New Dry Boolit Lube

[Josh Smith]

Part I

Hello,

I was playing around with some different lubes today. I came up with this:

Yes, it's "evil black".

It works very well - no matter how bad I mess up a bullet - undersize, oversize, whatnot - I still cannot get any leading, just a bit of powder fouling that comes out easily with a bore snake.

It's made from copper and graphite and used in a tumble lube process that keeps the graphite trapped and everything clean.

Here's how it's done:

1. Visit your local auto parts store.

2. Buy Copper Coat. It's used to coat head gaskets and contains copper in an excellent carrier base which dries quickly.

3. Buy ultra fine powdered graphite.

4. Put the bullets to be lubed into a pan and spray the copper coat onto them, and shake the pan for even coating. I am using disposable aluminum bread pans.

5. Immediately dump them into a container that can be shaken. I have a largish yogurt container I'm using.

6. Sprinkle a bit of graphite onto them.

7. Shake.

8. Check to see if coating is complete; add if needed. Don't go overboard.

9. Pour back into pan to let dry for 30 minutes.

10. Pour into another pan lined with paper towels. Shake back and forth. This removes any excess graphite; there should not be a lot at all.

If anyone else wishes to experiment with this, I'd love to hear feedback. I'm having accuracy issues with these cast boolits; it's a new mould and accuracy drops off beyond 15 yards or so. If someone has an established load they can try this on and report back, I'd love to hear about it.


Part II

Use less. That was the original application, and I added too much graphite. It should be just a light dusting.

<span style="font-style: italic">Best application as compared to a .22LR bullet, which also uses a graphite suspension.</span>

Makes it prettier and cuts down on bore ash even more.

Remember folks, smokeless powder has graphite for flowing properties. I wouldn't really worry about it hurting the bore (there have been some questions here and on some other boards, PMed and posted). J.S


Part III

Ok, improved the loads so the groups are now improved.

1. Got consistency going with the alloy. The bullets weigh 230gn +/- 1gn (best I could do) and I rejected <span style="font-style: italic">everything</span> that wasn't as perfect as I could make it.

2. Reduced the powder charge to 4.9gn +/- .1gn.

3. Switched to Fed 155 primers.

4. And I believe this is the biggie - I did away with the Lee FCD. No crimp is on this these things, and it looks like it was taking the bullets down from my preferred .452" to .451" or so. I didn't feel contact but examined the cases very closely - there was a bit of a spot where it contacted.

Baseline accuracy with this pistol (my own, built on an RIA frame and slide) is 1.5" at 25 yards with Speer Gold Dot, 230gn.

Here are the results of the bullets coated with Alox:

<span style="font-weight: bold">One, 10 shot group was fired. I had two fliers: one was me and marked as such, and the other, I don't know. There are nine shots on target.</span>

Here are the results of the JS Lube (I'm calling it that for lack of a better name):

<span style="font-weight: bold">Two, five shot groups were fired simply because I <span style="font-style: italic">could</span> get actual groups. One flier, and that was called. I shot while coming out of recoil.</span>

I should be able to reduce these groups even more once I get the alloy just right, and more importantly, consistent from lot to lot. These groups were fired from the same lot of bullets.

I'd like to see if others have the same results, as well as the reduced leading.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[Josh Smith]

Re: New Dry Boolit Lube

Part IV

Hello,

I found a way to speed up the process, blend the ingredients better and make it better adhere to the bullet.

In handling these now, I am not getting any black on my hands. This comes from handling them to box, and in reloading 50 last night.

I'll release the refined process <span style="font-style: italic">if</span> there's interest and <span style="font-style: italic">if</span> the rounds don't leave lead in the barrel after test firing these 50 today.

They do not look good in macro photos; they are flat pretty when seen in person. A nice, shiny black color.

Josh

Part V

The results of firing 50 rounds, 25 or so of which are on this target

<span style="font-style: italic">All the target reflects is a point of aim this time around, as I know how my pistol will shoot. Range on this was 30yds.</span>

I only set up the target to have something to aim at so that I wouldn't feel like I was wasting components. It was waaaay too hot to go prone. Could have fried an egg out there and I could barely touch my magazines which had been laying in the sun (no good shade).

Firing 50 rounds was not any more dirty than firing five rounds - I checked every five rounds to see how dirty it was getting. I had a small strip of lead exactly <span style="font-style: italic">once</span>, and that was most likely due to a bullet with a flaw I shouldn't have let get by.

This makes the pistol less dirty than before the refined process, and I was able to clean the bore with two passes of a <span style="font-style: italic">dry</span> bore snake.

If anyone wants a group, I'll shoot one rested at 25 yards when it cools off. I expect two or three inches as indicated by other, rested groups.

The experiment seems to be a success in cleanliness however.

Refined method, should you want to play around with it:

1. Spray bullets with Copper Coat.

2. Put in a container and shake a bit.

3. Add powdered graphite and shake. Do not let the Copper Coat dry beforehand.

4. Check to see that everything is coated in a decent manner.

5. Put in a rotary (not vibratory) tumbler for 30 minutes or so it takes the copper coat to dry. The tumbler should be lined on the bottom and around the sides with paper towel. This will allow the excess to come off and a more even coat to be distributed.

Josh

P.S. A coffee can made up the same way, rolled around a bit, will have the same effect if you lack the rotary tumbler. J.S.