How many stil use Alox/beeswax lube?

[Don Purcell]

Good bye.

[30calflash]

I use it still, have a quantity of it. Should keep me going for a while.

[ReloaderEd]

I have enough to last me the rest of my natural years. Best bullet formula ever made. The blue hard stuff works well too and is less messy but for a guys that goes to the range probably 25 times a year, the old standby is still the best.

[Walks]

I've been trying WLL 45-45-10 for some N.O.E. 44 TL bullets. It seems like more work then a LUBI-SIZER with good old 50/50 lube. I've tried some other Lubes in my LUBI-SIZER. I think when I run thru the "other" lube sticks I have, I'll go back to WLL 50/50 hollow sticks for my LUBI-SIZER.

[GBertolet]

Where smoke is not an issue, I prefer the 50/50 also.

[mdi]

I just made up a small batch last week for my 45 Colt 255 RNFP bullets. The exact ratio may be a bit off though I was heating and emptying a bunch of old Lee alox bottles and some extra/loose chunks of bees wax...

[skeettx]

I have lots and use Javelina Lube.

https://www.gunauction.com/buy/13510212

Did NOT pay near that much for my stash of lube :)

[Bookworm]

Just yesterday I went out behind the barn, and shot about 200 .38 cal wadcutters. Bullseye and NRA lube.
Love the smell.

[swheeler]

Just shot some 7.65 Arg a few days ago, bullets lubed with Tamarack Lube, plenty of smoke and alox smell.

[centershot]

I still use it! It works in everything from 38 WC to rifle loads at near 2000 fps. I tried some others, came back to it without regret!

[Beagle333]

Me! I still use it. It seems to work on anything I do under 1000 fps. It might work on faster stuff, but I have other lubes too.

[Hickory]

Yes, I still use traditional lube as it was meant to be, chemically coated jackets are for the pioneers and forerunners of this new technology. I'm too old to change and too old to care.

[pworley1]

It been around so long for a good reason.

[Krag1902]

You mean there's something else?

[centershot]

I'm too old to change and too old to care.

Amen brother, Amen!

[Chill Wills]

Bee's are still making the same bee's formula for their wax:p but,
Is there a source for the original Alox? Or is the current stuff sold to us different than what it was 50 years ago ?

Yes. Tamatack ! I still have a few sticks of it I have been hording for old times sake. That is the lube that I got started on. It is also the lube that kept me confused in my early BPCR days, shooting real black powder, and wondering how in the world the old 45-70 was a threat to anyone or anything. I couldn't keep two shots on the side of the same barn.

[stubshaft]

I still use it in my 45's and 38's. I have half a case of it left from the 70's. Pretty sure my beneficiaries will get some when I am gone.

[Reverend Al]

I still use a lot of conventional lubes and a Lyman or RCBS lube sizer, but have also been testing some powder coated rounds (mostly with high volume pistol boolits ... .44 and .45 calibre) and I push those through a Lee sizer after coating and shoot them without lube. Been very successful so far, but have been tending to stick with my conventional lube sizers and with traditional BW / Alox lubes for most of my rifle boolits ...

[Rich/WIS]

Still using it up, but am switching over to XLOX 2500 as it is a little less messy to handle on the finished product.

[tazman]

I just lubed a can full of boolits with it today.

[bob208]

got stick when I bought my lyman 450 new have never used anything else. the only thing it does not work good for is black powder. for those I have another 450 with spg lube.

[WashingMike]

There is something about handling those brown sticks of boolit lube that just makes me happy. Yes, there are other lubes that work, but a stack of 30 cal rifle boolits just seem to be decorated properly with that in the grooves and a shiney gas check. Am I nuts?

Washing Mike

[NuJudge]

I bought so much of it premixed years ago when one supplier was shutting down, that I'll probably never use it all up. I also have a lot of the ingredients. It has always worked well regardless of temperature. The only downside is smoke, but that is less at higher temperatures.

[GregLaROCHE]

got stick when I bought my lyman 450 new have never used anything else. the only thing it does not work good for is black powder. for those I have another 450 with spg lube.

What do you use for BP? Do you use the same for a greese cookie?

Thanks

[skeettx]

BP use SPG lube
https://www.shopspg.net/Lube-Bricks_c9.htm

[FergusonTO35]

Anybody ever try increasing the amount of alox? Say, to 60/40 or 70/30?

[GONRA]

GONRA gotta gallon can of ALOX 2128 after the American Rifleman's waaaaaay back original article.
Been using "Pure ALOX 2138" (no beeswax) asa bullet lube (auto pistol cartridges) for decades.
Lube grooves are located in the neck of the loaded cartridge so the sticky external lube isn't any problem.
Most of the gallon can contents remain of course...

[45-70marlin]

It's all l use.

[jonp]

45/45/10. Works for what I need.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
We have on Lyman Luber dedicated to the stuff. It works well. AS many others wrote.. probably have enough in sticks now to last all my years.
Mike in Peru

[Alan in Vermont]

You mean there's something else?

+1 on that issue!!

I used to buy Javelina or Tamarack as needed. At one point a local commercial caster had a pail of Alox 2831F for sale. Something like 35# in that pail, found several big blocks of Beeswax on eBay, the first purchase I made there. Made my own stick mold, which now belongs to a member here. Sold enough to pay for the materials and still had 25-30# left. Still have enough of that left, mostly in 1+/-# tubs which I melt and pour into the Star sizer as needed, to carry on for the rest of my life.

Fed many thousands of 429421 through a SBH when I was shooting metallic silhouettes. All full power loads never had to clean the barrel unless the gun got wet. Still using it for 30-30 and trying to find the upper limit before it gives any leading.

PS: The last I knew the closest thing to 2138F was Alox 350. If you add 7%, by weight, of micro-crystalline wax(Carnauba & similar types, maybe even paraffin) you get 2138F. There is information out there about what constitutes "micro-crystalline wax" I found it once never needed to look it up again.

[6string]

You mean there's something else?

Double that sentiment!

Of course, what do you expect from someone who'se powder selection consists of Bullseye, Unique, 2400 and SR4759? (OK, still got some old DuPont cans of 4227, 4198)
I gotta have that smell, especially on the indoor range.
Gives the kiddies something to think about!

Jim

[MOA]

Still use it. I am starting a 68 mold board today, and the first batch will be 50/50.
235710

[RED BEAR]

I use it along with quite a few other ingredients made big batch that i thought would last my lifetime wrong family and friends are getting it off me every time they come over. Next batch might keep secret.

[psweigle]

I bought 2 gallens of alox a few years ago, so im sure i have enough to last me my lifetime. Im using it strait, on 38 special, 25 auto, and soon, 32 s&w long. I cast for my friend as well, and he use it for 44 special and 45 colt.

[dogdoc]

I like it in my lubrisizers as no heat required and I get very little leading in my handgun loads. I also like the smell but hate the smoke

[sharps4590]

If that's what the current Lyman lube is, yes, still using it!

[Patrick L]

Yup, I use it too. I have a lot of Tamarack left from the old days, and I bought some WLL that I liked too. I will probably buy more as I use up my Tamarack.

Actually, the only other lubes I use are LLA for the boolits that's appropriate for, and LBT Blue Soft for my rifle boolits.

[mdi]

I like "playing" (aka experimenting) with my casting/reloading stuff and I make a lot of my own lube. But I usually have some 50/50 around somewhere, and if not I usually have the stuff to make it. It just plain ole works...

[gloob]

My original batch of 45/45/10 dried out over the years, turning completely solid. I continued to use it that way by putting a tiny scoop/scraping in a pan of bullets and heating the pan until the bullets were hot enough for the lube to melt and coat the bullets. Tumble around for a spell, and you're done.

The bullets are completely dry and ready to load by the time the bullets cool off a bit, a minute or 5 later.

My next batch of lube, I purposely made it this way. I boiled off all the solvent from the Alox and added only beeswax. Roughly 50:50, and I store it in a not airtight tin.

Pure Alox dries out harder than vulcanized rubber and has a high melting temp. The beeswax is very important to make it practical. Without it, you'd have a stinky smoky hot mess by the time that little chip of pure Alox melted.