first attempts

[bryonbush]

tried my hand at making my own lube for my newly purchased lyman 4500. used the WWVA lube formula seeing that i had all of that at home. only thing is, to be honest i didnt measure everything out. just added what i thought looked right. it came out to be a tanish color. put them in the freezer to cool then this morning pulled them out of the tubes. i cracked two of them in half pulling my nail out but they should be fine. this is my first time making any type of lube and not sure which is good for what im using it for. right now im set up for the .45 but will soon be sizing/lubing for the .40. is this something that i should stick with or try others that work better for the .45 & .40? how do i know when the lube is too soft or too hard?





4 oz. paraffin
4 oz petroleum jelly
2 oz. Lee Liquid Alox
2 heaping tablespoons Johnsons Paste Wax [carnuba wax]

[randyrat]

If I was a betting man, I would bet that it will work.
The Petro jelly will soften the Paraffin
The Alox will aid in stick and give some lube action
The Paste wax will give it some toughness and possibly leave you with a shinny barrel.
Don't be too disappointed if you lead a little with the 40 though, it's a unforgiving caliber to load for.It's a balance between a fat enough boolit and being able to chamber it.
Next time try some Beeswax as a base and you should have a State fair blue ribbon lube.

[Whistler]

I made my first attempts as well yesterday. :)

I was given some small samples of FWFL (or what's it called?) from another member at this forum some time ago and decided to melt it together to make some lube sticks for my Lyman 4500 with heater. I added some Lee Liquid Alox and some ATF.

Sticks came out OK out of my rubber banded toilet paper rolls and I used a wooden dowel to make the hole.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4549/20111101225804.jpg

The sticks look like chocolate and feel pretty much like Carnauba Red when handled, maybe a little bit softer.

[captaint]

Just a guess, but I'd say both of you are in the neighborhood. State Fair Blue Ribbon, I love it!!! Mike

[bryonbush]

shot my first 50 rounds with the new BryonBush special lube out of the new 4500 and pretty impressed. zero leading at all and very low smoke compaired to LLA. very happy camper right now!

[geargnasher]

Byron, glad it worked out for you. If you think it might save you some trouble, you can do like a lot of us here do and just keep your lube in a Pyrex measuring cup, and when you need to fill your sizer, simply melt the lube on a candle warmer or on reduced power in the microwave and pour it directly into the sizer. No need to make sticks unless you want to.

There are a few threads here on making lube stick moulds using threaded rod and PVC pipe, a quick search will turn them up if you're interested.

Gear

[bryonbush]

Gear, that sounds a whole lot easier than making those sticks. the sticks were nice but still a PITA to get in the mold.

[41 mag fan]

How long does it take to harden up after being melted & poured in sizer? I've got an order coming from Randyrat this week, haven't got much to do being laid up right now. Might as well experiment and play.

[geargnasher]

I like to babysit the lube as it cools in the sizer reservoir because it will shrink drastically and leave a cylindrical void in the middle, between the screw and the housing. As the void opens after a few minutes I dose it again with liquid lube. After about ten-20 minutes it's firm enough to install the piston and use. I don't like air voids in my lube reservoir, the create problems later as the air migrates out through the lube grooves, leaving voids.

Gear

[41 mag fan]

Gear, that sounds like a good piece of advice. I'll remember that, and hopefully get some made up later this week.

[Whistler]

Yet another try!
Blue one is FWFL.
Black is Glen Fryxell's 50/50 beeswax/moly, but I added some carnauba and paraffin.

The both feel and handle pretty similar to Carnauba Red.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1826/20111118212524.jpg
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4935/20111118220929.jpg
http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/562/20111118234308.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7529/20111118214604.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2416/20111119012724.jpg

[John Boy]

Might want to make one of these to make your lube tubes ...

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Meadowmucker/Misc/lubemold-1.jpg