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View Full Version : Mold release as a lube?



gefiltephish
08-06-2009, 10:21 PM
My brother from MN just called to tell me he'd found an old magazine article he stashed away some years ago. Handloader, June/July '98. It refers to a spray on graphite release from Midway. It goes on about shooting cast up to 2700fps with almost imperceptible leading, after spraying on a coat of this stuff. I just happen to have a can of Frankford mold release, so I'm gonna give it a try. But I don't think I'll try for that kind of velocity from my handguns. :-D It makes a lousy mold release, so may be it's useful as a bullet lube! Anyone every try it? Results? Yeah, I know I should have searched first.

Leftoverdj
08-07-2009, 11:50 AM
I've shot commercial bullets that were graphited as a lube. No reason why spray on graphite would not work. Be warned, however, that graphite is a mild abrasive. I'd be more inclined to use it in a barrel I wanted to smooth out some. Also be warned that it's gonna be messy.

gefiltephish
08-07-2009, 04:37 PM
I tried it out today. Made up 50 rounds. The first clue I had that this might not work out so well, was while I was assembling them. Had a few that measured about .005 under the oal I used to work up with, so I stuck in the kinetic puller and gave a light tap or two, just enough to correct the length. To my surprise, they moved a lot easier than regular lubrisizer lubed bullets. Because of this, I decided to take my calipers to the range and check the rounds in the mag after the first one was fired. I also tweaked in a bit more crimp. Sure enough, the next one (that had been chambered) was about .012-.015 shorter than it should be. Put that one aside. Tried again with the exact same result. I concluded that it was during chambering that the bullet was getting pushed back into the case. I tried the next one by slowly closing the slide, and giving it an extra shove with my palm to fully close it. Popped it out to measure and all was well.

At this point I decided to load each of 3 mags with one round and to follow the slide closed. I shot all the rest of the rounds this way because I was curious to see if the stuff would in fact prevent leading. Much to my surprise, it did! There was only a trace amount at the muzzle. I ran 2 dry patches through, and they came out with spent powder, naturally. I then ran a brass brush through once and only a few small flecks of lead came out, but the barrel looked relatively clean.

I certainly won't be trying this again in a semi. Other than the risk of being abrasive, maybe it would work well in a wheel gun or rifle?