Wax Coating on Lead Bullets

Boy, the internet is absolutely LOUSY with recipes for bullet lubes...

One I use for my black powder minnie balls:

http://www.castbullet.com/makeit/lube.htm

Excerpt from Lyman Bullet Making Guide:

• Lubricating: Casting bullets are designed with lubricating grooves around their circumference. These grooves must be filled with a suitable lubricant to prevent barrel leading and maximize accuracy. Lyman Alox Bullet Lubricant is generally recommended for this purpose.

Alox is aluminum oxide and; from what I can tell, is what all the manufacturer's bullet lube products are based on.

Thanks for replys, but I am looking for a different product. The lube that goes in a cast bullet groove is not suitable for a full bullet coating. I am looking for a coating to put on swaged bullets with no bullet grove. I am looking for something like a moly coating or a boron nitride with a wax base. I had seen a ceramic nitride boron spray in chain lubrication, but can not find a place to get it in volume.

Thanks for the help. I had seen the site did not see them as a volume dealer or see the looking to expand comment. That is what happens when you do dirty research, thanks again.

semper fi diddy

you might try St. Gobain as a source for the boron nitride. in my opinion it would be hard to beat the boron nitride... but if you are considering it you probably already know its properties... good luck!

• go directly to the source for most of the minor bike oil companies...check out www.maxiglide.com. they are suppliers for NATO and US Army. Liquid wax based bullet lubrication containing synthetic oils, moly, lithium and a static neutralized PTFE. Does not build-up in barrel, actually prevents dirt and carbon accumulation.
  

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=hp&q=rifle+%2Bbullet+%2Blubrication+%2Bwax&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=rifle+%2Bbullet+%2Blubrication+%2Bwax&fp=7310e1b076ed5f89

I have recently learned from CR4 blog about application of liquid glass to protect items from corrosion. It is recent development under Nano technology and not very expensive. You may search in googles.

lewie, is there anything you can tell us that's not proprietary information with your process as to why you're going in this direction in coating bullets?

Sure, I have no secrets, just want a better product for customers. We currently offer cast bullets that have a lube groove and function well. The biggest problem with a cast bullet is air. The weight difference that occurs with cast bullets is not acceptable to some shooters, the answer here is swaged bullets, the weight becomes very consistant with this process. The problem now is you can not swage in a lube grove and adding a canilure is not adequate for our standards. Therefore we want to offer a swaged "coated" bullet. I have looked at powder coatings, no benefit there other than a pretty coating, I have looked at epoxies, super slow messy process, even thin film flourocarbons, seem great just can't find an appropriate application process. While we don't have trade secrets we also don't do gimmicks, the application must be benificial not just cosmetic. Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for responding. I don't work in this field for a living, but ballistics and firearm engineering are my engineering avocations/hobbies. I appreciate folks trying to improve the technology. I have some more comments/queries I'll pass along when I get a few moments.

No ideas on the subject, but I assume you need something which will not gum up the riflings in the barrel, and could dissolve with Hoppees #9 when you clean the weapon?

Bill

I use Lee's liquid alox with success on my wheel weight cast 9mm 125 grain projectiles. I also use it on my moderate loads for a 310 grain .44 mag with gas checks. I have also used spray molybdenum disulfide with success. The spray is wasteful, but there may be liquid applications available. What alloy are you swaging? What velocities and chamber pressures are the projectiles designed for?

Have you looked at this patent? http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/3984599/claims.html

The substances described are to be used for drawing metal which would certainly qualify as an extreme pressure/high heat situation.

The only wax coated non cast bullets I have dealt with are swaged lead bullets used in low pressure rounds like .22LR, 38 Spl and 45 Long Colt.

I don't know what the big time manufacturers like Speer and Hornady use, but I'll bet it doesn't cost very much.

Corbin sells "Dip Lube" see here: http://www.corbins.com/lead.htm#cdl that would seem to meet your requirements. Corbin sells to commercial bullet makers and ammunition loaders so they may be reasonable if you buy in bulk.

Not knowing what you have already eliminated, I hesitate to spend much time looking.

Have FUN!
TT3

I have tried the Corbin lube and while acceptable the application is to slow. We are going to be pushing 1 million per month through and the dry time is to slow with the Corbin product. I have tried several epoxies and flourocarbon combinations but in all products to get the friction down (decreased leadind) the product suffers in application. The appsolutly best product I have used so far was a product from Wearlon but it had a 24hr dry time. If that product had a fast dry time and easy application you would not see cooper plated bullets on the market anymore. Thanks for your efforts.

I would check with Corbin and see if they think the unthinned material could be applied in a heated bath. If that were possible, you could either dip or run the bullets through the lube on a conveyor of some sort. The immersion time would only have to be long enough to ensure good coverage and the cooling time would = drying time. If the bullets were cold upon being immersed, the coating should set within seconds.

The lube could be pumped into a recirculating waterfall and the conveyor run through it like the chocolate coating is put on cookies. The constant circulation keeps the lube mixed and since there is no spraying, there should be very little spray to control. Coating thickness would be controlled by the temperature of the lube and the bullets.

Do I get a discount when you start production?

Have FUN!
TT3