Stick Lube hardness

[abearir]

Question for the hive:

How hard is your stick lube? I just picked up a old Lyman 45 and really don't think I want to spring $6.00 a stick for lube. I'm cheap that way!.

Been pan lubing with my own homebrew and it seems to do the job. I'm not sure if it's too hard for the Lyman without a heater. How hard is "too hard" for your unheated sizer?

[williamwaco]

Try it and see.

You can make a heater from a drop light if you need it.

[MUSTANG]

Or you can place an electric iron against the metal body of the Lyman Lubrisizer. Years ago I bought a heater that the lubrisizer bolts to; best investment I ever made for an add on component.

Mustang

[codgerville@zianet.com]

Several years ago I was using Rooster Red lube in my RCBS lube-sizer. Pretty hard stuff, so I liberated my wife's hair dryer and used it. BTW, I had to buy her a new one, since I couldn't lie my way out of it. Then I bought a new Lyman 4500 with the probe heater. It worked so well I drilled the bases of my other sizers ( Lyman 45, 450, and the RCBS ), and use the heater on whichever. I did find that a softer lube gives better results for the alloy I'm using so I don't use a really hard lube now.

[runfiverun]

can you squeeze the lube in your hand?
if not it's probably too hard to flow without heat.
you should be able to melt down your lube and add a tbs or so of Vaseline to it.
then pour it into your lube sizer when you have it how you want it, and it'll work just fine.

[harley6699]

I bought a heater for mine also and then I added a thermometer and a old Dremel speed controller to keep the temp where it needs to me so I don't raise the tem p to high and the lube puck out.. I would like to make my own lube but have never been successfull in getting the center hole correct and then getting it out of the mold.. I have tried cutting the PVC pipe in half and using hose clamps to hold it together and a cap on the end.. the steel rod in a hole in the cap and a wire on the other end to center the rod.. it works well but I just ahve not found a good receipe yet.. good luck

[Sig]

I bought a heater for mine also and then I added a thermometer and a old Dremel speed controller to keep the temp where it needs to me so I don't raise the tem p to high and the lube puck out.. I would like to make my own lube but have never been successfull in getting the center hole correct and then getting it out of the mold.. I have tried cutting the PVC pipe in half and using hose clamps to hold it together and a cap on the end.. the steel rod in a hole in the cap and a wire on the other end to center the rod.. it works well but I just ahve not found a good receipe yet.. good luck

I don't bother with a mold. I just heat up the coffee can that it's on & pour it into the sizer.

[abearir]

can you squeeze the lube in your hand?
if not it's probably too hard to flow without heat.
you should be able to melt down your lube and add a tbs or so of Vaseline to it.
then pour it into your lube sizer when you have it how you want it, and it'll work just fine.

It can be squeezed by hand with some effort. If I take 2 lumps, I can't quite hand mash them into one piece but they do deform nicely. Very sticky and slick feeling. Works pretty well for me as a pan lube, but I haven't shot it over about 1800fps with my softcast BHN about 10-11

FWIW my recipe

2 parts paraffin wax
2 parts beeswax
1 part petroleum jelly
.5 part JPW
.5 part marvel oil
a couple TB STP
a couple TB LLA

[M Hicks]

I bought a heater for mine also and then I added a thermometer and a old Dremel speed controller to keep the temp where it needs to me so I don't raise the tem p to high and the lube puck out.. I would like to make my own lube but have never been successfull in getting the center hole correct and then getting it out of the mold.. I have tried cutting the PVC pipe in half and using hose clamps to hold it together and a cap on the end.. the steel rod in a hole in the cap and a wire on the other end to center the rod.. it works well but I just ahve not found a good receipe yet.. good luck

Try spraying the inside of the PVC with non-stick cooking spray or even WD-40. I have a mold that I built using PVC and a metal rod to form the center hole. I coat them with a light film of WD-40 before I pour the lube into them. Once it has hardened I use a wooden dowel that is close to the inside diameter of the PVC to push the sticks out. They come out very easily and get wrapped in some wax paper.

[runfiverun]

pam works pretty good, others have just added something to the lube to make it come out of the mold easier.

abearir:
a little more Vaseline will soften it up no problem.
the Vaseline contains mineral oil and mineral oil is the component that softens paraffin into it's different grades [like eventually Vaseline ]
it also softens the beeswax.
you have a pretty good recipe there and it should do just fine [if you had a heater it should work now through the sizer]

[harley6699]

So the next question is what reciepe is close to the Red Rooster or the Blue one from Midway.. I like a hard lube that requires about 120 degrees to make it flow..

[runfiverun]

go with white label lubes carnuba red it takes a bit over 100-f to flow and does quite well in the warmer temps you'll see in florida it's also about 2 bucks a stick shipped.
if you really wanna make your own then anything using beeswax and carnuba will have a higher flow point.
my simple lube does well with a 5% carnuba addition so does felix lube, and both will handle the heat with the addition.

[fryboy]

ingredients make it harder ( or softer ) various wax have different melt points , carnuba,candilla, and some grades of paraffin come to mind , i too miss rooster's HVR ,i havent found a home made hard lube yet i'm satisfied with , and while i'm far from giving up i have gone down a couple paths that left me discouraged ( ok ok so i'm good at understatements )

i have a batch of a variation of FWWFL that i can bend a 1/2" sheet in half and not break @ room temp, i can even take said lube and smush it into a ball in my hand but it wont go thru my sizer unless i add heat , it's perhaps my best summer lube yet ( and i have brutal summers ) lyman's moly lube is a good consistency for no heat added , i can push my finger into it if desired ( no desire tho as it's messy lolz ) i cant do that to the above variation of FWWFL

[harley6699]

go with white label lubes carnuba red it takes a bit over 100-f to flow and does quite well in the warmer temps you'll see in florida it's also about 2 bucks a stick shipped.
if you really wanna make your own then anything using beeswax and carnuba will have a higher flow point.
my simple lube does well with a 5% carnuba addition so does felix lube, and both will handle the heat with the addition.

Thanks for the information.. If I can get lube stick for $2 buck it won't be worth making it.. So where do you order lube with atleast a 100f flow temp for $2 ? The cheapest I have found it is at $5 and that is a 120f flow temp.. I like the higher temp on the lube, especially down here.. it is in the 90's 60% of the days down here and the lube gets sticky.. thanks

[blaser.306]

White label lube is what you are looking for! I use it on just about everything and have 0 complaints about performance or especialy cost. You can't beat it . And like you mentioned @ around $2.00 a stick ( either hollow or solid ) you won't make your own that cheap!

[dragon813gt]

http://www.lsstuff.com/store/

I settled on 2500+ for my needs. It requires a heater during the colder months. And I did find out it gets a little tacky in the summer months. I just had to wipe the bullets with a rag to clean them up. That had to do with how I was storing them. BAC is another popular lube of theirs. But it's softer than CR and 2500+.

[harley6699]

http://www.lsstuff.com/store/

I settled on 2500+ for my needs. It requires a heater during the colder months. And I did find out it gets a little tacky in the summer months. I just had to wipe the bullets with a rag to clean them up. That had to do with how I was storing them. BAC is another popular lube of theirs. But it's softer than CR and 2500+.

so are you telling me that the Carnauba Red int bags-hollow use a heater? I saw all the ones that don't use a heater but not one of them said it needed a heater.. I really don't want to have to wipe each bullet down before I load it.. that kind of adds extra steps.. Thanks

[abearir]

FWIW, I added about a TBS more petrolum jelly to about 1/2# or so of my lube, and it flows pretty well at 60F room temp. I did a unscientific melt test, and it stays solid to around 110-115F.

[dragon813gt]

so are you telling me that the Carnauba Red int bags-hollow use a heater? I saw all the ones that don't use a heater but not one of them said it needed a heater.. I really don't want to have to wipe each bullet down before I load it.. that kind of adds extra steps.. Thanks

Carnuba Red says it requires a heater. If you store bullets lined up with layers separated you won't have to wipe bullets off with the softer lubes. It's how I store them that was the issue.

[harley6699]

Thanks I just ordered 24 sticks of the Carnuba Red.. I will let you know how it works.