"mica" ?

[beng]

I have been reading about "lubes" LLA etc. I know this is very funny to some of our masters, but you are saying to dust the boolits with mica. I know what mica is. It is a group of silicate minerals with a layered structure ect. "How do you get it and what dose it look like"? Can you use any other type of "powders" to dust with. Thanks

[grumpy one]

The mica that is used for various cast bullet purposes is 'motor mica', and you can buy it in various ways under that name. I bought a pound of it as a barrel lubricant for shot-cups for shotshells. It usually looks like a fine white powder, and is used in the same way as graphite - and mostly for the same purposes. I currently use the mica for inside-case neck-sizing lube, because I don't like to get true lubricants inside the case where the primer and powder are. I previously used graphite, but didn't like the dirty mess it made over everything. Both mica and graphite aren't actually lubricants, they are fine abrasives, and they cause some tiny scratches on surfaces they slide over. However in many applications the amount of metal they remove seems to be a whole lot less than metal-to-metal sliding friction would otherwise remove.

[felix]

Motor mica is called "motor" because the mica itself is specialized in that one particle of it has two sides with a layer of oxygen molecules between them. The particle is held together by electronic attraction (for lack of a better term on this board), just like alloys are. Each side has barbs, not unlike antimony. So, once the mica has been distributed equally throughout the barrel by barbed action, there is no more "friction" against the barrel itself. The mica halves slide alongside the layer of oxygen, one layer of mica against the barrel, and one layer of mica against the projectile. In addition to this topic, THAT is how all lubes work, that is, we want the friction to be contained within the lube itself. How the lube attaches itself to the walls to be separated is why different lubes are manufactured/discovered/whatever. Lube buildup is a no-no per application designation, and that is called the lube's viscosity. Viscosity should be AS LOW AS POSSIBLE for a certain longevity of the lube's use. As a sideline, you change your motor oil when the viscosity becomes TOO HIGH. ... felix

[geargnasher]

Any questions?

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