Make Your Own Bullet Lube
Make Your Own Bullet Lube; Economically & Easily While Lubing Your Castings
By: Drew Joszku
Making your own bullet lube is simple, easy and inexpensive. Now, this is not the “end-all, be-all” guide as there are more homemade recipes than you can shake a proverbial “stick” at. There are some that range in cost, time, complexity and even color. This is something that I’ve done a good bit of research in and in talking to and reading numerous guides from people that have been doing this for generations, it was plainly conveyed to me on multiple occasions that there are really only two kinds; those that work and those that do not. At the base of that statement is truth, in my very humble opinion. A lot of this comes down to what you need, like and want. Also, if you want it to be cheap, quick or good…A lot of my engineer friends say that you can only pick two of the characteristics for almost anything you do in life. It can be cheap and good, quick and cheap or good and quick. For some reason, that makes sense to me in a lot of different ways. Nonetheless, onto the fun!
Smokeless Lube Recipe (Insert awesome and/or interesting name here):
Necessary Ingredients:
2 ounces of beeswax
0.8 fluid ounces of vegetable oil
Pot/Pan (I’d pick one up at the thrift shop and not pick the wife’s favorite one) or even a plastic top to a plastic jar or something similar (which I use and you can see below)
Funnel
Plastic or glass container (think Tupperware type or some glass without metal) that is widely open and easily accessible. Think something that is about 6” wide by 6” long and about 2” or more deep
Stovetop or microwave
Patience
OPTIONAL – You can add some food coloring if you’d like to better see the lube in the grooves but that’s per the makers taste
Necessary Steps:
Take your 2 ounces of beeswax (you can easily buy 5 or so ounces on places like Amazon for around a dollar or less each and they come weighing in at about 1 ounce each; making it easier for measuring, etc) and place it in the container you will be using. For this demo, I’m using a larger round plastic top for a plastic container. It is big enough to lube enough bullets and also sturdy enough when heated to keep things where they need to stay to avoid messes. If you are going to do this on a stove, you will need to use a pan and obviously, never, ever put metal in a microwave. While fun to watch, it’s very dangerous (I’ve heard, of course). Next, measure out about 0.8 to 1 fluid ounce of vegetable oil (IE: Cooking oil you’d use to fry and well, cook with). Now add this to the container with the beeswax. If you are adding some food coloring to this for any reason, now would be the time to do it. Now, place the container with the beeswax and cooking oil into the microwave or onto the stovetop and start heating it up. I’d recommend heating it up for about 5 minutes in the microwave and make sure to closely watch it. All microwaves are different and thus the time required to heat it to melt also differs.
Once you’ve melted the beeswax, carefully remove it from the microwave and let it cool for just a minute or so. Once it is starting to cool, begin to place your projectiles in the newly made lube. As the lube continues to cool, the lube will fill in the lube grooves and when you remove them, voila’…ready to be seated in a charged case.
Make sure you let the lube cool completely and once that occurs, you can start to remove the projectiles. One of the best things about this process (especially if you use something similar to me) is that you can just put the plastic lid or container into a Ziploc bag and reuse it by reheating it for a new batch of projectiles. Eventually you will need to add some more beeswax and cooking oil but its simple, easy and setup for convenience.
As with all articles on this site related to reloading, these are for informational purposes only. Any and all actions taken by the end user (IE: Reader) are the responsibility of said end user and not the author or website hosting this informal document.
Note: Drew Joszku is an accomplished writer as well as an expert reloader. Some of his articles can also be found on USACarry.
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