Liquid Alox bullet lube

[jtmattison]

Do any of ye'all use liquid alox to lube lead conicals?
Pre-lubed bullets such as Buffalo Bullet Co's Ball-ets and such have a sticky coating on them I assume is alox.
Just wondering if anyone lubes their own conicals with the stuff.

Huntin

 

[albert]

I use liquid alox on bullets for my 45-70,and have had good luck with it.I pour a little in a plastic butter dish and put in a few bullets and shake them around a while till they are coated,and then take them out and place on a sheet of wax paper to let dry. Wear rubber gloves,as it is quite messy,and don't have a lot of liquid in the dish,When the bullets dry, they aren't too sticky, unless you hold them a lot.

 

My own eperience with alox, conicals and black powder were aweful to even worse.
Seems to me I've read that alox is wonderful lube for smokeless, but not for black. Don't know fer sure.

 

Maxiball - You are right - Alox & it's combination with beewax as in normal high vel lubes by Lyman, Lee and RCBS are designed for smokeless powder. Alox and those mixes don't soften BP fouling like a good black powder lubes does. Lyman makes a good BP lube that is beesewax and some other chemical like neetsfoot oil, vaseline or some type of soap that does soften the BP fouling & it works well.
: A mix of 60% Beeswax, 40% vaseline(or neetsfoot oil) makes a GREAT BP lube, but will work in .45 and .50 cal ctgs., BP or smokeless, right up to 2,000fps.
: Presently, I have, but not tried yet, OxYoke lube for BP ctg. bullets, which is a hardened bore butter-type lube for a lube-sizer. I am certain it will be good. SPL or is it SPG? is another good bullet lube I have used & right now am using the comercial Lyman BP lube which seems to be as good as the homemade beeswax/vaseline lube.
: The requirements of a BP lube are very different than a smokeless lube. Alox is a smokeless lube although some guys do say they get good results with it in BP guns. I can only hope they don't try a real BP lube due to the increased accuracy and reduction of fouling they will get. They are, afterall, in competition with me - perhaps. Being able to shoot 50 rounds without reduced accuracy is what real BP lubes are all about. The NRA and other alox-blend (or solo like Lee) lubes are not BP lubes, & were designed for smokeless powder only.
Daryl

 

[jtmattison]

Here's the grand prize question...What does buffalo bullet Co. lube their conicals with?
It is a very sticky lube and it DOES keep BP fouling soft.
According to my research the only thing I can come up with is that it is alox.
PLEASE someone tell me what it is ::

Daryl,
I was told and have also read that any petroleum based lube is a big no no for BP shooting. Your vaseline lube should fit that category but you say it is great.
I use olive oil/beeswax lube and it is great.

The reason I ask about alox is that if Buffalo bullets are lubed with it and it works so good I want to use it on shallow grooved bullets like Lee REAL's.

Lee recommends their liquid alox for bullets such as minnies which as we know have very shallow grooves.

More fuel for the fire...what do you think?

Huntin

 

[Deadeye]

Many times I've read all the BS about Alox and BP and that's just what it is. I've used the NRA formula of 50/50
alox and beeswax for many many yrs. In Bp cartridge and conicals in muzzleloaders with complete sucess. Accurate,
can shoot about 15 shots without cleaning (with conicals)
before fouling gets heavy enough to make it harder to load.
It's soft and sticky but still the best lube I've found.
Haven't used the liquid but should be the same.

 

[jtmattison]

Here's a little info I found on alox:

Alox Corporation, P.O. Box 517, Niagara Falls, NY 14303
Ph: (716) 282-1295, Fax: (716) 282-2289
Comments: Alox Corp. main business is in the production of commercial rust preventatives. Alox produces Alox 2138F (solid) and Alox 606-55 (liquid), among other products. Several years ago the NRA experimented with bullet lubricants and determined that a 50/50 mix of Alox 2138F and pure beeswax made an excellent lubricant. This is referred too as made

 

My findings with alox lubes with BP loads in ctg. rifles is in line with what Paul Mathews also found with them when trying to mix them with BP.
: I found poor accuracy and fouling very hard and dry. The valseline beewax did work perfectly, but I've now read from Paul Mathews that neetsfoot oil(not compound) is even better.
; The Buffalo Bullets I have do not have alox on them. It is a sticky white lube & I have no idea what it's compositon is. It does seem to work. Hornady uses the same stuff on their packaged bullets that I tried in the .50-70.
; I don't know why the vaseline works, perhaps due to it's wetness. RCBS or Lyman/Lee NRA stick lubes for the lube sizer is the mix that didn't work for me at all.
: A good 'test' is after firing 5 shots with Black Powder loads, run a dry patch down the bore. It should push out ALL of the fouling down to bright steel. I found the alox blends left a dry crusty fouling that took a water solution to break down & remove. Bullets recovered that had had alox lube showed cuts all over from the fouling and riding down on top of the fouling, not holding the rifling. I have heard of people getting good accuracy with smokeless alox lubes & BP, but my own experiences with it prevent me from ever trying it again. For me, the NRA lubes didn't even work well with smokeless loads. In the .45-70, .50-70 & .50 Alaskan, the SPG and Vas/Beeswax worked right up to 2,000fps. LBT Blue worked right up to 2,700fps in the .375.
; For those interested in finding a really good BP lube, read Paul Mathews books on BP ctg. shooting. He talks of several that meet the 1 dry patch test. He also couldn't get as good accuracy with alox and BP.
; Deadeye, perhaps you're using Pyrodex or 777? These are smokeless powders formulated to act like BP.