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Thread: Ready made liquid lube

  1. #1
    Boolit Man
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    Ready made liquid lube

    I’ve been useing Belux Liquid X-Lox
    45-45-10 White label lube with good success. I’m out of it and according to his sight he’s sold out! Does anyone know of any other brands of ready made liquid bullet lube I can purchase?
    Thanks.
    Paul
    People would rather beleave a lie than the truth
    David Crockett

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy

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    Hope it's just temporary, been using his lube for years with no complaints. Beat making my own, especially when JPW disappeared. Checked recently and was available but didn;t order. Hope that wasn;t a mistake. GW

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    If interested there is a selection on the right side of the page where one can request notification of an update on availability of the product.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    You can always go back to basics ... Lee Liquid Alox ...
    The original liquid boolit lube , it will keep you shooting !
    Gary
    Certified Cajun
    Proud Member of The Basket of Deplorables
    " Let's Go Brandon !"

  5. #5
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    send Glenn an email, he is probably working on a new batch right now.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  6. #6
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    OR...you could buy some Lundmark floor wax and mix your own with Lee's Liquid Alox.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by JonB_in_Glencoe View Post
    OR...you could buy some Lundmark floor wax and mix your own with Lee's Liquid Alox.
    That what I did a few years ago. Ordered it thru Ace Harware. I did find a can of the liquid JPW recently. Don’t know if I’ll ever use it though. Might consider offering it up on the Classified section.
    Shoot Safe,
    Mike

    Retired Telephone Man
    NRA Endowment Member
    Marion Road Gun Club
    ( www.marionroad.com )

  8. #8
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    We are expecting a new drum of Alox in a couple of weeks and then it will be back in the webstore and Ebay.
    Thank you for your patience.
    Glenn.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
    405grain's Avatar
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    A couple of points here: first, its Johnsons paste wax, not liquid floor wax, that's used to make 45-45-10. Yeah, I know, they don't make that anymore, but a substitute carnuba based paste wax would be 1000 times better than a liquid floor wax in this application.

    Second: a couple of years ago I did some research on using Lundmark liquid floor wax as a bullet lubricant. I discovered that not is it totally unsuitable as either a bullet lube (or even as an ingredient in bullet lube) but it is also completely useless as an actual floor wax. The problem is that it never dries. When swirl lubed on boolits and left in 100 degree heat for two weeks it is still wet. Even when baked on to boolits at 250 degrees (several times) for an hour, it's still wet. It never dries. (why would anyone ever put this stuff on their floor?) Don't use Lundmark - it is a straight up failure.

    Some of the confusion here is that people think that 45-45-10 is similar to Lee liquid alox. In some ways it is, but here's the difference: Lee liquid alox remains soft to the touch and is sticky even when "dried". 45-45-10 is not sticky once dried, and feels more like a wax coating. 45-45-10 is much less likely to smear or attract lint than LLA. The ingredients for making 45-45-10 are 45% Johnson's paste wax, 45% White labs Xlox, and 10% mineral spirits (paint thinner) In a pan melt together the paste wax and add the Xlox. Stir frequently, and only heat to a temperature that will melt the wax and allow the ingredients to blend. Keep melted for at least ten minutes. This will drive off the solvents in the paste wax. Allow the mixture to cool until it is warm, then add the paint thinner and bottle the mixture. What you've just done, besides mixing together the ingredients, is to evaporate the solvent that was keeping the paste wax soft, then replacing it with a solvent (paint thinner) that will evaporate much sooner.

    It only takes 4 or 5 drops of 45-45-10 to swirl lube 100 boolits. If over time the 45-45-10 solution starts to separate just shake the bottle. If the solution solidify's when it gets cold in the winter, just place the bottle in some hot water for a few minutes, then shake and it will be fine. The advantage to using 45-45-10 is that the boolits are 'almost' dry to the touch, are less likely to attract dirt and lint, only a very small amount is needed - even for rifle bullets, and I have had zero barrel leading with multiple firearms while using it.

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy

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    Very well said 405 Thanks for posting

  11. #11
    Boolit Master hc18flyer's Avatar
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    405grain- I have to respectfully disagree with you on the Lundmark liquid wax. I haven't done extensive testing, however my 'BLL' made with Lundmark has dried for me, and preformed fine, primarily for pistol bullets. I recently used a batch that is a couple years old, shook it up, swirled some old dried out Hornady wadcutters, then let dry for a couple days. Two coats and they are ready to load up. Most of my bullets get powdercoated, but tumble lubed with 'BLL' works fine for .38 wadcutters. hc18flyer

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by 405grain View Post
    A couple of points here: first, its Johnsons paste wax, not liquid floor wax, that's used to make 45-45-10. Yeah, I know, they don't make that anymore, but a substitute carnuba based paste wax would be 1000 times better than a liquid floor wax in this application.

    Second: a couple of years ago I did some research on using Lundmark liquid floor wax as a bullet lubricant. I discovered that not is it totally unsuitable as either a bullet lube (or even as an ingredient in bullet lube) but it is also completely useless as an actual floor wax. The problem is that it never dries. When swirl lubed on boolits and left in 100 degree heat for two weeks it is still wet. Even when baked on to boolits at 250 degrees (several times) for an hour, it's still wet. It never dries.

    >>>SNIP
    405grain,
    Thanks for clearing that up, as I was a little short on offering information with my suggestion.
    I meant to suggest an alternate "Liquid lube" since Johnson's has discontinued both their paste wax and their liquid wax products that were used in 45-45-10 and the first rendition of BLL.

    Anyway, hundreds of cast boolit members have had success making/using the new BLL formula using Lundmark wax. 405grain, are you sure you used the same Lundmark product that is shown in photo?

    Pro-tip using BLL:
    I preheat the boolits with a heatgun, swirl with the recommended amount of lube, and then put them on wax paper. They are dry to touch when they cool, or about 20 minutes. I usually wait overnight for them to fully cure, before I load them.

    formula and photo in post #12
    https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post3887080
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    If you would rather use ben's liquid lube, either old Johnson's liquid floor wax, or Lundmark. I would suggest you add 1 or 2% of the total mixed batch weight of Carnuba wax. Heat the alox a bit in hot water and the Carnuba should melt into it and mix in.

    This will give you a much better drying mix, with a more solid outer coating. Less likely to pick up dirt and debris.

    Ohh and your bores will love you for it.

    A thin uniform coat will work much better than a uneven thick on one side and thin on the other.
    Your not trying to change the boolits color. After 2 coats you should just be able to start seeing a "Brassy" tint.

    For pistols and slow rifle boolits that is enough.
    For faster rifle boolits I would do 3 thin coats and set the coated boolits on cardboard in front of a fan.
    They will harden up faster.
    I truly believe we need to get back to basics.

    Get right with the Lord.
    Get back to the land.
    Get back to thinking like our forefathers thought.


    May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you
    and give you His peace. Let all of the earth – all of His creation – worship and praise His name! Make His
    praise glorious!

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    Jon B: Yes, Lundmark liquid paste wax, the same stuff in the photo. In fact the post that you indexed was the reason that i tried it. I worked with the stuff for over a month and no matter what I did it would never dry. it was always wet to the touch. It would not dry even after weeks drying in the sun, or being repeatedly baked in the powder coating oven. When used in 45-45-10 it prevented the lube from drying. I switched to White labs Xlox with Johnsons paste wax and it solved all those problems. For my rifle boolits I prefer bore riding designs. I powder coat the driving bands only, and leave the nose section uncoated. The bullets are gas checked, then swirl lubed with 45-45-10. If I'm trying for accuracy loads I weight sort the bullets and use the +/- 1/2 grain bullets in the middle of the weight range for target work. Any that are too heavy or too light get used for plinking.

    Though I still have half of a large tin of Johnsons paste wax left (which is enough for a lifetime supply of 45-45-10) I did a quick internet search for a similar product. I see that both Minwax and Trewax paste wax are carnauba based waxes, and might be a good substitute for Johnsons paste wax. Johnsons paste wax was made from carnanuba wax and paraffin with petrochemical solvents. Carnauba wax is a hard wax that can be combined with beeswax to make it slightly softer if needed.
    Last edited by 405grain; 02-28-2024 at 03:34 AM.

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    @405grain: I would add that the mineral spirits needs to be the REAL mineral spirits, not the odorless water based junk they sell these days. You need the stuff with VOC's Volatile Organic Compounds.
    NRA Life 1992
    My avatar is almost a dead ringer for my little buddy Chico. Six pounds of mean that thought he was a Pit Bull. Miss that little guy.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by 405grain View Post
    Jon B: Yes, Lundmark liquid paste wax, the same stuff in the photo. In fact the post that you indexed was the reason that i tried it.

    <<<SNIP
    405grain,
    Thanks for another thorough response. I'm glad you were able to find a solution to that problem. One thing I've learned over the years on this forum, is that there are many different ways to get the job done.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  17. #17
    Boolit Master


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    In my experience.. lee alox dries fine unless you put a way too thick coating on it where it looks like a chocolate covered peanut. I thin alox with mineral spirits or naptha and will do a couple THIN coats.. they cure or dry just fine. I have dozens of bottles of alox'd bullets on the shelf..none are sticky or wet.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check