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bjornborud
There has been so much writing and arguing about bullet lubes and their performance, but not so much evidence as to which lube really works at high velocities. Since HV is one of the main objectives of the XCB cartridge (which the 310-165 bullet was designed for), an effective lube is paramount, and I wanted to see what different lubes would do when tested against each other. Today I loaded up and shot the following lubes: White Label 2500+, Randy Rat’s Tac1, Bullshop’s Lotak, Felix Lube, and 2 versions of the Soap Lube (68.1 and 68.3) from the Lube Quest thread on Cast Boolits. (Disclosure: I am not sponsored by any lube manufacturer. I purchased 2500+ and Lotak from the manufacturers at regular retail price, Tac1 was sent to me from Goodsteel, and the remaining 3 lubes (Felix, 68.1 and 68.3) were generously donated to me by Geargnasher).
I purposely picked a load that would put the lubes to the test. Larry Gibson recently posted about shooting above 2700 fps with 43 grains of LeveRevolution powder, so I picked this exact load for my test, shooting it in my XCB rifle. My shooting regimen was as follows: I cleaned the barrel before each string, with 1 patch Ed’s Red and 1 dry patch. I then shot 2 foulers, same lube as the string to come. Then I shot a 10-shot group. 2 of the lubes gave such large groups that I stopped at 5 shots. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Is this a conclusive test? I doubt it, but it does give an indication of what a lube is capable of when pushed to its limits. I have no doubt that ALL these lubes perform great under “normal” circumstances, but that’s not what I was looking for, and I think the results were interesting to say the least.
bjornborud-
Replies
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tommeboy
TacX from RandyRat. I had a problem with mine using it running out of lube. I think. But this 165gr mould carries more lube . On mine I may have ran into problem with mine when I ran some bullets at 0.309″ I feel that may have led to the leading at the muzzle on mine. I have not had any since.
Pinsnscrews
Larry, it may seem like an odd thought, but with your past thread on LeveRevolution Powder, and your prior pressure readings, I wonder if it would be possible to run that same pressure testing with the lubes to see if anything changes. You have a good baseline for how and where that powder peaks at, it might be interesting to see if the lubes actually have an effect on where that powder peaks. It might, in my thinking, show if a lube if a lube is failing bu sticking, causing the pressure to increase at an earlier or later point in the curve. Or if a lube is working extra well by keeping the pressure on par to your prior testing. It might also correlate to what Gear is suggesting as a flyer “purging” lube, as I would think that would increase pressure slightly as the “lube build up” would cause the pressure to deviate from the prior bullets. At least it might show consistency amongst the lubes, or it might not show anything at all.
Am I making any sense or chasing that damn rabbit like Alice?
Larry Gibson
ianharris
Comparing the internal ballistics of various lubes would be very valuable in my estimation as well, particularly if each lube was tested starting from a cool, clean barrel and the test string fired rapidly enough to heat the barrel significantly.
I would be willing to contribute some of my soap lube to the test if anyone else wants to see how it compares to the others, and if there are any significant internal ballistic differences with it. SL-68 has been less prone to flyers than SL-68.1, and I consider it a better lube, but it all depends on what one wants to look for in the testing.
We can do accuracy tests any day, but the opportunity to see pressure traces correlating with the group firing order along with the targets is a generous and rare one and something that can add some degree of verification to some common theories about lube.
Gear
Be glad to test your soap lube along with the others. I’ve already eliminated 3 of the lubes because they are not readily or no longer available. I will conduct the test as previously mentioned (clean, cold bore then 5 foulers and then the 10 shot test at 100 yards for accuracy with both fouler and test shots being also tracked on target) with the focus being accuracy at high velocity (2600 fps from 14″ twist .308W) with the 30 XCB bullet.
After the 15 shots are fired in 15 – 20 minutes (I usually wait 1 minute minimum between shots during a test as such) the barrel is quite warm. Given such a rifle is most often not fired at any faster rate for very many more rounds in heating up the barrel the results of the initial accuracy test should answer the question. However, if it does not, an additional test could be done with the top 2 or 3 lubes easy enough. Such a test of lubes that demonstrate poor accuracy to begin with would be a waste of effort, money and, in particular, barrel life by shooting fast enough to the point of “significant heating” (assuming that would be the point where the barrel is too hot to touch? That’s what “significant” infers to me.) of the barrel.
If you want me to test the SL-68.1 lube I’d be glad to. I believe you have my old address so PM me for my current Arizona address.
Larry Gibson
SwedeNelson
I’ll see about cooking up another batch of SL-68 this weekend. That recipe doesn’t represent perfection, but I think it’s representative of what a decent soap lube can do at high velocity. I’ll also send some of the 68.1 that Bjorn tested in case you would like to see if you can duplicate the purge flyers and discover if the pressure traces show anything significant about them.
A word about soap lubes: I am still in hot pursuit of what I call “Extreme Bullet lube”, in the spirit of Hodgdon’s “Extreme” series of powders which demonstrate little sensitivity to temperature. I want a lube that works in any gun, on any bullet style, and in any weather with no first-shot flyers. Low-velocity performance with low smoke is as important to me as hot storage capability or first-shot predictability when hunting in really cold weather. This lube wasn’t specifically formulated for HV use, it was formulated to meet a long and specific list of criteria, HV and cleanliness in gas-operated semi-automatics with no fade in extremely hot, fast shooting strings among them. Strict HV testing is but one thing a lube must pass for me to consider it for general use, but it’s an important one. For testing one bullet design at what’s generally considered pretty extreme velocity, the tests outlined are more than adequate to evaluate which one is best for that specific purpose, and I agree fully with one shot per minute rate of fire for a bench gun being a sufficient test of heat fade.
I would suggest the use of a quality Nylon bore brush and good flood of solvent in addition to the normal wet/dry patching for cleaning between lubes, some of the metal salts and light synthetic oils in these various formulas really soak in to the metal when it’s warm and can react poorly with each other. You wouldn’t believe the mess that TnT lube will make of a “clean” bore previously well-seasoned with a lithium-based bullet lube!
Hopefully Javelina 50/50 didn’t get the axe simply because it’s out of production, I’ve found Lyman’s Alox lube to be almost as good, and I think a lot of us would like to see how the NRA formula compares with other lubes in your test, particularly with this bullet’s groove configuration.
Gear
frankelliott
Gear,
Can you disclose at what temp. your lube melts at? It sounds interesting. I pan lube exclusively and in 1990 I tried a soap based lube formula but, had to give it up because when you remelted it after mixing, it didn’t remelt until 350 deg. and smoked the house up when that temp. was reached.Frank
rickkelter
Hopefully Javelina 50/50 didn’t get the axe simply because it’s out of production, I’ve found Lyman’s Alox lube to be almost as good, and I think a lot of us would like to see how the NRA formula compares with other lubes in your test, particularly with this bullet’s groove configuration. Gear
Gear, since Javelina is unobtanium if it’s still needed for this testing I’ll be happy to ship you a few sticks.
I’ve got four sticks of the original:
Javelina Alox 2138F beeswax (NRA Formula)
Javelina Products
San Bernardino, CA
tommeboy
Larry Gibson
Pinsnscrews
ianharris
SwedeNelson
frankelliott
rickkelter
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