I remember reading that different lubes produce different results.

I have some water soluble lube - works great for resizing!

A friend tried it on 22 rim fire, but not in a big enough patch.

So I decided I might run a test on it, using our Young machine rest, and the Walter KK 200 match rifle installed in it.

I took about 30 different types of 22 ammo, 2 boxes of each.

My plan is to shoot one box as is.

The second box I will remove the factory lube, and replace it with this one.

I will shoot 5, 10-shot groups, and check for any change in accuracy.

I will post my results.

There was a molybdenum grease wiper that I think I got from NECO, used that exclusively with lead bullets breaking in a Marlin 60 microgroove barrel.

Old Eley bullets grow a white powder that might affect accuracy; I bought a few pawnshop boxes cheap but they flew cockeyed at the benchrest shoots.

I will be interested in seeing your results. Minor issue, maybe, but I have never found any performance tests a waste of time.

I am going to expand this test.

I am shooting the ones with standard factory lube.

I have already applied the other lube as recommended, and will leave them to dry for at least two days.

Recommended is 24 hours.

I will also clean the lube off the same ammo, and shoot them without any lube.

Isn't the factory lube basically a hard wax? Does anyone know?

The lube varies between each model, even with the same manufacturer.

I asked why, and was told they design the lube for what type of shooting, and temperature that ammo is supposed to be used.

Frankly, I don’t believe this, as I am not sure the temperature has anything to do with how the lube performs.

Some are greasy, some look like hard wax, some look like soft wax, some cake off the bullets, and actually feel a bit sandy.

The lube in SK 500 rnd cans is like a light oil - it sure makes everything oily. Needs time spent with a rag to wipe each individual cartridge down before you shoot. Messy....

Sadly, I had to give up on this one.

I applied the lube as suggested in the instructions - by heating some water and adding the lube to it, so it is relatively runny and dipped the bullets in.

They were covered just over the mouth.

They suggested them to be left for 24 hours to dry.

I left them for 48 hours.

Some cases got corroded!!

Some misfired - I think the water must have went up by capillary action into the cases.

I did clean the original factory lube from these before coating them.

May be that was a mistake.

Anyway, I gave up on this particular test.


Now, having a number of different ammo with no lube, I thought of running a test comparing their performance against normally lubed ammo.

For this test I have installed a standard factory BRNO CZ 452 2E action in our YOUNG RAIL GUN REST.

I am going to shoot a box of each ammo, 5, 10-shot groups, of normally lubed ammo and ammo with no lube.

NECO's moly was called "Bullet Slide", and the bullets were just given a quick wipe in a depression in the middle of a mat that held the lube.

Saeed, Edison didn't quit after his 1st glitch.

Some 6 years ago, I tested some 1970s era Eley Rapid Fire ammo in the 9 green dot box. The lube had turned white & flaky. I fired some as was. Another batch was re-lubed with SPG, a lead bullet & black powder lube. The manufacturer, Steve Garbe, advised me to dampen a clean shop cloth with denatured alcohol and wipe each cartridge to remove the old lube. Another clean shop cloth was used to dry each cartridge. A third clean shop cloth had SPG lube rubbed into it. This was used to lightly coat each bullet. I shot several targets. No improvement in accuracy.

I tried the same experiment with old Eley Club Extra from 2007, the Tenex production overrun. Again, no measurable difference.

However, the old geezers say that every rifle barrel is a law unto itself as far as bullet lubes go, just like .22 rimfires. All I can say is that SPG did not help old Eley .22 rimfires in a Stevens-Pope or an Eric Johnson Ballard.

I bought a few boxes of Eley that had hung around a pawn shop awhile that had the white flaky lube.
They didn't shoot well at all in a 511 barrel, the first disappointing Eley I'd seen.