Paraffin candles

[pdgh59]

I have been given a quantity of candles made from paraffin and was thinking of melting them down and combining 50/50 with petroleum jelly to use as a lubricant. Intended use is for smokeless military rifle calibres using approx. 16 grains of 2400. Is this feasible as there seems to be divided opinion on paraffin based lubes. Do I need to add anything else? Also thinking of using it in mild pistol loads.

[Rcmaveric]

I would add some Dexron transmition fluid or stp oil treatment. Opinions here are going to vary wildly. About anything will work in low pressure situations. I started off using bee wax, paraffin, vasaline in equal parts of a pound each with a tablespoon of STP. Worked well in low pressures but leaded my 9mm.

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[BNE]

Your rounds will no longer be smokeless....

If you do a search for lube recipes you will find many useful ones on the forum.

[smithnframe]

I use them to flux sometimes!

[GhostHawk]

I would keep the candles as candles, they can be real handy when the power goes out.

Paraffin wax has been used for jelly making for years and can be found in 1 lb blocks in canning section of many stores. Its cheap, use that for lube.

Although personally I prefer Ben's Red and/or Ben's Liquid lube neither of which use paraffin as I remember.

Handy stuff but not as good as Beeswax or some of the micro crystiline waxes they are making these days.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

50-50 (paraffin-petroleum jelly) will likely be kind of hard and brittle and may not stick in the lube grooves.
Paraffin in a boolit lube recipe has a couple desirable effects, especially for Rifle. But too much is a bad thing, I wouldn't put more 10% paraffin in a recipe...that's my 2¢.

If I were you, I would find some Beeswax and make a 40-10-50 (Beeswax-paraffin-petroleum jelly) lube.

[pdgh59]

Thanks JonB. I have beeswax so will go with 40-10-50.

[Hick]

What JonB said. When my in-laws moved into an old folks home my wife ended up with a bunch of Christmas candles of various colors that she did not want-- I blend them with beeswax and petroleum jelly and the lube is great!--- and I even have a choice of colors.