I’ve got quite a bit of lube here I used to pan lube with. I can’t for the life of me remember the mix it’s just bees wax and Vaseline and that’s it. Can anyone tell me what the mix is for it? I can’t for the life of me remember it. I am wanting to say I found it over on the boolits page but it’s been too long.
Bees wax plus Vaseline mix?
- Thread starter STIHL
- Start date
JonB
Halcyon member
Charles Graff, who posts here often, uses Beeswax/Vaseline and has said 50-50 and then adjust 5 or 10% for your climate/weather.
I would consider adding up to 10% paraffin...and if you feel adventurous, adding some Ivory soap too.
A similar recipe is 666+1 (Satan's lube), with is 6 parts each of Beeswax/Vaseline/paraffin and 1 part soap.
The next step into complication would be a full blown Soap Lube, like SL68B...which is a similar recipe with a larger quantity of Soap.
I would consider adding up to 10% paraffin...and if you feel adventurous, adding some Ivory soap too.
A similar recipe is 666+1 (Satan's lube), with is 6 parts each of Beeswax/Vaseline/paraffin and 1 part soap.
The next step into complication would be a full blown Soap Lube, like SL68B...which is a similar recipe with a larger quantity of Soap.
Yea its probably a hair on the soft side for here. Cold as we have been all year this year is 19 or 21 so far. I may try to make up another batch and go 60-40 and add some lanolin until I get the consistency I'm looking for. I've got everything to make the simple lube just haven't made it yet. Ive got a few pounds of beeswax and a pound of lanolin in, its in the freezer in the house I think. I may use the lube in the above picture during the winter to use it up. Next batch will be a little harder. Ive got to start keeping notes of this stuff, its too much to remember now!
JonB
Halcyon member
I learned quickly with this complex casting hobby to take notes.
I have several different paper notebooks, one for Molds, one for casting sessions, one for reload recipes(with specifics about Dies), one for range reports and a general one for things like lube recipes and notes on specific guns (bore size and COAL). Also, as to casting and reloading...I give each batch a number to keep with the product, so I can trace it back to the notes. This might be common sense, but it took me a while to figure out what info I needed 3 years later, and what info I didn't need.
I have several different paper notebooks, one for Molds, one for casting sessions, one for reload recipes(with specifics about Dies), one for range reports and a general one for things like lube recipes and notes on specific guns (bore size and COAL). Also, as to casting and reloading...I give each batch a number to keep with the product, so I can trace it back to the notes. This might be common sense, but it took me a while to figure out what info I needed 3 years later, and what info I didn't need.
Ive kept up with a lot of stuff with loading but casting is going to be a lot of notes to keep. Im in the process of writing down the molds i have bought in the last month right now. Ive got too much stuff and cant keep up with it all.
Charles Graff
Moderator Emeritus
Beeswax and Vaseline was a popular home brew back in the 50s and 60s. Nothing I ever read gave a formula. The instructions were to add enough Vaseline to soften the wax for use in a lubsize machine. I have been using this lube for well over 55 years. I have never measured it. I am guessing something around 50-50 or 60-40 (was to Vaseline) to be about right. I want it soft enough to use in the machine, but hard enough to stay in the bullet lube grooves. I have found this to be all I need for any handgun load and rifle cast bullets loads up to about 2K fps. Addendum: Being a dweller of South Texas, I have no idea what bad cold will do to a bullet lube.
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L Ross
Well-Known Member
Yeah, and then I can't find the notebook I need!
BBerguson
Official Pennsyltuckian
Probably the best “lube” I’ve ever shot was pure beeswax. I didn’t lube the bullets with it though, I made gas checks with it.
Here is how I did it: I used a rectangle cake pan. I melted my wax and boiled some water in different pots at the same time. I filled the cake pan about half way with boiled water and then poured the melted wax on top of the water. The wax, being lighter than water, forms a perfect sheet on top of the water. Let it cool and then you remove your sheet of wax. The “gas checks” can then be made using the brass you want to load them in but first you want drill out the primer pocket and fit some kind of ejector so you can get the checks back out. Place your sheet of wax on a board and press your punch into it and then eject. Make sure the wax is warm enough not to be brittle. I think a comfortable room temperature worked well for this. I’m going back about 30 years so some details are a little foggy.
When loading, I simply pressed a gas check into the case before I seated the bullet. Melting point for beeswax is 144 degrees Fahrenheit so these would be fine unless you stored the ammo in an enclosed truck.
To get the correct thickness you have to do some area/amount calculations. I never did enough to figure this out, I was just experimenting. I think the thicknesses could be varied based the load, light or heavy. I made a couple of batches, one fairly thin at maybe 1/16” and another batch that I think would have been about 1/8“.
I used to shoot indoors with my 44mag and remember these loads being quite accurate and the barrels completely lead free. I was using a gc bullet without a copper gc. Bullets were lubed but I always had leading problems with this bullet (because I didn’t have gas checks on them!)
Writing about this kind of makes me want to try this again. I have lots of tools now (pretty much nothing then)and could make a much nicer punch tool. Punching them out was the toughest part of this. Just need some beeswax!
Here is how I did it: I used a rectangle cake pan. I melted my wax and boiled some water in different pots at the same time. I filled the cake pan about half way with boiled water and then poured the melted wax on top of the water. The wax, being lighter than water, forms a perfect sheet on top of the water. Let it cool and then you remove your sheet of wax. The “gas checks” can then be made using the brass you want to load them in but first you want drill out the primer pocket and fit some kind of ejector so you can get the checks back out. Place your sheet of wax on a board and press your punch into it and then eject. Make sure the wax is warm enough not to be brittle. I think a comfortable room temperature worked well for this. I’m going back about 30 years so some details are a little foggy.
When loading, I simply pressed a gas check into the case before I seated the bullet. Melting point for beeswax is 144 degrees Fahrenheit so these would be fine unless you stored the ammo in an enclosed truck.
To get the correct thickness you have to do some area/amount calculations. I never did enough to figure this out, I was just experimenting. I think the thicknesses could be varied based the load, light or heavy. I made a couple of batches, one fairly thin at maybe 1/16” and another batch that I think would have been about 1/8“.
I used to shoot indoors with my 44mag and remember these loads being quite accurate and the barrels completely lead free. I was using a gc bullet without a copper gc. Bullets were lubed but I always had leading problems with this bullet (because I didn’t have gas checks on them!)
Writing about this kind of makes me want to try this again. I have lots of tools now (pretty much nothing then)and could make a much nicer punch tool. Punching them out was the toughest part of this. Just need some beeswax!
Rally
NC Minnesota
Lamar,
wouldn’t the color depend on the purity of the Beeswax at the start? I’ve got some well refined Beeswax and some sun made Beeswax (to include bees knees) that I’m guessing would change the color of the finished lube.