Emmert's Lube

[oksmle]

Does anyone besides me use Emmert's Lube for all their cast boolit shooting? Both smokeless & BP. Early last spring I was in a situation where I had to make some of my own smokeless lube, Emmert's Lube & also fill up two lubrisizers which were almost empty. After making the Emmert's I simply filled both sizers with it & have been using it for all my cast boolits.

[Dale53]

I started out using Emmert's lube in my BPCR Silhouette rifles. It worked extremely well and allowed me to shoot up there with the "Big Boys". It is quite similar in appearance, melting point, and performance with SPG. I read where a number of people use SPG as an all around lube, also.

Emmert's was really developed by a smokeless powder Schuetzen Shooter (Buck Emmert) for use with Schuetzen rifles. It works VERY well for that purpose so, it SHOULD and DOES work well as a general purpose bullet lube giving excellent accuracy and leading has not been a problem.

However (notice how often, there is a "however"?) to has a rather low melting point and can melt in hot weather and ruin the powder (not likely unless loaded rounds are exposed to direct sun or left in a car trunk on a hot day).

At any rate, I preferred a higher melting point lube for general use (still use Emmert's for Black Powder Cartridge Rifle and Pistol use) but use Lars White Label Carnauba Red for general use. It has a much higher melting point is so inexpensive that I no longer want to make my own lube:

http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html

I have a Star lube/sizer for pistol and revolver bullets, and an RCBS and Lyman for rifle bullets (and gas check bullets). I often have Emmert's in one and Carnauba Red in the others. Carnauba Red Does require a heater to apply but I have a heater, so, no problem.

Dale53

[Green Frog]

Dale53 turned me on to Emmert's for pan lubing several years ago (thanks, Dale!;) ) and I keep a goodly batch of it for pan lubing my BP bullets for N-SSA use (on musket minie balls and my Maynard bullets as well.) I keep meaning to make a cylinder of it in my lube pump to use on rifle bullets for schuetzen as an alternative to the Dell 36 I've been using, but can't find time to get a round tuit. [smilie=b: The one downside I notice to E-lube is that it will dry out on my bullets if I leave it exposed to the air (minie balls, especially.)

Froggie

[Dale53]

Green Frog;
Hi Froggie! My next batch of Emmert's will be a modified formula:

50% Pure Natural Beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Anhydrous Lanolin (instead of the 10% Canola Oil). I believe that this will go a long way to improve the life of the lube.

You might want to try that...

FWIW
Dale53

[JSnover]

I like Emmert's. It's cheap and easy and if you want to change the consistency, just change the amount of Crisco.

[Green Frog]

Dale,

For better or worse, my original batch of E-lube has become sort of like a sourdough starter mix. I just check to see how the latest pan full of bullets is doing and add beeswax to harden, or lanolin to make it sticky, or tongue of newt and eye of bat to... oh well, you get the idea! :kidding:

Anyway, I guess I'm too cheap to throw out a lot of otherwise good stuff just because it's old... I'm still here, and I'm old, so it just doesn't seem right! :roll: The only downside to this is that when I finally do give up on this batch, it will be impossible to duplicate as it is sort of a living thing by now! ;-)

Froggie

[Ricochet]

For better or worse, my original batch of E-lube has become sort of like a sourdough starter mix. I just check to see how the latest pan full of bullets is doing and add beeswax to harden, or lanolin to make it sticky, or tongue of newt and eye of bat to... oh well, you get the idea! :kidding:
That's the way my JPW can of "Brown Thunder" is. When the level in the can goes down, I add various ingredients according to perceived need, whim, or random availability. It keeps right on working.

[geargnasher]

That's the way my JPW can of "Brown Thunder" is. When the level in the can goes down, I add various ingredients according to perceived need, whim, or random availability. It keeps right on working.

This IS a Black Art sometimes. :mrgreen:

Gear

[softpoint]

I've made and used Emmert's lube, it worked well ,Except for the summer heat here in Texas, but I had that problem with Darr lube too. No leading with either one, excellent accuracy.
Solved the summer heat problem by going to Felix lube.

[geargnasher]

Ok, here's my dumb question for the week:

Oksmle, or anyone, ever use Felix lube for your black powder stuff?

I think Emmert's might be as close to a one size fits all lube, but I don't shoot BP often so I don't know. I've used Emmert's formula years ago for smokeless and it worked well in my .30-30 but I wasn't really pushing the envelope.

Gear

[405]

Oh ya, many of the vegetable oil/ animal fat based lubes will go "fluffy" (rancid). I use a dedicated old coffee pot to heat/mix large batches. Then pour into old dedicated plastic ice cube tray (lube ingot mold). Cool in fridge or freezer and pop out ingots. Store ingots in sandwich baggies in fridge. Use tube shaped ingot molds for tube type lubrisizers.

Yes, I use Felix type lube for both smokeless and BP shooting. Works fine. I swab between shots when shooting BP most of the time so may not be the ulitimate test. SPG is hard to beat but I think most any veggie based, slightly soft lube works pretty well for BP.

[water bug]

Molding lube sticks was mentioned above. I do not mean to hyjack this thread, but can anyone tell me where I could get a tube shaped ingot mold, to make hollow lube sticks for my Lyman Ideal lubrisizer? Thanks, Art

[405]

The tube ingot mold?? Might check the archives. There were some pictures posted with the thread not too long ago. Simply... it's a PVC pipe of correct ID, plugged on one end with a dowel stuck in the middle to duplicate the commercial, pre-made lube sticks for certain types of lubrisizers. Pour in, cool to cold (like in freezer), push out. Some spray a little PAM into the mold to help release.... depends on type of lube and how much it shrinks or sticks. Good and cold helps. Of course the other way is to take a thick paper or cardboard tube of correct ID, place a dowel in center, pour in, let cool then peel paper away and pull dowel out.

BTW, the site search engine works fine, heres' a pic and thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=64840&highlight=lube+mold

[BerdanIII]

Ricochet: I did a search like I was 'sposa and didn't find the formula for "Brown Thunder". Please don't tell me the magic ingredient is what it sounds like.

[Ricochet]

Ricochet: I did a search like I was 'sposa and didn't find the formula for "Brown Thunder". Please don't tell me the magic ingredient is what it sounds like.
There's only one can of Brown Thunder Boolit Lube. It started off as a 1/3 full can of Johnson's Paste Wax, with which I experimented by adding Lee Liquid Alox. It got a soft wax toilet bowl ring added, then beeswax, then lanolin. (The crude yellow kind from a soapmaking supply store.) As it's been used and gone down, it's had wax from cheese, remnants of the wife's scented candles and such added, as well as replenishing the beeswax, lanolin and Alox. The latter three ingredients are the main ones I'm adding, and it'll eventually end up being basically a blend of those. I just put in about how much looks right. It works well enough for my purposes. The name was a parody on "White Lightning" bicycle chain lube, which I thought for a while was the ultimate tumble lube. Not to be confused with a commercial bullet lube someone sells and calls "White Lightning."

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v214/179/73/693517811/n693517811_738078_5284.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v214/179/73/693517811/n693517811_738079_5752.jpg

[BerdanIII]

Whewww...That was close.

Thanks, Ricochet.

[Ricochet]

My kids thought the BTBL worthy of taking a picture while I was in a neighboring bay shooting something else. I'd brought it along for lubing on top of the boolits in my Colt Walker Replica, digging it out of the can and spreading it with a plastic knife. Works well. That's my son's girlfriend Hannah.

[runnin lead]

For my .308's I am using LBT BS ,for everything else I use a Dan Theodore lube.
4 parts bees wax , 2 parts lanolin , 2 parts canola oil (modified rapeseed oil)
the lube I made has 1 part canola & 1 part jojoba oil in it because I wasn't sure just what I was going to do when my brother left me about 15# of bees wax in my car, he leaves honey in my cae when I am at work to deliver to the grocery store in my town,he asked me if I needed any honey , I told him I need bees wax , oughttoo last me a while w/ 2 # wax to 1# lanolin, used some of the canola oil as a patch lube for RB in my ML this week it did just fine

[Ricochet]

I've used lanolin as a patch lube and over the balls in a cap & ball. Works fine.

[Wayne Smith]

Green Frog;
Hi Froggie! My next batch of Emmert's will be a modified formula:

50% Pure Natural Beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Anhydrous Lanolin (instead of the 10% Canola Oil). I believe that this will go a long way to improve the life of the lube.

You might want to try that...

FWIW
Dale53

Dale, do you know the sticky issues with Lanolin? Too much and you get a very sticky lube. I don't know what too much is, just that I went over it!

[Green Frog]

Dale, do you know the sticky issues with Lanolin? Too much and you get a very sticky lube. I don't know what too much is, just that I went over it!

Wayne,

Oddly enough, my more frequent problem with bullets that have been prelubed (as in pan lubed) is that the lube is not sticky enough! :veryconfu

If I use my lube pump to lube just before the bullets are shot (schuetzen style) I will occasionally have bullets that are a little "too sticky" but it is generally not that much of a problem.

Regards,
Froggie

[Ricochet]

Yep, stickiness is why that stuff works so great!

[mroliver77]

Made my first batch of "Emmerts". How stiff should this stuff be?? It came out the consistency of my Felix lube. In a bowl at room temp I can push a dent in it by pushing fairly hard with a finger. Getting a small hunk of it on a finger it is very slippery and can be worked into the skin pretty quickly. I would say consistency is about perfect for use in a lyman lubesizer without heat. I will be using in a ML with Goex black. TIA.
Jay

[Green Frog]

Jay,

Sounds to me like you have a good batch there. Mine is generally a little bit softer but sometimes in warm weather, I try to harden it up to that level. I've never used it in a Lubrisizer, but it sounds like your hardness is pretty close to the old Tamarack (50-50 beeswax and Alox) that I've used in one of my 450s for about 20 years.

If you don't mind, could you post a precise listing of the %-ages of your components? I'd like to be able to duplicate that mix on my own next starter batch.

Regards,
Froggie

[Dale53]

mroliver77;
That is about the correct consistency for Emmert's lube. I have lubed a lot of bullets with my Lyman 450 using this lube (for revolver bullets and black powder - also works well with smokeless). When I use this lube for BPCR, I pan lube. It pan lubes extremely well.

The original formula (direct from Buck Emmert) is 50% pure natural beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Canola oil. The original was by weight. However, I discovered that there was little difference in using melted volume for measurement and it was easier for me to measure.

I have since modified it by replacing the Canola oil with Anhydrous Lanolin. The lube has a longer life expectancy on the lubed bullets and shoots just as well.

I have used this lube for Schuetzen use with smokeless AND black powder.
I used it for fifteen years for BPCR-Silhouette use.
I used it for the "side"matches for Black Powder revolver use (.45 Colt) and also have used it for smokeless revolver use.

I prefer Lars White Label Carnauba Red for general smokeless use as it is doesn't melt in extremely hot conditions (has a higher melting point).

FWIW
Dale53

Dale53

[mroliver77]

OOps, just noticed the replies. I used Dales50/40/10 recipe with beeswax/ el cheapo shortening(with some animal fats) and plain vegetable oil for the oil. It has set on my counter in the sun for a couple weeks and
i see no bleeding or separation of any sort. Time to dig out a smoke pole and try it out. Thanks all.
Jay

[quickdraw66]

I started out using Emmert's lube in my BPCR Silhouette rifles. It worked extremely well and allowed me to shoot up there with the "Big Boys". It is quite similar in appearance, melting point, and performance with SPG. I read where a number of people use SPG as an all around lube, also.

Emmert's was really developed by a smokeless powder Schuetzen Shooter (Buck Emmert) for use with Schuetzen rifles. It works VERY well for that purpose so, it SHOULD and DOES work well as a general purpose bullet lube giving excellent accuracy and leading has not been a problem.

However (notice how often, there is a "however"?) to has a rather low melting point and can melt in hot weather and ruin the powder (not likely unless loaded rounds are exposed to direct sun or left in a car trunk on a hot day).

At any rate, I preferred a higher melting point lube for general use (still use Emmert's for Black Powder Cartridge Rifle and Pistol use) but use Lars White Label Carnauba Red for general use. It has a much higher melting point is so inexpensive that I no longer want to make my own lube:

http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html

I have a Star lube/sizer for pistol and revolver bullets, and an RCBS and Lyman for rifle bullets (and gas check bullets). I often have Emmert's in one and Carnauba Red in the others. Carnauba Red Does require a heater to apply but I have a heater, so, no problem.

Dale53

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was wondering if there was anything that could be added to Emmert's Lube to raise the melting point, but still keep everything natural for black powder use. Lately, it has been anywhere from 90-110 degrees here, so a lube that melts easily in my BP cartridges would likely cause quite a few headaches... Is there an alternative lube I could make?

[fryboy]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was wondering if there was anything that could be added to Emmert's Lube to raise the melting point, but still keep everything natural for black powder use. Lately, it has been anywhere from 90-110 degrees here, so a lube that melts easily in my BP cartridges would likely cause quite a few headaches... Is there an alternative lube I could make?

easiest way to umm stiffen it up is by either adding more beeswax or reducing the oil/lanolin content . carnuba and candilla wax both add hardness but at a cost - too much and the lube can get brittle ., most of us add a wee bit of carnuba ( for the bore shine of course lolz ) , for me it starts becoming problematic between 4-6%
some tips - never leave your loaded ammo in the sun , shade it somehow. keep ammo stored projectile side down
i myself switched to a version of dick dastardly's pearl lube i call pearl lube plus ( the plus is 3% carnuba ) for black powder , it's cheap enough that filling up the grooves on my maxi's doesnt break the bank ( the maxi's i lovingly refer to as "mere loob grooves" as it seems 90% of their surface are the grooves [doh] ) it's in the recipe thread somewhere ( i think in a post by yotard but please dont quote me on that )

[Dale53]

I used Emmert's for my smokeless Schuetzen Rifle (200+ gr plain base bullet at 1400 fps.) with one-half minute accuracy at 200 yards. The matches were in the summer and sometimes it was HOT! I simply kept the lubed bullets in a cooler (no ice) in my van. It would cool enough overnight that the coolness was retained inside the cooler for the whole day. NEVER a problem. Let it set in the sun and you will probably have a different situation.

I was at the Ray Chapman Academy in Columbia, Mo. many years ago for a week. It got up to 113 degrees. The range "floor" is crushed white limestone. There was little cover. It was kind of like being turned on a spit. I had 1000 rounds of loaded .45 ACP in a .50 Caliber ammo box. I left it out in the sun for no longer than 20 minutes. The bullets were lubed with NRA 50/50 Javelina. The lube melted and for the next few days I got a LOT of clearing exercises![smilie=b:

That will go a long way to having you understand my present day use and recommendation of Lars Carnauba Red for general use...

Dale53

[Blackwater]

Dale 53 and a few others are the reason I tried making up some Emmert's a number of years ago, and I still owe ya' Dale, for that great advice. I took to adding in soem anhydrous lanolin, and indeed, it does make it stickier, but that can be a GOOD thing, and it's not hard to wash off. Worked better than SPG in my gun and loads. Left a great lube star, kept the fouling very soft, and shot as well as I could muster up the wherewithall to shoot. I've tried it in some handgun smokeless loads, and it did very well, but I just went with another lube for those purposes due to the afore mentioned melt point, which is always a factor here in SE Ga. in the summer.

Good stuff if ya' don't live in a lot of heat.