Salvaged lubes- mix and wish or toss

[metricmonkeywrench]

In the recent acquisition of lube sizers to begin casting I have also acquired a small pile of older lube that's probably a years supply for me. Some heat gunned out from inside the sizers and some loose with the lot buys. I did a search here but nothing relevant came up on mixing odd lubes.

One is a harder blue waxy substance- the lube/sizer had a H&I 224 die and a gas check bullet in it
One is a ball of soft black composition along with the contents of the lube/sizer- the lube lube/sizer came with a 358 and I believe the mix is a form of beeswax/molly lube for the HG #50 wadcutter mould that came along with the lot.
The last is a solid stick of unknown manufacturer- semi softish black lube somewhere in consistency between the Hard blue and the soft black.

My thought is to melt this all down in a double boiler/mini crock pot to create a Heinz 57 lube and filter while pouring into new hollow sticks, heck I may even throw in a couple of crayons or something. Or should I keep the black goo separate and just heat and filter to make sure there's no bad stuff in the middle

Most all of my lubing with will either be for .38/357 wad cutters and round nose bullets until exhausted.

Thoughts? In this case ill even accept dumb as a box of rocks answer.. and pry open my wallet and buy some real lube or components to mix on my own.

[Bazoo]

I would mix it and use it for standard velocity handgun loads.

[Winger Ed.]

I'm with Bazzo on this one.

If each one is basically good, there's no reason mixing them into an alloy would be something you'd regret.

[Walks]

Mix it, if there is enough more of the black stuff, to the harder stuff it should flow without heat.

[Tom W.]

I just put a stick of whatever when I have to refill. Mind you, I have been using CR for the last I dunno how many years, but I recently found a tube of old RCBS lube. I had been using it as a finger lube and sizing my .30 cal boolits in a Lee sizer, but now that I have an RCBS sizer I took what was left and stuck it into my LAM II. Seems to do just fine so far.When it gets low I'll put in some more CR...

[RED BEAR]

Hey i throw nothing away mix and use.

[dimaprok]

I wouldn't mix it, at least in original form you'll know what worked and what didn't so in the future you have idea what to buy next. If you mix everything up there is no way if knowing which lube to avoid.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Me personally, I wouldn't melt/blend them. While a blend may work fine, but like dimaprok said, if you happened on something you really liked, it'd be a mystery mix and impossible to re-create.

Honestly, it doesn't sound like you are "sure" about exactly what any of them are. I'd just put them in a box and save them for the future or throw them out?

I would recommend buying some new lube that is designed for your particular applications...Or choose a recipe that fits, and make your own.

[RED BEAR]

It is my understanding that these are mystery mixes now. It does little good to say one works better than another if you don't know what it is to start with. Now if it is known what he is dealing with then thats a different story.

[Land Owner]

The lube sizer does not "run out" when the reservoir is depleted. There remains quite a bit in the bottom beyond the pressure plunger. Just load another stick or ball and let that push its way through the luber. You will know when the change happens as different color or viscosity occurs at the bullet. In other words, don't mix. Let gravity and external pressure take their toll.

[.22-10-45]

I too did just as Land Owner suggested...only problem, the new lube was softer than the original one, and I had streaks of new & old lube on bullets until I finally melted the old gunk out. But I really can't say it hurt accuracy or caused any problems other than cosmetic. Phill Sharpe tells in his Complete Guide To Handloading how someone melted a collection of lube together and got some of the best lube he ever tried..only it was impossible to duplicate it once it ran out!

[metricmonkeywrench]

Thanks all, took me a bit to get back to the site. To confirm, I have no idea what any of this is, so duplicating whole or in part would be impossible.

I have gathered 3 sizers so the Heinz 57 will only go into one of them and likely just lube wadcutters until determined to be bad or I run out. The others will get “known” lubes for the more serious work.

Again thanks for the input

[RED BEAR]

Yes i made a lube a few years back and it worked great on pistols and rifles although not pushing the rifles very hard . My problem i have memory problems and have no idea what i put in it or how much. I do remember there were quite a few ingredients. I am low enough that i quit giving it to friends .

[Land Owner]

You might consider putting the differing lubes in the sizer then leaving a 60W light bulb turned on next to the sizer under a towel for about an hour. The heat will radiate through the sizer and melt the constituents together. I don't know whether convection currents inside the sizer will homogenize the end product though. Food for thought...

[6bg6ga]

Some may tell you not to mix. I find this answer hilarious. Why would you not use it for standard loads? Waste not want not. Mix it and use it or simply send it to me.

[gwpercle]

Try and write down what you are putting in the pot....Just in case this Frankenlube turns out to be the absolute best stuff you have ever used ...you might have an idea of how to recreate it !
Gary

[mdi]

I think I would mix. OP mentioned he has perhaps a years supply, and he uses 38 wadcutters and round nose bullets, and just about anything will work well for those (I have used chap stick, plain paraffin, and "Boom Lube" on some of my low velocity 38s). Replicating the formula won't be necessary as there are plenty of home brew lubed that work quite well, and are cheap and easy to make. I would mix and see how "hard" the resulting lube is and adjust, if necessary.

[lotech]

Unless you're shooting high velocity rifle loads, I'd just put whatever you have in the lubrisizer and use it as is. Usually, if you have good bullet fit and the right alloy, brand and type of lube becomes pretty secondary at best.

[Ban]

Mix & shoot it up.

[Lance Boyle]

Ha. I have blue streaks in my 2500+. I am not sure when this will be totally purged. I did recently reset up my sizer on the new rcbs heater base on an in-line products 9” stand. I was c clamping and using a semi broken clothes iron before with a home made plate. I tossed the iron in my last move though. I like the fact that my sizer isn’t dropping over the floor or a pulled out drawer now. Just on less thing to jury rig.


I think the blue was LBT blue. I will say that I miss coloration in my lube. It’s harder to see that clear lube when it doesn’t get totally filling the lube groove.