soap, bullet lube, soap and bullet lube, soap...

[Cliff Fendley]

If your going for home brew it would be a lot easier to just render deer tallow and mix it with bees wax or whatever your formula may be.

If you don't deer hunt I hear mutton is about the same.

Not sure what advantage there would be to turn the tallow into lye soap.

[Little Dalton]

Hoe-leeee cow, Blair! Take it easy on the feller!  :oOnly way to find stuff out is to ask questions.  Wether it's here, on the net, whatever. ..
When somebody not as educated and experienced as yourself asks a question, be nice about replying. I appreciate and respect you, on every forum on which we've crossed paths, but man, be a little more patient with others.

[Noz]

Well prepared lye soap can be used as a component in bullet lube. Well prepared means the lye has been completely digested.

But, for what purpose?

The raw fat when rendered is an adequate lube.  All the other mystic ingredients add stickiness, hardness, color and scent. None of which are absolutely necessary.

A good rule of thumb is use petroleum or organic products for smokeless, organic for black powder.

Bullets can be lubed as simply as dipping the nose of the cartridge in vegetable oil before firing it.

Ain't rocket science, guys.

I have a smokeless lube that consists of high temperature bearing grease and paraffin. My smokeless lube is soy wax, paraffin and vegetable oil.  Both work well for their intended purposes.

[Blair]

Jordan,

There is no reason to re-invent the wheel solely because someone wants to use soap, or thinks it would serve as a "good" bullet lube.
The great thing about the net, is that it opens up a multitude of research options to any individual who choses to use them.
We did not have this advantage 10 to 15 years ago.
All I tried to do was get this individual to use those options available to him with the resources that are now available.
Should my statements or remarks be specifically hateful... I will be more that willing to edit them from this thread.
My best,
Blair

[litl rooster]

Ain't rocket science, guys.

[Bibbyman]

I would think for the most of us it'd be just an exercise of doing it yourself.  Store bought would likely be far more cost effective than running around gathering up primary ingredients,  tools to process it and then time expended in making homemade. 

The only case I can see to use soap (lye, Ivery or otherwise) would be you had a ready and inexpensive source of it.   You wouldn't take tallow,  lard, oil and make soap if you really wanted bullet lube, you'd just make the lube.

[litl rooster]

No need to go spend a fortune on something that simple, well as long as you have a forgiving wife........Most of the stuff you need and be found in the kitchen and the supplies at your local store. Pan lubing isn't that hard. Time consuming yes.... hard no
I use the easiest method
I call this gentleman ask for what ever caliber I need and give him my money. He send them to me already lubed. I never have to leave the house, till it is time to go to the range

[Coffinmaker]

Ah, well, I must admit there is a certain satisfaction in duplicating the ways of our ancestors.  I own numerous hand planes, hollows and rounds, brace and bits, more chisels than I can count and I'm very very good with them.  I Also own a Router, a thickness plane, a cordless drill and a dovetail jig.
I have cast my own and made my own lube, and run everything thru the luber sizer.
Now that I'm older and wiser, I've learned to call a certain gentleman, relate my requirements for projectiles, send the required remuneration and go open a bottle of ale.  The projectiles are delivered to my door, ready to use.  Simple.

Coffinmaker

[litl rooster]

Ah, well, I must admit there is a certain satisfaction in duplicating the ways of our ancestors.  I own numerous hand planes, hollows and rounds, brace and bits, more chisels than I can count and I'm very very good with them.  I Also own a Router, a thickness plane, a cordless drill and a dovetail jig.
I have cast my own and made my own lube, and run everything thru the luber sizer.
Now that I'm older and wiser, I've learned to call a certain gentleman, relate my requirements for projectiles, send the required remuneration and go open a bottle of ale.  The projectiles are delivered to my door, ready to use.  Simple.

Coffinmaker

with age comes wisdom...

[Dick Dastardly]

Add to that the fact that many times your custom bullet caster is a fellow Cowboy Action shooter and you have real value.

DD-MDA

[Paladin UK]

Ho DD

My name seems to have been....dropped from the blurb, is it still on the mold??

http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=09d6fdda-c105-4c87-b269-68ebfdaba982

Paladin (What got the idea in the first place ) UK

[Dick Dastardly]

There and in the literature PUK.  Our shooters wouldn't be without that flat nose.

DD-MDA

[rifle]

If the lye in the soap "breaks down the fats or oils" that soften the fouling then would the oil and fats in a broke down state still soften the fouling and....keep the fouling from sticking to the barrel?
I would rather have the oil or fats in my lube simply suspended in a wax for some solidity and left as is ....not broke down.
I've tried Murphys oil soap and castile soap in lubes and they worked alright but....not as good as lube made without them. I had more fouling stick to the barrel with the soaps in the lube.
In my opinion lube with wax is just suspending an oil or fat ,that takes some heat without burning into a hard carbon, in the wax so the lube part of the recipie isn't too soft.
I've found thru experimenting that the softer a lube is the better it works. Soft being more oil/fats compared to the solid wax.
If I could I'd have lube that was all oil ,like olive oil, and no wax at all. Like......if I could lay out a pan of olive oil and let it dry out in the sun and get semi-solid I'd try that.
Maybe try something like......load the powder in the case held in with a wad and.......just before chambering the cartridge seat a hard wool wad saturated with olive oil and then seat the bullet just before sticking the cartridge in the chamber and firing. You know....to have all oil or fat for a lube without even the wax.

Anywhoooooo.....it's all about the lubey stuff like oil or fats when it comes to lube so I would logically conclude that the oil/fats wouldn't work well broken down by lye.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have used wads cut from egg-carton pulp soaked in olive oil for percussion pistols. (I made them myself so no"wonder" they were so cheep!)    I still have a few muzzleloading patches lubed with olive oil. It works, but perhaps it should be mixed to keep it from soaking the powder.

I now mix in some beeswax to reduce any chance the lube has of migrating to affect the powder. I keep the pistol wads in plastic Copenhagen snuff containers until I load them.

[Paladin UK]

Fer SC...

Copenhagen Snuff pard!!



Couldn't be more fit a container fer ya wads iffn ya tried!!

Paladin (What HATES SNUFF  ) UK

[Blair]

Some folks ask a question.
Not a bad idea at all.
However, sometimes they get replies they don't either like or want to hear.
Does not mean the question or replies are incorrect.
What proves to be incorrect is how the information offer is perceived by the OP.
Blair

[rifle]

Blair,some people see an opposing opinion as a personal afront directed right at them and that makes them uncomfortable. Remember to be diplomatic.
Like.........  if I had an opposing opinion about using Snuff cans fer carrying lube wads or wads Paladin UK might get outraged and release a torrent of explicatives while tearing my reply to shreds. 
You know........Like if I said ,to be helpful,  "Altoid" tins would work better cause they fit in Carhart pants pockets easily and can take being sat on accidently.
Of course I would temper my own response to that knowing "Altoids" candy may not be in drug stores in the UK or maybe Carhart work pants may not be there either. Maybe they sell "Altoids" in the cool Pubs I hear they have there. My brother in law is from the UK so that may give me a diplomatic edge.        
Does this clear anything up fer ya Blair? If it does then you are as crazy as I am.
Anywhooooo.......I stick my wads in "Altoid" tins after I throw the candy away.