Is it okay to tumble lube bullets other than Lee's

[1sailor]

I have finally decided to bite the bullet (pun possibly intended) and start casting my own bullets. In looking through all the literature and some misc postings I see a lot of good stuff about tumble lubing. I know that many of the Lee's bullets were designed with micro grooves for tumble lubing but is it okay to tumble lube bullets not specificaly desighed for it? I have been buying some 130gr hollow points in 9mm that my Beretta loves and I'd like to start casting those. They have the wide deep lube groove though instead of the micro grooves.

 

[sbeatty1983]

google pan lubing. Its what I do and I have very good results with it.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

i quit running ALL my cast bullets intended for my .38 revolvers through my luber/sizer. I've been just tumble lubing them and they shoot just fine.

 

[Titegroups]

I do it, just keep an eye out for leading. I prefer jacketed stuff for most my autos though.

 

[Treeman]

Liquid Alox does just fine on "normal" lube grooved bullets-"works great, less filling." There are also other tumble lube options besides liquid Alox. The grease groove may one day prove obsolete but it does no harm. The "micro band" system doesn't seem to actually help anything either. Lube on the bearing surfaces and THE BULLET BASE seems to be the key to efficacy.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I will be a stick in the mud and say both yes and no. Yes you can if everything else like bullet alloy to load pressure is correct and fit to bore is good but no if you are talking about too high pressure of a load or with a barrel long enough that the alox doesn't hold up the whole length.

 

[cjw3]

If using liquid Alox on non-TL designs, I like to use it thicker than generally recommended or lube them twice.

When dry, I then roll them around a little bit in baby powder to eliminate the "stickiness". These make an interesting smell when fired .

 

[1sailor]

Thanks for the answers guys. Pretty much all my 9mm loads are for range use only and are somewhat on the light side using Universal powder. My range gun is a Beretta with a 5" barrel. I had avoided tumble lubed bullets because I really didn't kow anything about them and didn't trust 'em. Started doing some research though and it honestly looks like sometimes it may be an improvement over the traditional deep grease groove.

 

[Mr.parker]

1sailor you can find out just about anything you want to know about casting and loading your own boolits @ this web site.castboolits.gunloads.com there is a wealth of info there, and lots of great folks to help you out.