How to harden my BP lube?

[wbwilly]

I have some BP lube which is a 50/50 mix of beeswax and mutton tallow and I want to use it to lube up some 45 acp SWC bullets and would like to not have a sticky mess like I get with my BP bullets.

I have some candle wax I can add but what would you recommend that I might be able to find locally...want to make some bullets this weekend.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[docone31]

Bump the wax portion to 55%. The tallow seems thin, unlike crisco. When I made it I made it
55% Beeswax, 45% Crisco. I then played around with some Marvel Mystery oil added to it.
When cool, made a stiff lube. To thin it I added Olive oil. That I played around with untill cool, it made the thickness I wanted.

[runfiverun]

if all you have is the parrafin candle wax throw in about 10% to some and see what happens.
you could probably go up 20-25% before the mix starts to get on the crumbly side.
if it does, add a little vaseline to negate that.

[wbwilly]

I do have some more beeswax, I will try that, thanks.

[cajun shooter]

One of the better things to add to your BP lube to thicken it up is carnuba flakes. They will condition a barrel over time and help with the cleaning. Depending on your climate conditions you will need to start low and work it up.
As the old saying goes, you may always add more but it is a big mess when you add too much. You then have to start all over again.
I have always had great luck using carnuba and purchase them from Randy Rat.

[wbwilly]

Thanks. I actually did have a little bit of carnuba that I use to wax my wood turnings so I broke a piece off of that and used it. It worked great. I have to heat my star up just a bit with a heat gun to get it to flow but once heated it worked for the entire session. My shop is only heated to 36° while I'm not in it so when I do go in it to work it takes a while for all the metal to warm up. I might not have to heat the lube in the summer.

[John Boy]

Since you have the mutton tallow and beeswax, might want to change the formula to a lube that sticks and is hard:
40% Mutton Tallow
40% Paraffin
20% Beeswax

The recipe came from a 1943 issue of American Rifleman. I've been using it for about 3 years now - black powder and smokeless reloads - even for my 220 Swift rounds