45-45-10 getting thick

[Reg]

Mixed up a batch of 45-45-10 a year or so ago and have been having great luck with it. Did notice here lately it has been getting thicker and thicker. Still not a problem but it was a bit easier to use when it was thinner.
Anyone notice this before ? Can it be easily thinned ?

Appreciate it.
R

:drinks:

[kylix.rd]

I've noticed the same thing. I think the volatiles, namely what was left in the JPW and the mineral spirits are evaporating away. IOW, it is drying out. Warming it up and adding some mineral spirits will probably "fix" it. I've been planning to do just that.

[myg30]

I believe you can just warm it up in hot water and warming the boolits will help also.

Mike

[btroj]

I put mine in a pot of almost boili water for 5 minutes or so. Makes it flow just fine.

[runfiverun]

it's supposed to dry out,that's what it does on your boolits.
add some more mineral spirits.

[geargnasher]

it's supposed to dry out,that's what it does on your boolits.
add some more mineral spirits.

Yup. If you store it in LLA bottles you'll need to add a splash of thinner from time to time, no big deal. The thinner is a vehicle for delivering the goody to the boolits at exactly the right thickness, just like how automotive painters thin paint to a certain consistency before spraying so it flows correctly.

Gear

[BK7saum]

I was going to start a new thread about this butfound this one. My batch of 45 45 10 is fresh made but too thick. When heated to be thin it solidifies too quickly on hot to the touch Boolits. But in the bottle at room temp it is a medium hard waxy block. I think I cooked the jpw down too much.

The fix for this is to add more MS. Right?

[runfiverun]

yes.
you can only reduce the jpw so far.
you are just taking the solvents out that keep the parrafin/carnuba mix in a soft state.
i make mine from xlox from white label lubes and it is thick to begin with, i cut it 50% with mineral spirits.
my mix is made with tre wax also so i can see the lube on the boolits better.
it ends up being 50 tre-wax 50 jpw cooked down the 50-50 xlox and mineral spirits.
when these are mixed together hot i add a piece of beeswax about 25% the size of the melted ingredients.
this gives a good coating right off the bat and i can see it because of the dark pigmented tre-wax.

[BK7saum]

Thanks R5R.

I cooked the JPW down until the solvent boiling started to decrease. The final product was about 4 fl. oz. or a little less. This was about 1/4 or so of the original volume. So I believe I removed MOST of the mineral spirits or whatever solvent carrier is in JPW. I did add back the prescribed amount of MS to the mixed JPS and ALOX, but as stated, it's too thick. Also it dries within just a few minutes (really a minute or two) to a non-tacky finish.

This also causes it to buildup/clump in the lube grooves of the boolits its applied to. (it doesn't stay in a fluid state very long at all). When it is applied to hot boolits, it immediately thickens and builds up on the boolits before the container can be shaken to distribute the lube.

[btroj]

Try adding a bit more mineral spirits to slow the dry time.

[leftiye]

You might not want the spirits, or other things that evaporate in your lube (though if you let the mineral spirits necessary to tumble lubing dry on the boolit prior to loading, = samo samo). Depending on how hard the leftovers get on your barrel (and carnauba gets HARD), it will play havoc with your first/cold barrel shot outcomes accuracy wise. So you might like a lube with nothing left to dry out and nothing that gets hard when dry and cold on your barrel. That lube that is too hard is easily softened with a little bullplate lube or synthetic 2 stroke oil (Motul 800 maybe) mixed in.

[btroj]

I think mineral spirits would give a longer working time with the lube. More time for the lube to be spread thinly before it dries.

As for 2cycle oil, I wonder how well it would actually dry in a lube like this. How much can be added before it leads to a lube that remains tacky. A bullet tumbled in a lube that remains tacky would be a grit and grime collecting piece of work. Not my idea of ideal.

[runfiverun]

if the lube were being used in the grooves leftiye would have the answer.
but he's using it as a tumble lube and wants it to dry in a thin coating.
you gotta have the lube thin to get the thin coating.

[leftiye]

2 stroke oil won't dry. By itself though in bzwax it is a very good lube. It should kick alox tumble lube up a notch as a bullet lube. As would graphite, Hexagonal Boron Nitrite, or Moly powder.

Carnauba is a no-no in cold temperatures, and maybe in general if it builds up or gets contaminated so it makes hard deposits. Not saying it does, but if mixed with the wrong stuff, it could happen. In any event, it isn't necessary (though I used to love the stuff).

If your 45-10-10 is drying too hard, then do a little guessing/testing, and figger out how much 2 stroke oil it takes to make it as soft as you want it to be. I'm not advocating using it to soften up lube enough to make tumble lubing possible. It won't dry. Plus it wouldn't stay in the lube in those proportions. In other non-tumble lube applications, aromatics (that evaporate) are unnecessary, and non functional or counter productive.

[btroj]

He mentioned in th OP he was using 45-45-10 which is a tumble lube. That is why I suggested more mineral spirits as he said it was drying to fast and was thicker than he wanted. A thinner mix slows drying which allows time to thin out each coat.

I agree entirely that a 2 cycle oil could improve cold weather behavior in a traditional lube.

[runfiverun]

it definatly will.
i also agree on the carnuba.
it has some hot weather applications but does nothing for me under about 50-f
i reproved this to myself a couple of days ago running some 9m's in the cold with carnuba red lube and developed some leading that wasn't previously there.
i run some lubed with my simple green lube right behind them and cleaned things up nicely,the groups tightened up at the same time.
about as much as they are gonna tighten up with a pair of type-99 norinco's.
and cartridges with a .095 oal.

[Reg]

As a update. Added a bit of mineral spirits to the lube and just shook the heck out of it to see what happened. It blended right in in nothing flat and thinned the lube. Did have to do it twice as it did take a bit more mineral spirits than I thought it would have but it blended very fast with a minimum amount of shaking and no heating required. Have run 2 batches of bullets since and it works just exactly as it always has.
Problem solved.

[smilie=w: