My HV Lube Recipe ... Your Thoughts or Input?

[riverwalker76]

I came up with a simple recipe for my high velocity bullets ... mainly .308 at this point. Could you all look and see if there is anything missing?

1# beeswax

3/4 # Microcrystalline wax

1/4# Carnuba Wax

2 Tbsp. of Castor Oil

Do I need to add anything for a good HV lube?

[geargnasher]

Yes, the test data is missing.

Gear

[Recluse]

I came up with a simple recipe for my high velocity bullets ... mainly .308 at this point. Could you all look and see if there is anything missing?

1# beeswax

3/4 # Microcrystalline wax

1/4# Carnuba Wax

2 Tbsp. of Castor Oil

Do I need to add anything for a good HV lube?

Just looking at your formula, it looks like that is going to be a rock hard lube--you will definitely need heat if you're using a lubesizer, and you may have trouble keeping it on the boolit.

I'd think about adding a bit more castor oil or mineral oil--or in lieu of that, maybe a dab of vaseline.

[Elkins45]

Seems to me you have an awful lot of carrier and not much active lubricant. I agree that the castor oil amount should probably be increased.

I think the good thing is that you could make a batch at these proportions and then add the extra oil later if you think it's needed. You'll definitely need a heater for this mix.

[buck1]

you might concider dropping the Microcrystalline wax and adding more bees wax. Bees wax is almost a lube by itself. bees wax + almost any oil greese isnt bad. Not true with most other waxes.

[mdi]

Not an expert here, but I saw 1/4 lb. of Carnuba wax. Seems to be quite a bit of a really hard wax...

[fryboy]

i like the thought of a hard lube , dont mind the heater , but like gear i wanna know how it works for u ! i've found that it really is too easy to make too slick of a lube erm flux

[riverwalker76]

Duly noted regarding the microwax, carnuba, and castor oil.

Here is my dilemna ...

I have premixed pounds of microwax and carnuba in the formula of .75 micro to .25 carnuba.

Should I try 1/2 pound of this mix with 1 pound beeswax, and increase the castor oil to 4 Tbsp? That would drop the Micro to 6 ounces, and the Carnuba to 2 ounces.

I'm really looking for a cold/hot weather lube for my hunting loads. I practice my shooting in the Summer under a 100+ degree canopy, and in the Winter it is sometimes 20 degrees while hunting.

Regarding the lubing method ....

I pan lube right now. Maybe sometime in the future I will be able to justify buying a lubesizer, but it's not in the cards for me right now.

[Elkins45]

Pan lubing actually works in your favor, since you can mix up small batches, test them, then increase or decrease ingredients as needed. The problem is going to be knowing how it performs in cold weather, since there doesn't seem to be much cold weather available at the moment. You can test hot weather performance now but you won't know how cold weather effects it until November.

[wiljen]

add Lanolin, will soften it up and get it to adhere to your boolits better.

[riverwalker76]

add Lanolin, will soften it up and get it to adhere to your boolits better.

Where can I find lanolin? Do they sell it at the pharmacy? ie: Walgreens, CVA, etc ... I remember using it as a kid. My mom always put it on our hands in the winter, and it came in a toothpaste type tube.

[geargnasher]

By far the best way to buy lanolin is in bulk form from a mail-order or internet supplier, but if you have a CVS pharmacy in your area they sell a house-brand of Lansinoh nipple cream (it's in the nursing mother section) for less than the name brand. It comes in a lavender-colored two ounce tube. Ask the pharmacist for anhydrous lanolin, it's sometimes used to compound tinctures, maybe they will sell you some of that at a reasonable price.

Like Wiljen, I'd recommend adding lanolin and reducing the carnauba (I know you're committed on the carnauba), but it's all just stabbing in the dark until you actually shoot some of this stuff and let your GUNS tell you what they like.

Gear

[runfiverun]

yep b-wax as the main and add about a tablespoon worth of carnuba to the mix let the paraffin fall where it does.
add the lanolin at the end as the mix cools it will add flexibility to the mix. [as will white lithium grease just not as well]
the best way to get the castor oil mixed in is to follow felix's method.
he adds the mineral oil and sodium stearate as a binder to keep the castor oil in the mix so it don't bleed out. [which it will under heat on it's own]

[riverwalker76]

The wife handed me two tubes of lanolin a little while ago. Being a nurse ... I asked her if she had any anhydrous lanolin or nipple cream. She looked at me funny and came back with 2 tubes. I never new the stuff was in the house. It did raise some questions until I told her what it was for.

Thanks for the information.

[geargnasher]

Heheeee! Ain't it great? I'll be the look she gave you wasn't nearly as funny as the one you'd get from the ditzy high-school girl stocking shelves at the CVS!

Sometimes you gotta wonder about this hobby, going to the sewing store for some Dacron, the pharmacy for some nipple cream and Laxative Castor Oil, the hippie store for some homade soap, the surf shop for carnauba wax, digging around the curbs at intersections looking for old wheel weights, picking over garage sales and the utinsil section of thrift stores, all so we can go shoot our favorite toys!

Gear

[buck1]

Go slow on adding that pre mixed wax . It will harden fast with just a little. Too much carnuaba will make your lube hard and crumbly.

[pps]

I use one posted here.
1# Beeswax
3 tablespoons of Vaseline
1 teaspoon of Johnsons paste wax