Will this work?

[stainless1911]

1 crayon for color
1lb beeswax
1lb paraffin
13oz petroleum jelly
1 tbsp STP

I'm shooting a .40 S&W 180gr. WW water dropped. Winchester231 at a mid-range load. probably 850fps or so.

BTW, what does lanolin do? how much, if any should I use?

thanks

[Shooter6br]

I may be wrong but the lanolin has something to do with better adhesion of the lube to the bullets..At least in pan lubing it does.Also heard it helps prevent lube (beeswax and Crisco) from turning rancid

[fryboy]

lanolin adds a bit of adhesion as well as a bit of flex , IMHO this should be required reads

http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm

as for how much to use , generally accepted is one or two tablespoons per pound of lube
it's much like vaseline ( ermm unless one buys the much thinner liquid lanolin ) ,

as for your lube recipe .... it's much like the one below

"California Saeco Green"
2 lbs Beeswax
2 lbs Paraffin
1 lb STP Oil Treatment

you substituted vaseline for the stp ( sorta ) it may need a lil adjusting to make it harder or softer depending upon how you like it but properly sized it should work , myself i find that more than about 25% vaseline is kind of soft ( plz keep in mind that i freely admit to preferring harder lubes ) and one recipe calls for but a tablespoon per pound of wax, the very best suggestion is to make a small batch and adjust as needed then cook up the bigger batch , g'luck amigo ! ( and be careful - lube making is almost as addicting as casting boolits and shooting lolz )

[stainless1911]

Thanks. As soon as the beeswax gets here, I'll mix it up and see what happens.

[stainless1911]

ok, its cracking as it cools, and wants to pull out of the grooves, what do I do now?:confused:

[fryboy]

how are you cooling it ? a quicker cool can often do that ( ie; putting it in the fridge before it's mostly solidified ) and cold boolits can also make it happen , i found it best to leave lot of room between the boolits , if your lube is kind of brittle at room temp you mite have to add either more softener ( vaseline/stp ) or some lanolin to help add flex
there's a spot between temp extremes that varies per recipe where one can push the boolits out with only thumb pressure , i've found that for me the boolits come out better ( erm look better too ) if i use the "whack-it " method , usually i let the pan cool until solid and then put it in the fridge just long enough for the cake to loosen from the pan , i then set it on a towel and wait for it to come back to room temp , i have a couple of lubes that the only way to get the cake out of the pan is doing that

[mdi]

Did you heat the boolits and lube together? I set boolits in the pan and melt some lube in a toaster oven. When liquid, I pour the lube around the boolits, then I put the pan of boolits/lube in the oven @175 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes to get the boolits and lube up to the same temp. Mostly I leave the pan in the oven (off) overnight and punch out the boolits the next day (I don't have a quota so I only lube up 100 or so at a time). Boolits punch out easily, but with some lubes they remain sticky and lose some lube from the grooves.

I've been playing with a recipe of; 1/2 cup Beeswax, 1/4 cup Paraffin, 1/4 cup vaseline, 2 0z. Bullplate, and 1 teaspoon lanolin. (I may try dropping the paraffin and uping the Beeswax to 3/4 cup, just for fewer ingredients). I'm making small batches for testing and so far it seems pretty good. If it shoots well in my .44 Spec/Mag., and my 45 ACP I'll make a larger batch...

[stainless1911]

I place the bullets in the holes in the lube cake, then place the cake and the pan in a larger pan filled with water (spacers underneath to avoid scorching), then fill the lower pan with water. I bring the water to a boil, when the lube melts, I drain the water from the pan with a baster, then replace it with cold water. Once the lube cake solidifies, (I usually have some cracking at this point), I put it in the fridge to finish. I push the bullets out of the lube from the rear, and only a third of them retain the lube. That's a lot of work to produce 15 out of 50.

[stainless1911]

I haven't even got to shoot the lube yet, so I don't know if it will lead or not.

[fryboy]

try the oven melt at about 175 and allow to cool by setting it down on the counter and see how that works

[stainless1911]

Ok, but is the lube recipie itself any good?

[fryboy]

umm i dont know ..i havent tried it :-P i rarely shoot the 40 , dont own one but .... water dropping them makes them a bit harder , perhaps even too hard [shrugz] i run some 175's thru a 10 , the contender spitz them out faster than a semi auto , my california green ( tho it's red ) has no problems with unquenched ww's , any of the waxes u listed plus either a grease or vaseline works good , beeswax works better and especially for higher velocities , unless you have them sized to the wrong size or too hard medium velocity anyways should be within your lube capabilities , not sure how hard your WC WW's are ( it does vary ) harder boolits dont do as well at lower velocities/pressures as they do the higher ones
with the exception of two castings ( which i still " crack " from the top ) i've had the best luck pushing out the bottom , the main thing is what works for you amigo and keeps you in boolits ( umm lubed boolits that is ;) )

[stainless1911]

Ok the oven thing worked :D lowest setting for 15, then to the stovetop to cool, most of them came right out the way they are supposed to.

Now to the range to check for leading.:?

[geargnasher]

I'd say: "Now to the range to check for accuracy." A .40 S&W at 850 fps is a very reasonable pressure level for just about any kind of waxy concoction you can think of to prevent leading. If it leads, there is something wrong with boolit fit, not the lube.

Gear

[stainless1911]

thanks for the tip. Im green, so I thrive on those hints. :)

[Centaur 1]

I've yet to figure out how to get the kake to fall from the pan and stick to the boolits. My pan has a non-stick coating, but my lube sticks to it like glue. I made a cutter from an old golf club shaft. I just kept cutting it back until I had the proper inside diameter, then I ground a chamfer on the outside. I use the toaster oven method, just fill the holes from the previous batch with boolits, then 20 minutes in the oven and harden on the counter top.

[stainless1911]

I don't have the $ for those fancy silicone pans, so I got a 8x12 ceramic bowl that has a flat bottom, and line the thing with tin foil. Set up the bullets, then put the lube in with a turkey baster. In the oven for 15, then to the counter to cool. Once it solidifies, I can lift the cake out by the foil, and then peel the foil off the cake.

[fryboy]

the sillycone pans tend to be a mite bit flexible and while i mite entertain the idea of a small one or one just for molding lube cakes just setting one up full of boolits wouldnt be bad as long as you didnt have to move it lolz , some of the cheap dollar store tin pans work great for our purposes ! i bought a 3 set for 2-3 bucks ( cookie sheets ) just for tumble lubing , if i was pan lubing the 357 wadcutters the edge is deep enough for that , being single i can use any pan in the cabinet IF i dont mind cleaning it , i often use bread loaf pans as a lube mold and to test a few , have been known to make a lil pan/container out of foil just to test a few with limited lube , the round cake or even pie pans work - even the cheapo aluminum foil ones , once set a few minutes in the fridge and the cake pops right out ( unless using my super ikki stikki lube - that stuff is tenacious !! [big understatement] lolz )

[fredj338]

When I pan lube, I use a plastic jar lid, like PB or sim. Stand the bullets & melt the lube in a dbl boiler or small crock pot, pour it in & let it set up on it's own. The bullets push out fine if the lube is still a bit warm.

[Pirate69]

I have been using a slight variation of the lube below:

2 lbs Beeswax
2 lbs Paraffin
1 lb STP Oil Treatment

Since I don't have beeswax, I use the cheap toilet bowl seals from Lowes ($1.30). They seem to work well for 357, 44 mag in a rifle and some mild 303 & 30-06. I am also lighter on the STP. It would be more like 3-4 oz for the above mixture.

[stainless1911]

I just got some lanolin, how much should I add to the mix? Right now, the mix is,

1lb. Beezwax,
1lb. Paraphin
12oz can. Vaseline
2 Tbsp. STP oil treatment. (the blue can)

Heating the bullets and lube at 200 in the oven, then table or fridge cooling has worked well, but everywhere I see lanolin, people seem to say it improves the lube, so why not?

[fryboy]

1-2 tablespoons per pound seems to be about average , it will make the lube a lil softer so keep this in mind and the more you add the softer it gets ( which doesnt hurt a lube around here in the wintertime lolz ), i believe you can lower the heat to 170-ish with no problems , as for improving the lube i believe it does , it adds flex and stickiness to it ( touch some on your finger and now try to rub it off lolz )

[stainless1911]

thanks. :)

[fryboy]

it was your finger ... :-P

[stainless1911]

ok smarty, hownthehell do you get it back off? it smells good, sticks better

[fryboy]

i'd leave it , it's actually good for the skin once rubbed in but hot soap and water and a lil scrubbing ,dawn or lava is best tho i also believe any go-jo type hand cleaner will remove it as well , i admit it was for humor [grinz] lanolin is an ingredient to many of the better lotions and balms as well as waterproofers etc ( at least before silicone came along ) it does help the lube stick good too tho ! just so you know may of the things we use like beeswax carnuba and lanolin heat helps thin and remove , in fact the women tell me that if one was to spill wax on the carpet a paper towel or few and a iron gets most of it out to where something else will finish it
umm finger tip is nice and soft now isnt it ? lolz

[stainless1911]

Well, the even heat, and the lanolin did the trick. 50 out of 50 came out of the cake perfectly, now all I got to do, is go see if they lead, and check the accuracy.

My only concern, is that I have heard of people getting allergic reactions from lanolin. I was a little short of breath, but anxiety can do that, I have asthma too, and the weather is changing, which doesn't help the asthma at all. So I'll have to wait and see.

[stainless1911]

Current mix:

1 lb. Beezwax
1 lb. Paraffin
13oz. Petroleum Jelly
4 heaping Tbsp. Lanolin
2 heaping Tbsp. STP oil treatment. (blue bottle)

Current load:

.40S&W,
180gn Water Dropped WW.
Winchester 231 @ 5..0
1.110 OAL,
.402Bullet dia.
neck sized
WSP primers

[Centaur 1]

I don't have the $ for those fancy silicone pans, so I got a 8x12 ceramic bowl that has a flat bottom, and line the thing with tin foil. Set up the bullets, then put the lube in with a turkey baster. In the oven for 15, then to the counter to cool. Once it solidifies, I can lift the cake out by the foil, and then peel the foil off the cake.

I'm going to try cutting a disk out of some parchment paper to place in the bottom of the pan. I can scrape the lube from the sides of the pan and it should fall right out, I hope. I'm thinking that if I can get the lube out of the pan, that I should be able to push the boolits out. I can pull the boolits from the pan with a pair of pliers and they make a nice little pop, I'm just afraid of the pliers deforming the boolit nose.

[Beekeeper]

Deleted

[stainless1911]

I'm going to try cutting a disk out of some parchment paper to place in the bottom of the pan. I can scrape the lube from the sides of the pan and it should fall right out, I hope. I'm thinking that if I can get the lube out of the pan, that I should be able to push the boolits out. I can pull the boolits from the pan with a pair of pliers and they make a nice little pop, I'm just afraid of the pliers deforming the boolit nose.

Let us know how it go.
I don't like taking pliers to my boolets personally.
I have noticed that with foil, if the wax flows under it, it will tend to glue the cake to the pan.

[fryboy]

" 50 out of 50 came out of the cake perfectly "

i love the sound of success !
as for popping out the cake , my best friend in this has been the fridge and for the really hard stuff the freezer, the latter i have to wait until the cake comes back up to room temp and then the whack/crack the seal seems to do best for me , when everything comes out right the boolits are ready to load ( ie; if the size is close enough etc ) like you guys i dont want to deform my boolits ( possible even with smooth jawed pliers )

[stainless1911]

Still got leading. I don't know what to do.

[geargnasher]

Look someplace other than the lube for your leading problems. Unless you go past 900 fps with the .40 any old thing will do just fine to prevent leading. Do a search for leading and the .40, there's a ton of info here on it and many exhaustive posts by me and others. The .40 loves to lead, and it's usually the reloading dies causing the problems if it leads at lower velocities and pressures.

Gear

[stainless1911]

What would the dis have to do with it?? This is the first I've heard of that.

[fryboy]

depends upon the dies .... the lee factory crimp ( and a few others ) can actually swage the boolit smaller than what we intended or started with ( and as always too small a diameter can and does cause leading ) pull a loaded round and mic the boolit ...if it's smaller than you started with the crimp is swaging the casting down , a expander could also not be expanding enough for a boolit yet it would work fine for a harder shelled jacketed bullet ermmm j-word
gear's right there's quite a few threads that help define why it could be leading as well as the possibilities of why it leads in what part of the barrel

[stainless1911]

That was the case. The FCD was swaging down the boolets.

[nanuk]

So, what have we learned today class? Lee FCD can be a serious problem.

stainless1911: at least you had fun modifying your lube. You probably learned a technique that will provide good service for you in other applications also.
So all is not lost!