Recipe for beeswax lube

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  • Last Post 20 December 2020
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Boschloper posted this 18 December 2020

A beekeeper friend of my wife's has given me about a pound of beeswax. It is as collected, so I will have to melt and strain it. I have been using a vasoline / paraffin mix for about 25 years with good success, but now I need to try the beeswax. 

I will be pan lubing 30 cal. rifle bullets to shoot in the 1400 to 1600 fps range.

Does anyone have a simple recipe?  I would like to be able to get all the ingredients at Walmart or Autozone. 

Thanks in advance. 

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Ross Smith posted this 18 December 2020

Check out a black powder cartridge site, they use a lot of bees wax. Their recipes also call for lanolin.

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GWarden posted this 18 December 2020

A great lube that schuetzen shooters use is 50$% Beeswax, 40% Crisco, 10% Canola Oil. Have used this for years. Is not for high velocity.

bob

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RicinYakima posted this 18 December 2020

Equal parts of beeswax and auto chassis grease, lithium based. FWIW

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Shopdog posted this 18 December 2020

I use 50/50 BW to petrolatum(base vaseline) for handguns. Use 3/1 same ingredients for the varmint rigs.

The only thing slightly different is;

On the 3/1,I make it 50/50 first then instead of remelting,the extra BW get "cut in" to the 50/50. Intentionally not trying to "fully incorporate". It ends up like chunky,vs smooth peanut butter.

On the varmint rigs,with but a mighty few exceptions..... only the tiny spot above GC gets lube. And done with a little pen knife thas been on my bench for 40 years.

Handguns,almost always are lubed 50/50 through one of several Lyman 450's.

We have all sorts of ingredients available and do play around with them a little like,carnauba flakes,alox,certain high $$$ threading lubes from the shop. But in general,keep an EXTREMELY low profile on lube chemistry. The amount on the rifles seems to be more critical than the blend. The "chunky" 3/1 is working fantastic.

Recently;

Took Lee LLA and put it in an empty,cleaned out Kiwi shoe polish tin. I left the top off so that the solvent/s would burn off. The stuff looks and feels exactly like the consistency of the shoe polish.

I use it as a final op,after the round is fully loaded,as a very mild waxing on the bore ride part of the bullet. Good luck with your project.

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cfp4570 posted this 18 December 2020

50/50 beeswax/olive oil is what I use for muzzleloaders and have used it some for smokeless. Also makes a good lip balm and dry skin ointment.

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Squid Boy posted this 18 December 2020

I have had good luck using a mix of 50% beeswax, 33% Pure Lanolin Cream and 17% Castor oil up to 1500 fps. Never shot anything faster so I don't know. Good luck, Squid Boy

"Squid Pro Quo"

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Glenn R. Latham posted this 18 December 2020

Several CBA members (Steve Hurst and the late Norm Duesterhoeft) turned me onto a very simple recipe some years ago that I have used ever since: beeswax and automatic transmission fluid.  The proportions are not critical, use more beeswax if you want a firmer lube, less for softer.  I've been using 3 BW to 1 ATF and found it to work exactly like the old M&N.  I think Ed Harris uses a 4-1 ratio.  I don't know if the type of ATF matters but Norm told me he used Quaker State Dexron III, so I bought a couple quarts and that might be enough to "see me out."

Glenn

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delmarskid posted this 19 December 2020

Bees wax and white lithium at about 50/50 by volume has worked for me for 35 years.

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barra posted this 19 December 2020

Put it in a pot with water in it and slowly bring the heat up to around 80c.

‘This will melt the wax you don’t want to boil the water.

let it sit for a while and maybe give it a couple of light stirs to get the floaty bits up bees legs wings and things etc.

Turn off heat source and let cool for a long while.

A straight or tapered pot is your friend here.

When it’s cold the floaty bits will be on the wax and the junk below.

Gently tip out water and flip over.

 The rubbish can be scrapped from the bottom leaving you with clean pure beeswax.

‘it prolly smells like honey and still yellow.(with good bits in it)

‘If you heat it up too much it probably turn white and not smell.

 I prefer the yellow wax for my bullet lube of bw/vas lube...aka lip balm.

I like it soft but not melting when seating a cartridge in my rifle.

‘Depends on your mode of shooting regime and power factor.

Good luck.

Ohh the cappings  that he gave you have the good glue or stuff in them.

‘But I may be wrong as usual.

ha

 

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Pentz posted this 20 December 2020

Makes great moustache was too.....

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