Lead bullet lube question

Backing up just a bit. Lee makes bullet sizers for use on a conventional press. Many cast bullets can be shot as cast without sizing. They do need lube. Alox and tumble lubing gives very good results....but alox does tend to build up in the bullet seating die. I find that tendency to deposit lube in the seating die tolerable . Occasionally removing the die and cleaning it helps. Coating the clean seating punch with a bit of CLP or Tri-flow goes far toward avoiding deposits. Tumble lubing with Johnson's paste wax results in less stickiness when dry compared to Liquid Alox and sometimes shoots very well....but in my LIMITED experience with the JPW it is not as good/versatile a lube as Alox.
 
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:DThanks for the info guys. Trust me I got the reloading down on 3 caliber sit was the casting part I was trying to understand. I have a lee pot and 22bhn lead. I bought 3 casts, as discussed I was enquiring if I needed Alox? Being a foreigner my terminology may throw some off:D (as Winston Churchill salad "two people separated by a common language") I practice excellent safety and asked the question loosely before researching my own question.i certainly hope to answer similar questions for other posters in the future. Thanks for replies.

Thewelshm
 
As already said, lubing is necessary. I used to size and lube and go through all the rigamarow. Now I use Lee Tumble Lube bullets, which need no resizing. Then I lube with Lee liquid alox. The whole process saves me a bunch of time and my barrels have never been cleaner. As-cast bullets give me outstanding accuracy. Been doing it this way for probably 15 years - been casting for 40+ years total.

Yup, my bullet seating dies get a little sticky. 3 minutes cleaning every 200 rounds is little work compared to the old sizing and lubing chores.
 
+1 on White Label Lubes . Quality product , fast shipping & great people to deal with . If you tumble lube their 45-45-10 is less messy sticky than Lee Liquid Alox , not to mention cheaper .
 
Going back to the OP's comment on Alox and it being "sticky" -

Not so if you use it correctly. Most of the problems people have with it being sticky is that they are using too much of it.

I use it all the time along with paste wax for lubing my cast bullets. I'm pretty "low tech". I've cast for 50 years - mostly over a LP single hot plate - no thermometer. I've used Lee, Lyman, Ideal and RCBS molds.

Currently, for my 38s, I cast using Lee molds for the TL (tumble lube) 158 gr SWC, the 150 gr RN - in a Lyman mold the usual WC and I even cast with an original Winchester mold that throws a RN (a little longer than the Lee 150 gr) that drops at around 160gr. IF, I size any of them - it's through a Lee .358 sizer for the 38s. The method I use is -

If I'm going to size, I put a large handful of them in a tupperware bowl, heat the bullets up with a hair dryer so they are nice and warm - once warm, I drop a "dollop" (Maybe a 1/2 tablespoon or so) of paste wax - Johnson's, Min-Wax - whatever I have on hand. The warm bullets melt the paste wax or you can blow on the wax with the hair dryer until it melts. Once melted, swirl them around so they get completely coated and then put them out on a sheet of wax paper to cool . Once cool - ready to size and the wax is enough lube to easily put them through the sizer die.

Once sized - or if I'm going to shoot them "as cast" - I then put them back in the tupperware bowl - heat 'em up good - add another dollop of paste wax and squeeze in a very small layout of the Alox - then swirl good so they get coated all over. I put them out on a sheet of wax paper - I stand them on their bases (optional) and let them dry overnight. This coats them overall but not so thick that the Alox remains "sticky" as the OP talks about. If I'm doing a large quantity and store them in sealed tupperware containers - I've never had a problem with them "sticking" together nor do they seem to crud up my dies.

This works on both the tumble lube SWC that I cast as well as the others I cast with the conventional lube groove. I pretty much use BE most of the time - 2.7 gr. for the WC and around 3.0 - 3.4 gr. for the RN and SWC (depends on what pistol I'm using - I have 7 38s/357 of barrel lengths 2", 4", 5", 6"). They shoot just fine and I have never had a problem with leading. I cast my bullets for my revolvers out of "range lead" - depending on what I have on hand. As I say, I'm pretty "low tech" so the alloy will vary depending on what I have on hand - sometimes range lead, sometimes soft lead.

I also load for 9mm - I use the Lee .356-120-TC - conventional lube groove and lube them the same way. Those I load over 3.5 gr. of BE and they function great in my SR9 - no leading problems.

I will also mention that I don't have a chronograph and I don't load "hot" - I keep 'em "mild to middlin" - so I can't say how my method of doing things would work for someone who likes to shoot 'em "hot and fast" as far as leading goes.

For me personally, the Alox/paste wax works so why get any fancier? It all depends on how much $$ you want to spend and how involved you want to get in casting, playing with alloys, lubes, etc. I enjoy casting, reloading and shooting but I learned a long time ago to keep things "simple". I'm not a competitive shooter - I shoot tin cans, some paper, some varmints on the farm, etc. - for my shooting needs, the Alox/paste wax works fine and my revolvers don't complain one bit. . . . and, I never heard any of the woodchucks I've shot complain about what lube I used! :-)
 
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Backing up what boatbum101 said, White Label's 45/45/10 lube (you can make this yourself if you want) is great stuff. I like it a lot better than Alox. Not as sticky and I've had better results.

Delux Liquid X-Lox~45-45-10 ~~ 32 oz - $15.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

Spend some time at castboolits.gunloads.com. There are a lot of ways to go about casting and lubing. I use a Lee sizer and I tumble lube with 45/45/10. Works for me but it's not the only way.
 
update, for the experimental purposes I bought bullet resizing dies and I am going to give the Alox a try, I may youtube the process. Although it does seem a lot cheaper to just buy the bullets I think its something most reloading enthusiasts should try. I will be casting S&W 500 Magnum, 44 Magnum and 357 Magnum. I will be weighing most and I':m sure some will go back in the pot:rolleyes: I am sure many here have cast their " A" bullets and " B"? great experiment I will keep all informed, ( I'm Anal like that):D

thewelshm
 
I cast 357 158 grain and 44 240 this weekend I have pics and will upload. Its definitely a knack thing. Once I got in the rhythm I cast 50 keepers of each. before going to a wedding:) Also tumbled some brass ( longer process than I thought but older brass) I will also run them through the sonic cleaner to add some enhancement to the inside of the shell.

Busy as heck today but have pics. Lead casting was definitely therapy.


thewelshm
 
Okay, we have completely separated (1) the whole case lubing&sizing the case steps on the loading press for your cartridge brass prep COMPLETELY out of the equation and we're (2) now focusing on on JUST bullet sizing and lubing. Right?

If you have a $14 Lee push-thru bullet sizer kit just spray your cast bullets with WD-40 and run 'em thru the push-thru sizing die on your single stage press. You can do 600/hour with ease.

Then, with your sized bullets let them sit for a day or two. Or wash them down in brake cleaner or alcohol to completely dry them again.

Prior to lubing your new bullets when the time is available, get things set up to boil down (outdoors to help eliminate a flashover if the solvents get too gaseous and ignite) some Johnson's Paste Wax in the yellow metal can over med/low heat to evaporate off the solvent carrier. Have good ventilation. You want the pure wax left without the solvent. Let it stay warm and liquid after the solvents are mostly burned off. As the JPW is near the final end of evaporating the solvents off, heat up some Lee ALOX until it runs as a liquid from the squirt bottle (microwave in a glass jar full of water, or some other suitable method).

When you have warm JPW with no solvent left, and LLA Alox nice and runny... set yourself up a glass jar marked for 45:45:10 levels of the JPW/ALOX and mineral sprits in that ratio.

Fill the jar and blend for a minute.

If you get the ratio right, you can run handfulls of oven-warmed pistol bullets (whether from a designed "tumble lube" mold or a grease groove mold) in a cool-whip container with a couple teaspoons of your stored 45:45:10 blend by warming until liquid, and roll them around until the bullets are covered and pour them all out on wax paper or parchment paper and they will be DRY in a couple hours.

In comparison, using heated straight ALOX right out of the bottle would take weeks to dry if you over-did it by just a few drops.

These 45:45:10 lubed lead bullets will stand up to about 1000-fps and shoot very clean.

If you use hot plain Lee Liquid Alox straight from the bottle in the same cool-whip bowl, roll the bullets around and pour them out, and depending on how much ALOX you threw in there, the time it takes for the bullets to dry is measured in geological time instead of days. And they will almost always feel "sticky".

The method I describe, if you make enough 45:45:10 to fill a small glass jelly jar, will probably let you lube about 5,000+ bullets. And do so without a Lubri-Sizer or stick lube or heaters or top punches.

BTW, the lubri-sizers are the way to go, especially if you want to push bullets fast. But if you feel the desire to avoid that investment you can do what I just described and be able to shoot most handgun bullets cleanly except for the heavy magnum velocity stuff.
 
nitesite said:
Okay, we have completely separated (1) the whole case lubing&sizing the case steps on the loading press for your cartridge brass prep COMPLETELY out of the equation and we're (2) now focusing on on JUST bullet sizing and lubing. Right?

If you have a $14 Lee push-thru bullet sizer kit just spray your cast bullets with WD-40 and run 'em thru the push-thru sizing die on your single stage press. You can do 600/hour with ease.

Then, with your sized bullets let them sit for a day or two. Or wash them down in brake cleaner or alcohol to completely dry them again.

Prior to lubing your new bullets when the time is available, get things set up to boil down (outdoors to help eliminate a flashover if the solvents get too gaseous and ignite) some Johnson's Paste Wax in the yellow metal can over med/low heat to evaporate off the solvent carrier. Have good ventilation. You want the pure wax left without the solvent. Let it stay warm and liquid after the solvents are mostly burned off. As the JPW is near the final end of evaporating the solvents off, heat up some Lee ALOX until it runs as a liquid from the squirt bottle (microwave in a glass jar full of water, or some other suitable method).

When you have warm JPW with no solvent left, and LLA Alox nice and runny... set yourself up a glass jar marked for 45:45:10 levels of the JPW/ALOX and mineral sprits in that ratio.

Fill the jar and blend for a minute.

If you get the ratio right, you can run handfulls of oven-warmed pistol bullets (whether from a designed "tumble lube" mold or a grease groove mold) in a cool-whip container with a couple teaspoons of your stored 45:45:10 blend by warming until liquid, and roll them around until the bullets are covered and pour them all out on wax paper or parchment paper and they will be DRY in a couple hours.

In comparison, using heated straight ALOX right out of the bottle would take weeks to dry if you over-did it by just a few drops.

These 45:45:10 lubed lead bullets will stand up to about 1000-fps and shoot very clean.

If you use hot plain Lee Liquid Alox straight from the bottle in the same cool-whip bowl, roll the bullets around and pour them out, and depending on how much ALOX you threw in there, the time it takes for the bullets to dry is measured in geological time instead of days. And they will almost always feel "sticky".

The method I describe, if you make enough 45:45:10 to fill a small glass jelly jar, will probably let you lube about 5,000+ bullets. And do so without a Lubri-Sizer or stick lube or heaters or top punches.

BTW, the lubri-sizers are the way to go, especially if you want to push bullets fast. But if you feel the desire to avoid that investment you can do what I just described and be able to shoot most handgun bullets cleanly except for the heavy magnum velocity stuff.
Click to expand...


Nice one mate thx for info:)

thewelshm
 
THEWELSHM,

Just in case your're interested in the 45/45/10 Alox Mix

WHITE LABEL LUBE sells what it calls DELUX X-Lox which is the

45/45/10 Alox/Johnson's Paste Wax/Mineral Spirits lube

It's called X-LOX BECAUSE LEE owns the name ALOX.

It's $15 plus shipping for 32 ounce container, but if you're overseas

this idea probable won't help you, it may help others though.
 
Moonman said:
THEWELSHM,

Just in case your're interested in the 45/45/10 Alox Mix

WHITE LABEL LUBE sells what it calls DELUX X-Lox which is the

45/45/10 Alox/Johnson's Paste Wax/Mineral Spirits lube

It's called X-LOX BECAUSE LEE owns the name ALOX.

It's $15 plus shipping for 32 ounce container, but if you're overseas

this idea probable won't help you, it may help others though.
Click to expand...

Thanks for info I live in FL so I think we are in good shape Sir:D


thewelshm
 
THEWELSHM said:
update, for the experimental purposes I bought bullet resizing dies and I am going to give the Alox a try, I may youtube the process. Although it does seem a lot cheaper to just buy the bullets I think its something most reloading enthusiasts should try. I will be casting S&W 500 Magnum, 44 Magnum and 357 Magnum. I will be weighing most and I':m sure some will go back in the pot:rolleyes: I am sure many here have cast their " A" bullets and " B"? great experiment I will keep all informed, ( I'm Anal like that):D

thewelshm
Click to expand...
If you are buying alloy to cast with, you may be right. If you are scrounging or buying cheap alloy, then you can save a lot of money casting. As far as rejection rate, I NEVER weigh my plinking bullets, never. I cull any with base deformations & lube/size & shoot. I do weigh my hunting bullets for the 44mag, but then I am shooting with a scope out to 100yds.
 
fredj338 said:
If you are buying alloy to cast with, you may be right. If you are scrounging or buying cheap alloy, then you can save a lot of money casting. As far as rejection rate, I NEVER weigh my plinking bullets, never. I cull any with base deformations & lube/size & shoot. I do weigh my hunting bullets for the 44mag, but then I am shooting with a scope out to 100yds.
Click to expand...

good info to know 99,9 of my time at range is plinking:)

thewelshm
 
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