I just joined this forum with the same idea some of you are having. Here is what I found out from Lubrizol Metalworking.

Alox 350 and 606-55 comes in either 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums. I emailed them first and they did send me a pint of 350 for free which might come in handy.

Alox 350 cost:
5 gallon pail $2.23 a pound
55 gallon drum $1.12 a pound

Alox 606-55 cost:
5 gallon pail $2.03 a pound
1 to 9 55 gallon drums cost $0.92 a pound

They didn't send me the price break down if you buy more than one drum of Alox 350. You can do a customer pickup and for me Countryside, IL is the closest and then the next best would be Painesville, Ohio but you can check out all their facilities at Lubrizol

They did tell me that if you can pick up from IL and they don't have 606-55 there you would still have to pay for the cost to have it drop shipped to them. Again, since I'm in Indiana IL or OH were closest and the rep said she didn't think IL had 606-55 but probably would have 350. I haven't check it out yet.

My question is for those who know a lot more about liquid Alox (606-55) is it is listed as Solvent cutback of ALOX 606 calcium soap, long-term salt spray protection. Does this mean it would still need to be thinned out or would it be fine right out of the drum?

Thanks.
David

As of yesterday the Painsville, Ohio plant both 350 and 606-55 in 5 gal pails. The 606-55 weighs 37# and the 350 is 38#, shipping should run between $20 and $30. This would boil down to $23 to $25 a gal. These are not always availible in 5 gal pails. I live about 5 hours fron Painsville, but if shipping is only $30 it would be cheaper to ship it. There is a manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Ohio but they don't have either one, shame as I'm only 1 hour from there and will be there this weekend for a gun show. If you haven't done buisness with them you will have to setup a open account before you can order.

D.E.

I've seen that sight before and I've wonder why it has two exact letters but one says the mix is 45% calcium soap and 45% mineral oil and the other one says 50-50 mix. The Alox company is no more. I believe Lubrisol bought them. Whether you can buy a can of alow from them I don't know. The original Alox that was mixed with beeswax was 2138F, I believe they are using another type of Alox now. If you lived in the same state/area I'd concider going in with you, but to mail a heavy liquid around the country wouldn't be profitable.

Joe

Alox is used in many applications. Dinitrol is used in the aircraft industry as a corrosion inhibitor that is sprayed under bag-bin flooring and other areas that tend to stay wet. It is available in a spray can at any motorcycle dealer as Maxima Chain Wax. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~scott

Its not liquid Alox, but I use beeswax melted into vegetable oil. It forms a sort of paste and IMO makes a better overall product. I like it because its simple and can be applied with the use of a Lee sizer.

Has anyone ever heard of a formula for homemade liquid alox? Thanks, Dale

No. I've previously asked and gotten no response. Ran across a recommendation on http://handloads.com/ from a fellow who'd been tumble lubing warmed bullets with Johnson's Paste Wax, and I've lubed up some .45-70s that way. They look and feel good, but I haven't gotten to shoot them yet. He reported good results to medium velocities.

By the bye, though, I read somewhere that the particular Alox grease in the NRA formula is a calcium soap based one not dissimilar to water pump grease. And there's another Alox grease being used by some now, but it's apparently only sold in big drum quantities. We know that the solvent in Liquid Alox is common Paint & Varnish Maker's Naphtha, a.k.a. paint thinner, Varsol, etc. I'm sure you could cook something up if you have the time and money to experiment.

From what I've discovered so far Alox is calcium soap grease with mineral oil as the oil base. Calcium soap grease isn't as easy to come by now as it once was. It's being replaced with lithium soap based greases and of course synthetic ones.

Joe

Hi to all! Thanks for the replies! A gentleman privately emailed me with the news that liquid alox has a twin used as a rust preventative. Since he didn't post, I won't use his name or location. But he suggested I look for something on the order of "dinitrol rust proofing". this brand has since been taken over by another company so he suggested a search for "alox 606 or 605). He also suggested to find Lee's part list to compare with what I (we) find. We need to be cautious here- but I want to look. Dale

Well, after doing a search , I found this.

http://yarchive.net/gun/long_term_storage.html

Read all of the article, but it seems you can buy a 5 gallon can of it. hmmm.... right up my alley- a lifetime supply of lube! Anybody want to go 1/2 if it is expensive? Dale

After having experimented with alox I'm not sure it is calcium soap and mineral oil. First off calcium in it's natural state isn't noways the amber or brown color that alox is, second it sure as hell doesn't smell like alox. I think alox has different petrochemical ingredients in it. It's pretty allusive to find on the MSDS sheets. Has anyone found it on the MSDS sheets? Remember the original Alox was 2138F

Joe

Not too tough to do. I just add a little mineral spirits to the original Alox 2138F. Some one has posted how to duplicate it from the currently availble Alox lubes. If interested, I can send you the MSDS for the original. Send your request by email to covbldrsREMOVE@REMOVEi-plus.net .

Tim K

Joe, the greases which a metal component use a metallic stearate usually at a percentage lower than 10 percent of the total grease. Yes, stearates typically used like calcium, sodium, magnesium are white, but these are mixed into a substance which is not white to make up their final lube, unless indeed white for marketing purposes. ... felix

Okay, after reading the information Tim was so kind to send me here's what I have concluded. From some of the forum posts that he sent it seems that the #350 alox can be had for around $1 a pound in a 5 gal bucket only. Plus shipping.
Well for those who want to make smaller batchs and not mess with the expensive 5 gal bucket you can buy Lee's liquid Alox by the case at $1.89 a bottle. I tried mixing this 50/50 with beeswax and I got the same kind of lube as Lee's 50/50 Alox stick and Javelina. Looked the same, felt the same, smelled the same and we all know that distinctive 50/50 smell. This way it isn't too bad a deal and for those that have dealer pricing, or can find the liquid Alox cheaper somewhere else, it's even better. At any rate it's cheaper then buying factory sticks of this lube. You can alos add your own ingredients and come with some different lubes like I did by adding calium complex base grease. Waiting for the weather to break to try that one out by the way. Hope this helps some of you.
Joe