Hard lube?

[fatelk]

I picked up some lube a while back at a swap meet. It is in sticks a couple inches in diameter and about a foot long. It's hard, purple, and smells of beeswax. He said he inherited a commercial casting setup and had already gotten rid of most of it, but still had a 55gal drum full of lube sticks. I got his number, and have been tempted to make a deal for all of it and pass on a good deal here (maybe make a couple bucks) if the stuff was any good.

I melted some and filled my Lyman 45. I have to heat the sizer pretty warm just to get it to flow into the lube grooves.

I know nobody can tell me really what it is without at least seeing it, but I am a bit ignorant when it comes to the best types of lube for a particular application. Will hard lube like this be fine for pistol bullets, in general? I cast and lubed about 500 bullets for my .357 Magnum, so I'll try it out good next time I get out.

[Love Life]

Might be Jakes purple

[fryboy]

personal opinion will vary , mine is that hard lubes work better at either end of the velocity spectrum and not so well in the upper middle , erm and best for shipping/storing purposes ( altho with my summer heat i tend to like hard lubes anyways so i may be a bit biased ) IMHO it also depends upon what there is in the lube ( some are better than others [shrugz]) best bet ? test !!

[fecmech]

Could be Magma lube.
http://www.magmaengineering.com/products/lube/

[fatelk]

The guy said, as I recall, that it was a "custom blend" of some sort.

I still haven't shot any yet, but am having trouble lubing bullets. I don't have a proper lube heater, so have been using a drop light with a 100 watt bulb and tinfoil to get it pretty warm, and even that doesn't quite get it warm enough to completely fill the lube groove reliably. If I heat it more with a heat gun, it tends to push up under the bullet around the bevel base.

I think I need to figure out a more controllable heat source. I've read some of the other threads on inexpensive heaters, just haven't got around to making something yet.

[Mk42gunner]

The guy said, as I recall, that it was a "custom blend" of some sort.

I still haven't shot any yet, but am having trouble lubing bullets. I don't have a proper lube heater, so have been using a drop light with a 100 watt bulb and tinfoil to get it pretty warm, and even that doesn't quite get it warm enough to completely fill the lube groove reliably. If I heat it more with a heat gun, it tends to push up under the bullet around the bevel base.

I think I need to figure out a more controllable heat source. I've read some of the other threads on inexpensive heaters, just haven't got around to making something yet.

Since he said that he inherited it, the "custom blend" probably means that he has absolutely no idea as to what is in it.

In my experience hard lubes are good for shipping, not so good for lubing. I don't like to recover boolits that still have lube on them. I could be wrong, it has happened before.

If you can get enough to last, cheap enough, you could blend it with something to soften it for easy use.

Robert

[runfiverun]

jakes purple is a ceresin and is made with parrafin.
you can modify the lube you have to work better for you in the lubrisizer.
b-wax and parrafins both respond well to mineral oils [vaseline] and other types of petroleum [modified hydrocarbons like atf] and plant based lubricants/oils. [jojoba,carnuba]
parrafin is a petroluem product/byproduct as is mineral oil.
melt point is a good indicator of the base carrier.

[fatelk]

Thanks all. I think I will try to blend it. It's just too darn hard.

I went to Goodwill and bought a beverage warmer that I took apart and attached to my sizer. The thing get pretty darn warm, but I still have to crank so hard on the handle that it feels like I'll break it.

I loaded up some warm .357 magnum loads and shot half a box today; just a slight trace of leading. Before I looked closely I didn't think there was any leading at all, so it must be at least decent.

This lube is definitely beeswax based, by smell. I guess I need to do some research now and figure out the best recipe for a good blend that's just a little softer.