DIY lube for lubrisizer?

[johnski70]

I've made up a batch of Darr lube (50/50 paraffin & vaseline w/ a dollop of marine grease) and it's working very well for pan lubing my .30 cal cast bullets. I'm loading for .30-30 & .30-06 with Lee 150gr FN & 180gr RN, sometimes gas checked, sometimes not.

The other day, I received a Lyman No. 45 lubriziser, and was wondering if Darr lube will work OK in a lubrisizer, or should I be looking at another recipe?

Thanks in advance!

[geargnasher]

It'll work fine. Melt the lube and pour it in the sizer, let it solidify, and then top off the shrinkage cavity in the middle with more melted lube so you don't have a big air bubble in the lube column. Leave room at the top for the pressure nut. If the lube is really hard, you can warm the sizer with a 100-watt lightbulb in a "spotlight" housing ($5 at home depot) or use a hair dryer periodically on the sizer housing.

Gear

[runfiverun]

if it ain't super gooey it'll work fine.

[johnski70]

Great! I didn't want to fill it up with Darr, only to have to dig it all out again.

As a side note, How does Darr stack up to other lubes? I have a block of bee's wax (now) and don't mind experimenting, but I want to stay away from 'esoteric' ingredients like Jojoba oil, mutton tallow, etc.

Also, would anyone recommend a decent solvent for a paraffin/vaseline mix? It does build up quickly in dies, and is definitely a pain to remove, preferring to smear instead of wipe away (maybe the sign of a good lube?). Gasoline, WD-40, carb cleaner, & Hoppe's really doesn't seem to touch the stuff.

[runfiverun]

parrafin and vaseline are mineral oils i'd try that..

add about 25% b-wax to what you got on hand.
before alox and bees wax became the nra lube, parrafin and b-wax[50-50] was thier lube usually with a little vaseline [to plasticize the parrafin] mixed in with it.

[geargnasher]

I personally don't like Darr lube because of the paraffin and no other solid waxes. I'd add at least as much beeswax as you have paraffin and add a touch more STP to soften it again if need be. Marine greases are usually thickened with calcium stearate because it's extremely water-repellent, but has the drawback in boolit lube of tending to accumulate hard residue in the grooves that must be cleaned out every so often. Not a show-stopper, but something to be aware of.

Gear

[johnski70]

Thanks for the great help! I think I'll start mid-range and add about 35% bee's wax. But these replies bring up a couple more questions:

1) I don't have STP, but I do have some Dextron ATF; do they basically have the same function in lube?

2) There's a lot of mention of "softer" and "harder" lubes; what sort of viscosity/consistency should I be aiming for, to use in a lubrisizer, generally? I assume something like a soft modeling clay?

[fcvan]

I made my own lube which I poured into my Lyman 450. I cut the top off a 12 oz soda bottle to use as a funnel. The end fit snugly into the lube reservoir. I poured until the lube was pretty even with the top of the reservoir. It shrinks as it cools but that pretty much pulled the lube from inside the bottle top funnel and made it almost perfect for the pressure nut to fit inside. Frank

[C.F.Plinker]

For simple DIY lubes with commonly available ingredients try Lithi-bee or Moly-bee. Now that Bullshop is back and open for business you can get their sprue plate lube and make Speed Green. An order from our own Randy Rat would give you carnuba wax for Lotak. Or you could just order his kit for TAC 1. Another good lube that is a little more complicated to mix up but that uses readily available ingredients (which are available at most drug stores or the pharmacy section of the grocery) is Felix World Famous Lube aka FWFL. The recipies are easy to find on this site so I won't repeat them here.

For many a soft lube is one that will flow through a Lyman or RCBS sizer without needing heat. To me this would be somewhat harder than soft modeling clay but much softer than candle wax or beeswax. The lubes I mentioned above are all what I consider to be soft lubes.

[geargnasher]

Thanks for the great help! I think I'll start mid-range and add about 35% bee's wax. But these replies bring up a couple more questions:

1) I don't have STP, but I do have some Dextron ATF; do they basically have the same function in lube?

2) There's a lot of mention of "softer" and "harder" lubes; what sort of viscosity/consistency should I be aiming for, to use in a lubrisizer, generally? I assume something like a soft modeling clay?

Yup, modeling clay is about right. Your machine can handle lubes that are more stiff than that at room temperature, but if you can take a chunk and smear it to a "fine" edge between thumb and forefinger it's good to go. STP has ZDDP in it which is an extreme pressure organo-metallic zinc compound. ATF has similar stuff. They serve essentially the same purpose, which is lubrication and plasticizing the wax. A little bit of ATF goes a long way with beeswax, like a couple teaspoons per ounce.

Gear

[runfiverun]

1 teaspoon per ounce is enough.
the stp will also add some tackyness while the atf will add glide to the lube.
modeling clay is a good picture of what you want,[maintaining that same viscosity in all temperatures is the ticket]
i like to be able to twist a piece off.
my lube reservoir takes either solid or hollow sticks so i just pull a hunk off and shove it in the hole.