bullet lube question

[buckeyeken]

Any one use Emmert's Mix 50%beeswax 40% crisco 10% canola oil if so anyone have anyone used it in Hight Temps. Need something for the weather out here in AZ 100+ temp range

[greenjoytj]

I use homemade Emmerts Improved. The 10% oil component is reduced to 5% and I use Jojoba oil which is a high temperature oil. Mine is from a spray bottle of LubeGard “Universal Lube”.
The other 5% is anhydrous lanolin, I ordered it off the web.
I use this Emmerts Improved lube in 45 Colt cartridges loaded with black powder (Old Eynsford) and smokeless (CFE-Pistol).
Temperature at the the gun club have been very hot +30*C and the firearms Ruger New Vaquero’s and M73 are hot, heated by the sun even before firing. A few shots firing BP and the Guns are as hot as the hood of a black painted car on hot day. The Emmerts lube liquifies nicely to keep the fouling wet and soft. The whole outside of my revolvers get slimed by the liquified lube after a few shots.
This lube, being vegetable based washes off easily with Dawn detergent.

When I made up my batch of lube I calculated the gram weight of all the other ingredients required from using up a whole brick of Crisco = to 40% of the total ingredients.
After all the ingredients were weighed out I added a tablespoon spoon of Carnauba Wax flakes to the mix. Use a double boiler system to melt the ingredients and a digital thermometer to keep the melting temperature low below the scorching point of the bees wax.
I have been pleased with the performance of this lube in both hot and cold (freezing) temperatures. The batch made about twenty three 4x1 inch solid sticks. I use it with both BP and smokeless powder.

[Ozark mike]

Mine is just bw and crisco and so far i have not had any problems i can leave my 58 remmie with a grease cookie sittin on the powder for months at a time without problems. But this is not az either

[buckeyeken]

kind of a different ball game out here when the Temps. run 100+ in the shade

[Dave T]

And don't forget, we here in the desert think 25-30% humidity is a damp day. I'd hate to try one of your runny lubes on a 110 day with humidity in the single digits. Good Grief! (smile)

Dave

[Ozark mike]

Got up to 107 here this year remember it well because i was loading bee supers on the back of a flatbed while wearing a bee suit.

[indian joe]

kind of a different ball game out here when the Temps. run 100+ in the shade

just stiffen it with more Beeswax - less oil

[greenjoytj]

And don't forget, we here in the desert think 25-30% humidity is a damp day.
I'd hate to try one of your runny lubes on a 110 day with humidity in the single digits. Good Grief! (smile) Dave

Why not? With such low humidity maybe a wetter lube might be just what your firearm needs.

After my first shot I know the bore is coated in a dry carbon residue, plus the interior of the bore is hot. Heated by air temperature, heated by the sunshine making the black metal very hot, plus further heating by the firing plasma blasting down the bore.
Even though we have high humidity her in the summer (an effect of the Great Lakes) I don’t believe any humidity can exist inside a hot firearms bore especially a long rifle barrel and certainly can’t exist in there long enough to do any fouling softening between shots.
I prefer a lube that can liquify and turn in to a oily vapour quickly as there's plenty of super dry fouling present to soak up the aforementioned liquified lube and lube vapour.
The outside surface of my revolvers and my face all are lube slimed after a shooting session.
The rifle usually slimes the guy beside me depending on the wind of course. I find on BP day the wind is always towards me.

[rfd]

gato feo #1 is my choice.

by weight and double boiler melted ...

1 part mutton tallow (dixie gun works)
1 part canning wax (gulf)
1/2 part beeswax (purified or raw and strained - leave the wings and stingers out)

add more beeswax to increase the consistency for warmer air temps.

[country gent]

I have used both emmerts and emmerts improved. I prefer the improved version. Here in Ohio we get the 90-100* but humidity is higher also. I do blow tube between shots usually 3 good breaths. Depending on your firearm a 45 volt with 7 1/2" barrel dosnt need as much lube as your 45-70 with 34" barrel.Keep in mind the powder charge barrel length and work accordingly.

My recipe for emmerts improved is 50% unsalted crisco, 40% beeswax 5% canola or olive oil and 5% anhydrous lanolin to this I *** a small amount of murphies oil soap (A butter knife dipped about an inch deep then allowed to drip off) as an emulsifier to help blend and bind the other ingredients.

In the BP rounds the lube not only lubricates the bullet but needs to keep the fouling soft and workable. After a string run a clean dry patch thru the bore If the fouling isnt greasy and soft you need more lube either a grease cookie or lubed wad. Dry crusty fouling is detrimental to accuracy and harder to clean.

[Gobeyond]

I like Lyman Black Gold if you have a lube machine. I applied it by hand a few cartridges at a time (20) for 43 Mauser and 8mm kropatschek. A bit time consuming but so trippy to do.

[indian joe]

[QUOTE=greenjoytj;5009149]Why not? With such low humidity maybe a wetter lube might be just what your firearm needs.


Even though we have high humidity her in the summer (an effect of the Great Lakes) I don’t believe any humidity can exist inside a hot firearms bore especially a long rifle barrel and certainly can’t exist in there long enough to do any fouling softening between shots.

go live (and shoot) in Arizona for a year and I believe you would amend that statement

[country gent]

The fats and oils in the old lube recipes had a softening effect on the fouling. The oils used were what used to be referred to as steam oils.

[Lead pot]

The problem using a hard lube wad/cookie is you will find the lube between the two card wads about the same diameter as it was before fired. The same goes with a grooved bullet that spun off. I have picked both remnants on top of the snow and measured them to find and found that they were not damaged except where the lands cut in.
I want a lube that gets consumed in the bore not laying on the ground. It does not do any good on the ground.
I make my lube very soft like butter out of the fridge slightly warmed up where you can squeeze it between your thumb and finger and it liquefies. I don't find it a problem with it during hot weather even leaving it in the truck or sitting in an open ammo box on line when it's hot if you use a proper fitting wad stack that will hold the oil back keeping the powder safe.
My lube is mostly Vaseline mixed with soy wax or Ozokerite wax if I have it. It's a very soft mix I use.
Lube does you no good on the ground.

[bedbugbilly]

buckeyeken -

For years, I used 1 pound of Crisco to 1 beeswax toilet bowl ring. The beeswax toilet bowl rings are softer than what you get when you buy filtered beeswax and now, they are made from a waste wax that is a by-product of refining.

That mixture is too soft for the heat here in AZ. I am still playing but I started out melting 1 pound of filtered beeswax with 1 pound of Crisco and the results were too "stiff". I ended up adding Virgin Olive Oil to the mixture util I got the consistency I wanted. I melt in the mic rowan, mix it and pour it into small containers to store/use. What I have now is stiff enough that I can wipe a precut patch across it and lube it but not "over lube" it. It still is soft enough that I can take a popsicle stick and gouge some out and finger apply it to the lube groove on my Smith Carbine boolit - run it through the sizer and have a full lube groove that is tiff enough in the heat yet soft enough to function. On my 45 Colt loads (454-190 mold) - I can finger lube and seat. In the higher temperatures here, I don't think that it will migrate to a powder load whereas I wold worry about that if I used a grease cookie - even with a card underneath the cookie.

We spent the sumer here tis year as I was recovering form surgery. We had some 118 degree days and no one in their right mind wants to be shooting in those temperatures but it is a good idea to keep your powder supplies and loaded ammo inside where it is cool. If kept in a garage where the temperature can exceed the outdoor temperature, it makes sense that lube - no matter how stiff - can easily turn to mush.

Some folks like to use mutton tallow. Yea . . DGW sells it but the last time I looked, it is out of stock and has been for a long time. You can buy mutton tallow on Amazon but it can be pricey depending on what you buy.

I'm getting ready to load up some BP 38 Long Colt cartridges to use in a Pietta 1858 Remington Navy with a Howell conversion cylinder. They utilize a .375 boolit with a .358 heel (150 grain RN heeled bullet) and these were outside lubed, much like a .22 cartridge. I am going to melt my BP lube that I described above and dip the bullet into the lube which will provide enough lube to keep fouling soft. On my smokeless loads for the same cartridge/bullet, I am dipping in paraffin.

In the end, you are just going to have to play with your formula until you get the right "stiffness" to the lube that will work for your needs.

[Gobeyond]

Try white label bp. It melts at 185 degrees. I’ve been waiting for it to heat up here and give it a test. It’s stiff in the cold. I hope it softens in the summer. Otherwise it’s going to do nothing like all winter.

[gunther]

Judging by the answers to the op's question, Emmert's is a bp lube? If so, a good substitute , that doesn't melt, is Ford Moly ep grease. Eastern Ky temps and humidity and GOI 3f is no problem. An NMLRA territorial 30 shot pistol agg without cleaning an Old Army was not a problem . Can't imagine AZ temps would approach the operating parameters this stuff was designed for.

[FrankJD]

Perhaps a reason to start considering paper patched bullets ... ?