wax in your lub mix

[tmak]

i have been making my own lube for black powder loads for a long time 50/50 beeswax and peanut oil works good for pistol loads as well. buts its way messy no prelubing and having the bullets sitting around waiting to be loaded. I see tons of lub mixes out there with most having bees wax or parifin in them. while looking through the many pages on the internet i found a lost wax casting site. they cast all kinds of things but what i was wondering is have any of you played with these different waxes? there seems to be quite a few different types used for different casting requirements. i was wondering if they have any benifit to what we do here.

[montana_charlie]

I've never done any lost wax casting, but I know a little about it because my wife played around with it when she was in the jewelry business.

The wax(es) they use are quite different from those used in bullet lubes. Once set up, they have to be pretty hard and tough so they can be coated with the 'slurry' that will eventually become the mould for the item being produced.

Then, when the mould is fired, the wax has to just evaporate into thin air, so there is no trace of it inside the mould.

I don't see how wax with those qualities can work very well in something that needs to 'lubricate' sliding metal...or keep powder fouling moist and soft.

CM

[jdgabbard]

Yeah as said above those waxes are quite different. Best case scenario is coming up with a crayon type lube used on comercial cast boolits sometimes. If you played with those, they aren't great at preventing leading. Too many proven combinations out there to play with that stuff.

[runfiverun]

soy wax may be what you are looking for.
it has some properties like b-wax.

[cheese1566]

my girlfriend was going to do all out candle making...and order 50 pounds of soy wax. then she deciced not to...

Can I substitute this for bee's wax to make a hard lube?

[felix]

Try it and see. You might come up with something satisfactory for the application in mind. ... felix

[docone31]

Lost wax, I am a caster, is parrafin based.
There are many different types, all have different properties, such as being flexible, or extremely hard, or anything inbetween.
It is just another form of canning wax.
If you are looking for a lube that can be done before hand, perhaps just plain old BeesWax.
Melt it, pan lube the castings, let it solidify, push them through, wrap them up.
I have tried a bunch of stuff with my lubes. The biggest failure was useing Car Wax. It did not dissolve in the BeesWax! It made a lump like a Lava Lamp! Easy to get out though. On the other hand, Castrol Stick Wax. It comes in a large tube and does blend in. I use that in my lube and it is good stuff.
For my front stuffers, I make my lube 60/40, BeesWax, Olive oil. Yeah, it is gooey, but it sure cleans up real good. Wipes right off, a bear to pull the ramrod to load with. Slick as all get out. Absolutely fantastic in the Cap and Ball Revolvers. No chain fires, no leading, no nonsense. Cleans up great!!! A little hot water, soap, gone!
It will prevent, if it gets in the hammer recess, good fires of the caps. Gotta get it out before firing, or it takes two hits to set it off.
Another live and learn.

[jdgabbard]

Whatever type of lube you use should contain some beeswax, or like substitute like mentioned above. The reason is for the crystaline structure that has little pockets for the other stuff the be held inside of. I cut most of my lubes with SOME paraffin, however usually no more then about %30.

[tmak]

Thanks to all I was really kind of asking for the sake of learning. i will add a little more bees wax to my black powder mix to harden it up a bit for my 45 acp bullets. the 50/50 mix works just fine it just messy. i,ve even used it in a 416 double rifle without any troubles at all and there travlen along at 2000 fps. thanks again to all you just never know what you'll find out if you just ask the question that is on your mind.

[TAWILDCATT]

old timers use 50/50 parafin and beeswax with gear grease.I have a elictric frier
I got in yard sale to melt my mix.Its better than an open fire.I have lengths of 1"
steel conduit a 12" board with plastic conduit caps screwed in.and fill with mix.freez it and use a short length of broom handle to push the wax out.a hot rod pushed thru will set it for the lyman luber.
I am an old timer.