Lube

[686]

i sorry to keep asking about this. i have some clean yellow bees wax and would like to try making some lube. i would like it dard to use a heater base on my star sizer. here in florida it gets hot and the bullets get messy. i do a lots of target shooting and cast a lots. when putting the bullets loose in a 1/2 gallon bucket, the hard lube is nice and clean to handle. i have been using magma hard lube and ruster z lube. i thought i might make some to save a little money. thanks

[686]

so that is what you ment to look at the top for felx lube. i found it. boy is this goung to be fun, or just buy factory lube. thanks to all

[buck1]

Start with 4 parts bees wax and 1 part lithium automotive grease.
Add more beeswax to harden or more grease to soften.

Do it outside!! Dont get it too hot or it will light off in your face.
Do this at your own risk !!
This is a easy yet good lube and a good place to start.
I wouldnt even think of buying lube anymore than boolits.
Also Hard lube isnt always the best rought.
Go to the top of the page and search for lube, you will find lots of recipes!
.............FWIW

[686]

i see that alox is the one lube that no one seams to add to. 50/50 alox/bees wax looks like a big favorit. it is also soft ans messy in hot weather. what do you think about 1 part alox to 2 parts bees wax.? or maybe some parfin. i take it that parfin wax is just a hardner. thanks

[Ricochet]

Check out the group buy on Alox 606-55. (Same as Lee Liquid Alox.) That will provide material for lots of lube experimenting for a long time.

I'm using a mixture now (that I call "Brown Thunder," as it reminds me of the "White Lightning" I've been using, is brown, and tickles my twisted sense of humor) that evolved from Johnson's Paste Wax. It has scientifically derived precise proportions (what I had on hand, what looked right, or what would fit in the can) of Johnson's Paste Wax, toilet seal ring wax, Lee Liquid Alox, beeswax and lanolin. Works well as a dipping or tumble lube when heated, and when dry is a soft, somewhat sticky light brown wax that's been working very well on heavy .44 Magnum loads with soft plain base boolits ~1400 FPS from a revolver and gas checked rifle boolits ~2000 FPS. Too sticky for pocket carry with exposed lube.

[Char-Gar]

I have been using a beeswax/Vasaline mix bullet lube for 50 years with 100% satisfaction. The mix is not crucial, just make it soft enough to work through a lubesize machine (without heat). I guess the porportions are about 70/30 wax to Vasaline. If that is too stiff, then just add some more Vasaline.

I mix it in a quart jar in the microwave oven. Just nuke it a minute at a time until it all mixes good. While hot, pour it in the top of you machine. Screw the cap back on the jar and put it up until you need it again. Just renuke and have at it. Nuke it until there is a button or hard lube in the jar and remove and stir until the button goes liquid. Doing this will prevent overheating of the lube.

This works for rifle loads up to 2K fps and every handgun load known to mankind. I have tried many other kinds of lube, but keep coming back to this one because it works, it is cheap and easy to make. If I am pushing the envelope above 2K I will use Felix Lube. Felix is pretty sophisticated stuff, but for most uses I have not found it to be better than my old lube. This was a popular recipie for home cooked lube 50 or 60 years ago.

NOW.. I live in deep South Texas, farther South than most places in Florida. It get's very hot and humid down here and this lube does not run. I have used this in the desert as well. I have left boxes of lubed bullets in metal storage sheds in the summer where the inside temp got go 130 degrees and the lube did not run.

No need to use a heater.

[robertbank]

I guess I just got lucky but I made up a batch of Felix lube, found it worked and am now on my 2nd batch with every intention of sticking with it. Works in my rifles and handguns.

Take Care

Bob

[44man]

Bob, not luck, the stuff just plain works as does Lar's Carnauba Red. I can't see going anywhere else. The work is eased when there are a few lubes that do it all.
A long time ago I tried mixing some blue lithium grease into beeswax, HEE, HEE, what an abortion I came up with. Darned stuff would not melt, period.

[Ricochet]

Lithium complex grease has a pretty high dropping point, over 500°F, I think. Stuff won't even dissolve in gasoline, either. Hard to mix it with anything.

[leftiye]

686,

In the (NRA formula) 50/50 formula alox/beeswax, the ALOX is the good part (that counts). You can take it from there. There be 6 billion possible lube formulas. There are any number with Crisco, beaver snot, you name it. What's confusing is that many of them work! Some of them only work sometimes, in special cases. What you have to remember about special cases is that there are special cases where NO lube on the boolit works too. Next comes the scenario where no lube you use will work.

FWIW I like the idea of getting the absolute best lube you can find (and it's not the same one all of the time) for the gun/ cartridge, caliber etc., etc.. You do a little research, a little testing, etc.. For what the cost of even the more expensive lubes comes down to, it ain't worth the time and materials that could get wasted using crisco and beeswax (even if it does work in muzzleloaders). That's my humble opinion.

[buck1]

Lithium complex grease has a pretty high dropping point, over 500°F, I think. Stuff won't even dissolve in gasoline, either. Hard to mix it with anything.

True! but held at about 350F (near flash for beeswax) in a old crockpot and mixed verrrrrrrrrrrry well untill all the grease droplets disolve.
It makes a great lube and handles higher pressurs well.
But it does take a long time to get it compleetly smooth, even remelting it and mixing more latter(think wisk not spoon).
Let it set to test, when your happy with how firm/soft it is, let it cool and remelt at a lower temp, just hot enugh to make it all liquid . it will then come out even and is not bad about bleeding.
FWIW.>>>>>>>>>>>>Buck

[lar45]

Charger, on your Beeswax-Vaseline, does it smoke like the Alox lubes do when shot?

When I was comeing up with my lube formulas, I tried up to 4 parts beeswax to 1 part Alox 350 and the lube still worked well in the 2000+fps range. It was just much stiffer than the 50-50 mix.

Anytime I added bowl wax to any lube, it irritated my skin to touch it. I don't know if I'm allergic to it or what. Other guys have said they use it without any problems.

If you're mixing Alox 350 in a lube, do not get it hot enough to smoke. The fumes can get really bad.

I recived a letter from Lubrizol the other day telling me I can not use the word Alox. As in 50-50 Beeswax Alox lube. I have asked if I can list it in the ingredients section but no reply yet. With my letter I sent back I printed out many of the major manufactures Alox lubes useing the word Alox.
So My stuff reads Xxox for now.