down to 0.750" and you could use standard size Magma/Star sizing dies in it as well.

:shock: I see. The grease gun will definitely work, and special taps are available to aid in installing a zerk fitting. Better yet, most grease gun hoses have 1/8" pipe thread fittings at both ends and you could just tap the die for pipe threads and plumb your grease gun in any way you want (if the body of the sizing die is too hard just "spot anneal" it), even rig a base and pedal to make it foot actuated, etc.

+1 on liking the push-through better. Now you've got me thinking, my ammomaster has a pretty big hole in the top plate......
let us know how this goes.
Gear