Which waxes work best?

[Xfire68]

Which waxes work best and where do you buy yours from?

[Bullshop]

Work best for what?
Oh OK I just noticed the forum.
Still makes a difference what kind of lube you are making.
Most start with bees wax for smokless powder lube and also for BP lube. There is an ongoing discussion and test for BP lube about the use of mineral wax as a better alternative than bees wax.
Some use parafin but in my opinion it will fail at a lower pressure than bees wax. If its only being used for low pressure smokless powder it may suffice.

[Char-Gar]

I have been using beeswax as a base for many years. I have about 75 pounds of it stuck away. Some I bought on Ebay. Some I bought of sellers on the board. A few years back one of our members bought a huge pallet of WWII surplus beeswax and we had a feeding frenzie. I think I bought 30 or 40 pounds of that stuff.

Check your local phone directory for bee keepers and honey. Most have wax to sell, if you give them a call.

[randyrat]

Nothing can replace BEESWAX. There are some experimenting with micro crystalline waxes , but they are still made from petro I'm still not sure if they can come close to BEESWAX as a base for lube. Looking for some? I carry it all the time.

[DragoonDrake]

Randyrat I think that was nearly shameless self-marketing. It is better to let someone else do it for you. So yes Randyrat has real good beeswax clean consistent and smells good to boot. Buy in bulk because once you start making one lube you are going to make ten.

[adrians]

A+ on what dragoon says about randy's wax ,i got some and it's great stuff .
p.m him he will fix ya up ...

[Xfire68]

Work best for what?

I would have thought that would have been obvious in this forum? LOL

Thanks guys for the replies. I am a complete newbie at this and have not even bought all the equipment to cast yet. I was asking to be sure I did not buy the wrong stuff if I decided to go with making my own lube?

randyrat, do you have a website? what are your prices per Lb? Duh! I just saw the links above!

[fryboy]

actually even tho this is the lube forum we can divide lube into two categories with several sub-categories . most common being black powder lube and smokeless lube , the subs being , rifle/pistol , hi-velocity/low-velocity and medium .... some do cross over and some dont , regardless beeswax spans most of the categories
the link at the bottom of every page to lasc. has alot of great info as well as sub-links - both for boolit casting and lubes and is great reads , ditto the link to cast pics

[mdi]

I am using beeswax from RandyRat, and have no intension of changing, but if possible I'd like to hitch-hike on this post. How does Soy Wax do as far as a lube component?

[357maximum]

I for one like a soft flexible microcrystalline wax for most of my lube basewax, this is for both smokeless and BP. That being said I will never be without a good stash of beeswax though.


Things that will always be stocked on my lube making shelf as they all have use/merit for certain applications:

1. Microcrystalline wax #430 from BlendedWaxes.com
2. Simple (cheap)caramel colored lithium grease
3. Filtered yellow beeswax
4. Rendered deer tallow
5. Petroleum Jelly
6. lanolin (both solid and liquid forms)
7. Candle dye blocks from Yaley
8. Pure white paraffin
9. Unsalted hog lard
10. Alox 350

One should always remember that them evil petro waxes came from clouds of pretty innocent algae once upon a day. I have done some pretty extensive testing on what is left behind when the above ingredients are burned/consumed and disagree adamently with alot of what is written/regurgitated about some of them.

Would I cram axle grease, alox, or other heavy greasy soaps down my frontstuffers? NO, but the lighter petros are alot better than some of the "natural" oils/waxes in my testing. In the end you have to ask professor gun what he likes and then have an open enough mind to listen to the answer.

[Xfire68]

Thanks for the info! I must continue making my list of items to buy!

[noylj]

Don't forget carnauba wax, jojoba wax, japan wax, and soy wax.
You either want a tough wax shell on the bullet or non-brittle wax-based lube in the lube grooves
I always wondered if the lube grooves provide other functions besides holding lube since a recovered bullet looks like it still has more than 99% or the original lube in the groove.
Just from a lubrication point of view, I would think the Lee TL bullets would be more efficient at supplying lube to the bullet/barrel interface.

[fredj338]

Just from a lubrication point of view, I would think the Lee TL bullets would be more efficient at supplying lube to the bullet/barrel interface.

I've not shot them, but just looking at the design, it seems like the smaller grooves would compress & collapse as the bullet moves up the bbl & negate some of the lubes function. I like the large single groove in shorter bulelts & two good size grooves in longer bullets. Then I also use a luber/sizer, so that has much to do with my selection.

[kelbro]

I've not shot them, but just looking at the design, it seems like the smaller grooves would compress & collapse as the bullet moves up the bbl & negate some of the lubes function. I like the large single groove in shorter bulelts & two good size grooves in longer bullets. Then I also use a luber/sizer, so that has much to do with my selection.

Yes and that compression/collapsing can also work to your advantage. The amount of compression also varies according to alloys.

I still think TL a great mold design idea since it seems so much lube is wasted on conventional lube grooves. Shoot the RD265gr TL out of most any 44 and it will make a believer out of you.

[dominicfortune00]

+ 1 on beeswax from randyrat!

Got some from him, very good smelling!

[Hammer]

+ another 1 on RandyRat.... Love the smell of that wax and works GREAT!

[runfiverun]

lube ia also a sealant.
alox tumbled lubed boolits number one complaint?
smoky when shooting
blaming the alox is easy much easier than blaming blow-by from inefficient sealing.

[DragoonDrake]

I actually like shooting tumbles with regular lube and conventional lube grooves with tumble lube. Only when I am feelig lazy though. Also I have bad luck with losing tumble lube grooves in my sizers

[Echo]

I actually like shooting tumbles with regular lube and conventional lube grooves with tumble lube. Only when I am feelig lazy though. Also I have bad luck with losing tumble lube grooves in my sizers

Doncha HATE it when that happens! Usually they are found when I remove the die, but I've had to take the lube out of the RESERVOIR to find the wayward lube grooves!

But when in a rush I make do with some loob grooves I've stocked from Waksupi. Yes, he also provides loob grooves for TL boolits. Good man, there...

[DragoonDrake]

When I talked to him about it, he said I could get any quanitity I wanted into a flat rate box at no charge. I just did not feel right ripping him off like that.