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There must be hundreds of bullet lubricants, yours sounds like the Darr lube.

Javalina is superposed to be 50/50 Bwax and Alox but it just flat does not work for me yet my own mix works great.

When I work with any new mould I try at least three or four different lubes, My Alox Mix, what I call MP1 and mix of my own and SPG. More times than not the Alox-Beeswax is the one.

When I bought the gallon of Alox I also bought a supple of Beeswax. I'll never run out of ether and I know when I add to the batch I'm using the same ingredients.


The only right lube is the one that works for you.

What do you guys pay for beeswax?

I have bees and I tend to give away the beeswax as it is a pain in the rear to clean.

Brent

Quite a range of prices there. Seems to be an unsettled market to be sure.

Your correct Mike. I used to use Emmert lube but forgot the formula. Also had some lube made from bees wax that developed some type of fungus... still worked OK. Some guys get pretty creative with there formulas. At one shoot I was at the guys lube smelled like "Saturday night in Waldron, Arkansas" I think it had lipstick in it.

Probably chapstick actually. Chapsticks of various types can make some very good lubes. One I liked was Minuteman lube. It was green, pepperminty, doubled for a chapstick when needed, and it shot really well. Not sure what was in it, but some sort of lip balm was supposed to be part of it.

Buck Emmert's Lube

1750 grains Beeswax
1368 grains Crisco Shortening (White)
328 grains Crisco or Wesson Vegetable Oil

Rounded this up off the net, I have no idea if any of it's right.

Bullet Lube Recipes
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Ideal Handbook #15
From the Ideal Handbook, ca. 1904:
Recipe #1: Three parts beeswax to two parts cylinder oil
Recipe #2: Vaseline with enough parafin as required to harden it
Recipe #3: Japan wax with sperm whale oil to soften it
Notes:
'Japan Wax' is the wax of the carnauba tree. Commonly used as ski wax.
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Horace Kephart's Lube
From the Ideal Handbook, ca. 1904:
"Melt over a slow fire three parts of of crude ozocerite and two parts vaseline. That is all there is to it. The proportions may be varied to suit individual notions; but I have found that the above compund needs no modification for any range of temperature that we have at St. Louis. "
From Sharpe:
"Horace Kephart's lubricant. Crude ozocerite, 3 parts; vaseline, 2 parts. Melt together in a double boiler. If too hard for your rifle, soften it by adding more vaseline." Notes:
Horace Kephart is the designer of the Kephart style of bullet.
Ozocerite is a mineral wax dug out of the ground like coal. The refined wax goes under the name cerasine. The refined version does not work as well as the crude.
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Tom Ballard
From a conversation with a friend:
"Half beeswax, half toilet wax"
This is what I was told when I found a coffee can marked 'Tom's Magic Lube' in a friends reloading room.
Notes:
Tom Ballard is a mould maker here in Montana
'Toilet Wax' is, I am told, the wax gasket applied when installing a toilet. Stranger things have been used.
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Niedner Mixture
From Sharpe's Handloading:
Japan Wax Acheson's graphite #1340
"To a half pound of of melted Japan Wax add four heaping tablespoons of powdered Acheson's graphite #1340. The melted mixture must not be too hot, and the graphite must be added a little at a time and stirred continuously. When the entire amount has been added, remove the mixture from the heat supply, and continue stirring. This is very important. If left to stand in a melted mixture the graphite will seperate from the wax.
Notes:
I have no idea about the Acheson's #1340
'Japan Wax' is the wax of the carnauba tree. Commonly used as ski wax.
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Herrick Mixture
From Sharpe's Handloading:
Japan Wax Beeswax Cylinder or castor oil
"...equal parts of beeswax and Japan wax with a small quantity of cylinder oil or castor oil, the latter added primarily to soften the mass...the smallest amount should be used. The oil will 'sweat out' if lubricated bullets or loaded cartridges are stored for several months."
Notes:
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Henry Beverage Lube
From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Yellow vaseline 2 oz. mutton tallow 4 oz. japan wax 10 oz. beeswax 6 oz. crude ozocerite 6 oz. gunslick grease 1 tube per 6 oz. of mixture
Notes:
Formula atrributed to Leopold
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Charlie Dell #36
From Shooter's Talk:
Lithium stearate - 1 part by weight 600W worm gear oil - 1 part beeswax - 1 part lanolin - 1 part synaceti - 1 part
Mix everything except the beeswax at about 400 degrees F. Mix will melt, then jell, then melt again. Pour in the melted beeswax and bring back up to heat until it all melts and no gel remains.
Notes:
Synaceti 125 is available from some candle shops and is a substitute for spermacetti.
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Charlie Dell #48
From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax - 10 parts by weight Peanut oil - 5 parts anhydrous lanolin - 4 parts lithium stearate - 5 parts gunslick grease - 1 tube per 6 oz. of mixture
The waxes and oils are melted together and allowed to cool until they just start to harden. Then the Li stearate is mixed in. It will look like tan mud. Reheat and keep raising the temp. stirring at frequent intervals. First it will start to gel and turn translucent, then will finally melt around 400F. It must be poured into moulds at this point because when the temp drops slightly it will gel again.
Notes:
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Charlie Dell #53
From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax 20 gm. anhydrous lanolin 5 gm. castile soap (Kirks) 2 gm. castor oil 5 gm.
Notes:
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Manny, Hil, & Metzler
From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Tallow 1 oz. ozocerite 2 oz. japan wax 2 oz. beeswax 5 oz. steam cyl. oil 1 oz.

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Leopold #245 - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Japan wax 4 1/2 oz. tallow 9 oz. ozocerite 1 1/2 oz. lye 1/2 oz. rosin 1/2 oz. water 8 oz.
Boil until froth disappears. Mix, boil with lye and water, cool and remove cake from water, wash and form into sticks for pump. High melting point, not for pan lube.
Notes:
This is probably typical of Leopolds formulas.
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Donaldson's Lube - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beef tallow 6 oz. beeswax 4 oz. rosin 2 oz.


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N.H. Robert's #1 - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax 6 oz. beef tallow 2oz steam cyl. oil 3 tsp.
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N.H. Robert's #2 - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Crude Ozocerite 1 part yellow beeswax 1 part Japan wax 1 part mutton tallow 1 part

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Roderick #1 Hard - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax 4 oz. mutton tallow 3 1/8 oz. Mobil 600 wt, steam cyl. oil 7/8 oz.
Notes:
For use at 80 deg. F and above
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Roderick #2 Medium - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax 3 1/8 oz. Mutton tallow 4 oz. Mobil 600 wt. steam cyl. oil 7/8 oz.
Notes:
For use between 55 and 80 deg. F
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Pope Lube - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Beeswax 2 oz. Bayberry wax 4 oz. mutton tallow 6 oz. steam cyl. oil 2 oz. Acheson graphite #1340 170 gr.

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Barry Darr #1 - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Paraffin 50% Vasaline 50% old RCBS case lube 1 tbs per lb. of mix
Notes:
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Barry Darr #2 - From the Cast Bullet Mailing List (CB-L):
Paraffin 50% Vasaline 50%
Notes:
Same as Barry Darr #1 but minus the RCBS case lube

Might as well toss in my own.

For black powder I'm using 6 parts beeswax to 4 parts lanolin to 2 parts peanut oil. Easy panlube keeps fouling soft and a good chapstick.

For smokeless I'll use the above or Felix's lube from the "Cast Boolit" board. or NRA alox.

Jerry Liles