Opinions on "Felix Lube"

Boolit Bub Join DateNov 2012LocationMichiganPosts48

I recently had the opportunity to chat with a "cast" member who's handle is kywoodwrkr. We talked back and forth, and I let him know that I wanted to create my own lube based on some of the recipes on this site. I wanted to find or create the best multipurpose lube in the world.
After a while, he told me that he too was on a quest and had accumulated a bunch of diffferent lube types and that I could have all his tubes to help me on the quest. I was blown away at his generosity and plan on sending him a care package of my own to help him as much as I can.
Now back to the subject--He gave me two full 2 pound tins of the original felix lube that he purchased from felix himself some years ago. My question is for those who have used or still use the felix lube as published on this site. Is there any way to improve on this formula, or is it the best multipurpose lube in the entire galaxy?
I am currently using rcbs lube sticks that i melt down and pour into my star sizer. They work O.K. for low pressure pistols, but I find that if I run 230 grain .45 colts down my 1892 winchester, I get leading in the barrel. I was planning on using the 50/50 formula as a base and then add different components to perfect the already very good mix.
It is still cold in Michigan, but when the snow finally stops flying, I plan on getting to the garage for some serious business. Is there anything I could/should add to the Felix formula, or is it already at it's max potential? Any and all advise is appreciated.

Felix's original formula per the sticky thread (not to be confused with the "Big Batch" of several hundred pounds that he and Sundog made themselves and distributed among members, I have not tested it) will not cover all of the bases temp-wise all of the time, and isn't the best thing for very mild handgun loads. It was designed for benchrest accuracy in moderate to high temps and excels at that. With a little modification of some transmission fluid and/or Vaseline, it works fine in the cold at the cost of hot weather performance (100+ F). If your batch was the "big batch" I believe it already comes equipped for cold weather performance.

Contact Badger Edd or 357Maximum for a Michigan-only lube formula.

If you're looking for the end-all, be-all, inter-galactic lube formula, join the club. We're up to nearly 2,000 posts and dozens of formulas made and tried, see the "extreme lube" sticky. We're settling in on one basic formula that's showing promise, and tweaking it to work all-around. I'm sure there are other approaches that will essentially do the same thing, but we had to get through a huge learning curve about what a lube really does, and doesn't do, in order to formulate something that will do it. What we came up with for the base has a pedigree, but is still pretty unique as lube recipes go.

Gear

Last edited by geargnasher; Yesterday at 11:33 AM.

You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something. --Stephen Adams

Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff has always been a valuable skill in all of life's activities. --Bwana

Yessir, I was one of the culprits on that operation. I am still using that batch, although about out. I run it on everything that is not black powder. My standard mil bolt load in the 03A3 for matches is 21-22 grains on 4227 with a FWFL loobed 180-210 grain boolit for circa 1650 fps. I've shot that load in everything from 10dF to 110dF with outstanding accuracy. The "Big Batch" was just that, one big batch, done all at one time in the MOAS. Took all day. Felix was the Mix Master. At his discreation, the recipe included some microparaffin. I'm sure if he see's this thread he have a comment or two.

There are a lot of good loobs available from members here on the board, and many good recipes, too, such as Ben's Red. Just gotta find what you like.

If I was told I could only one, FWFL would be more than adequate for all of my smokeless loadings. So when I run out shortly, I will be making another batch.

It ain't rocket science, it's boolit science.

FWFL is the best 1200+fps lube I have ever used. Absolutely the cats meow.
I am trying RFR's simple green formula, but I'm still sold on FWFL.
I think that between that and 45-45-10, there's just not much room for improvement. I love the stuff.

Tim Malcolm

Mat 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Thomas Edward Lawrence

Birch, don't feel like the lone ranger! 45 colt guns have no limits, it seems, in their chamber designs. Yes, there are more than one and I do not think any modern case sizing mechanism handles the wide variations. The leading you are seeing is not the lube PER SE, but the sloppiness of the chambers. If you had custom dies and boolits which close up the gaps to almost zero tolerance, you'd be in fat city.

Corky and I are actually waiting on a final lube design before we make another batch. We want to be able to handle things like blowby much better by keeping some remaining "dry wetness ???" wherever a boolit rests or passes.

Meanwhile, make sure you wet down (and dry any puddles) your 45 colt barrel BEFORE the first shot.

... felix

Boolit Master Join DateFeb 2010LocationFinland, west coastPosts538

Worked in everything I've used it in. Though I find I rather prefer it with more carnauba than the recipe states. I find it too soft otherwise and bullets tend to get tacky. Both my normal and high carnauba versions of this has all worked just fine in 45acp, 9mm, .44spl and .44magnum loads. Next up is trying out .223

Boolit Bub Join DateNov 2012LocationMichiganPosts48

Felix and Sundog on the same post--Priceless!

Felix, the 45colt that is getting the leading is actually a Miruko made Winchester 1892 chambered in .45 colt. I slugged the barrel on that ol' girl and found that the barrel lands are .4525. I have a star lubesizer that I used to size to .452 so I think that should be O.K. unless there are some variations in size in the middle to end portion of the barrel. I don't get leading after the forcing cone, it just leads up towards the end almost like the lube is running off the boolit as it traverses the barrel.
I have not used your lube yet as it it just too cold, but when spring officially and unofficially hits, I will PM one or both of you guys to let you know how it works.
Do you plan on running another big batch of lube? If so, would you mind if I put an order in right now to get ahead of the rabbid animals that will surely flood your inbox should you choose to sell off another batch?
Do you have any other go-to lubes other than your mix?

I forgot to mention that before I bought my Colt SAA in 45colt, I had a Ruger Vaquero. The ruger had 3 of the 5 cylinder throats so oversized that I could not get a group smaller than 12 inches at 15 yards. It was by far the most miserable gun I have ever owned.

Last edited by birch; Yesterday at 01:15 PM. Reason: more info

Birch, it's where the cartridge lies. That dang cartridge hole size in most (all?) of these guns is just too big for the SAAMI Colt 45 brass of any flavor. Even the Hornady 454 Casull brass is 0.008 smaller in diameter than the largest new Colt 45 brass of any brand around here. Hornady brass is typically way too fat for its designation. Sorta' like military 308s in comparison to standard 308s. That sucks big time for the likes of the Colt cylinders. The rifle guys follow suit! Cylinders are typically sized for 458 boolits within the cylinder holes (not exit holes). The only smart thing to do is load the case hot for full expansion, just below primer stretch (in heavy barrel rifle, of course, using full case of 680 no compression under a 300 grainer). Now see what boolit size fits back into the case with hard thumb pressure and use those with cowboy or medium normal boolit weight loads from then on. It's absolutely ridiculous to have to use Glock-ed 40 S&W (or 45 colt) brass intentionally. ... felix

I'm using some i made up from a modified formula that Geargnasher listed. Had the addition of Jojoba oil. It does every thing that the LBT soft that i was using did.

Mugs

I've only used Felix Lube in chamberings that shoot anywhere from 800 fps, up to around 2700fps. It has worked wonderfully for all loads. I'm not sure what it will do outside of those perimeters.

The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"

Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!

I suppose I should clarify something. When I say FWFL has some cold-weather problems, it's only with the very first shot. That's fixed with a small amount of modifier, be it jojoba, transmission fluid, Vaseline, etc. as a viscosity modifier. I also have been known to double the castor for old weather and it seems to eliminate the flyer. But that first-shot flyer can return in hot weather with too much castor oil, and groups tend to enlarge with my guns and loads during long strings in hot guns in hot weather unless I adhere to the original formula. Too much castor or joboba can cause cyclic purge flyers even in moderate weather. The basic formula is also a bit too tough to jettison properly from deep lube grooves at low pressure/velocity, often causing poor groups at short range in my pistols. The addition of 5% Vaseline takes care of that in all weather in the revolvers, and in some cases the rifles too.

FWFL is the lube by which all other recipes are judged at my house. The only thing I've found to top it with regard to all-around performance is something that hasn't been fully disclosed yet and I'm trying to duplicate.

Gear

You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something. --Stephen Adams

Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff has always been a valuable skill in all of life's activities. --Bwana

Now Ian, be honest. After all your hard work, you just threw something together and it worked like a charm and you can't remember how you made the wonder grease right?
That's about how my luck runs LOL!

Tim Malcolm

Mat 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Thomas Edward Lawrence

that's not funny tim.
I made up a huge batch of lube leftovers and couldn't duplicate if I wanted to.
I am scared to even try it in my rifles so it went directly to the lever guns.
it works very well in them, the diameter of the boolit helps, plus they all have fairly smooth barrels so it wasn't too hard to design [okay tweak the visc] a lube around their needs.
it's fairly simple to make a lube work in a 700 fps window with the same two powders and the same alloy.

oh birch.
you need a 453 diameter boolit and to soften the lube a little, it ain't making it past the relaxation point.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

that's not funny tim.

oh birch.
you need a 453 diameter boolit and to soften the lube a little, it ain't making it past the relaxation point.

Dang Lamar, I had meant to mention that a long time ago!

The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"

Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!

Now Ian, be honest. After all your hard work, you just threw something together and it worked like a charm and you can't remember how you made the wonder grease right?
That's about how my luck runs LOL!HA! I almost wish it was that way, but the truth is I had to upgrade from a 1" to a 3" three-ring binder to contain my notes and none of these have worked perfectly for all occasions yet. Maybe by the time you get caught up a bit we'll have it worked out and I'll make an extra batch for you along with the others that will be sent out to a few special people who have provided so much for this project.

Gear

You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something. --Stephen Adams

Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff has always been a valuable skill in all of life's activities. --Bwana

Boolit Bub Join DateNov 2012LocationMichiganPosts48

"oh birch.you need a 453 diameter boolit and to soften the lube a little, it ain't making it past the relaxation point."

That seems to be one of my biggest problems in this life--Making it past the relaxation point!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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