Which lube? BAC or Blue Carnauba?

[cheese1566]

I just acquired a second Star luber.

In my first Star, I always used Magma hard lube since I was afraid of a gooey mess in bulk storing my pistol boolits. No leading in my 45 acp’s and 38’s.

I few years ago I couldn’t get my 9mm and 40SW to keep from leading. It was suggested to try a soft lube. So I mixed up some old RCBS 50/50 lube with Lars Red Carnauba to make a “BAC” style lube. Life got busy and I never tried it to see.

I am now reading up that maybe Lars Blue Carnauba might be what I want::: soft lube but not tacky for bulk storing.

Would the BAC be ok for bulk storing boolits in a plastic quart jar? I keep everything in my basement where it doesn’t get too warm in the summer.

[Beagle333]

I like Blue Carnauba better than BAC. As far as sticking to the boolits during storage, the blue also seems to stick in the grooves better. The BAC tends to want to stick to other boolits and pull out of the groove and then you got one boolit half lubed and another with a big clump of lube stuck to the side of it.
Just order a couple sticks of each and run a test for your conditions. Good luck and happy casting!

[mattw]

I really like the red carnauba from Lars. It is a little tacky but does not cause problems for me.

[Walks]

BAC is my Lube of choice now.

Growing up with My DAD's weird conglomeration of different lube recipes, until he finally just settled on NRA 50/50 - Tamarack. Used it until he passed in 1988. Still have a couple of tubes left.
With a Heater I use BAC, and it works great. Don't know if I'll ever switch over to Powder Coat completely.

[Winger Ed.]

I've had problems with softer lubes being sticky.

Years ago, I started dusting sized & lubed boolits with that powdered mica from Midway.
No more issues.
It just takes a little sprinkle, then roll 'em around, remember- you're not trying to powder coat them.

[Petrol & Powder]

I used White Label BAC and liked it BUT it was still a little too hard for 38 Special and 45 ACP; I had some leading issues with 38 Special and BAC. I switched to NRA 50/50 and things got much better.

However, I wasn't storing a lot sized/lubed bullets before loading. I tended to keep the bullets "as cast" until I needed them and sized/lubed them as needed when loading.

I think picking a bullet lube based on its storage capabilities and not its shooting capabilities; may not be the best criteria.

BAC is an excellent lube and I like it for some of the faster handgun rounds, so it's close to an "all around" lube for handgun cartridges. Ultimately I found that NRA 50/50 is still really hard to beat when it comes to almost ALL standard velocity cast handgun rounds (Something I suspect old reloaders already knew ). So I transitioned all of my standard velocity handgun bullets to 50/50.

[bobthenailer]

I have been using only hard lubes for many decades , I ordered some CR several years ago & found it a little tacker than I liked so I tried cutting it with Magnama eng hard lube .
I tried 50/50 and 75%cr/25%me, both formulas work fine!
when I need lube again I will get the harder CR commercial lube.

[cheese1566]

I have 5 sticks of Magma left and both lubers are cleaned out at this time. I have them both set up for PID controlled heat and air cylinders.
I do use Red Carn in my RCBS LAM for rifle and 44mag. I just don’t have size dies for all my pistols for the LAM to test out the Red Carn.

I just want to avoid some work of testing out some lubes and having to empty the lubers frequently.

[ShooterAZ]

I have tried White Label's C-Red, C-blue, BAC, and 2500+. After using all of them extensively, I have settled on 2500+ for everything. Pistol & Rifles, it works great for all of them. Not too soft, not too hard...just right LOL. One thing I have noticed about 2500+, is that it seems to produce less residue/fouling than the carnuaba blended lubes, not sure why that is.

[megasupermagnum]

I'm looking to possibly transition to a different lube myself, after a couple years of happy canaruba red use. What I found out is that White Label Lubes has a 1/4 stick sample pack on their website for free. It was a real eye opener just handling the lubes. I then lubed a bunch of bullets by hand by pushing lube into the grooves and running them through a sizer. The only one I'm refusing to use is 50/50. It might work good in low pressure stuff, but what a mess. I was mostly interested in canaruba blue, but after feeling them, I have very high hopes for BAC. I wouldn't be surprised if 2500+ works well either. I may be alone in being underwhelmed by canaruba blue. Side by side with canaruba red, I can barely feel any difference. I doubt either will work without a little heat. Who knows though, I'm going to let the bullets decide.

[dkf]

I use mostly a 50/50 mix of BAC and Carn Red. It does have a little tackiness to it but I stack lubed and sized bullets in boxes. If you just throw them in a jar you are probably better off with the Carn Blue due to it being less tacky. I doubt you have to worry about performance with any of them. I've used them in low velocity plinking loads to rifle loads with no leading and minimal smoke. Leading I was getting with Alox completely went away switching to the BAC and Carn lubes.

[winelover]

Made the switch to CR from NRA 50-50, years ago. Was looking for a workable lube that would store bullets in bulk. I use CR for everything from 38 Special up to and including 338 Winchester Magnum. The only requirement is that heat is necessary to get it to flow. Not an issue for me, have heaters on both my Star and LAM. If I were to acquire another Star, I would probably try the Carnuba Blue.

Winelover

[6bg6ga]

You also need to consider where you live and your average temperature. A lube suitable for a Arizona afternoon may not be a suitable for a frosty Vermont winter morning.

[RedHawk357Mag]

I am pretty happy with Carnuba Blue. Long time user of Carnuba Red. Tried BAC just didn't adhere to bullet the way I liked. Using BAC required stacking bullets in boxes for me. Carnuba Blue holds well in heat, Oklahoma garage temps in 100 degrees, seemed very useable in Oklahoma winter down to high thirties although that probably needs more testing as I changed a bench technique since then. I am definitely sold on it. Also pan lubes very well for testing small batches.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[waco]

I have tried White Label's C-Red, C-blue, BAC, and 2500+. After using all of them extensively, I have settled on 2500+ for everything. Pistol & Rifles, it works great for all of them. Not too soft, not too hard...just right LOL. One thing I have noticed about 2500+, is that it seems to produce less residue/fouling than the carnuaba blended lubes, not sure why that is.

I have had really good luck with 2500+ as well.

[LenH]

I have been using CB in my old RCBS sizer, no heat and not tacky. I us it mostly in my rifle rounds. I have had real go9od luck with it and will
buy again when needed.

[hermans]

I have tried both BAC and CR for my 45 and 9mm pistol boolits. Here in Africa during the summer it get's really hot, and both these are just too soft when the lubed boolits are being stored in bulk.
I tried the their Commercial 160, and that works perfectly in my Star with a heater to get it to flow, even in summer. It is not tacky at all, and I get minimal leading in all my pistols.
White Label makes a lube for everybody, great service too!

[GONRA]

For GONRA pure ALOX 2138F (purchased looong ago when Rifleman article came out) is perfect for the INSIDE LUBED Auto Pistol bullets I use.
No external lube grooves to worry about "sticky" issues.

[Mr Peabody]

After trying a few different lubes I stuck with 2500+.