Update: Casting for the Makarov, lube issue solved

My first go round with the lube on my cast bullets did not go well. I was using raw beeswax, some candle wax (10%), motor oil, and coconut oil. Well, it did not work at all. My loads exhibited smoke and left severe leading in the barrel. The smoke I expect, but the leading is not good. After brushing my barrel about 1000 times to get the lead out I went in search of a new lube. I found several people using Barry Dars recipe.


Barry Darr's Lube Formula

1 lb. Paraffin

1 lb. Vaseline

2 Tbsp. STP gas treatment



I reduced the recipe by half, since I didn't know if it would work for me.


I am glad to report that it did work. My barrel had no leading and my bullets shoot true. I was starting to think that my alloy was too soft, so I am relieved that it was just a lube issue. There is quite a bit of smoke with these loads, but I think that can be cured with the addition of a little more paraffin. Honestly, I could care less about smoke.



Mixing up the lube is simple. I weighed out the ingredients on my kitchen scale. The wax is no biggie, but the vaseline is nasty to work with. I really don't like the feel of a whole handful of petroleum jelly. The stp is pretty powerful, so don't overdo it. I used Wal-Mart brand Petro Jelly and Gas treatment. The wax is the gulf wax brand found in the canning aisle.

Pan lubing with this formula is simple. The first time you do it, melt your lube in the pan and let it harden. Then place your bullets on top of the hardened lube. Gently melt the lube again and your bullets will settle to the bottom of the pan and get surrounded by the liquid lube. Once hardened, I pop the pan in the freezer for about 5 minutes. This seems to make removing the bullets easier and less greasy. I just flip the pan upside down onto a piece of cardboard and the whole lube cake comes out like a pineapple upside down cake. At that point, you can just push the bullets out by the nose. They fall out of the bottom of the cake with lube perfectly placed inside the grease groove, not all over the bullet.  Once you have lubed one batch, just place your new bullets in the old holes and melt again.


The lube is not real stiff, but it seems to stay in the groove and definitely is working. As I say, I may add some wax to the mix, though it is probably not necessary.

Freshly cast, unlubed bullets

This is all it takes 

The ultimate in cheapskate shooting, casting for the Makarov

So, I've owned my Makarov IJ-70 for well over a decade.  I've shot all kinds of ammo through it.  Brown Bear, Silver Bear, Fiocchi, and for most of my experience with it I have loaded my own using 9mm Luger brass that I trim and run through the dies.

Bullet availability has always been a bit of a pain.  When I was first loading for it I used Hornady xtp hollow points and a semi wadcutter cast bullet that was offered by Makarov.com.  Makarov.com shut down and those bullets went away.  The xtp is a fine bullet, but a bit expensive.  So, I have been loading hard cast bullets from Meister and Rim Rock.  They are fine bullets as well, but again they aren't free.  A box of 500 runs me at least $35.

The obvious answer was to get a mold and cast my own, but I resisted getting into the casting world.  I was afraid that the lead supply would dry up, that I would need a bunch of tools, or that it would just be too time consuming.

Well, the days of picking up a bucket of wheel weights are over.  Environmental concerns have prompted our great state of Illinois to require zinc weights.  There are however, quite a few of the lead weights out there that end up in the scrap bucket at work.  So, my lunchtime pastime has become sorting through wheel weights to find the lead ones.  I am combining the weights with expended bullets that I find on the range.  The lead supply still concerns me a bit but hey, we all have to let go of our anxieties.



The Lee mold for Makarov is only about $22.  I've had good results with Lee in the past, so why not?

With my current alloy, it is throwing a 104 grain bullet.  That's quite a bit over the 95 grain it is supposed to be, but of no real concern to me.  I simply stay away from the max charge.  Heavier bullets tend to use less powder, not more.

Lubricating the bullets was another concern.  A lubricator/sizer is the tool of choice for this, but since I am not made of money, I had to come up with something else.

I first made some lube with beeswax, candle wax, and synthetic motor oil.  I ended up with a pretty decent lube that had great tack to it.  It felt a great deal like the lube on the Rim Rock bullets I had been buying.  I pan lubed a bunch, or tried to.  The problem with pan lubing is getting the bullets out of the lube without marking them all up with pliers.  They make "Kookie Kutters" that slip over the bullets, but that is yet another item to buy.

Lee makes liquid alox lube that is squirted into a bag that you then tumble your bullets around in.  I figured why can't I do that myself?  So, I did.  I simply took some of my lube and put it in an olive jar with acetone.  Shook it up for a while and some of the wax started to dissolve.  I put some bullets in and swirled them around.  I then drained off the liquid and fished the bullets out.  After laying them on some cardboard and letting them dry, I discovered that a nice thin film of lube remained on the bullets.  Essentially I used the acetone as a vehicle to deposit lube all over the surface of the bullet.  It's reminiscent of a cci mini mag .22.  ammo.