[tink77]

I am just starting to cast my own bullets, so my questions is, What is the difference between the two? Do you one or both?

Thanks,

[cfullgraf]

Alox is a lubricant.

Pan lubing is a method

With pan lubing, you place the bullets in a shallow pan, melt the lubricant so that it fills the lube groove. When the lubricant cools and solidifies, you use a cookie cutter type device to remove the bullets from the pan of lubricant.

Repeat the process by placing fresh bullets in the holes left by the previous batch.

[rcmodel]

Liquid Alox is a special type of lube designed to be used with special Lee bullet molds which cast many small lube grooves to hold it instead of one or two deep grooves designed for hard grease type Alox.
http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/lube-and-sizing-kit/

Which type to use depends on which bullet mold design you intend to cast with.

rc

[tink77]

Thanks.

[gun_doctor]

I found a way to do both with no mess !!
take o old reloading tray, plastic works best
either put in melted lube to "pan" lube or
stick bullets in each hole and put alox up to top of lube rings and let it dry
pull them out and they ready
to reuse just take a old microwave and heat just enough to make the lube thats there soft and add to if needed

[armoredman]

Using Lee Liquid Alox for lubing works. I've used it on all types of home cast bullets with decent results. Dump them in an old Tupperware, (my sainted mother would faint if she was alive to see what I've done to some of her Tupperware), sprinkle some LLA on, and roll 'em around to coat evenly. Dump on wax paper overnight. Next day, boolits that have a thin coating of lube...they don't even look lubed, but they are. Problems are its ALL over the bullet, so the nose will be slightly sticky too, and it takes a while.
I started pan lubing recently...here's some pictures of what I do. I am NOT an expert by any means whatsoever.

Old sardine tin with melted homebrew lube of alox and beeswax. Electric stove on Simmer.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/armoredman/casting%20stuff/panonstove.jpg

A buddy of mine made this setup for me, BTW. See he included cookie cutters for 38, 9mm and 7.62x39mm.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/armoredman/casting%20stuff/tools.jpg

Remove from heat, let cool and harden, then cookie cut away.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/armoredman/casting%20stuff/cutting.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/armoredman/casting%20stuff/38cutter.jpg

Voila!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/armoredman/casting%20stuff/examples.jpg

Easy to do, time consuming with the same tin I use, but it works. Just shot a bunch of hard lubed 7.62x39mm bullets I cast and lubed on Sunday. :)

[hAkron]

I don't cast much right now, but if you want to size your bullets as well as lube them, it is hard to beat a Lyman or RCBS luber / sizer. I got a new one for less than $200, which isn't cheap, but saved me a lot in time and mess.

[41 Mag]

If your just getting into casting I HIGHLY suggest you head over to the following link and study up on the broad amount of information hosted there.
LASC The Cast Bullet / Hunting Articles Of Glen E. Fryxell (http://www.lasc.us/ArticlesFryxell.htm)

You can download the articles from Glen Fryxell in PDF form and I also highly suggest you do so with the book "From Ingot to Target" which will help you out greatly along the way.

With tumble lubing you can do it several ways, and choosing one that suits you personally will simply be a trial and effort based thing. I personally use one a vacuum seal bag, that I had cut too small to fit a pork ham in. I found it holds up very well and does an excellent job of getting the boolits lubed. I use a variation of the LLA, in that I mix it into what is referred to as 45/45/10 or Recluse lube based upon the fellow who put it together. It is simple to make up but time consuming. If you make up enough to use up a full 4oz bottle of LLA however your set for a couple of years worth of lube. It uses Johnson's Paste Wax blended with the LLA and a shot of unscented Mineral Spirits. The instructions on how to make it can be found here,
Tumble Lubing Made Easy (http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654)

I usually tumble from 50 - 100 boolits at a time, I warm them up on a pan using a hair drier, then dump them into the bag, add in a thumbnail sized glob of the lube and roll them until they all are coated, then depending on which type they are I either dump them out on a pan to dry or put on a disposable nitril glove and stand them up on their bases.

A couple of good things about tumble lubing is you can use it with any style boolit. It only takes a few minutes to do a large quantity, and if you use the 45/45/10 mix, it will be dry in a considerably shorter time than using the straight LLA. With pre-warming, mine are usually dry, and ready to size or load within 10-15 minutes at the longest. If I am sizing them they get one coat before and another after.

The pan lube is done just as described above. It is easy to do yet time consuming. It can also be a pain in the thumb or finger depending on the tool used to remove the boolits from the lube cake. Some folks will allow the lube to cool, then stick the whole pan in fridge or freezer to really solidify the cake, then simply punch the boolits out from the bottom. This works, but it does depend on just what lube your working with as to how well.

One last thing, if your looking for some great lubes and prices, either route you go, look up White Label Lubes. They can supply you with a lube to suit any purpose you have in mind, and for a price that you will appreciate.

Hope this helps

[918v]

I pan lube with home made Javalina. I se pliers to pull the bullets out by their nose. It is quick and easy. The pliers mark the nose, but so what?

[tink77]

Thanks for all the advise.

[noylj]

Lee Liquid Alox and White Label Xlox:
A rust-preventative "gunk" used originally to coat metal (like Cosmoline or automotive undercoating).
Alox (as used in "stick" lubes, generally with beeswax for the old NRA formula): A grease.
The two are not the same.
Tumble lubing:
Made "famous" with LLA. A very thin coating of LLA/Xlox or emulsified wax applied to bullets by tumbling or rolling/shuffling. If done right, the bullets only have a wet shiny look immediately after application and "dry" after 24 hours. Those who apply enough to get golden brown/amber bullets will have "tacky" bullets and may have some slight build-up on seating stem.
For those of us who shoot as-cast bullets, this is the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to generate great ready-to-shoot bullets. All cast or swaged bullets may be successfully tumble-lubed and no special grease grooves are required.
Those who believe in sizing, will need to look at Lee, Star, or Lubri-Sizing techniques.
Pan lubing: A way to fill the bullet's grease grooves without the mind-numbing boredom of Lubri-sizing. I use this technique for several decades before LLA for all my pistol bullet shooting (never worked up a good way to pan lube long-narrow rifle bullets).
I wish I had my Lee Kookie-Kutters still.
Place bullets in a pan and warm up to 200°F. Melt lube in double boiler, not directly over a flame. Pour lube into hot/warm pan with bullets. There is a period between when the lube first hardens and when it is room temperature where you can knock the bullets out of the block of lube and have bullets with nicely filled grease grooves. The important thing about grease grooves is, if you filling them with lube, they must be totally filled with lube--otherwise, the pressure of propellant gases will not, while compressing the bullet, be able to feed lube up against the barrel.
Otherwise, you will need to find a tube of the correct size (check old cases with expanded but not flared/belled case mouths) to punch the bullets out of the lube.