[B]Modifying 'Felix' To Like Bitter Cold?[/B]
I have tested my last EsterBee formula with 4% Carnauba in five different guns and it is a pretty good lube. I'm not sure it will make 'extreme' though. Two guns didn't cold start out of their main group with it; at least down to 50F... more on this later. Cold starts go high with this lube and I experimented with 5% reduction in powder charge to drop the cold start into the main group with pretty good success and NO VELOCITY LOSS! Still, this formula doesn't give me the duration without cleaning like I want and seems just a little fussy in some barrels and maybe a little too slick....
Thinking like a Lube Engineer can get you in trouble and has me several times working towards 'extreme' ends. Ester oil is an excellent lubricant! Not only that the 2 cycle Ester oils burn clean and reduce carbon deposits not only in hot 2 stroke engines but in boolit lubes in our barrel as well! What could be better? Hummm? I am maybe coming to the conclusion Ester oil may be too good.... Too slick... Maybe even too clean..
I take you back to that Yamaha report I attached in an earlier post for a moment. Those two Yamaha lube engineers had Ester 2 stroke oils testing the best in their connecting rod 'heat/lube' graph in comparison to the polybutene oil they were testing for the article. One of their polybutene conclusions was that 'new' lube couldn't displace the 'sticky' left by the polybutene as a deposit. I filed that in my gray matter for future use. Polybutene has lit a light bulb in my brain and it stayed burning......
I really like castor oil! I even like its odd smell. It is an 'extreme' lubricant as well. Note there is no 'boolit' in what I said. Castor oil is NOT multi-viscosity. I stated before if we could get a VI improver that worked with Castor oil we would be on the way to 'extreme'! I have thought continually about 'Felix' boolit lube as well. I don't care much for the lanolin in it especially when I think cold....
I walked to the far side of my garage the other day and I saw a gallon jug of Stihl chain bar oil. That light bulb I mentioned before went to 100 watt! I remembered getting 4 gallons of this oil several years back about this time of year. It was the summer viscosity grade they made then and was on sale cheap! Some research found it naphthenic base mineral oil with the Vistac (polybutene) additive. Now an old oil engineer (before synthetics) might sneer at naphthenic base as a less premium (or as good) as paraffinic base stock but it is better for cold service. The Stihl chain bar oil has an Iso 220 vis (like SAE 50) and still has a pour point of 30 below zero!
So I see how it reacts with Castor Oil. 40 minutes of continual stirring at just under 'smoke' temp seemed polylermorized well. Very dry grated Ivory was stirred in and at 50-55 minutes duration it was done to my satisfaction. Beeswax was melted in and I let it cool and settle overnight. Following Felix's lead on the oils/Ivory I used 2- 1/2 teaspoons of Stihl, 1- 1/2 teaspoon of Castor Oil, and 1- 1/2 teaspoon of Ivory. Beeswax was about 1/2 of the Felix formula amount. I figured to leave it thin and add beeswax as needed. NO LANOLIN. This is a 1/6th sized batch. Weight percentages are: 85grs Stihl oil - 20.2%, 52grs Castor Oil - 12.4%, 16grs (very dry) Ivory - 3.8%, 267grs Beeswax - 63.6%.
The next morning the lube was pretty soft. It was tacky as well. I had a strong urge to add 4% Carnauba to it.... I'm glad I didn't; not yet anyway... I have lubed so many boolits from small batches with my fingers lately I tried it on some .25-20 boolits. It went on well and didn't slack away from the grooves at all as thin stuff will and the tack was perfect! It tried to stick to your fingers some but the bullet adhesion won out. Though thin, you didn't have to fight it on application. The cohesion of its components seem excellent. The Marlin shot them as well as my best lubes. I noticed the lands to crown junction was absolutely sharp and perfect under high magnification... Don't know if it means anything, but boolit exit looked flawless.
The reader may have noticed this formula has NO ALOX 350 or CARNAUBA in it..... two of my standbys. So I went to my .38-40 next as it doesn't like thin and clean from its lube. It must like Castor Oil though because it also shot as well as any lube I've used. It didn't cold start out of the group at 70F either. Two days ago when a little cool front came through I tried it again at 24F. The cold start was 1" high from the group and 5 more all touched each other at 50 yards!
At 70F my Savage .32-20 shot the cold start and the next shot touching. The group total was 3/4" at 70 yards. Six hours later it was an instant replay. Cold start and second shot touched again! A third shot opened it up to 1/2"! During the 24F morning the .32-20 cold started 1" high and 3/8" left. The next two shots touched again! Two more kept four in 5/8" at 70 yards.
Yesterday morning was 19F. I kept the loaded rounds in the freezer overnight and set the guns outside at the crack of dawn to 'normalize' for two hours. Guns were 19F when tested and ammo maybe a little colder yet. I have a Savage Model 340 .30-30 that was my Dad's that I included with the .32-20 (which I intend to hunt with this winter) The .30-30 liked the Lyman #311291 and I pushed then 1850fps. This test may indeed be harsh enough for Southern exposure, especially with all the pieces cold all the way through. But I'm going a lot colder yet fellas........ The .30-30 had a 4% powder charge reduction in the first shot. It hit 3/8" high and 3/4" left at 70 yards... The 19F gun was uncomfortable to hold.... 3 more shots were dead on and in 3/4". The .32-20 printed the first shot with 5% powder reduction 3/4" high and 1/2" left. The next two were dead on and made a touching 'figure eight'! Another shot didn't quite touch and a 1/2" 3 shot group developed. I like the old .32-20 having the rather common trait of putting two shots together touching.... I work to increase the number!
Conclusions? This lube formula thinks nothing of 19F exposure and will go much colder I'm speculating. The first cold start shot changes impact as temps drop; I'll have to figure out that pattern that develops. Reducing powder charge in cold weather strikes one almost as being opposite but seems to be working.... I hope the 'drifting left' doesn't increase as I head for 'minus' temps. I also plan to test when 'cold start' re-develops timewise as it could be just minutes in below zero exposure..... (maybe?)
I stuck my little batch of modified 'Felix' in my chest freezer at -8F. The viscosity at that temp compared very close to the viscosity of some White Label BAC that was at 65F down in my basement. Yep.... this formula is saying "Let's go colder!"
I'll post results as the mercury drops.....
Eutectic