Need bullet lube advice- have 1 more question, please

[1x2]

Hi gang,

I have some .22LR ammo that I believe is inadequately lubed from the factory, as they're leading up the forcing cone and up to 2" of the barrel ahead of the f/c of my K-22. Can I rub some Lee liquid alox on the bullet with my fingers and stand them up to dry overnight? Will something else work? I can't dump them in a bag and shake them; I fear the case won't grab the chamber wall when fired. I don't cast bullets so I'll have to buy some of whatever you'd recommend.

I think it's slightly tedious, but I'm not interested in sending them back- as tough as it is to buy ammo now. I'm thinking it would only take a few minutes to lube them. I've got 450 rounds left from this brick.

Thank you for any help,

1x2

 

[1x2]

Hi gang,

I have some .22LR ammo that I believe is inadequately lubed from the factory, as they're leading up the forcing cone and up to 2" of the barrel ahead of the f/c of my K-22. Can I rub some Lee liquid alox on the bullet with my fingers and stand them up to dry overnight? Will something else work? I can't dump them in a bag and shake them; I fear the case won't grab the chamber wall when fired. I don't cast bullets so I'll have to buy some of whatever you'd recommend.

I think it's slightly tedious, but I'm not interested in sending them back- as tough as it is to buy ammo now. I'm thinking it would only take a few minutes to lube them. I've got 450 rounds left from this brick.

Thank you for any help,

1x2

 

[john traveler]

The Lee Alox is woth a try, but it may cause additional problems in chambering your rounds. The K-22 chambers are cut pretty tight, and many rounds fit pretty snug as it is.

I would suggest warming up the Alox lube dipping only the bullet tip and not the bearing surface. The blast from combustion should be enough to distribute lube in the chamber throats and forcing cone.

 

[1x2]

Thank you, john traveler.

1x2

 

[1x2]

No one has it, in town. Will the RCBS sticks work as well?

Thanks,

1x2

 

[NiklasP]

I find that currently manufactured Remington 22LR ammo leads my Ruger Single Six just as badly as you are experiencing. Federal, Winchester, CCI do not do this. I ascribe this to undersized/minimal sized bullets in the Remington ammo. Never tried adding lube to bullets but doubt it will provide the needed gas sealing.

FYI, that same Remington ammo shoots fine in an old Remington turn bolt I have, so it all gets shot in it.

Niklas

 

[john traveler]

The traditional Alox lubricant is 50% Alox and 50% beeswax. This includes all the Alox lubes, including RCBS. The Lee Alox dipping lubricant is thinned out in some solvent, probably mineral spirits.

.22 LR bullets are of heeled, slightly hollowbase construction, and will seal the bore on firing. Actually, recovered bullets show that .22 slugs because they are so soft, actually set back and fill the bore due to the acceleration forces. If you can recover some undamaged .22 slugs and compare their length to unfired ones removed from cartridges you will see they are significantly shorter.

 

[1x2]

Thanks for the heads up, NiklasP. They're not Remingtons (but I recently bought some Remingtons, so I'll watch out for it- thanks for the tip!).

I've shot thousands of this brand through the K-22 with excellent results; as this particular brick is suspect, I'm surmising it to be a lack of lube.

Thank you, again, john traveler. I'm after the RCBS stick.

1x2

 

[1x2]

NiklasP,

Your single six barrel is slightly oversized, so as to let the .22WMR bullets through the barrel, when you switch cylinders. I wonder then, since the Remington's are leading, that the composition of the Remington bullets in the batch you bought is too soft.

The K-22 barrels are historically .005" undersized; it would be interesting to see if the same, undesirable, outcome is observed. Have you tried it?

1x2

 

[Dale53]

1x2;
Thin the Lee liquid Alox 50/50 with mineral spirits. Then dip the whole lead portion of the bullet and then let it drain.

The best solution is if you take a plastic cartridge box insert and make a "rack" of it. Then you can dip 50 bullets at once and arrange them to "drip dry".

This will solve the lack of lube problem.

Let us know how it worked for you.

I have done this in the past (before Lee liquid Alox) with beeswax with good results. Lee liquid Alox should be even better.

Dale53

 

[NiklasP]

1X2,

I would doubt that those Remington bullets are too soft, more likely they are too hard AND too small.

I agree that bore on that Ruger Single Six is a bit oversize for those Remington 22LR ammo. FYI, cheapest Winchester 22LR, Wildcat, has heavily lubed bullets that must be forced into chambers of that gun with fair amount of thumb pressure. They do not lead at all, nor does cheapest, bulk Federal 22LR ammo - also tight in chambers.

In my lead bullet hand loads for various central fire revolvers and old rifles, I use softest bullets I can find, often pure lead, and get no leading up to well over 1000 fps. These bullets are always at least a few thousands of inch larger than groove-to-groove of bore (at its largest point).

What leads badly is hard lead alloy bullets that are undersize, even a single thousand of inch, fired with low chamber pressure (under 20.000 psi or even much more). This is in revolvers with proper dimensions of cylinder throats, forcing cone and bore or in rifles.

Niklas