Easy way to apply Felix Lube to TL boolit

[ghh3rd]

I've been trying to find an easy way to apply Felix Lube to some .44 TL boolits, and may have found it. My Lyman 4500 is not suited for this boolit.

Tonight I found that using small tongs to dip the boolit in some warm/hot lube, works well. The trick seems to be holding the boolit in the lube long enough to heat up enough so that the lube is liquid on the boolit when you remove it. I set it base down on a sheet of wax paper to cool.

A few minutes later the lube has settled into the TL grooves evenly, and hardened, and the boolit can be handled.

On the boolit in the picture, there is actually a very thin layer left on the nose that can be wiped off easily.

By the way, this is a rejected gas check boolit -- I would install the check before lubing.

22331

[DLCTEX]

Why not preheat the boolits in an oven to speed up the process?

[Calamity Jake]

And you can pan lube.

Yes install the GC first and it needs to be crimped on so you need to run them thru a lee push thru or your 4500

[44man]

That will work! I like soft Felix and just rub it into the grooves with my fingers and stick it right on the ram to push through an over size Lee to remove excess. Less time then letting the boolit get hot.

[MtGun44]

I expect that Felix is a better lube than mule snot (no proof) and that should be a real
gain. Also, not having that stuff on the outside of the boolit once the ammo is loaded is
a giant gain IMO. Looks like a good idea, and will help those folks using the TL designs
to avoid buying a lubresizer.

Bill

[geargnasher]

That will work! I like soft Felix and just rub it into the grooves with my fingers and stick it right on the ram to push through an over size Lee to remove excess. Less time then letting the boolit get hot.

Soft by temperature or composition?

Gear

[Bass Ackward]

By the way, this is a rejected gas check boolit -- I would install the check before lubing. 22331



Rejected? For gosh sakes why?

That's a " perfect " specimen of a break-in bullet. I would slap a diaper on that baby and she would be enjoying the wind through her hair right up until she impacted somethin.

[ghh3rd]

Soft by temperature or composition?
I believe he means composition, since Felix lube is not a hard lube, it can be easily rubbed into boolit grooves. It doesn't need heat in a lube sizer either, which is a good thing, no leading in my .44 full power loads either. Oh yeah, and it's soft too... :mrgreen:

[geargnasher]

I believe he means composition, since Felix lube is not a hard lube, it can be easily rubbed into boolit grooves. It doesn't need heat in a lube sizer either, which is a good thing, no leading in my .44 full power loads either. Oh yeah, and it's soft too... :mrgreen:

I was just curious how he did it, since he specified "soft Felix", I took it to mean he differentiated between "regular" or "hard" Felix lube. I've made dozens of batches of FWFL and made many tweaks for different applications, one of which is "soft" like 44man mentioned, wondered if we did the same thing.

I noticed your FWFL has a tinge to it that looks like flourescent-yellow tracer dye, mine often does, too. Any idea what gives it that greenish-yellow tint? None of the ingredients by themselves are inherently green. Are you using Randyrat's hard yellow wax?

Gear

[ghh3rd]

He may have tweaked his lube, I never though of doing so (not yet anyway).

I'm still on my first shipment of RandyRat beeswax. You can maked a lot of lube! I just makde 5-6 sticks more because I received my 'Felix Lube Kit' from Wiljen (Stearate, Lanolin and Carnuba), and just felt like trying it out.

I never tried Carnuba wax in it before -- next time my lube sizer runs out I'll try a stick of it.

[mroliver77]

I made me a new batch with the Wilgen ingredients and it turned out hard. I softened it with some more of the cooked oils and another spoon of lanolin and it is still too hard to run through my staer without heat. I was worried that I used too little beeswax but it stillo needs considerable softening. It does perform well in .45 acp and .45 Colt and is much friendlier to handle the lubed boolits.
Back top the OP, I use the dip and heat enough to get the right amount of lube when trying a new lube and it works well but slow. I also have heated a small amount of lube in a cake pan and rolled boolits around in it till they's cooled off. This works quite passably too. It's hard to beat thre star though especially when doing large numbers of boolits.
Jay

[ghh3rd]

Jay, I just did a hardness test on my new lube (rested edge of coffee can full of a few lbs of boolits on each stick and observed the imprint -- very scientific test). It is possibly slightly harder, but if so, not very much. I also pinched off a bit, and was able to easily hand lube a Lee 310 gr boolit. This batch looks more 'blonde' than my earlier batches though, even though the beeswax is from the same batch.

[geargnasher]

Ghh, hope you don't mind if I continue to wander a bit...

The batch of FWFL I made Sunday with the WilJen kit and Randyrat's wax was a typical "firm" lube, just like I usually make it. I think it's the wax, and it does need a heat lamp to flow well if the temps dip below 70*. It's a little harder than BAC but not nearly as hard as Carnauba Red, if that helps.

I have found that the consistency of the beeswax makes a huge difference in lube outcome, for example for my very first batch of Felix Lube I used some 2-ounce cakes I purchased at an Ace Hardware store, they were almost white, slightly translucent, and made very soft lube without the addition of Carnauba wax or paraffin. I used some old, hard, brown wax a friend gave me and it was like a bar of soap when it cooled, that batch stays in the wood shop now and away from guns and loading, I won't even use it as flux!

Jay, what's the wax like that you're using?

Gear