Lithium, ATF BW Mix ratios??

[MaxJon]

Hi all. I am thinking a Lithium grease, Beeswax and ATF Dexron III could be worth a try. What mix ratios should i be thinking of?
I was thinking 1/2lb BW, 1/2lb LG and 100ml of ATF. I also have a heap of petroleum jelly on hand too, maybe i could try some of this too?
Thanks in advance!!

Edit: The lube will be for my No.4 .303 Lyman 314299

[smokemjoe]

I think it will be to soft, may work for pan lubing.

[Junior1942]

That's my 411 or Pinko Commie *** lube you're talking about. It's by volume 4 parts beeswax (Randyrat beeswax), 1 part lithium grease, and 1 part Dexron ATF fluid. The lithium grease won't want to mix so smear it against the side of the bowl. Mix over medium heat. It works.

[MaxJon]

Thanks Junior! I have only got 500g of beeswax on hand so that should go well with 125g of Lithium and 125ml of ATF. Pinko Commie ***, I like that! HAHA

[RobS]

I mix 1 measuring cup of melted beeswax (in a glass measuring beaker) with 4 measuring table spoons of Lucas White Lithium grease and one measuring table spoon of STP for my lube (I pour the melted beeswax from the beaker into a pan that has the other ingredients already measured out). I melt and stir them on low heat. I suspect the ATF being thinner might mean a little less of it or a little less grease. My lube is soft, about like a 50/50 Alox lube.

I use this lube for my 45 auto, 45 Colt, Ruger Only 45 Colt, 454 Casull and 375 H&H loads. The lube gets a workout with the upper end 454 Casull and my 375 H&H loads as the rifle loads run 270 grain boolits 2300 fps or so.

[M Hicks]

If you have issues getting the lithium grease to incorporate into the mix let the wax cool a little. As is begins to set up and start to harden the grease mixes in a lot faster. This helped me keep the temp of my lube down to avoid setting it on fire while mixing all ingredients very well. I had to let it begin to cool and remelt it a couple of times but a good size batch of lube only took about 40 minutes to get all the stuff mixed up good.

[MaxJon]

Hi junior. What do you think about substituting the Lithium grease with petroleum jelly?? I have lots of it on hand thats all.

[leftiye]

I think I'd go to Ben's Lucas red 'n sticky grease in preference to lithium grease. Lithium grease seems to have a lot of oils in it that bleed out. See threads about Ben's Red. You can overcome the oiliness of lithium grease by using higher proportions of beeswax as has been mentioned here, but this will degrade the lube some. Unless you are making a cold weather lube, you might want to use 2 cycle oil instead of ATF. For cold temp lube I'd still use synthetic 2 stroke oil in conjunction with ATF in small amounts.

[Junior1942]

Hi junior. What do you think about substituting the Lithium grease with petroleum jelly?? I have lots of it on hand thats all.Make a small batch and try it! Let us know how it works, please!

[runfiverun]

i'd not use the synthetic 2 stroke...

bullberry my simple lube is made with vaseline instead of lith grease.
you could do a 50-50 of the two..
if you are where it's hot,keep the oil content of your lube down to about 25-30% of your wax content.
adding carnuba wax to your lube for 50-f through 105-f is a good idea also.

[Marlin Junky]

Hi junior. What do you think about substituting the Lithium grease with petroleum jelly?? I have lots of it on hand thats all.

If you are referring to red lithium complex grease, I've dissolved it (Wally World's Hi-Tech brand) in Vaseline at 3:1 and 4:1 ratios (Vaseline:Grease) and added the result to just beeswax (no additional oils) with good results. The proportion of the Vaseline/Grease mixture to beeswax needs to be fiddled with depending on your ambient conditions and it's pretty easy to create a lube that's too slick for long-string accuracy. I would start with a 1/4 pound of beeswax and 1 Tbs of the Vaseline/Grease mixture. Simmer at 225F for a couple hours while stirring frequently. Add more Vaseline/Grease mixture until the lube has some flex to it when poured into a sheet approx. 1/2" to 3/4" thick (use a small bread pan as a mold).

Actually, the light colored multi-purpose lithium grease in the tube at Wally World would be my first choice because a lube made with it can be easily color-coded for grease/wax proportions. IMHO, there's no single lube that will shoot like copper-patch under all weather conditions and I believe lube needs to be selected as any other reloading component would, given certain load parameters such as velocity, chamber pressure, barrel condition/configuration AND ambient conditions.

MJ

P.S. The light colored multi-purpose lithium grease requires less Vaseline to go into solution at about 225-250F and smells a heck of a lot better.

P.P.S. The brittleness of Carnauba needs to be counteracted with something and I think you're better off incorporating a 155-160F melt temp microwax with somewhat less beeswax than adding Carnauba to your lube just to increase melt temp. If you do add Carnauba flakes to your lube, add it in very small increments... a pinch, not a dash. Incorporating a grease with a 500F drop point will increase the melt temp too (assuming you get in into solution with minimal Vaseline). Or a 350F and 500F drop point lithium grease combo might be nice too.