questions about bees wax lube (noobie question)

While waiting for my bees wax to arrive I got to thinking about the recipe that I plan to try. Pan lube by the way.
50% bees wax
40% lard/crisco
10% veg/olive oil

How are these measured, by weight or volume? And as a side note, how many projectiles can I lube with the three pounds of wax I have coming??

I am to load for 45 acp, 38 spl, and 8mm mauser. Will this mix work for them all?

I weighed several different kinds and sizes of bullets before and after lubing. It ranged from 500-1500 bullets per 1.5oz stick, so that would be roughly 5000-15000 bullets per pound of lube.
Sounds like a fairly soft lube and it should work as long as you don't push the velocity too high on the 8mm. Let us know how it works.

The 8mm is a gas check design. Maybe a better question to ask is, what would be a better lube and why?

That is a very good question. There are soo many different lube recipies and ingredients out there that it can get a little overwhelming. You should be able to find several good recipies on this forum. I'm not suggesting that the recipie you have listed is not a good one. It looks like it would make a good Black Powder lube, and should do a fairly decent job on smokless also. You won't know until you pull the trigger on it Some guys like soft lubes, other hard, I like mine somewhere in the middle. You might try making a few variations on it in small batches. Maybe try keeping the crisco and oil the same while adding increasing amounts of BeesWax. Take notes and write down your findings so you can look back later and repeat the one you like. Then try shooting 10-20 rounds of each and see how your barrel looks and if there is a change in accuracy...
I weigh my ingredients on a digital postal scale so I can make it the same everytime.

Boolit Master Join DateMar 2010LocationMichiganPosts495

Hello, elgin. Thats going to be a soft lube, with nearly 50% lard/crisco and 10% oil..something I would use for black powder loads, and I see your area gets warm in summer! Watch out with Crisco..friend ruined a nice barrel when his wife ran out of reg. & he substituted the butter flavor..contains salt..as does your lard.
For the past twenty something years, my lube is beeswax base + anhydrous lanolin. + castor oil.
For B.P. I have mixed up B.W.+ mutton tallow & castor oil. This lube mixing can become as addictive as shooting!

i'm in the play dough feeling lube, camp too.
something that feathers out between my fingers and is slightly sticky.
if it gets past the throat, transitions past the relax point in the barell and flings off at the muzzle.
it is gonna shoot well and leave the barell pretty clean.

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.

3 lbs. of beeswax makes a lot of lube. If it were me I, wouldn't use any more than 1 lb., and prolly less, when making up a new lube. If the lube works out ok, then you can up the ingredients for a larger batch.

I too think your proposed lube will be pretty soft and I'm a confirmed K.I.S.S. advocate so I tend to go with two or three component lubes, my favorites being "Speed Green" (my version, w/2 ingredients) and Lithabee (just 2 ingredients). I would start with a 2 ingredient lube and add ingredients as I felt the need. (I start with beeswax and track how much other stuff I add, stopping and checking the consistance/hardness and adding more stuff until the lube is "just right". Keep notes just like reloading.)

For percentages/amounts, I'd use a measuring cup to measure melted components...

Thanks for the replies. I'll make small batches untill I find the right formula. I think I have some graduated medicine cups around here somewhere, that should work.

2 oz's of bees wax makes enough lube for 500-1,000 boolits depending on the groove [s] size.

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.

2 oz's of bees wax makes enough lube for 500-1,000 boolits depending on the groove [s] size. Oh yeah! I just wish I got 1/10 the mileage out of powder and primers that I do from a pound of BW!!!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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