Favorite lube for cast bullets?

bcsteve

bcsteve

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I'm just starting to cast bullets for my .444 Marlin. Been doing lots of reading on Castboolits.com and never realized that there would be so much discussion on bullet lube!

Didn't want to highjack the other bullet casting thread going on right now. So, what's your favorite lube and for what cartridge and velocity?
 
Paper!

I guess my favourite lube for cast bullets is a paper patch. I pretty much went straight to paper patching when I started casting, at least for the rifles.

I made some lube from 1lb parafin, 1lb bees wax, 2 largish tubs of Vaseline (don't remember the weight) and a teaspoon of STP oil treatment. I used this on my pistol bullets but haven't fired any yet. It looks nice....

You can use it to pan lube, cast it into sticks for a lubrisizer or just pour it right into the reservoir of the sizer and let it harden.

I also used some RCBS lube in a lubrisizer which also looks nice and which I also have not fired.

Not much help but that's all I've got!
 
Bullet lube.....
Well there are endless discussions on lube.
There are deferent schools of thought regarding lube as well.
Some people like the lube to be very hard and almost brittle; others would like it more ductile.
Some people like to use paraffin as a carrier in the lube others use beeswax.
In my opinion it is important to use a lube that would work for your application.
Im not a big fan of hard as a rock lubes like the magma lube and i leave the paraffin waxes for candle making.
Lube needs to have some ductility in order to do its job in my opinion and depending on what you want it to do.
Try to think of what the lube is supposed to do, what’s the purpose of using lube...... this can lead to a long discussion in itself....
There are some good articles and here is one of them : http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm

In all of my lubes i use beeswax as a carrier .
If shooting black powder you would want to stay away from any petroleum products such as paraffin, STP grease etc’.
Part of the reason for that is that these products will create allot of fouling that will be a PITA to remove and in severe cases you will get tar in the barrel.

For smokeless powder petroleum products are not such a big problem and the choices are endless.
I find that a lube like 50/50 (%50 beeswax and %50 Alox 350 also knows a javlina or NRA formula) covers the majority of cast bullet applications

For higher pressure loads you may want a more firm (not hard as a rock) lube that will hold up.
A magnum type lube in low velocity (around 1000fps or less) application may actually have poor results and leading.

Liquid alox /DRALOX may work very nicely as long as your pressure is low and velocity is under 900fps, more than that and you may get leading.

I guess the point im trying to get across is use the lube needed for your application.
If you would like, send me a pm with your details and i can send you samples of my lube to try and see what works for you.
Hope i didn’t confuse you even more with this information.
 
lube

I'm using 60% Lee liquid alox, 30% johnson's paste wax and 10% mineral spirits to propel my .223 cast loads; don't have a chrony, but loads are supposed to be around 2300 fps, and I am not experiencing any leading.
very accurate too.
 
Alberta Separatist said:
I'm using 60% Lee liquid alox, 30% johnson's paste wax and 10% mineral spirits to propel my .223 cast loads; don't have a chrony, but loads are supposed to be around 2300 fps, and I am not experiencing any leading.
very accurate too.
Click to expand...

That combination has proven to work very well in my cast 223 as well up to around 2200fps with gas checks. faster than that and accuracy was gone But have had better results with my red dragon i was able to push them significantly faster with good results. i still need to try other powders with my 223
 
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I use my own version of Felix lube, as the org. version takes too long to make, the main ingredients are beeswax, Lanolin, carnauba, stearic acid.
 
Canadian Tire moly grease applied by hand. Use in .257 rob,6.5x55, 30-30, 30-40, 308, 30-06, 303br, and 45-70. Velocities from about 1200 to 2500+. Will try for higher velocity later. Stopped when bore appeared grey.
Grouch
 
My latest version is
1lb beeswax(raw)
1lb alox 350
4 of the wrappers from babell cheese (carnuba wax) about 4 tablespoons. The carnuba makes it real slick.

I use this in both black powder and smokeless.
 
Well, BC Steve, the replies you got summed it up completely. Carefully digest all that was written and it is easy to see that virtually anything you use will work. That is my thoughts, also.
I read that the buffalo hunters used a basic 50-50 of beef tallow and bees wax, so that is what I started out using. One advantage of this is you can make it harder or softer, to suit the weather being hotter or colder, by changing the ratio of the two ingredients.
I experimented with umpteen different concoctions, ending up thinking that lube didn't seem to change anything. If bullets were going to lead, they would lead, regardless what lube was used. Also, I could see no change in accuracy with different lubes.
 
I'm looking for someting that will hold up to 2000-2200fps in my .444 Marlin. Felix lube is highly praised on Castboolit, I think I'll give it a try.

Ben, you said you used a modified version of it, care to share?
 
BC Steve: The hot plate that I use takes a long time to heat up and it doesn't get as hot as most, so I don't have to worry about some of the components burning and ruining the mix, like Felix does. He's stirring his mix for an hour then adds a bit of this and stirs more. I just melt all the ingredients in a double boiler setup and stir 'till it's a liquid. 2 parts Beeswax, 1 part lanolin, 1 part Carnauba flakes, 1/2 part Bayberry wax, couple table spoons of stearic acid, couple table spoons of STP. I always keep a big jar of K-Y around in case the first few sticks harden brittle, if they do I add vaseline until sticks harden NOT brittle......Bon Appetite
 
I use X-Lox (similar to Lee Liquid Alox) in full strength to tumble lube my pistol bullets. It works well even in single groove bullets designed for hard lube.

In my experience with store bought single or double groove, hard lubed bullets vs. X-LOXed homemade WW bullets....I definitely prefer XLOX.

Very little or no leading, even with 1,000 fps 158 grain .38 +P+ loads.
 
The lube used in store bought bullets is quite hard as you mention, i think it is more for shipping then any lubricating qualities it may have. I once retrieved some bulk store bought bullets with that hard lube on them( Am I the only one that digs up all their bullets at the range?), all the lube was still in the groove!!!
 
I've used LBT Blue for years and have never had any problems up to about 2200+fps. I started making my own from beeswax and ATF (automatic tranny fluid) and it has performed very well up to about 2000fps. However I started to shoot a 450 Marlin a lot and wanted a fast/easy to assemble load for rapid fire 25-50yds. I cast, seat check(not sizing), tumble lube (I just bought a couple of bottles of liquid alox from Phishroy, great guy to deal with) load and shoot. I wanted to get away from sizing(which I almost NEVER do anymore) and make the lubrication process as quick as possible and so far the results are very good. I'm going to the range tomorrow to try a mild load without the check, hopefully a 45 cal load at about 1000fps will perform this way.
 
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