Soy Wax Mix

[Navy Six]

After reading the last few posts about soy wax, I decided to try some. I purchased the soy wax flakes and noticed they were kind of hard and crumbly, contrasting my wife's soy wax candles which are much softer. Researching into the candle making process I discovered that for every pound of the soy wax, 1 oz. (by weight) of scented oil is added. This oil is no doubt what softens it. As I plan to make lube pills out of thin sheets, I will be adding some type of oil, probably neatsfoot or castor oil, in order to make a lube that is easier to punch pills out of. I will probably do this in a couple weeks as right now I am experimenting with lube that is some combination of beeswax and either the neatsfoot or castor oil.

[ShotgunDave]

I look forward to hearing your findings.

[Lyle]

I went shooting today. When I left home it was 75. When I got home it was 85. About half way through my shooting the soy wax pills I made started to soften. They became so soft that they would deform when I inserted them in the cylinder. I had them on my shooting bench it is possible that the sun affected them more than the temperature. I put them in the trunk and switched to lubed wads. I use pure soy wax in my pills.

[Navy Six]

Lyle, if I understand your previous post, it appears you are making a "pill" shape out of the soy wax. What I am trying to do looks more like a flat, round disc--like the shape(and thickness) of a dime which I will cut out of the flat sheet using an appropriate sized cartridge case. Looking at the soy wax I just received I didn't think that was possible as the small flakes actually crumbled in my hand. Maybe my assumption is wrong as I have yet to try melting the wax, as I usually do, in a pan of water. Anyway, I am retired and enjoy experimenting with different lubes. About two weeks ago I purchased two new Uberti 58 Remingtons. These are my first Remingtons and I was aware of the reputation they have for fouling issues. I mixed up a batch of 60/40 beeswax/castor oil(from Paul Matthews book) which I placed under the ball. Long story short, both Remingtons ran smoothly for 30 rounds apiece, the only attention was a quick cylinder face wipe with Ballistol/water after each cylinder full. This particular 60/40 ratio is a bit softer than Gatofeo's lube, so it would need to be a bit stiffer in order to make my intended lube discs.
My wife is giving me her camera and I swear I am going to learn how to post pictures of these things!!!

[Lyle]

I use the term pill to refer that it is a solid piece of wax, not something that is smeared on like Crisco. I melted the wax in a double boiler then poured  it in a metal pie pan. I made mine to thick on the first pour. About 1/4 to 3/8 inch probably would be better. I then cut them with a .357 case. The fact that some crumbling took place didn’t have any effect on the usefulness of the pills.

[Lyle]

This is a picture of the pills.

[Navy Six]

One more thing I need to remember also came out of Paul Matthews book(on lubes for BPCR): he mentions obtaining some castor WAX(not the oil) which is not easily obtained and is very hard and brittle. He was about to dismiss it as one of his ingredients until mixing up a small batch and extruding it through a lube ribbon machine. According to Matthews, this extruding process "breaks down it's crystalline structure" and it becomes a "stiff bodied, pliable, sticky bullet lubricant". He warns never to dismiss a component until it has been extruded.

[Navy Six]

Well, after playing around with different mixtures, I believe I found something that will work for me. I realize the original intention was to find something that could be used alone, but the soy wax flakes I bought were like shredded coconut but even smaller. The flakes just crumbled when handling them and melting into a thin sheet proved much too brittle. I finally added about 10% each of neatsfoot oil and mutton tallow. This gave a firm but pliable consistency that I feel will work as rubbing a little between my fingers gave a nice slippery/greasy residue. Rain is forecast for the next three days so I will have to wait till then try this out. 

[Navy Six]

OK, I finally made it to the range today with a couple of .36 Navies. Shot about 30 rounds each using 18 grs 3F Olde Enysford, the above mentioned soy wax mix(80/10/10 mix of soy wax/ mutton tallow/neatsfoot oil) under a .375 round ball. Temperature was about 60. Arriving home and inspecting the barrels showed somewhat less than my normal fouling. The big surprise came when I shoved one dry patch down the barrel and the fouling felt soft and pushed right out. You probably could have called it done with that one patch but of course I didn't. I have heard others describe that type of soft fouling residue and always thought they were exaggerating a bit. One trial proves nothing of course but I believe I will continue the soy wax experiments.

[ShotgunDave]

Sounds like an excellent outcome NS. I still need to try this, if for no other reason than it's cheaper than SPG.

[Lyle]

I made a new batch of soy wax pills today. Because of the softness of the previous pills in our heat I added beeswax to the mix. I use three parts soy wax to one part beeswax. I am in the process of cutting them now. I hope to take them shooting tomorrow or Friday. The temperature is forecast to be 94 tomorrow and 98 on Friday. We will see if the mixture works better in the heat.

[Lyle]

I went shooting on Thursday. The soy wax/beeswax mixture is better in the heat. I don’t think the barrel was as clean as with pure soy wax but the cylinder and action were just as smooth as before. There was no binding or drag when the revolver was cocked. This may be my wax mixture in the future. This mixture was easier to work with when I was cutting them out.