Liquid graphite as bullet lube

[darkman]

I bought an aerosol can of Jig A Loo Graphite Extreme spray on graphite for lubing my bullet molds. I sprayed some on my cast pistol boolits. I have not tried them out yet. I was wondering if this stuff could be used as bullet lube? Anybody try this yet?

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I've not tried it as a bullet lube, but when I tried spray moly in my bullet molds it reduced the as-cast diameter. I was never able to get just a little in there. Always too much or not enough. Proceed carefully.

[BBQJOE]

I'm willing to bet it will work for the first inch of the barrel, after that I would guess it would be gone.

[Dan Cash]

I ried the liquid graphite spray over 20 years ago. Not sure I have gotten all the lead out yet.

[375RUGER]

Experimented with graphited boolits just ahead of the start of the moly craze. You'd be better off using a moly coating than the graphite. The moly was just more work to apply than I wanted to mess with at the time, but no more so than the powder/poly coated boolits.
Much better results with moly i.e. no leading and more velocity vs. the graphite. The moly worked much the same as a regular greaser boolit. IIRC the graphite actually decreased velocity compared to regular greaser boolits.
Your mileage may vary, try it and report back.

[w5pv]

Has any one tried mixing a small amount of moly or graphite with their tumble lube or pann lube?

[Good Cheer]

Yes sir, tried graphite rubbed into the surface of paper patched muzzleloading .50 cals that had been steeped in waterproofing to make the patched slugs less prone to environmental and pocket wear. This lead to redeveloping loads. Didn't find that the graphite reliably gave an improvement in accuracy.

[Jim]

I started experimenting with graphite last November. I didn't get much done as cold weather set in shortly after. I resumed testing in April of this year.

Just the other day, I ran an extensive test using Lyman 311467s over 14 grs. of Unique in a .308 bolt rifle. This test pushed the lube (I called it graphlox) to about 1600 FPS.

I fired five groups of five shots each with White Label Lubes' Xlox and the same with my graphlox. This test was not for accuracy, but for the suitability of graphite in a lube. Glen Larson's Xlox performed perfectly. The graphlox failed.

Below are the data recordings of the test in my chrony log. Left click on each photo to enlarge it.

77280
77281
77282

[destrux]

Has any one tried mixing a small amount of moly or graphite with their tumble lube or pann lube?

Yes, it sinks to the bottom by time the pan lube hardens and does squat. That was mixing it into a 50/50 beeswax vaseline lube.

I also tried military surplus graphite/moly dry lube spray applied directly to the bullets, but I didn't have a sizer at the time and since it increased the size I wasn't able to load them properly to finish the test. The few I did load I shaved the coating while loading which defeats the point.

[badbob454]

i am trying napa brand dry graphite film lubricant mac's 1413 ... i spray it on... let it dry ... size the boolits ....and re spray , amazingly the graphite does not rub off in the sizing stage,
the extra coating helps add an extra coating of dry lube for a 4''barrel in a
10mm lets see if it works ..... seemed to size with little effort... oh i dont own a 10mm yet , kinda put the cart before the horse ha ha.../i know this failed in a rifle barrel 3/4 down the barrel (some leading )but in a 4 '' barrel think it'll work

[gnostic]

I've used both molly and graphite in bullet lube with good results. The reason, I no longer use either in lube, is, I don't want to inhale either in the smoke...

[leadman]

I tried both many years ago and ran some tests for Lee also. Alone they did not work well at all. As a top coat over The very hard Red angel lube I was using at the time they did reduce the leading a bit.
There is a commercial caster that uses moly but I have also inspected a couple of the guns that have fired this and they had lead in the barrels.
Both were added the boolit lubes as far back as the 1930s that I could confirm. I had American Rifleman magazines from the early 30s to present and the early ones made mention of their use.

If you want to get away from the wax lubes both Hi-Tek coating and powder coating work very well.

[Char-Gar]

I bought an aerosol can of Jig A Loo Graphite Extreme spray on graphite for lubing my bullet molds. I sprayed some on my cast pistol boolits. I have not tried them out yet. I was wondering if this stuff could be used as bullet lube? Anybody try this yet?

Remember, that the principal function of a bullet lube is not to make the bullet slick. It creates a barrier between the bullet and the barrel metal that keep the hot gases away from the sides of the bullet. Do not let the word "lubricant" deceive you into thinking the purpose of that stuff is to reduce friction. That may be a secondary or tertiary purpose, but not the principal purpose of bullet lube.

[John Boy]

For my 22LR black powder reloads, shake the bullets in melted paraffin and graphite. No issues using it as a lube

[badbob454]

Remember, that the principal function of a bullet lube is not to make the bullet slick. It creates a barrier between the bullet and the barrel metal that keep the hot gases away from the sides of the bullet. Do not let the word "lubricant" deceive you into thinking the purpose of that stuff is to reduce friction. That may be a secondary or tertiary purpose, but not the principal purpose of bullet lube.
but if bullet fit is good , and i use graphite to lube , the gasses should stay behind the bullet ? yes?
please correct me if im wrong..

[Ben]

I tried liquid graphite about 30 years ago.

Had to be the VERY WORST bullet lube ( if you could call it that ) that I've ever put on a cast bullet.

Never again ! !

Ben

[Char-Gar]

but if bullet fit is good , and i use graphite to lube , the gasses should stay behind the bullet ? yes?
please correct me if im wrong..

If all it takes to keep the gases off, is bullet fit, then an unlubed bullet of good fit should be all you need. Try that and report back on your findings.

[badbob454]

OK im not that stupid ...naturally some lube is needed to slide the boolit, without lead scraping off onto the barrel , but as far as gas cutting wouldn't the bullet fit take care of that? after all isn't it called bullet lube ?
like a piston in an engine you need fit, and lube ..
after it is the gas cutting and friction heat generated by extreme pressure. between bullet and barrel that is the cause of leading or am i full of it .?
and extreme speed and stripped lead by rifling may cause leading too where the lead is sheared off by the rifling due to not conforming to the rifling twist fast enough.

[leftiye]

There have been several threads here about guys shooting UNlubed boolits - successfully. So I guess this is a vote for boolit fit. In any case boolit fit is very valuable to have for accuracy as well as leading. Mosta the time more is needed. Graphite is very iffy. Both graphite and moly build up in the bore. At the very least they contribute to carp on the bore. Minimum stuff left in the bore and no continuing buildup are essential for continued accuracy. Think about the idea that a lot of lubes are the same stuff as soldering flux (and try not to use soldering flux instead of good lube). So, it ain't about lubrication, it's about sealing, and preventing lead galling on the steel bore. Waxes, and vaselines, with a tech of oil.

[badbob454]

hmm so graphite buildup ==bad ill shoot what ive loaded and give a report , then ill go to White label lube X-lox
i was trying to get away from the buildup of sticky residue in my bullet seater from Lee brand =lox i have shot un lubed boolits before several hundred when i first started loading many years ago , then duhh i found out what gas checks and bullet lube were , i have to say my 357 didnt lead up too terrible ... so easy ...not so good ,, thanks for the replys fellas ill post results ..

[Blanco]

I experimented with a graphite spray that was like a paint.
I found that it smoked like hell and I had terrible leading that was next to impossible to remove.
Gave up and went with Powder coating, haven't looked back!

[edctexas]

If you have good results with the Lee Alox, but don't like the "messy" bit, try Ben's Liquid Lube! Cut the Lee Alox with Johnson's liquid paste wax. I tried that because I had the Lee Alox (which I hated the smell and stickiness) and did not want to throw it away. So I tried Ben's suggested BLL formulation and the BLL worked quite well. I tried it over hard lube and on a naked boolit. It worked fine (357, 44Mag) at around 1000fps. It dries much faster and has less smell. Less smoke at the range than the straight Alox. The white label Alox also works well.

Ed C

[badbob454]

thanks ed from texas ... i will use that to fix me lee stuff , my main goal was to get rid of the sticky residue in my bullet seater as it builds up ,and changes the seating depth., i will give up on the graphite , thought it would be a quick and effective way to lube without mess .. thanks all for your replies..... badbob454

[sparky45]

PC'n is the way to go BB454.

[badbob454]

i will try that at a later date sparky 45 as i have much whites alox / and lee alox to use up ... love the red and yellow , might be a good way to distinguish 10mm from 40's quickly ..
......... can you see the brighter boolits going down range in the daytime?

...
...

[Hickok]

Just a caution about moly, Kenny Jarret who makes the tack driving bean field rifles claims moly will bond with barrel steel and it is nearly impossible to clean out. Just sayin......

[badbob454]

thanks for the heads up Hickock...

[badbob454]

just made some Bens Liquid lube .. coated my first 40 cal with it will see how it works ... nothing but the best reports on it... gotta give it a try used up my lee sticky alox lube to make it ... found the johnson's floor wax to dilute it per bens instructions