We have the same berries here free for the picking as well CF but I would much rather spend the 12 bucks. Quite a few years back, 2005 to be exact Bob Williams from Fernley Nevada had surplus pure Naval bees wax for sale for pennies on the dollar. I bought close to 30lbs. for under 25.00  dollars including shipping. I gave most to my close competitive friends and I still have one unopened box still left and enough to last me a lifetime. Someday it will turn into Dell 59C when the need arises.

JLouis

Guys, I had to stop to take care of stuff!  Some further advice.
Bay Wax can be found at Craft stores that carry Candle making supplies, the hard brittle coating on Candles is either all or part Bay Wax. Steam Cylinder oil was up until about 1890 or so a Vegtable and Animal fat. But it had a tendency to go Rancid if not handled correctly. Some time around 1900 or a little earlier the Oil industry found a way to make it from Mineral Oil from the ground. Instant success, the Rail industry jumped right on it for Steam. I managed to get a Gallon of stuff from 1910 from a Town Water dept that had a big 1 cylinder Steam powered backup pumping system for town water. You can find that from Model Steam Engine groups and also I have heard they have Oildag in reasonable quantities. I saw a question some where here asking why people were adding Lanolin to their Lubricant. They may have read a comment from Harry Pope where he commented the reason he used Mutton Tallow in his lubricant was because Mutton Tallow contained Lanolin. The Pope Lube is a soft , low temperature lube. Many in the past have complained that Pope lube would melt off your bullets in a hot summer day. I have not had that happen but do admit that it will be very soft and fragile if you spend a lot of time handling your bullets. Another comment on that in next post. Regards, FITZ.

OK, Lube melting off bullets. About ten or more years ago I wondered about SPG Bullet lube. So I decided to see what I could find. I found a Paper by Steve Garbe  where He described having comments from SOME shooters that his Lube would melt off. So he decided to see if he could improve his lube. After a lot of effort with no success he started to question the issue. So he contacted a lot of shooters and what he found and tested was that there were three methods commonly used to apply his Lube. One in sticks in a Lubricant pump. Two was buying SPG in the bulk blocks and melting them and pouring it into a Lubricant pump. And three using it as a Pan Lube. He then spent a bunch of time testing these methods to see what were the Melt temperatures in the three procedures. You can guess the rest, the Pan Lube procedure had the best Temperature tolerance of the three application procedures. when I got the Pope Lube and had a chance to Pan lube I have never used any other method. I find it easy and non time consuming. When I have good batch of bullets to Lube some evening I setup the Double Boiler and while it is heating up I set up a batch of bullets in the Pie Plate I use.
When the Lube is properly melted I pour it. Then leave it to cool hard. Later I pick up all the stuff and put it away for the evening. Some time later in the week when I have some spare time I will take out the Pan with the Bullets in it and push them out. I then pick up each bullet clean off the Base on a Paper towel and inspect the base. I then stack them neatly in Sierra
.30  caliber bullet boxes I have acquired or in .38 special plastic boxes I have modified by machining the heavy bottom down to shorten it for bullet storage. Many I have talked to make Bullet Lubrication a MUST DO NOW deal. They try to rush,
Pour the Lube. Put the Pan in the fridge to hurry up the cooling
of the Lube to harden. Then fight to push out the Bullets. My approach is that when this SS shooting effort becomes significant have to do now WORK, I am going to find something else to do for fun. HTH Regards, FITZ.

FITZ,

Lots of good info in your posts.
Again, much appreciated!

JLouis wrote on Jul 24^th, 2016 at 12:46am:

That's a strange reply to a Lube question #2 topic.

There are few BAD lube recipes.
Beeswax
Tallow
Caster Oil, and others plus
Some Lanolin and you have good lube.

I have shot bullets years old with no problems lubed with the stuff I make using blackpowder and smokless, Terribly hot humid, hot and dry, cold and damp.........

Your recollections are informative and pleasant reading, Fitz. You can start a running thread with this stuff- I'm sure others could add more.
I have some bullets that were cast by my old friend in 1954 that I'm shooting a little at a time with years to go on the batch. Gascheck though, and unlubed-old though.