Was just gifted #300; cast Lyman 429303 bullets. These are unsized, look to be about .433-.434.

Picked up a Lee push through .430 sizing die. Thinking on using Alox to lube them. Any Alox experience I should know about? Seems pretty straight forward but - -

I cast my own rather soft .38 spl DEWC and use Lee alox to lube them unsized, using a plastic bowl and dumping bullets on way paper to dry. Don't use excessive alox. Works great.
If your bullets are cast super hard, that complicates things.

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Science plus Art

Do you mean ... Tumble Lube them with Lee Liquid Alox ?
If so ... Two thin coats of LLA is better than one thick coat ...
I thin the LLA with mineral spirits , to maple syrup consistency .
First coat and let dry ... if the first coat is barely visable , a second thin coat can be added ... let dry on wax paper .
If the bullets are "sticky" too the touch ... your alox is too thick , add a bit more mineral spirits .
Practice doing a few bullets till you get the mix right ... the bullets should be covered all over but dry and not "tacky" .
If you do get tacky bullets , dust them with Motor Mica , cornstarch or baby powder ... just enough so they are no longer sticky .
I like Lee Liquid Alox but I'm not a Tumble Lube fan . You can "Dip" lube but I bought a Lyman 450 lube/sizer and use soft Lithi-Bee Lube ...
This works best for me . But do try tumble lube ... it will work .
Good Luck ,
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I'm not any help as regards liquid alox lube, but I did want to point out that those bullets are designed to be used with a gas check. As I'm sure you've noticed, that's an unusual bullet shape, it's a kind of pointed SWC. They're a hoot and always invite comments from other shooters when I use them to exercise any of my .44 Specials.
I cast that bullet, but attach GC's, size, & lube on a Lyman sizing machine.
If you load them without the GC's, accuracy may suffer if they're loaded very hot.
Just a thought.

WYT-P
Skyhunter

The original NRA-formula Alox lube was a 50/50 mixture of Alox (an industrial lubricant) and beeswax, sold in solid or hollow sticks for use in lubricator-sizer presses.

If your gift supply is Alox stick lube it can be used without the lubri-sizer. The lube will melt and flow at moderate temperatures so it can be cut into chunks and placed into a shallow container (large jar lid will work), then warmed until it flows.

CAUTION: Low heat only, apply gradually. If overheated the lube will vaporize into a smoky cloud that is potentially flammable.

Once the lube has flowed you can stand your bullets base-down in the container. Then allow the container to cool and lube to solidify. A simple tubular cutter with interior diameter at or close to bullet size will work like a cookie cutter to remove the bullets with lube grooves neatly filled. The lubed bullet can then be run through a sizer die pretty easily.

Lee Precision Products used to offer (perhaps still do) a kit to do exactly that. Pan, cutter, sizer die, punch, and stick of lube for a few bucks. I think I still have a couple of these laying around from ~50 years ago when I started casting my own. Simple and inexpensive, perfectly adequate for smaller quantity production.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

Another thought:

If you are not intending to get into bullet casting, only using the small quantity of bullets given to you, there is no need to get into sizing and lubing equipment. Just stop by the auto parts store and pick up a tube of pure white lithium grease which can be easily applied to the lube grooves with your fingertips.

The lithium grease is an excellent bullet lube, retaining lubricity throughout temperatures ranging from well below 0F to well over 200F, Practically no melting point and (for our purposes anyway) no flammability.

I've used it in magnum handgun and rifle cartridges at velocities over 2000FPS with excellent accuracy and perfect bore performance.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

These will be soft target loads. Was looking at gas checks but am thinking of giving a try without them. Going to be 25 yard practice loads. Thanks for the heads up.

I always get the best advice here and
at Cast Boolits.

My suggestion is go over to Cast Boolits
(gunloads com) and read the Boolit
Lube section there.

I have been using the formula posted
there for years and have had no ill effects
on my Revolver barrels.

The Best to you and your Endeavors.

If you load the mild you will most likely be ok. Look at a pulled 22cal bullet. They are similarly shaped.

Shake and bake powder coating is vastly superior....
$30 toaster oven from a thrift store is the biggest investment in the process

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it just needs more voltage

Lot of good reading there, but the various lube mixtures and can be a bit mind blowing. I'm getting ready to try the Alox and paste wax mixture listed there on some old lead bullets that have lost a lot of their lube.

I have use liquid alox for many years, but I don't like the brown noses from tumble lubing. I dip lube ala Ranch Dog. I either thin the alox or warm it and put it in a shallow container. Grab a bullet on the nose with tweezers of if the bullet is big enough with my fingers. I dip the bullet, base first, up beyond the lube groove and set on wax paper, base down, to dry. Less messy, good clean handling and no ugly brown noses.

It is. Just do it.
Very, very light coat. Let dry. Size. Coat. Dry. Load and shoot.

School cafeteria trays are your friend.

That's how I use liquid Alox also.

I stand the dry bullets on a piece of paper or other and swab circular using a q-tip. They wear out fast but cheap.

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

Put 50 or so in a plastic container. (I use butter tubs or whip cream tubs since they are free).

Squirt on a bit of Lee liquid alox and roll and tumble by hand. If all the surfaces are not coated, add a tiny bit more until they are. Avoid over-lubing.

Pour on a piece of wax paper and dry overnight. In the morning run thru the sizing die, with or without a GC. If you use a GC the die will seat them.

After sizing, if the lube grooves are all full (they usually are) you are finished. (I used to do a second coat but found out it is not necessary)

My brown noses work just fine and nobody even notices. For semis I use a rag soaked with acetone and the noses are clean and feed well. My revolver loads have character and the barrel is extra lubed.

Been doing this since the 1970's. The only negative is that I have to clean my bullet seating die after a session. (but shouldn't you do that anyway?)

Powder coating in a toaster oven is also a good method. But its more cumbersome and provides no improvement.

Lee Liquid Alox- coat, size, coat again.

Lee Precision, Inc. - Search Results

This is the same process I use on swaged bullets I buy. I dump a quantity of bullets into an old Kool-Whip container, squirt some Liquid Alox on to the bullets straight from the bottle, shake them thoroughly so they're all coated, and then dump them on to a wax paper sheet to dry in a single layer. This works great, and I do it even with lead bullets that have a hard lube in a groove from the manufacturer. Little to no leading is the result.

No criticism intended as many of you seem to like the Lee liquid lube process. I tried it years ago; too messy for me. I don't know what a lubrisizer costs these days, but if you cast and do much shooting, it may be well worth the expense because of the convenience if for no other reason.

I've yet to find a need or see any advantage to going to coated bullets as conventional sizing and lubing work so well for my purposes. Good luck with sizing and lubing bullets, however you do it.

In my experience, it is not necessary to full the lube grooves with alox. A light coating, over the whole body of the bullet, or maybe two coats is all that is necessary. My method for many 38/357 and even some 44 Magnum loads; dip lube one or maybe two coats sufficient...

I've used it as well. Along with your observations, it never got me to where I wanted to go.
I just don't do what some would call target loads.
I tend towards my primary loads being more general purpose. Alox would never seem to get me there before it failed.
Traditional lube would get me to that butter zone and I've used it for many years.
Then powder coating came along.
Not only would it achieve any yield I desired, I no longer had to scrape lube from my dies or endure any of the other liabilities of traditional lube.

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it just needs more voltage

I tried alox in 38 and 45 a handful of times before giving up and moving on to powder coating. It must work for some people but it always left me with lead fouled barrels. I’ve since acquired lubesizers, which are quicker than PC but not as fool proof. However the lubesizers are much better than alox IMO.

Ben's Liquid Lube BLL.
Alox 35%
Liquid paste (floor) wax 35%
Mineral spirits 30%
Or just simplify and mix these 3 ingredients in equal amounts 1/3 & 1/3 & 1/3
Tumble lube & let dry (dries quickly).
Works great!

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

In my early years with lead bullets I had leading. The store bought bullets I used were on the soft side. Then I started casting my own. I guess I would have to call them "hard cast" (Lyman #2).

About the same time I switched to Lee liquid alox. I can honestly say that I have not had to clean a leaded barrel in 40 years.

To me, a Lee Micro Band bullet (needs no sizing) and liquid alox is the easiest peasiest method. No toaster oven, no extra time, no lubrisizer, or extra expense AND NO HASSLE. Squirt once in a butter dish and done.

Now, I admit that the caveat for this is for informal target shooting.

I plan to try the KISS method under that same castboolets thread. Just wax and Alox with no mineral spirits.

Nothing wrong with that approach.
FWIW, the benefit of the mineral spirits is that it thins the mixture - allowing for a thinner coating AND faster drying.
What I like about the original recipe is that it dries so quickly, leaving a thin, but effective lube.
Let us know how the wax/Alox mixture works for you.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

I am a big fan of thinning Alox. For my purposes I think straight Alox is too thick. Thinning it with paint thinner is an easy way to keep the coating light. I start by sizing the bullets, then place them in a plastic bowl with cover, Pour in Alox and hand tumble for a couple minutes. Dump on newspaper to dry. I store all my reloads in standard plastic ammo boxes, so they never pick up dirt before shooting.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I still lube some boolits, BUT --- If you go from shooting powder coated to lubed, you really notice the smoke and smell you get from shooting lubed.

When powder coating for my bulk shooting, I've begun dumping them on the tray instead of standing them up. Takes away a lot of the tediousness of the operation and I see very little difference in the results.

Shooting lubed bullets seems "normal" to me. It smells the same as it did 50 years ago. The powder coated bullets smell sweet. I don't like that smell at all.

As far as thinning the alox, I heat the bottle in hot water straight out of the tap and that thins it to my liking. This year was my first attempt at using spirits. I had an old half full bottle and it had thickened considerably. Heating would not thin it. Trying to dilute it in the bottle was a PITA.

Very good discussion in this thread.

Below is what I use to Tumble Lube
my Lead Bullets; Alox, Liquid Floor
Wax, and a Butter/Whip cream container.

Unfortunately the Johnson Liquid Floor
Wax has been discontinued. I’m always
on the lookout for it, but have been
unsuccessful.

I do have the Johnson Paste Floor Wax
but read on Cast Boolits about usage.

What’s worked best for me is;
1/2 Alox, about 1/2 Liquid wax, and
a little goes a long ways when tumbling.

Attached Images

IMG_2345.jpg (63.3 KB, 10 views)

way way way back when Lee Ioccoa was trying to destroy Chrysler, I found that naptha would dissolve wax.
I probably should have exploited that discovery to see what other things i could add to that base solution. I probably should have seen if bees wax would play nice with it as well.
another semi traditional component is a very hard to find wax called montan wax.
Where most waxes melt in the temp range of 120 - 140 F ... montan wax remains solid to about 220. This was the stuff behind products like Rooster Red high temp rifle lube.
Somewhere in this data purge might be a good dip, tumble or spray lube to those wanting to take up the yoke

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it just needs more voltage

A lot of us use Lundmark liquid paste wax as a substitutefor the Johnsons since it is no longer available.
Seems to work just as well.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

Tumble lube, dip, or cookie cutter - each have their place. I like tumble lube because it seems simple, and works fine, at least for target speed loads and loads under 950 fps. I started using Lee L.A. and JPW diluted in mineral spirits. But even JPW (or Min-wax) works fine by itself, diluted, and tumbled, if the bullets are sized to the barrel.

But what I wanted to say is that I like tumble lube for the simple, low tech methodology. Its pretty much fool proof, and works well for low volume reloading. But two thin coats, one before sizing and one after sizing, are better than one thick coat. If the bullets look brown on top, you need to thin the mixture more. But even brown bullets shoot. You can clean them off - there is lube in the lube groove. Even when you do it wrong, tumble lubing works fine.

I also tumble lube store bought bullets - swagged or cast - as well as my own cast bullets. The hard lube on store-bought bullets is worthless.

Powder coated bullets work well, and I often pick those if I buy bullets. But I don’t want to powder coat my own. Too much technology. The benefit of tumble lubing is its simplicity and lack of expensive equipment. It’s probably the most fun you can have with an empty peanut butter jar in your garage.