Carnauba Red

[Marlin Junky]

Does Carnauba Red make a good pan lube? If it doesn't (in its original form) can it be cut with something to soften it without ruining its attributes? I'd like to buy a few pounds in bulk to use in my unheated Lyman 450 and also as a pan lube.

Thanks,
MJ


P.S. Sorry, I meant to say BAC rather than Carnauba Red.

[mtgrs737]

I don't know about pan lubing, but BAC works great in my three Lyman 450's.

[sav300]

Hi Marlinjunky.
1 stick of bac here in Aus is about $9.50,I bought a pound of bac and it works great in both applications.:-D

Lionel

[TREERAT]

while waiting for my lyman 4500 to become avalible, I pan lubed with carnuba red. used a sardine can on top of a hot plate, as soon as lube started to melt I turned off the hot plate as it holds heat awhile. when in liquid state I would stand the bullets in the lube and let cool. then use a cut off case to cookie cut the bullets out.

carnuba red will not release from whatever container you melt it in. and you cannot just push the bullets out if you do manage to get the lube cake out of the container!

IF you are willing to cookie cutter them out, you will have very good results. I actually perfer the results vs what I get with the 4500, I beleive it is because the bullet gets hot sitting in the melted lube and sticks to it better!

[TREERAT]

forgot to say with carnuba red and a lyman lubesizer you are going to need some heat, if cold proably a heater, if warm you might get by with a heat lamp.

[Marlin Junky]

Thanks for the replies. I'd like to try softening Carnauba Red with Jojoba oil for use in my unheated 450 and pan, but maybe BAC is good enough for me. The addition of enough Jojoba to make Carnauba Red flow through a 450 might make the lube too oily and ruin it.

MJ

[mdi]

As a mattef of fact, yesterday I finished off 100 Ranchdog .44 bullets pan lubed in Carnuba Red. I set the boolits in a heavy pie pan base down, chop up enough lube to reach all the lube grooves when heated, put in oven at about 175 degrees (lube sticks better when both boolit and lube are heated), after about 10 minutes remove from oven and cool. For Carnuba Red I use a "cutter" to take the boolits out of the lube; made one out of SS tubing about .435" ID and sharpened on one end. I don't have a luber sizer and don't plan on getting one as I have several Lee push though dies to size (if necessary) and seat gas checks. I'm not into volume reloading (I usually load 100 rounds or less at a time) 'cause I enjoy it too much to rush and I don't have a quota! Pan lubing and Xlox tumble lube does well for all I reload for; .38 Special/357 Mag., .44 Special/Mag., 45 ACP, 7.62X54R, 30-30, and .223 (sometime soon I'll try cast in .223). Yep it's slower, but I'm having too much fun to go fast! When (if) it is no longer fun, I'll just buy factory loaded stuff...:???:

[jdgabbard]

carnuba red will not release from whatever container you melt it in. and you cannot just push the bullets out if you do manage to get the lube cake out of the container!

Remember, carnuba wax is what they use to seal liquor bottles with. If it sticks to glass, its gonna stick to ANYTHING.

[Marlin Junky]

I have a box of Pure Carnauba flakes and have melted it into forms. It is extremely hard and brittle... there's no way "Carnauba Red" is moslty Carnauba wax.

MJ

[Down South]

I would say yes that you can use CR to pan lube with. I haven’t ever tried it but I’d think conventional pan lubing methods would work well if you used a cookie cutter. CR is fairly hard and I think a cookie cutter would be required. BAC would be a better bet for pan lubing since it’s softer.

[405]

Actually I've done it the other way around. I use a basic Felix lube. Add a little BAC or Carn. Red and pan lube. I guess it depends on how stiff you want it. For sure you can just add a little veg oil of any kind and/or jojoba? to soften for pan lubing. The harder types are going to probably require a cookie cutter. For my apps (Felix with BAC or Carn. Red) the lube is fairly soft and push out of the pan cake easy enough. I push that lube to about 1400 fps in 45 and 40 cal rifles using GC bullets at about 10 BHN with excellent accuracy and no leading.

[leftiye]

I mix my C-Red with Bullshop's boolplate loob. Ratio 1 to 6 by weight to soften it some. Goes through my lyman fine without heat. It IS some sticky. Still beautiful shiny bores, and no leading, etc..

[blackangus]

If i pan lube with C-red, can i resize without additional lube? Can i load and shoot without relubing?

[leadman]

You should be able to size just fine after pan lubing.
BAC is Carnuba Red and Alox mixed so it is softer.