Weird! I may just try melting a little AG and microwax together and see what they do.
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Weird! I may just try melting a little AG and microwax together and see what they do.
We could try TransJel, it's a napthenic base instead of straight-chain paraffin, it's bound to blend up nicely but I fear it may be too slick. It's been misting rain all day but if I get a chance I'll give it a go with straight Vaseline, Ivory, 180 Microwax, and a dash of castor. I also have that Navy wax, might make a batch of genuine Starmetal lube just for grins.
Gear
Well, it looks like I need to read the whole darn thread now.
Don't, I can give the abridged version. I even have some samples you can try. We always need testers.
Okay, deal. I tried to dodge the lube fascination, but resistance is futile. I sure am glad we live reasonably close together. Are you interested in selling some 180F micro-crystalline wax? I seem to recall that you bought it in (ahem) quantity.
Sure, I have 8 ppunds or more. I have about that much paraffin too.
What at I try my best to do is avoid the auto parts store, Gear keeps sending me back there.
I have some Bens Red too if you want to give it a shot. Ooooo, I made a funny!
We need spring! Its still too cold to do much, but the "spring drive" is kicking in. I guess we'll never override our instincts. We need to do things, and there's not much doable right now.
I did a little testing of BLL a few minutes ago, the mist just never let up, so no lube cooking today.
Something I thought kinda neat was what I found during the inspection of one of my .38 revolvers (Victory Model S&W, pre Model 10) last night in preparation for the BLL test: A little clean curl of SL-68.1 just sitting in the barrel about halfway to the muzzle. Also, one of the cylinder throats had the same thing, a clean half-groove's worth of lube just stuck to the throat. Found another small spec or two throughout the gun. So the stuff isn't going liquid under pressure in that gun with 3.2 gr. BE behind a Lee 150 RN cast of AC 50/50. No wonder it doesn't smoke and it doesn't get the cylinder or frame greased-up. Also it didn't lead one whit, anywhere, and a dry patch pushed through the bore had just the faintest waxy feel to it, and very very little BE soot.
Gear
Interesting. I will need to look in a few of mine and see what I see.
I do like the way the gun stays clean.
If the weather holds I may get out Friday. We might get into the 50s!
BLL actually gave me the waxy/greasy Bullseye funk all over the outside of the cylinder and frame, at a coating rate of four drops per 30 WCs. The SL-68.1 leaves hardly a trace of powder or lube anywhere on the gun, and that was with all three grooves of the WC or both of the grooves of the 150 Lee filled with lube. If I use Felix lube or any flavor of Lithi-Bee I also get the greasy funk all over my revolvers. I REALLY like the soap lubes.
Gear
I agree. CR leaves a sticky residue. I can feel it on my hands, magazines, brass, and handgun.
The soap lubes just don't leave the residue.
Oh, I sent bhn22 an email warning him about the contagious nature of this. He has been warned.
He's sunk already, I'm afraid.
Gear
It's OK, he has some catching up to do. That will keep him entertained for a year or more.
Not even a tinge
I'll say it again:
Updates? Or is everyone fully satisfied with the top contenders' cold(er)-weather behavior?
Okay, I had a sudden urge a few days ago to Google "Navy Wax" and lube and found that there's quite a discussion over somewhere else. Looks a little/lot more civil than the beyond556 site...
Results of one type of analysis showed that Navy Wax sure ain't beeswax, as our esteemed colleagues here concluded because of its refusal to scorch above whatever temperature. In fact, the hydrocarbon components go all the way up to C90 and even higher, based on fractional boiling points if I'm reading things correctly. C90 is Nonacontane , forumula C90H182, and boils at 702.3°C.
That's some pretty heavy stuff. It's an alcane for you chemistry types. Can't find a melt point.
Bottom line is it appears that Navy Wax works so well because it's a blend of pretty long-chain hydrocarbons and therefore has a broad temperature range from putty to liquid, and I guess its shorter-chain components keep it soft enough in the cold. Either that or the other components of StarMetal Lube make it behave in the land of ice and snow.
The shorter/shortest hydrocarbon found was C23 which by my understanding of the bonds would be C23H48, and according to the thread at artfulbullet.com melts about 120°F. That one is supposed to be Tricosane .
I think I might have dragged up some memory of my 6th Grade teacher mentioning the longer chains are more solid and higher temperatures thing, and might have also posted some inquiry more than a year ago about whether there exists a single synthetic oil up into the solid at room temperature range, which might because of its synthetic structure NOT be rock-hard like paraffins are...
I was seeking a single component to behave the way the Navy Wax blend does. But it seems to me that we can now stand some chance of at least pricing out what it would cost to try to assemble a similarly-performing blend... It would be wonderful if a Navy Wax-2 could be formulated.
The possibility of NuveauStarMetal AND at least one of the final SL-series qualifying as Extreme Lubes seems tantalizingly close now!
Why has no one started calling this mystery Naval product "SeaBeeswax"?
we are working on a workaround solution.
none of us are chemists [or play one on T.V.] so we gotta muck about a little bit and just find what we can available to the open market.
this could take a lot more time [siiigh]
but we at least have a direction to pursue.