Bullet Lube Recommendations

Much of the Cast Boolits forum appears to have gone over to coated bullets of various sorts and getting hard data on real 50-yard handgun groups is iffy these days.

I'll go ahead and run RCBS or Lyman lubes (but not that orange stuff) through my sizers if I have to, but I'm open to suggestions including home-brew lubes that don't require dancing on the edge of scorching the beeswax. Rather not use a heater beyond shining a 100-watt bulb at the lubrications-sizer.

And published tests seem rare these days too. Was probably 2016 or so when someone compared a few including TAC-1 (I have some .45s loaded up with that) and some others that didn't lead at all but could barely hold our 9-ring at 50.

But I am picky about one thing besides accuracy: NRA 50-50 with the newer ALOX is a no-go. Just can't stand the stink.

I'll gladly buy one of the room-temp White Label lubes but trust this forum to really tell me how accurate they can shoot.

Thanks!

1) I get better accuracy from as-cast nonsized cast bullets.
Thus,
2) I used to pan lube, then Lee brought out their Alox undercoating under the name Lee Liquid Alox. A VERY light coating is all that is needed (so light, that you CAN'T see the lube). I use a glass chafing dish, set 200-500 of my as-cast bullets on their side (I also have ordered as-cast lead bullets from different commercial sources as I don't really want their sized/lubed bullets either), squirt a "Z" over the bullets and then shuffle/rotate them around for 30-60 seconds. I then bend down and look at them and make sure they all have a wet/shiny look—if not, a little more LLA, shuffle/rotate/spin and I'm done. If I was still casting, I would try 45/45/10 for the bullet "coating."
Oh, almost forgot, look up emulsified wax coating (used mostly to seal cut lumber to reduce splitting and slow drying time). Works great for .45 Auto and .38 Spl target loads.
Note: my own testing shows that coated bullets are GREAT, but they are not quite as accurate as std lubricated bullets (i.e., cast/sized/powder coated bullets are slightly less accurate than my own or commercially purchased as-cast and pan- or LLA-lubed bullets. Swaged/coated bullets (Speer and Precision Bullet) are slightly less accurate than swaged lead bullets with traditional emulsified wax lube.
About 10 years ago, I put away the casting equipment and went to swaged lead bullets from Zero, Magnus, Precision Bullet, and Precision Delta.

White Label's BAC lube.   Great lube!
https://lsstuff.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=29

Don

I also use the White Label BAC lube. I like it. No need for a heater. If you’re not sizing, give 45-45-10 a try.
JKR

Here's the 3rd vote for White's BAC lube.  I've run it in both Lyman and Star lube-sizers without heat and no problems.  White's is also a good value compared to some others.  Funny thing is that I often find lube spatter on my targets using BAC. I guess that means it is spinning off as it goes down range.   Doesn't seem to affect accurac

Many of the White Label grease-in-the-groove type lubes are based mostly on the Beeswax-Alox mixture.  There are other grease-type lubes, but some you'll have to make by yourself.  The place to find out about them is one of the Cast Bullet forums:  
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?58-Boolit-Lube-!&s=50216759e1091b0877c497e15e9c7dae  
https://castbulletassoc.org/forum/cat/bullet-lube/  
https://www.artfulbullet.com/index.php?forums/lube.8/  

I am still using the 50% Beeswax/50% Alox 2138F, in part because I bought so much of it when GAR was closing it out, but it also shoots well for me.  If that mix is causing obnoxious odor or smoke, try to use less of it, or higher pressures, and you may mind it less.  I also use a lot of Lee Liquid Alox.

Hard to beat homemade 45/45/10 or buy pre-made. Tumble lube and a push through Lee sizer is the way to go. I've considered buying a traditional lube sizer to get the pretty little wax ring but can't justify the extra expense and especially the time added.

By weight, 45 bees wax, 45 petrolatum (Vaseline) 10% Johnson's paste wax. 

Probably stolen from an old American Rifleman! Goes through the "lubrisizer" like butter. At around 750-850 fps I clean my barrels with a rolled up paper towel! 

Control the heat while combining ingredients and heat until the solvent evaporates from the JPW!

Smiles,

tamarack 50/50 bullet lube(2138F/beeswax). It is no longer made, but best lube i ever used. There are ten tubes on eBay right now. I would heat the base of my Star sizer with a heat gun for a minute and it was all set to go.

Few years ago I did a good amount of ransom rest testing (50 yards) between lubed and cast bullets... a well cast, correctly sized bullet will shoot, regardless of coating or lube. Mine shot between 2 and 2.5" from two different guns with lots of replicates from each gun. Bullets were weight sorted as well... no difference there either...

jjfitch wrote:By weight, 45 bees wax, 45 petrolatum (Vaseline) 10% Johnson's paste wax. 

Probably stolen from an old American Rifleman! Goes through the "lubrisizer" like butter. At around 750-850 fps I clean my barrels with a rolled up paper towel! 

Control the heat while combining ingredients and heat until the solvent evaporates from the JPW!

Smiles,

I'll have to check, but I think I heard last year that Johnson's Paste Wax was being discontinued. The Castboolits crowd was most distressed because the solvent(s) in JPW are ideal for our uses.

Going to see if I can order some White Label BAC. Their 2500+ was interesting since I also shoot .30 Carbine loads at about 1900 fps MV and my Dad's super-duper lube with Do-All band saw lube and I don't remember what else cannot be duplicated. It might have also had some BMW motorcycle moly grease in it. Just don't have the patience to toy around with testing my way back into that stuff. We were satisfied that it wouldn't melt and kill the powder when a dab on a motorcycle fender in the sun at 112 F ambient didn't slump or slip or bleed for more than three hours. Do-All is $pendy in the tubes I found a year or two ago...

If BAC offendeth my nose, maybe I'll melt a little bit of scented candle into it. But most of my shooting is outdoors right now anyway.

Thanks!

noylj wrote:1) I get better accuracy from as-cast nonsized cast bullets.
Thus,
2)
[snip]
Note: my own testing shows that coated bullets are GREAT, but they are not quite as accurate as std lubricated bullets (i.e., cast/sized/powder coated bullets are slightly less accurate than my own or commercially purchased as-cast and pan- or LLA-lubed bullets. Swaged/coated bullets (Speer and Precision Bullet) are slightly less accurate than swaged lead bullets with traditional emulsified wax lube.
About 10 years ago, I put away the casting equipment and went to swaged lead bullets from Zero, Magnus, Precision Bullet, and Precision Delta.

Thanks a WHOLE HEAP!!! The very few and not so recent comparative testing I have been able to find, plus the disappointingly rare "great accuracy" report that includes group size at 25 yards or farther, have shown most people getting not quite as good accuracy with the coated bullets from most sources. The notable exception seems to be Brazos with that Australian coating. Not sure I would do powder coating even if it *improved* accuracy. Too tedious from the how-to and here's how I do it posts. 

My guns and I need all the accuracy we can get.