Softening Orange Magic for pan lubing. Petroleum Jelly, Lanolin, or Lee Alox?

[Ziptar]

When I bought my Lyman 45 here on the forum I got 5 sticks of Orange Magic along with it.

It'll be to hard used straight out of the tube for 45 Colt so, I figured I try softening it and using it for pan lube.

It was suggested in another thread I try 1-2 tablespoons per stick of Vaseline.

When I reached in the cabinet to grab the Orange Magic sticks I had to move a tin of Bag Balm and a couple of bottles of Lee Alox out of the way.

That got me thinking one of them might be better than petroleum jelly.

I'm leaning towards the lanolin, its stiffer than and not as goopy as PJ but still fairly soft.

Interested in what you guys thoughts are as to the plusses and minuses of each.

[cajun shooter]

I make my own lube and use it with other made lubes. If your orange magic is hard then some of White Labels BAC would be great to add. By itself it is one of the better made lubes on the market. I shoot 100% BP but when I load for other pards and use smokeless powder then it's BAC for the lube. It is smokeless and clean shooting and one of the best lubes offered for that type of powder.
You may also add lanolin until you find what you are looking for. It is like a new finish for your barrel and will over time imbed into the bore.

[mdi]

Have you tried it on your 45 yet? I'd go ahead and try pan lubing a few and see if the Lyman lube is in fact too hard. I'd lean toward vaseline (cheaper than lanolin, and my tin of bag balm is in my reloading room so I can't check the contents) and the consistancy is close enough to lanolin to make very little difference when used at the small amounts needed.

I've mixed xlox and bees wax but haven't used xlox in any other recipe, except 45-45-10 of course!

[Ziptar]

Thanks for the input, I just ordered a bunch Carnuba Red to use in the 45, I guess I should have thrown in a little BAC with it. Maybe next time.

I haven't tried using the straight Orange Magic on my bullets yet but, from what I've gleaned searching the forum, its a little to hard to make a good lube for mid range loads like the 255 grain bullets over 8 grains of Unique that is my primary load. I poked at it with an empty case to see how well it would cut if used straight for pan lubing and its much to hard and brittle.

I figured I'd try melting a stick of the Orange Magic and adding some lanolin to see how it comes out. I have 1/4lb sample lanolin from randyrat and I'll be darned if Bag Balm doesn't look and feel exactly like 100% lanolin.

I was curious though so I searched around for an MSDS for Bag Balm and found one at Gemplar's, http://www.gemplers.com/docs/msds/7238.pdf. The MSDS states Bag Balm is a 99.7% Petroleum-Lanolin Base. I guess that means its already a mix of Petroleum Jelly and Lanolin, no idea if it's 50:50, 70:30 or 80:20 but, it might just be the ticket.

PJ is cheaper than Bag balm but, I've already got a hardly touched tin sitting around not doing much and the point of this is just to use up the 5 sticks of Orange Magic since I've already got them. I can't see buying more once it's gone at ~$5.00 a stick.

I'm going to melt one stick of OM and add a little Bag Balm at a time and see what I come up with. I figure worst case it doesn't work out and I'll have some nice orange smelling flux. :razz: If it works out well then I'll mix up the other 4 sticks and have a bunch of nice orange smelling pan lube. Might do the same with a stick and the Xlox, it'll either work or it won't. :-P

[runfiverun]

the bag balm will soften it.
and make it more flexible and tacky.
don't get carried away with it. teaspoon to start.

[Ziptar]

Well, I think it worked out pretty good.

http://www.ziptar.com/bullet_casting/orange_magic_bag_balm_pan_lube_01.jpg

I wound up melting all 5 sticks and adding about ~1 table spoon of Bag Balm per stick, roughly 1/2 of the 10 ounce tin. Its soft and tacky, I think it's just about right cuts easy, I think any harder and cutting it would be tough.

Last week I cast a bunch of Lee 452-255-RF and Mihec 270-SAA. I ran them through a Lee push through sizer first and then pan lubed them. The Orange Bag Balm Magic :razz: fills both the single big and two small lube grooves really well and stays there.

http://www.ziptar.com/bullet_casting/orange_magic_bag_balm_pan_lube_02.jpg

Its soft enough that on the next batch I'm going to lube them first then run them through the push through sizer. see how that works.

Still has a very orange smell to boot. :-P

[leftiye]

I like to soften C-Red with bullplate.