Dip Lube Bullets

[Warren Sear]

I bought a Lee 210 grain tumble lube bullet mold for .41 Magnum. I have used tumble lubing before with good results, except I don't like how it leaves a sticky coating on the exposed portion of the bullet, which is a nuisance to handle, and collects dust and dirt. It also builds up in the seating die, which can progressively seat the bullets deeper and deeper as the buildup continues. Not a good thing.

The way I solved this problem is by dipping the bullets instead of tumbling them. I use a 50/50 mix of Lee liquid alox/mineral spirits. I put this in an empty glass jar (originally for shoe polish) and fill it to the desired height. I then hold the bullet tip with a tweezers and place it into the jar, touching the bottom of the jar with the base of the bullet. I adjust the amount of lube until it stops at the top lubricant groove, just below the crimping groove. I then put the bullet on a sheet of waxed paper to dry.

As the lube gets used up, it is an easy matter to add a little more to the jar, so the lube comes to the desired height.

This just takes a few seconds to do, and it keeps the loaded ammunition from turning into a sticky mess.

 

[Bakebfr480]

Good idea.......I thought Lee liquid alox was supposed to dry and not be a problem!

 

[DumpStick]

Generally speaking, if your tumble-lube bullets are sticky, you are using too much lube. Most people use far too much.

That being said, I have dip-lubed rifle bullets (7.62x54r) with success, at least to 1800fps. I haven't tried faster.

I use 45-45-10, and when tumble-lubing I use 1/4 teaspoon lube per 2 pounds of bullets, tumbled twice.
In other words, 1/4 tsp, tumble, let dry, another 1/4 tsp, repeat., for a total of 1/2tsp to 2lbs bullets. It helps to warm bullets with a hair dryer prior to first tumble, but it's not necessary.
This drys in just a few hours, especially in front of a fan.

 

[BC38]

FWIW, I use the BLL recipe from Cast Boolits.
You already have 2 of the 3 ingredients.
Get some LundMark Liquid Paste Wax from Ace Hardware.
Miix equal parts of Alox, LundMark wax and, mineral spirits.
Tumble lube by putting a small squirt into a plastic butter dish and add a handfull of bullets at a time.
After they are coated dump or scoop them out onto a piece of wax paper to dry.
The liquid paste wax hardens the lube enough that the residual isn't sticky at all.
Try it. You'll like it!

 

[mtgianni]

Ranch Dog specified his custom Lee bullets to be tumble lubed as he dipped them also. It worked for up to 356 Win [308 rimmed] . IIRC he dipped, sized and redipped.

 

[Forrest r]

I use the same 45/45/10 as bc38, caveman simple & it flat out works!!!!

Last year I was playing around with the lee 312 tl-160 bullet in a 308w doing head to head testing
Cast/sized/lubed bullets VS cast/pc'd/sized bullets

I used lbt blue to lube the lee bullets, not really enough lube there in those small tl lube grooves but I tried. As you can see the groups opened up when I started getting to the 2550fps+ range.

Pc'd bullets didn't have the same problem

Re-tested the traditional lubed/sized bullets, but this time I put a coat of 45/45/10 on the bullets adding more lube. I didn't gain any velocity but the group was cut in 1/2 compared to the lbt lube only.

45/45/10:
Easy to make, dries hard with no tackiness & can easily do 2600fps+ with no leading.

 

[cowboy4evr]

On another forum I read about using 60% LEE alox mixed with 40% Johnsons liquid floor wax . It dried hard , no stickiness . It was called " Ben's Liquid Lube " .
Here's one for you experimenters ? A guy said he just used a spray enamel to coat his bullets . Said he bought a spray can of enamel from hardware store , stood bullets on their base in a pan with some separation and spray painted his cast bullets . Supposedly had no lead problems . I'm not recommending this , just put it out there . Regards, Paul

 

[scattershot]

Sounds like it solved your problem, but wouldn't it be easier and faster just to stand the bullets up in a shallow tray and pour in the lube? Then just pluck them out and let them dry, as you are doing now.

 

[boatbum101]

White Label 45-45-10 is already pre mixed & is much cheaper than the Lee Liquid Alox .