Bullet lube max temperature? Cabin fever question

[Jim Barber]

With weather unfavorable for shooting, I've had time to wonder about semi-useless trivia, so here I am:
I lube using a mix of Crisco and beeswax to dip the bases of my bullets, placing them nose-up in a flat bottom fry basket.
Several years ago-- and there may have been drinking involved-- I overheated my bullet lube. Left the stove on after dipping a batch, only noticed it when I smelled something funny and shut it off. It then took me about 150 rounds of horrible, terrible accuracy in both carbine and musket before I figured out that I'd ruined the lube.

Does anyone know the max temperature Crisco/beeswax lube can survive before utter ruination?

FWIW, I later followed the advice of a very helpful, wise man and dedicated an electric skillet to bullet lube. Much harder to overheat it that way!
Also, ruined lube & tightly rolled newspaper makes great firestarters.

Cheers!
Jim Barber
Grove City, OH

[Hal]

I can't answer your question, but I will share how I heat mine. I keep mine (beeswax and olive oil, but similar) in a large Pyrex measuring cup. When I want to heat it, I put the measuring cup in a pot of water and heat on the stove. A double boiler, if you will. My lube never exceeds 212 *F.

[mgmradio]

I'm going by memory here, but I believe that when the armorys were using Beeswax lube they kept the temperature between 171 and 176 degrees as it degrades over 178 deg. I'll have to find the citation.