What happens to the "batches" of lube that ultimately "don't work"?

[Land Owner]

I need to make some lube and have been reading lube recipes. Interesting. Some "swear" by their recipe and it probably performs in the manner in which they prefer.

It strikes me too that many recipes may NOT work in the manner in which they were intended. Making tiny batches seems counter-productive. Where to start? What happens to the "batch" that under-performs?

I have on hand, bees wax (3#), petroleum jelly, stearic acid (~salt shaker full), Virgin Olive Oil, atf, crayons (for color) and motor oil (yuck! don't like that). I like crayons...

I have narrowed recipes down to the following (in no particular order) and there may yet be more choices:
Mike's Magical Mystery Lube - beeswax; sodium sterate; Jojoba; nat. orange oil; Johnson paste wax; liquid lanolin; orange or red crayon
Emmert's Lube - beeswax; Crisco; Canola cooking oil; anhydrous lanolin
1995 Lube - beeswax; Neatsfoot oil; Murphy oil soap
Bad Karm Bullet Lube - beeswax; white lithium grease
Saeco Green Bullet Lube - beeswax; paraffin; STP; green crayons
Elkins "Red Hot' Lube - beeswax; Coastal pale brown lithium grease; stearic acid; carnauba wax; anhydrous lanolin; red crayons

I shoot cast boolits in 380 ACP, 357 Mag, 45 ACP, 45 Colt pistols and revolvers. I shoot cast boolits in 223 Rem, 357 Mag, 30-30 Win, and 45 Colt Handi- and Lever Action rifles.

Changing a component, such as the ever important lube, will likely mean going back to the range, a 30-minute proposition one way, for retesting and accurizing. Do I have that correct?

[C. Latch]

If a lube doesn't work for a rifle application, use it for pistols. I've been pretty fortunate thus far with lubes; my first couple of witches' brew mixtures (olive oil and beeswax base, plus a dab of everything i could find) worked perfectly well for handguns, and by the time I started trying to shoot cast in rifles I had found how simple it was to make lithi-bee, and it doesn't seem to lead my marlin 30-30 at all, so between my lithi-bee and the remnants of those other first attempts, I have enough lube on hand to last several years in the few things I still use lube on....which would be full-power ruger-only .45 Colt and a handful of .45 ACP meant for hunting. Everything else gets powder-coated now.

If a lube recipe bombs on you, use it for fluxing if it isn't too smelly.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I can't answer your question, but here is a good thread if you're recipe searchin'

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2653932

[zuke]

Lead flux

[flyingmonkey35]

Put them back in the pot.

[randyrat]

I'm tellin you, you can't beat a Beeswax/ Vaseline mix, well you can, but it really is a good lube for everything your shooting.

Check out JonB's link and quit reading when you find a Vaseline beeswax mix for lube.

Tip; Don't mix petro and Veg oils or greases unless you bind them or use an emulsifier.

[Elkins45]

Emmett's and the 1995 lube you listed look more like lubes for black powder. They might not hold up so well to much stress.

I'm the author of the Elkins Red Hot recipe, and its essentially just a fancy lithibee formulation with some additives to make it harder. It needs a heater to flow in your sizer unless you keep it in the garage during the summer.

Generally you can't go wrong with a beeswax/lithium grease mix or a beeswax/Vaseline mix for the vast majority of cast bullet shooting. 357 Maximum's 666+1 is another one that is certainly worth a try: 6oz beeswax, 6oz paraffin, 6oz Vaseline, 1oz Ivory soap. He calls it Satan's Lube because of the 666.

My batches that underperform get used in 45 ACP or 38 special target loads. I have never made a lube mix that's so bad it won't work for pistol <900 fps.

[DeanWinchester]

I got lucky and my first homemade lube of any consequence was Bens Red. It works for everything, IN everything. I haven't bothered with anything else.

[Land Owner]

This afternoon I made ~1/3# of 60/40 beeswax/petroleum jelly, a pinch of stearic acid (thought to stiffen it a mite), and a blue crayon.
Seems OK. It's Smurf blue! Probably "sticky" enough, maybe a little "thin", and not as "stiff" as the RCBS Green Lube that came with the sizer.
I have not sized or lubed anything with it.

[357maximum]

Make lithi-bee or a derivitive of lithi-bee, Satan's Lube, or Ben's Red and you will not be sitting on any SMELTING FLUX...learn from others mistakes and be merry. Ben's Red works great, but the smell of the red racing grease irritates my sinus and brain for some reason. I will never make another batch of lube that is NOT Satan's Lube...but that is just me and my opinion.......I like how all the ingredients can be purchased locally, it is super darn easy to make, and it is made from totally non-toxic, not headache inducing things.

[mdi]

When I started making my own lube I had some pretty complex recipes. And, yep, I only made small batches so as to not waste supplies (while I could get most components locally, some I had to order on line and wait). All the recipes I tried worked to some extent, even if it was only used for low velocity .38 Specials. If a batch wouldn't work for the .38s, I'd just use it for flux. I now like to use simple recipes like beeswax softened with Marvel's Mystery Oil, or a 3-1 mix by weight of beeswax and synthetic 2-cycle motor oil; my Speed Green. By making small batches it's no big deal to toss the batch if it doesn't work for some reason...

BTW; I don't use crayons because I don't care what color my bullet lube is...

[Land Owner]

I like crayons for coloring because they will tell me at a glance which formulation I am about to use. When one formula outshines the rest and I settle on that formulation for my future lube production, crayon color will be useless, except for the legacy factor.

I need to read some more, but in the meantime, does the addition of stearic acid "stiffen" or "soften" a lube?

[Bullshop Junior]

What kind of ATF.

[Land Owner]

Now that you ask, ATF is "Advance Auto Parts" (reconstituted Bat Guano I think)...

AAP Multi-Vehicle Transmission Fluid is "specifically formulated for older model Ford and GM vehicles requiring Mercon, Dexron-I, Dexron-II, and Dexron-III. Not for Mercon V, Mercon SP, Dexron-VI or Type F."

If you can make heads or tails of that as it relates to lube recipe, my hat is off to you!

[Bullshop Junior]

Is it synthetic or no?

[Land Owner]

Providing a 50-50 guess, I would say it is synthetic. - WRONG!

There goes that guess...I called AAP and asked. The older motor vehicles, for which this is formulated, used "conventional" ATF.


I am starting to like the looks of 666+1 Satan's Lube as I can "save" what has been made and incorporate it into that mix...by weighing the current mix and then formulating the paraffin and Ivory soap (sodium stearate) to match - but it will still be blue.

[357maximum]

L.O

Be mindful of the heat and when you add your existing mix into the rest of the mix...do not wanna scorch the beeswax component. You may have to do a longer slower heat cycle seeing as how you are making 666+1 in a kind of backwards way....should be do-able, just be mindful of why the directions were originally written the way they were.

Mike

[CastingFool]

Emmert's is an old BP lube, but I have read it can be used in low pressure smokeless loads. I use it on my 452-252-SWC, and pushed them up to about 900 fps w/o problems. Seems to work well as a flux, too. I chose the Emmert's because of the few ingredients and simplicity of making it up.

[Elkins45]

I like crayons for coloring because they will tell me at a glance which formulation I am about to use. When one formula outshines the rest and I settle on that formulation for my future lube production, crayon color will be useless, except for the legacy factor.

I need to read some more, but in the meantime, does the addition of stearic acid "stiffen" or "soften" a lube?

Stearates will stiffen a lube, but sodium stearate (Ivory soap) is the better choice over stearic acid. I think it does 'something' but in the future I'm going to react it with lye to make sodium stearate instead of just adding stearic acid to the lube.

The stick of RCBS lube that came with my sizer appears to be just a straight mix of paraffin and beeswax. It's no surprise that it's stiffer than a mix containing vaseline.

[Green Frog]

Emmert's is an old BP lube, but I have read it can be used in low pressure smokeless loads. I use it on my 452-252-SWC, and pushed them up to about 900 fps w/o problems. Seems to work well as a flux, too. I chose the Emmert's because of the few ingredients and simplicity of making it up.

CF,

The word in ASSRA is that Buck Emmert developed his eponymous lube for use with smokeless powder in Schuetzen rifles, but then it was discovered to be an excellent BP lube as well. Regardless of its history, I have used it for several years with good results as a pan lube for my BP rounds in both my 58 cal Zouave Musket and my 50 cal Maynard Carbine (percussion.)

Now I'm beginning to wonder about using it with one of my Lyman or Ideal Lubri-sizers. Have any of you tried pouring Emmert's Lube into the hollow stick form needed for use in this way? I'm thinking of adding a smidge of carnauba wax to stiffen it up just a tiny amount, but not enough to lose cold flow and fouling softening in my BP rounds. Any comments?

Froggie