Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Hornady One Shot Lube As A Release Agent?

Anybody ever used it? I've been told it'll work.

Yep used it many times. You need to use the case lube not the dry lube.

Just used some yesterday for a small bedding job.

it doesn't work on the 20 mil pipe tape if you're doing the barrel channel. I broke a stock trying to get it apart after using One Shot.

Neutral shoe polish. Several layers with buffing in between.

If you read the ingredients, you'll understand why it shouldn't be used as a release agent for bedding.

There's more to an appropriate release agent than just something that epoxy won't stick to..................

Good shootin' -Al

I've always used PAM. We used to mold fiberglass replacement parts and used PAM as a release agent.

Just dip your finger into some skin moisterizer or get a little bit of oil off a dipstick.

Either of those will contaminate the bedding compound at least as well as case lube or a can of cooking spray.

While those things might work, wax works so well, I can't see the point. I have used silicone based mold release sprays, but I still like wax better. GD

Did the rifle, and used Kiwi shoe polish as well as some of the One Shot in a place or two. Both worked. If I do another one, I'll probably just use the Kiwi, but the One Shot did work. Before I bedded the rifle, I mixed up some JB Weld and stuck an old screw that I'd sprayed with the One Shot in it for 24 hours. Since it did not stick, I wasn't concerned about using it as a release agent.

Partall mold release.

It's made for exactly that.

That's the exact product I use. -Al

Good stuff isn't it.

I use it for bedding, I use it for releasing synthetic stocks from the mold. Hell, it even works very well as a rust prevention on blued steel. One of those tins will last a lifetime.

I've used Johnson paste wax on dozens of bedding jobs.

Never had an issue, always get good results.

Why not just use Brownell's release agent?

PVA?

In my opinion 1) does not go on smoothly, and dries too fast to "fix" anything. 2) goes on too thick, especially when applying an "insurance" coat, and 3) it is easily galled when setting the metal into the stock leaving a spot unprotected and potentially stuck. I hate the stuff.

When using a wax, 15 coats rubbed back will not only guarantee protection against sticking, but will never build up and compromise that perfect marriage of stock to metal I'm looking for. Of course 2 coats of wax is all you need.

The blue poly vinyl release agent has a thickness to it that prevents a perfect fit of reciever to bedfing. -Al

There’s nothing wrong with using Hornady one shot case lube as a release agent. It is sprayed on and then allowed to dry. Furthermore, those that don’t know post the elements involved create a chemical contaminant, which is untrue. This is because it is dry at that point when you use it. It works exceptionally well when sprayed into hard to reach areas. Don’t trust the stupid fu cks that rely on taping everything. We’ve seen those bedding jobs. That’s amateurs work at best.

That's a true statement, it does work well to spray into "hard to reach areas".

The problem is, "hard to reach areas" very often create mechanical locks that trash a bedding job. We've all seen those bedding jobs, amateur at best and at worst. Those hard to reach areas should be filled with clay or kids playdough first to eliminate them from the equation. Any pro out there knows this, amateurs don't.

Yep..the best way to get out of trouble is to never get into trouble to start with. Play Doh is my go-to for filling holes, slots...anything potentially troublesome. It's easier to remove than modeling clay, too.

There's a can of Sherfab's excellent 225 non silicone aerosol mold release agent on the shelf here...though I can't remember the last time I've needed to use it.

As you mentioned, Partall is an excellent rust preventative. On blued receivers on hunting rigs, I warm the receiver with a heat gun and then brush it on with a soldering brush. After it cools, it's buffed and warmed up again. Works great for protection...especially on rough matte finished actions like 700's.

Good shootin' -Al

Yes...another good product that's been used for decades. -Al

When rain is in my hunting trip forecast, the Johnson paste wax come out of storage...

Great minds think alike.

Ditto...

Finished this new stock for one of my BR guns a few weeks back. No aerosol lubes or slathering on cold cream, no dime store hot glue or chewing gum for bedding compound...just the same basics that always work.






Good shootin' -Al

I'd like to hear more about the stocks, sir.

Good shootin':) -Al

Not much to tell. Pretty much just an experiment to see if I could, one winter a few years back. After reverse engineering some Kelly McMillan videos, I made a mold, figured out something to use as fill (which turned out WAY too heavy), and made a stock. Pics are of the first one I did. Good and heavy long range prone stock but terrible for hunting. I shot a few PRS matches with it (until covid shut things down and my hip finally gave out and needed a replacement), it was like moving through a stage carrying a telephone pole. 18 pounds all up with that barrel and glass. When I get some free time I'm gonna go back and figure out a lighter fill.


Edit to add: I did send Kelly a video of that first stock and told him he was my inspiration to try it. He was as impressed as someone like him could be towards a nobody like me. RiP Kelly.

My love now though is building these, where no bedding compound is allowed at all, whatsoever, period, the end.

Scratch built from a slab of wood and a pile of parts. 100% marriage of metal to wood.

Impressive skills, sir....my compliments.

Kelly and Dick Davis were both very good to me when I was starting out.

When the market was asking for factory installed pillars, Dick insisted they be epoxied in rather than molded in...as is done now. And Kelly agreed.

Time and ownership/management change, though. When I recently ordered a stock with no molded pillars and just pilot holes for the action screws, they questioned me several times about it...finally relented and said it would be an additional charge. I told them to just do the molded in pillars then and I'd just mill them out and do my own anyway. The only thing missing from the conversation was "Did you want fries with that?"

Good shootin' 👍-Al

Thank you sir I appreciate that.

Will be testing this one this week. While no animals were harmed during the bedding.....blue tape was used. More of that amateur workmanship we read about....

Al,
what is your preferred bedding compound?
do you use more than one kind, for different applications?

Thanks
Mark

Mark, Pro Bed 2000 is my prefered bedding compound for everything. When forced to do a glue-in, I pre bed with Pro Bed and do the glue -in with an industrial epoxy that contains titanium. Normally, the glue-ins are glued and screwed....meaning pillar bedded as usual and then glued in. The screws are extra insurance to them coming apart.

Other epoxies work well for bedding...mainly Marine Tex. Some Devcon products are good. They all have their quirks. Pro Bed fits with my technique. The longevity that Pro Bed delivers is outstanding. At the recent NBRSA Score Nationals, one of the yardage winners shot a stock I pillar bedded in 2008. The bedding hasn't been touched up since.

Good shootin' -Al

Your lock is on the wrong side?

Pretty tired old joke, that.

Thanks for the reply,
I've used Brownells Acraglass Gel and Steelbed and have been satisfied with the results, but I see that most people doing a number of bedding jobs are using other materials.
I purchased some Marine Tex Grey and plan on giving it a try. I have heard good things about Pro Bed 2000 and plan on getting some to try.
Mark

Mark, I started doing bedding with Acraglass Gel. While the initial results were good, it didn't take too long to realize there had to be something better for longevity. From that point, the search was on for a better product. I like the fact that Charlie Robertson developed Pro Bed specifically for bedding work. The graphite in Pro Bed is one of the big factors in it's longevity. I do try other compounds occasionally...on my own stuff.

Marine Tex is a very good product too. A fair amount of people use JB Weld but it has some quirks that I'm not fond of for bedding...mainly inconsistency.

Just my 2 cents worth. -Al

Thanks for the insights, but a question keeps floating around in my head: What effect does some of these "home remedy" release agents have on the chemistry of epoxy bedding compounds? I've long suspected that there's more to it than simply preventing a bond between two surfaces.

For the record, I've used paste wax (Johnson's, Butcher's, and Moser's) for the purpose and have yet to have an issue. From the first time I opened a jar of Brownell's release agent back in the Bronze Age I was leery of its viscosity.

Anecdote: I'll never forget the time I walked in on an old gunsmith friend who was in the process of attacking a rifle with a hatchet, while muttering/cussing about idiots doing their own bedding jobs and then coming to him for relief.

Feral thats a good looking flinter you built

Exactly. You can't make this stuff up.....


I've taken several rifles that apart for people that had unintentionally ended up with a 'glue-in' due to improper prep and/or improper release agent. It never took longer than 15-20 minutes to get them apart and the stocks were never damaged in the process. If you had work being done there, I hope you packed it up and headed elsewhere.

This was long ago in a galaxy far away, in the infancy of "glass" bedding. He was an old curmudgeonly type born around the turn of the last century. I truly wish he were around today, his work was 1st class old school. As I recall it wasn't a case of improper release agent, rather no release agent and completely epoxy bedded from tang to forearm tip.

He saved my 16 year old skin once by neatly boring the lead core out of the jacket of a bullet I managed to get stuck halfway down the bore of a Krag and then tried beating out with a cleaning rod. Lathe, 1/4" gun drill, custom bronze bushings to keep things centered, not a scratch in the rifling. Learned a couple valuable lessons that day, chief of which was "don't be a dumbass". (And don't substitute a jacketed bullet for a plain base cast bullet in a subsonic plinking cartridge.)

Thank you

Very nice Feral.

Al,

As I per usual, thanks for posting all the great info based on way more experience with the number of stocks done than most of use have done.

As for release agent, I've always just used paste wax or moly based mold release agent in spray form that has always been perfect.

And, for sure, play dough is much easier to remove than clay, when filling a hole or recess is required.

MM

Thanks, sir. -Al

I’ve often used what’s handy. A couple times - oops.

I know Kiwi has always worked well. I used car wax until someone here said it was a bad idea. I’ve used Brownells stuff a long time ago and it worked. I’ve used one-shot.

I’ve been using playdoh lately to keep glass from going where it aught not go.

Looks like I’ll be looking for Partall.

As far a bedding compound I’ve used most. The first or at least one of the first was a Brownells product that was messy - had to add fiber. Way too much of a liquid.

It looks like I’ll go back to a compound I’ve used in the past but when I didn’t find it, I used a gel that evidently doesn’t last long??? I didn’t know.