Bullet lubes revisited

Marshal Deadwood · March 17, 2009, 08:00:16 PM

Was,,bees wax,,is the crux of my question. The 'real stuff' is kinda hard to come by here ,,,no near as many folks keep bee hives as used to,,and the straining and etc that goes with it,,got me to wondering..

...'wax' toliet seals,,,I know,,its a petro based deal,,but why wouldnt that suffice for bees wax when formulating lube. I DID make a lube,,,'wax' toliet seal wax and wonder lube, with a wee bit of parrifin,,and used it in an 1860Army ...shot three cylinder out back ..and looked like it did a champion job. I would not use the 'same' mix for bullets,,but go a bit 'firmer'...

I just had the fear to mention this,,knowing the 'seals' are not pure beeswax...and I'll probably get laughed at

,,,but,,it did seem to work fine in the '60army.

What say ya'll ?

MD

Dick Dastardly · March 17, 2009, 09:06:52 PM

A great pard named Sargent Smokepole first put me onto those toilet bowl rings. Nope, they're not bees wax. More likely some kind of mineral oil concoction. The folks that make 'em won't say. I tried to buy the bowl wax in bulk but got turned down flat.

Anyway, the function of bullet lube is to keep your guns running and your accuracy dead on and cleanup easy. If it does that, that's all it really can do. There is a whole bunch of information in the Darksider's Library on bullet lubes. Truth is, it's not hard to make up a good lube from ingredients you may have on hand or can get easily. Go to the library and print out all the recipes you want. Load ammo, shoot and take notes.

I offer Pearl Lube II because it flat works in a very wide range of temperature and humidity conditions. The stuff don't rot and it's easy for me to make very consistently from batch to batch. I have a lot of very happy customers using it. Pearl Lube II isn't colored, it doesn't have any added fragrance and you can eat it, but it doesn't taste like much. Since your gun can't see, smell or taste I saw no advantage to adding stuff that would simply increase cost. So, if you're shooting PL-II, just enjoy the shooting and easy cleanup.

One little thing that happened when I changed the #3 ingredient is that the barrels of my guns seem to get a teflon like coating. They still clean up easily, but the fouling just can't get hold of the metal. I won't say what that mystery ingredient is, but I sure like the way it works.

DD-DLoS

Haggis MacGurk · March 17, 2009, 10:17:29 PM

I've been more than happy with the original PL recipe for some time now. Haven't yet tried the PL II, just waiting for my lubrisizer to run dry. Thanks again for the prompt service, Dick. My wife hasn't seen her new guns yet, and I know she's gonna love shootin' them snakebites. That's right, she hasn't even shot a match yet, and she is going directly to the dark side.

Wills Point Pete · March 18, 2009, 12:29:57 AM

I was using a beeswax, vegetable shortening mix adding olive oil to make it the right texture for pan lubing. Then I switched to soy wax instead of beeswax, it worked except that I had to use a cut off shell case as a cookie cutter. After reading about Dick's Pearl LubeI I added a chunk of a toilet bowl ring, it made the lube sticky enough that I could just pop the bullets out of the lube cake.

Dick says his Pearl LubeII works better. I don't disbelieve that, it's just that Pearl LubeI works well enough that I can shoot more than a match worth of BP loads in my Colt clones and my '92 clone. Since I have an allergy for paying cash when I don't have to, Dick's original lube is what I shoot. Perhaps if I could afford a Star lubrisizer I'd change my mind. As long as I'm pan lubing the original Pearl Lube does everything I need a lube to do. And it's cheap.

Four Eyed Floyd · March 20, 2009, 09:08:25 PM

Try here for some Beeswax it should last you for a while.
http://cgi.ebay.com/HONEY-BEES-WAX-FIVE-1-lb-BLOCKS-Natural-Beeswax_W0QQitemZ220379906808QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item220379906808&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Noz · March 21, 2009, 10:35:55 AM

Do you suppose the "new" toilet bowl rings are made of a mineral oil or vaseline based material? If so they will certainly work fine. Many of the bullet lubes use vaseline as a base and my understanding is that Ballistol is mineeral oil based.

Delmonico · March 21, 2009, 10:48:45 AM

Quote from: Noz on March 21, 2009, 10:35:55 AM
Do you suppose the "new" toilet bowl rings are made of a mineral oil or vaseline based material? If so they will certainly work fine. Many of the bullet lubes use vaseline as a base and my understanding is that Ballistol is mineeral oil based.

Things like Ballistol have MSDS's on the net that will tell what's in them. Chances are that the brand of rings Dick uses will have one also. If not, a request to the company will get one if desired, it part of OSHA law's.

Leo Tanner · March 21, 2009, 01:13:53 PM

Ballistol says mineral oil and isohexane right on the can. I did look up the MSDS to compare it to other like products used in different industries.

Found some bees wax terlit gaskets that were old stock an work fine. They were old stock and cost more than the new ones, which I haven't played with yet. Probaly will eventualy cause they are so easy to find. Adding the Parafin can only make it better.

Delmonico · March 21, 2009, 02:06:12 PM

Quote from: Leo Tanner on March 21, 2009, 01:13:53 PM
Ballistol says mineral oil and isohexane right on the can.

That makes it to easy Leo, always surprises me how many folks will use a product and not read the instructions, warnings and other related info.

Leo Tanner · March 21, 2009, 02:43:27 PM

Quote from: Delmonico on March 21, 2009, 02:06:12 PM
That makes it to easy Leo, always surprises me how many folks will use a product and not read the instructions, warnings and other related info.

That's a good point. Vaseline was mentioned here. It's petrolatum and I try to avoid anything with "petro" in the name. It likes to gum up. Break Free is a petrolium product but seems to work well for those who use it. It has different solvents in it than most others so that may be why. It's definatly wierd science (but not of the rocket variety at least thank God).

Delmonico · March 21, 2009, 03:09:50 PM

Quote from: Leo Tanner on March 21, 2009, 02:43:27 PM
That's a good point. Vaseline was mentioned here. It's petrolatum and I try to avoid anything with "petro" in the name. It likes to gum up. Break Free is a petrolium product but seems to work well for those who use it. It has different solvents in it than most others so that may be why. It's definatly wierd science (but not of the rocket variety at least thank God).

Some of the problems might be with the solvents, there is a lot of difference in solvents.