Lube Recipe #3

[Josh Smith]

8 parts beeswax
4 parts paraffin
2 parts marvel mystery oil
1 part lanolin
1 crayon, color of your choice

It works well even in small amounts, but I tasted it and it's missing something.

I have some anti-flux on the way from a hobby shop and plan to try a of that mixed in...

Thought about Motor Honey instead of Marvel. Thicker stuff and clings well. Also thought about powdered graphite or powdered brass as these would probably work well, but neither would stay mixed well. Too heavy.

Used to build hotrods and only used the best stuff. A boolit isn't exactly a piston in a cylinder, but it's close. Even the best sealed of engines still have blow-by; we wouldn't need PCV if this weren't the case.

Thoughts?

Josh

[runfiverun]

motor honey could act as a plasticizer for the parrafin. [i know lucas oil supplement will]
you got two carriers,and a modifier there.
don't know what the mmo is supposed to do. [i am thinking it is a mineral oil and it would soften the parrafin acting as a binding agent/visc modifier]
and the crayon is more parrafin.
you need a lube.

[tomme boy]

I would check into the Lucas motor additive instead of the motor honey. It clings like crary to whatever it touches.

[Josh Smith]

motor honey could act as a plasticizer for the parrafin. [i know lucas oil supplement will]
you got two carriers,and a modifier there.
don't know what the mmo is supposed to do. [i am thinking it is a mineral oil and it would soften the parrafin acting as a binding agent/visc modifier]
and the crayon is more parrafin.
you need a lube.

Hello,

The Marvel is supposed to lube. The rest is either making the stuff stick better or making it into the texture I want (slightly rubbery, but soft).

Can you explain modifier? I know what carriers are.

This is not supposed to be so much a lubricant as it is an anti-flux. Almost thinking that it would be fine applied to the base of the boolit as a gas check/sealant instead of, or in combination with, the grease groove.

I take the view that the boolit is soldering itself to the barrel and has to be prevented from doing so.

Thanks,

Josh

[Josh Smith]

I would check into the Lucas motor additive instead of the motor honey. It clings like crary to whatever it touches.

You know, Lucas would be better, wouldn't it?

Next batch, I'll work it in. I'd like to shoot this more first... make sure that it has sufficient lubrication with MMO.

Thanks!

Josh

[geargnasher]

MMO is basically kerosene and chlorinated solvents. It evaporates over time, therefore has no place in boolit lube IMO.

Gear

[Josh Smith]

Hi Gear,

You know, I didn't know that. Maybe I didn't look hard enough but I couldn't find the MSDS for MMO.

Sooo... do you agree with Lucas? Or how about Slick 50? I remember we'd do some pretty awesome stuff with Slick 50...

Thanks,

Josh

[geargnasher]

I'm really not trying to rain on your parade or be Captain Negative here, but most of those "miracle" automotive lubes are all hype. Slick 50 was sued into submission for violation of certain "truth in advertising" laws because their product reall did squat.

For boolit lube you need a carrier and a lubricant, and sometimes a binder. Think in those terms and it will simplify things. Often we use things that are viscosity modifiers also to get just what we want or need for a particular climate or combination of ingredients.

Lucas, Morey's, SmokeBGone, etc. are high-viscosity modifiers composed of long-string polymers with dispersant packages. All are good products when it comes to lubricating machinery, and should do fine in boolit lubes, but the question is do you NEED it?

I tend to start with a carrier, either beeswax, microcrystalline wax, or hydrogenated soybean or coconut "wax" and add a single lubricant as needed to soften it or add lubricity. If it needs both lubricity and firmness, I add carnauba wax and/or sodium stearate, or possibly stearic acid. For tack, I add lanolin if necessary.

Making lube with a metal soap grease and a good carrier eliminates the need for additional soap, and ususally eliminates the need for a "tackifier" or an additional lubricating oil, although the addition of carnauba can be useful.

Adding things like STP introduce organic zinc compounds to the mix, and they can be excellent anti-galling additives. Zinc is used in a heavy petroleum oil base for camshaft break-in lube, and in some greases. It's good stuff for that, makes a pretty good sprue plate lube, and also the famous Saeco Green boolit lube. Whether the properties of the zinc compounds actually help the lube or whether it's the good base oil in the STP that makes the lube work is anyone's guess.

My all-around favorite formula is Felix lube, it has what it needs and nothing it doesn't, and can be tweaked for the application. Where it really shines, and this is a point so often missed with lube cooks, is in the accuracy department. During long strings of bench shooting, it leaves just the right bore condition shot-to-shot to bring great consistency throughout the string with no "purge flyers" or fouling deterioration to the groups. This is of course provided you lubed the right number of grooves, fit your boolits well, are using a good, balanced load, and have the correct "tune" to the lube. I tend to shy away from lubes like NRA 50/50 (or other lubes containing excessive calcium soap compounds, ala ALOX) and automotive grease-based lubes due to pesky fouling accumulation. If I have to clean the barrel every 20 or 50 shots to restore accuracy, it's no good for me. Felix lube, MML, and Speed Green have been the lubes that shot best for me from the bench at long range, although Carnauba Red does well and so did the one small sample of LBT Blue Soft that I tried.

For most needs, the NRA 50/50, or "lithi-Bee" works just fine. 50/50 beeswax and Vaseline works very well too for moderate rifle and pistol loads, but there you're in the range of "most stuff will work" again. It all depends on your needs.

Gear

[largom]

+1 on what Gear said. I have used a lot of the commericial lubes and most worked OK. Couple of years ago I made up some Felix lube just to see what it would do. Well, Felix lube is all that I use now. As Gear said, Felix is more Accurate.

Larry