Gum base?

[Josh]

In the search for "The lube" I came across the stuff that makes chewing gum chewy called "gum base". It melts at 230 degrees but am not sure if it would incorporate into a bullet lube.

Any thoughts?

 

[Brad]

Yikes. Not sure how that would flow in a sizer. I also wonder how it would respond under the pressure we would put it under.

 

[Josh]

I would say you may only need a few percent, like 1-2% at most. It would make it very stretchy, one of the things Ian was looking for.

 

[Brad]

It would give some flex, that is for sure. problme as I see it is this- once the pressure builds the other ingredients go liquid so we are left with bits of gummy stuff around the bullet and in the bore. Not sure that is a good thing as the bullet runs over the residue.
Now if we could make an o-ring with it.......

 

[Josh]

Most of the waxes are melting at 190° it would be interesting to see what would happen in a tiny batch.

 

[Brad]

But that is when they melt but pressure makes a difference. The oils and stuff blow off quickly and we are left with carriers. That is why the carrier is so critical, we don't want it leaving residue that varies from shot to shot.

 

[Ian]

That's one thing I have not tried in bullet lube.

 

[Josh]

Makes sense, I just don't know enough to know. Possibly some out of the box thinking may lead to a breakthrough. Who knowz!

 

[Joe7436]

They don't use the same material for the gum base like in the old days. Old gum bases were based on either natural elastomers such as latexes, vegetable gums like chicle, spruce gum, and mastic gum, or alternatively on waxes, e.g. paraffin wax and beeswax, but today synthetic rubbers are preferred.

So you see beeswax and paraffin are good binders in my opinion.

 

[Rick]

What is gum base made out of?

 

[Josh]

Some is natural, some is synthetic. I would bet you could find both.

 

[Brad]

These days they are heavy in synthetic compounds. Think of stretchy, stringy rubber.
Don't know how those things would behave when mixed with waxes and an oil. Heat isn't gonna work, that stuff is usually mixed physically with some sheer force added.

Interesting idea, just not sure where to even begin with it?

 

[Josh]

http://www.gleegum.com/gum-kit-refill.htm

This gum base is made from chicle, a natural tree sap, it may incorporate into beeswax or another carrier.

 

[Josh]

As far as mixing with an oil, it has to mix with the mint oils that are used to flavor the gum. We also know it does not weep out from the final product.

 

[Joe7436]

You could also use spruce tree gum.