A new flavor of Felix Lube

[Vly]

Any of you who have worked for a large corporation know the stuff just thrown in the garbage borders on the criminal. I will not bore you with some of my finds, but be assured my eagle eye misses little, and what I discover is carefully considered for "secondary uses". Such was the case when I discovered 2 little 2 fluid ounce bottles.

The label said, " Synthetic Oil " contains 1 - Decene Homopolymer Hydrogenated with a Chemical Abstract Service number of 68037-01-4. Armed with a CAS number it is off to Google I go. Google leads me to a world of information on Decene Homopolymer Hydrogenated. It belongs to a chemical group known as polyalphaolefins. It is used in many industries as a base stock for gear oils, compressor oils, bearing lubricants and grease. It functions well in high pressure/ high temperature applications. The part that caught my attention was a comment that it " mixes well with mineral oil". Jackpot!!!!

So I simply substitued DHH for the castor oil in the Felix Lube recipe. Everything else was per the recipe. I have been using the Decene lube now for 2 seasons ( winter and spring ) I run 4 lubersizers because I hate changing sizing dies, so one lubersizer has been dedicated to Decene lube and .309 to .313 dies as needs dictate. Performance has been very good, at least as good as regular Felix lube. It shot well in the cold temps of winter as well as the warmer present temps. First shot is always in the group. I get a good lube star, but cleanup is very quick and easy.

I run my 30 cals in the 1400 - 1900 fps range depending on rifle and cartridge, so I have not "pushed the envelope" velocity wise. But accuracy has been very good, and it has been fun experimenting with an unknown. One of the more useful things I have picked out of the trash!

[runfiverun]

so where do you get more?

[Vly]

That is a fair question. Once again Google is your friend. A quick search finds Chevron Phillips Chemical Co markets what they call Synfluid. That is also a polyalphaolefin ( PAO). It seems PAOs are gaining popularity in many industrial applications.

My stash should last another year or so. By then I will have located a commercial source.

FYI - http://www.cpchem.com/enu/pao.asp

[felix]

Yes, indeed, a great expose, Vly! Ideally, mo'betta' than getting it via III tranny fluid. There are quite of few different viscosity grades of the stuff, and which one selected would define which felix component to be replaced. Mineral/kitchen oil the lowest; lanolin the highest. ... felix

[runfiverun]

vly
it was your third paragraph that caught my eye here.
do you still cook to smoking temp?
and is the lube sticky?

[Vly]

Runfiverun - I cook till it gets hot and just a hint of smoke, then turn down the heat. The online literature about decene says it mixes well with mineral oil, so I don't overdo it with the heat.

All boolit lubes have a degree of "stickiness" or they would not stay on the boolit. The hard wax lubes are the least sticky, which is why they crumble and fall off. I consider 50/50 alox-beeswax to be very sticky, and this felix lube with decene is less sticky than 50/50. I store lubed boolits neatly stacked on each other, lube grooves to lube grooves and they do not stick together.

FYI - some other products that are decene homopolymer hydrogenated -

Amoco Chemical - Durasyn 166
Summit Industrial - SH-46
Chemtura.com - Synton PAO 40
Lubeaboom.com - crane lube of 50% decene with moly plus some other goodies

[runfiverun]

vly
thanks...appreciate the tips.
might be able to get some of that boom lube.

[PineTreeGreen]

"Amsoil" has been PAO based since they were first marketed in 1972. "Mobil 1" is PAO and diester based or at least it was in 1975. The Federal Trade Commision says that products can be labeled synthetic if they have "Very High Viscosity Index" (VHVI) base stock. Since that ruling , the market has been flooded with "synthetic" motor oil products. PAO and diester are type 5 base stocks. VHVI base stocks are type 3. :-D