White Lightning Bullet Lube

[omgb]

I dont suppose you would pass your recipe on those thise of us seeking enlightenment?

[Kurt]

Sorry, but no.
It's not mine to give away.

[JonnyV]

Wow.

[kwilliams]

I do not use or need lube, but if there is no patent or trademark whats the big deal about sharing the ingredients? The exact formula mix ratio would be tweaked by users anyways. I do not see this as any different from sharing info learned by others that are no longer with us. Sounds to me the lube works, and the privy users want to keep the secrete advantage to themselves. To believe that this is the worlds "best" lube in all range situations is a case of deceiving yourself."
kw

[Kurt]

Dan did not directly say what the mix was but he left a lot of hints like you can eat it, women can put it on their lips and no animal fats, things like this and other trials and errors he mentioned.I'm not sure if I even have the paper work I wrote this down anymore it's been a long time since I had lubeaoholic for making this stuff I quit using it for PP loads a long time ago.

Dan and I had some hard words when I disagreed with him sometimes but I respected him and things were put aside through the PM's. I worked with Engineers during my Construction and Plumbing trades that they don't like the guy out in the field questioning what he put on paper sometimes.

[JonnyV]

Dan did not directly say what the mix was but he left a lot of hints like you can eat it, women can put it on their lips and no animal fats, things like this and other trials and errors he mentioned.I'm not sure if I even have the paper work I wrote this down anymore it's been a long time since I had lubeaoholic for making this stuff I quit using it for PP loads a long time ago.

Dan and I had some hard words when I disagreed with him sometimes but I respected him and things were put aside through the PM's. I worked with Engineers during my Construction and Plumbing trades that they don't like the guy out in the field questioning what he put on paper sometimes.

There aren't enough clues left to even come up with an ingredient list. We can make pretty good guesses on some of them, but nothing definitive. All of Dan's posts prior to 2014 have been deleted.

I get that you two might not have got along, but keeping his recipe to yourself and hiding behind this ruse of "clues" is pretty low. Dan is gone, and this recipe would likely be his longest lasting impact on the sport, if not for folks trying to bury it.

[RB1Shooter]

I don't think you need all the exact ingrediants, just the "active" ingrediants. A couple years ago I read a number of "posts" DT made from folks who copied and saved them. They are out there and the key "active" ingredients are mentioned or kind of anyways. The key to recognizing them is to understand how/why they work. DT may have explained this in his lost forever posts but, for some reason, I don't believe he did. He left that to the reader to discover.

There are a number of written papers on various lube recipes but, there is one paper, in particular, that gives the reader DT insight and makes Dan's "hints" clear. It doesn't confirm DT's ingredients but, provides a path to follow in determining which are possibilities and which aren't. Also, more reading is required, outside the shooting realm, with logical thought processes applied, to piece the puzzle together.

The question was asked, why wouldn't one just share it for posterity? Each of us has his or her motives in life with respect to what will or will not be given away. Why did DT not openly provide a formula? Could it be that's the same or similar reasons others have not? In my case, I am convinced I know the "active" ingredients and for me, it was a 2 year discovery project in which I learned a great deal about lube ingredient properties. Consequently, it is a secret I am not willing to freely share or at least for the moment. Maybe someday but, until then try, "oil from a young deer, boiled in sperm whale oil, with a bit of lambs wool mixed in to thicken, " and who knows, I am probably wrong but so far, my lube speaks differently.

HINT: I believe, DT's goal was to make the best BPCR anti-fouling/leading bullet lube which, could be used in all types of climate conditions without breaking down. Don't get hung up in his objectives or you may end up on a dead end road.

Happy Hunting

[Kurt]

OK, I will let you guys decipher Dans hints.

He mentioned that women can put it on their lips.
And he said looking for binders (wax) that will not break down with oil and heat.
And he also mentioned dirt wax.
This let me think what is used for lipstick. Well doing some search and I found that Ozokerite wax was a binder for lipstick and it has a high melting point temperature and oils don't break it down.
Then Hydrocarbon oils and oil waxes where mentioned.

My believe this lube was formulated using cosmetic oils or creams of sort that made the high cost he mentioned.
Like I said I don't know what he used but what I used worked very well with the OZ wax and there are several different types that have different melting points and absorption rates.

When I used lube I used the OZ wax for the binder. It has a melting point from 135ºF to 212ºF
This is what OZ wax looks like that I used.

IMG_1356.jpeg

and this is what my last block of the lube I made looks like. and it's over 10 years old

IMG_1353.jpeg

[JonnyV]

That's more helpful...

For sure in the recipe:
Ozokerite wax
Meadowfoam seed oil

Likely in the recipe:
Peanut oil
Kokum butter

Maybe in the recipe:
Anhydrous lanolin (very small amount)
Saponified peanut oil

For sure not in the recipe:
Animal fats/tallows/lard
Crisco
Spermaceti
Beeswax
Canola/rapeseed oil

[VectorMan]

The cold hard facts are Dans exact recipe is lost.

Nobody knows exactly what he used, and they don't know exactly the mixture.

There are those that allude they do, but they don't. They have opinions formed from hints from Dan.

"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance." Plato

I do know if I had a lube that worked, and a shooter inquired about it I would have no issues as to put it out on this forum as to what I used and the mixture.

KA

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Kevin you’re absolutely right,

The recipe for White lighting is lost with Dan’s passing, we can now only guess.

Two of the known components are Ozokerite Wax and Meadowfoam seed oil. The wax I know for sure as Dan did once share that with me, he also once told me to stay the hell away from soy wax. I told him I would just buy white lighting instead. We both laughed on that, our conversations were often in the pits at Raton or Phoenix. Plus many nights in the cabins at Raton.

The meadowfoam seed oil is obviously in the lube he mentioned and praised it often in his writings, the lube I have smells like peanut butter. Obviously it has some amount of peanut oil in it, I would say 100% on that Friends I know had it chemically analyzed and mentioned a stearate in it but not identified. Dan does mention Kokum and it is eatable, and often mentioned in Asian cooking. Right up Dan’s alley. My guess is kokum butter is definitely in white lighting probably 80% sure of it.


As to what % these are, well that’s anyone’s guess.

I talked with Dan the day of his passing, I was still convalescing from my broken leg in Lusk. Dan was on a tangent of patching to groove vrs patching to bore diameter. He wanted me to dig more into Frank Hyde’s writings for any information. I had previously discussed that the overlap on the bullet base with no tail was an invention of Hyde’s often called the Hyde base method. Which I have always gave Him credit for. Dan and I had simply rediscovered it.

I think our dual diameter designs from Jim and Arnie and my design from their help would have been a normal progression had Dan lived longer.

My always sharing of what I have learned would have been a different outlook. The recipe would have been in my safe, along with instructions, if I had taken to commercial level. And also give to several friends, only to be used if I had passed.

In the end I am pretty darn sure of these things about white lighting

Ozokerite Wax 100% sure of it, and I have some of Kurt’s lube to compare it too, his is harder probably too much Ozokerite wax compared to white lighting, it’s very close.
Meadowfoam oil, 90% sure of it he mentioned it too much.
Peanut oil, 50% sure of it in his early writing he mentioned it.
Kokum butter, 80% sure it’s mentioned by Dan and others.

I have two different friends working on a similar type of lube, time will tell. I had entertained the idea of making it myself. But Dan did once mention a large kitchen aid type of mixer was required to do a proper job.

Kenny Wasserburger

[omgb]

Thanks Kenny, that was very helpful. I may try my hand at making some this Winter. I like experimenting like this

[JonnyV]

That mixer part narrows the ozokerite wax down to the high temp kind. Ozokerite 1021. Has a melting point close to 200 degrees so you won’t be making this in a double boiler. It’s an oven cook or you could use an induction cooktop, definitely not gas or a regular electric stove, risk of fire would be off the charts.

Ozokerite 1021 will absorb several times it’s own weight in oil, but when you let it cool, some of your oil will start leaching out. This is where the mixer comes in. Small hand beater works but would be a major PIA. Better to have the heavy duty KitchenAid. If you use the lower temp ozokerite, you’ll have to cut back the amount of oil you add to compensate for the lower melting point so you don’t end up with pudding.

[Kurt]

Here are two threads I saved from the past on this subject.

viewtopic.php?p=329137#p329137
viewtopic.php?t=24161

[Don McDowell]

Another good lube that is lost is Bagwells Black Magic.

There are several pages of lube recipe's from various well known shooters from back in the day in the back of Ned Roberts Schuetzen rifle book. If a person in a mind to spend the time and effort to rebuild some of those and then give them a good test.