Is this grease ok for lube?

[saxguy]

http://www.valvoline.com.au/explore-our-products/all-products/greases/automotive/valvoline-valplex-ep-grease

Living in New Zealand is great, apart from when you want to find anything out of the ordinary.

I would like to start making my own boolit lube, but all i have of yet is a supply of Bees Wax (which was very expensive!)... recently however, a friend of mine gave me a couple of tubes of grease, and has indicated more on the way, if these are any use for lube making.

So, bottom line, if any of you clever chaps out there who know about such stuff, could please take a look at the link, and tell me should i use it, or keep it in the garage!

I have read so much info re boolit lube, and the perils of certain things, certain ingredients, that I am hesitant in trying something that may cause either myself or my barrels harm! I dont want to get lung cancer from inhaling the stuff, and also, i would rather not rot my barrels. Other than that, a lube which works for mainly pistol rounds, hot and cold climate, and smells like roses... okay, I guess the scent isnt too much of an issue!

Any knowledge on the subject would be great.

PS Cant afford to just "experiment", as the bees wax cost me about $20/Lb. I have just found some floor wax which looks like Johnsons, but that is $50 for a small tin!..... NZ is THE most expensive country in the world!

[danthman114]

No. Petroleum neutralizes powder.. I guess if you load them then shoot right away it could work. I wouldn't use it with other ingredients so common...

[Ben]

http://www.valvoline.com.au/explore-our-products/all-products/greases/automotive/valvoline-valplex-ep-grease

Living in New Zealand is great, apart from when you want to find anything out of the ordinary.

I would like to start making my own boolit lube, but all i have of yet is a supply of Bees Wax (which was very expensive!)... recently however, a friend of mine gave me a couple of tubes of grease, and has indicated more on the way, if these are any use for lube making.

So, bottom line, if any of you clever chaps out there who know about such stuff, could please take a look at the link, and tell me should i use it, or keep it in the garage!

I have read so much info re boolit lube, and the perils of certain things, certain ingredients, that I am hesitant in trying something that may cause either myself or my barrels harm! I dont want to get lung cancer from inhaling the stuff, and also, i would rather not rot my barrels. Other than that, a lube which works for mainly pistol rounds, hot and cold climate, and smells like roses... okay, I guess the scent isnt too much of an issue!

Any knowledge on the subject would be great.

PS Cant afford to just "experiment", as the bees wax cost me about $20/Lb. I have just found some floor wax which looks like Johnsons, but that is $50 for a small tin!..... NZ is THE most expensive country in the world!

Try this with your grease :

Use equal parts by weight of your grease and beeswax, and melt it slow in a Pyrex measuring cup ( no hotter than necessary to get the 2 to mix well ) in the microwave . You can pour this while molten into your lube sizer or you can pan lube with the lube.

[ascast]

There are a number of threads in the archives or stickies that you should look at.
What are you going to shoot? Pistol? Black? Mach 4 rifle? I know that grease is good in lawn mower spindles and such..

[saxguy]

Oh dear... conflicting replies.... I'm still confused.
As for shooting any ammo right away, that wont happen. I like to load heaps and make em last a while!

So, the Red N Tacky, is that not petroleum based?....

[saxguy]

Oh, ascast, I am using it for Pistol smokeless only. Also, I will only be shooting 'em out of revolvers and a semi-auto, not out of our lawn mower (wait... there's a thought!)... :-)

[ascast]

You can cut your beeswax 50/50 with Crisco and use it for about anything up to maybe 2500 fps, That has been my experience anyway.
It is a good cheap Black powder lube but works for a lot of other applications. Can you buy Crisco? low sodium?

[ascast]

ps it can be a bit greasy in warmer weather

[saxguy]

You can cut your beeswax 50/50 with Crisco and use it for about anything up to maybe 2500 fps, That has been my experience anyway.
It is a good cheap Black powder lube but works for a lot of other applications. Can you buy Crisco? low sodium?

Crisco?... maybe I'll have to look. It does get hot here in the sun mind!

Found this
http://www.usafoods.co.nz/shop/baking-needs/1678-betty-crocker-super-moist-cake-mix-432g-triple-choc-fudge.html
It will be around $30+ with delivery Im guessing...


is this it?

[ascast]

thats it um do you have stores there? ya know places to buy food? beer? stuff to make pies?
you must have something about the same made local for a lot less
extract of platapus perhaps?
no really, crisco is just vegtable shortening used in cooking
for high temp, its only a problem if the grease groove is outside the case, which generally people don't lube.
otherwise, just wipe them off with rag
if you make a test batch and find it works ok for you, you can add more beeswax to stiffen it up

[big bore 99]

The description says it's used for wheel bearings. It must be a pretty thick consistancy. I tried once making a lube using some of that red grease. It worked ok at about 1400 fps, but stunk.

[saxguy]

thats it um do you have stores there? ya know places to buy food? beer? stuff to make pies?
you must have something about the same made local for a lot less
extract of platapus perhaps?
no really, crisco is just vegtable shortening used in cooking
for high temp, its only a problem if the grease groove is outside the case, which generally people don't lube.
otherwise, just wipe them off with rag
if you make a test batch and find it works ok for you, you can add more beeswax to stiffen it up

Of course we have stores here, where do you think we are, middle earth (http://www.newzealand.com/int/home-of-middle-earth/) or something?.... Oh, errm, yes, forget I said that!
Yup, I’m sure I’ve seen shortening in the local supermarket (yes yes we do have supermarkets!), but we don’t have any platypuses (or is the plural platipie?), the Moa’s ate them all!
Anyway, when I'm out shopping next, I’ll take a look at the baking section. :-)

[saxguy]

The description says it's used for wheel bearings. It must be a pretty thick consistancy. I tried once making a lube using some of that red grease. It worked ok at about 1400 fps, but stunk.

Yeah the stuff I have is dark blue, quite thick. I guess ill just try a bit.

[geargnasher]

It's fine, just a basic lithium complex grease with a petroleum oil base, some antioxidants, and one of many definitive EP additives by which lubricating greases tend to be classified. Mix it 50/50 with beeswax by weight or volume, be careful not to scorch the beeswax, blend well, and allow to solidify and remelt while swishing the block around the container to help work out the lumps of grease. The EP additive is ZDDP, an organic zinc compound, it won't hurt you if you don't eat a lot of it, and it's fine for your guns.

Gear

[saxguy]

It's fine, just a basic lithium complex grease with a petroleum oil base, some antioxidants, and one of many definitive EP additives by which lubricating greases tend to be classified. Mix it 50/50 with beeswax by weight or volume, be careful not to scorch the beeswax, blend well, and allow to solidify and remelt while swishing the block around the container to help work out the lumps of grease. The EP additive is ZDDP, an organic zinc compound, it won't hurt you if you don't eat a lot of it, and it's fine for your guns.

Gear

That sounds like something easy to start with. Thank you Gear, I'll give it a go tomorrow.

[runfiverun]

it's almost exactly the grease I used in the E-yellow series of lube tests.
I prefer about 30-35% in my lithi-bee mixes with the addition of some soft [scented] candle wax [10-15%] and a little lanolin [3-5%] it does very well as a general all-round boolit lube.

[Minerat]

If Ben, Gear and runfiverun, say you can use it I'd count that as a yes. They seem to know a little about lube.:razz: I'd also read a little about how to blend the beeswax and grease (Ben's Red thread I think), as I remember you can mess it up if you do it wrong and at $20.00 per lb NZ that ain't cheep stuff to waste.

Good luck.

[cajun shooter]

If you are able to purchase some 100% pure lanolin, then do so and add that to your lube. Lanolin is one of the best additives to any lube mixture. I made my own BP lube before finding one that was made and worked better. I always added the Lanolin and it leaves your bbl. in great condition.
I the states, I found the best and cheapest source to be a pharmaceutical supply house that sold 7 oz. jars for $4 US. Good luck David

[Retumbo]

With all the Sheep in NZ, I think Lanolin would be real easy to acquire.

[runfiverun]

I'd talk to randy rat about lanolin.
I bought 3 pounds from him then found out I had 2 more pounds stashed away.
anybody wanna talk about all the uses you can find for lanolin?
anyway 3-5% lanolin is plenty enough in a lube, same as carnuba wax...

[longbow]

Well, no expert here but when I was young and poor and making do I use to use Valvoline PB wheelbearing grease as lube mostly for my Siamese Mauser and 1895 Marlin both in .45-70.

I had no sizer luber so just scooped out grease on my finger and wiped it around the lube grooves. Crude but cheap and effective. I used a basic Lee Loader for reloading.

Believe it or not it worked quite well. I was running mostly smokeless loads and hot ones at that with little to no leading problems. Now I certainly won't claim it to be a great lube but it kept my barrels lead free and certainly gave reasonable accuracy for serious plinking with the big bores.

A better approach would be to use some of your beeswax or paraffin and make a "real" lube. I decided some time ago that I had to make my own lube and being impatient used what I had around the house ~ Lucas Red 'N Tacky grease, paraffin wax and soap (loosely based on Felix lube).

The first batch was pretty hard and tended to break out of the lube grooves so I added some Bardahl oil treatment (like STP)... just a bit. That made the lube quite sticky and so far it has worked well for me in .44 mag Marlin and Lee Enfield .303's.

So, the short story is that for handgun I am betting that simply wiped into the lube groove(s) it will work fine as is. Just check for leading now and again. If you start to get leading stop shooting.

Mixing the grease with some beeswax or paraffin and soap is pretty easy and is working well for me. My basic recipe is:

- 4 parts by volume Lucas Red 'N Tacky Grease
- 1 part by volume Ivory soap
- approx. 3X as much by volume of the first two, paraffin wax
- a couple of tablespoons of Bardahl oil treatment ~ enough to make the paraffin wax soft if you use paraffin wax

The grease is hard to melt and takes some mixing but eventually the whole works simmers down to a goopy mix which I let cool and harden the use to either pan lube or "hot tumble lube". Not very scientific, fancy or difficult to make.

Even easier would be 50/50 grease and beeswax or whatever mix gives the right consistency.

Anyway, I would give it a try, though if you plant to load lots and leave them for some time adding wax is probably best to ensure no bleeding of oils into powder. The wax and soap should be even better.

My $0.02 worth.

Longbow