Lubing Boolits

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Catpop

Catpop

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Aside from running my boolits through a luber/sizer, tumble lubing, or powdercoating, is there a way to lube boolits fairly fast? Especially the Kieth style deep groove ones
Again thanks for all the past great advice!
Catpop
 
Thanks Fred
But you know me, I was hoping for a little more frugal approach.
Someone once said you could stand the boolits up in a pan and melt the new high temp lube around them. Then, when cool, you could punch them out with your thumb. Never tried it, has anyone else?
 
Pan Lubing is as old as bullets themselves. They make "cookie cutters" just barely larger than the bullet that are hollow and you slip it down over the bullet and cut it loose from the lube like a cookie, or biscuit. You can make your own from hollow tubing.

I believe the problem with punching them out with your thumb is the lube has a tendency to pull out of the lube groove when punched out of the lube cake. I'd try the tubing first. You can sharpen the cutting edge to make it easier to cut through the lube. When the tube is full, empty it out and then do some more. I'd probably cut the tube at about 6" or less.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Thanks for jogging my feeble old mind Fred
I used to have one of those 70s Lee 357 lube kits made like you are talking about: pan, cutter, punch, brown gooey lube. Hated that sticky lube!
But later when I tried to buy a new one for 44 mag, I found they were no longer made. Drats!
Yes, I'll try to find that old dinasaur and try it with the new harder lubes.
Thanks again!
 
It may work better with the hard lubes than with the 50/50 Alox/Beeswax formulas. I've pretty much stopped using 50/50 lube for almost all my bullets, just because of the mess. It works, but I bulk pack my bullets in boxes of 1,000, and hard lubes are the only way to do that. Hard lubes work, too, and no messy kid's stuff.........

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Hi-Tek! I love my Hi-Tek.

There's also a liquid tumble lube I'm going to try as soon as the mail gets here today with my floor polish.

There's a whole section on this subject over at castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php
 
Thanks guys,
I did 50 or so in the pan thing this am before work. I used some new RCBS 80008 (tan color) I already had on the shelf.
I seemed harder than my new Lyman and way harder than that old gooey stuff.
I think I need to buy some new harder lube like mbc uses.
What would you recommend?

Also, can the Hi-tek be bought in a can? I know mbc does offer finished boolits with it already installed.

Johnson paste wax! Really? No leading? Wow! I'll have to try that!

Thanks again
 
Depending on the lube, pushing pan lubed bullets sometimes works. I have not been able to cleanly punch out bullets with the lubes I've tried; C-Red, 2500, Speed Green and a half dozen home made lubes, hot or cold/froozen. I have found no need for a lubersizer in my 20+ years of casting and pan and tumble (dip) lube my cast bullets and cut them out with my "cookie cutters" (SS tubing reamed to a few thousandths over as cast diameter). Want some info on bullet lubes? Look here;http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?58-Boolit-Lube-!

For coatings; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?184-Coatings-and-Alternatives
 
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fN6Zoxl.jpg
The .45 boolits are on their second coat. The .22 boolits are on their first. I'm going to do some 150 gr .358 SWC boolits in the next day or so in the Hi-Tek and Ben's Liquid Lube.
 
Green, oooooohhhhh, my favorite color. Cannibul, those look great. I have a couple of 3 gallon buckets of range harvested bullets that I hope to make into ingots and my own home-poured bullets this year. Still a little overwhelmed with the whole start to finish process but I do have a friend who has offered to help me out, I have a tendency to overthink things. Time, time, does anyone have any spare time to lend?
 
Cannibul,
Those look great!
I read the directions on the mbc site. Looked kinda involved to me. Is it easy?
Are you doing them in the wife's oven?
How long does it take to do a batch of _____.
 
Catpop said:
Thanks guys,
I did 50 or so in the pan thing this am before work. I used some new RCBS 80008 (tan color) I already had on the shelf.
It seemed harder than my new Lyman and way harder than that old gooey stuff.
I think I need to buy some new harder lube like mbc uses.
Click to expand...
I removed the boolits from the RCBS 80008 this am. It is still kinda gooey plus hard to tube cut out without damaging the boolits. I hope to find a harder lube (like mbc blue) that is easier to apply. Any help here?
 
Catpop said:
Cannibul,
Those look great!
I read the directions on the mbc site. Looked kinda involved to me. Is it easy?
Are you doing them in the wife's oven?
How long does it take to do a batch of _____.
Click to expand...

I have a counter top convection oven that use for coating.

It's not hard to use at all.

Mix it up.

Shake it, put some in the container with boolits. Shake the container for 20-30 seconds. Pour into tray to dry. Once dry bake. Repeat. You're done.

Time depends on how long it takes to dry. I usually set the trays on top of the oven and stuff dries pretty quick. If everything comes together I can get two coats on and done in less than hour. Most of that is just waiting time. Actual time involved is about 5 minutes.

I also powder coat and am doing some BIL lubing too.

3u6Qmcp.jpg


8P3CSsj.jpg
 
I thin beeswax with olive oil and pan lube. I'd like to go a little faster, but my casting molds are only two cavity and so I go fast enough.

These are 0.452" boolits, so a 0.454" sized Colt shell works well to cut.

Josh
 
For low velocity pistol rounds like .45 ACP, just flood coat with liquid floor wax in a large funnel, allow the excess wax to drain back into the jug, then pour the bullets out on a piece of window screen to dry overnight.

It's about as fast, cheap and easy as it gets. It dries hard, isn't sticky and won't gum up your seating die.

As long as your bullets are properly sized and you keep velocity @ 850 fps or lower, you won't have problems with leading.
 
Swampman said:
For low velocity pistol rounds like .45 ACP, just flood coat with liquid floor wax in a large funnel, allow the excess wax to drain back into the jug, then pour the bullets out on a piece of window screen to dry overnight.

It's about as fast, cheap and easy as it gets. It dries hard, isn't sticky and won't gum up your seating die.

As long as your bullets are properly sized and you keep velocity @ 850 fps or lower, you won't have problems with leading.
Click to expand...

Can you explain this a bit more, or do you have pictures?

Regards,

Josh
 
Easier than the funnel method, use a empty cool whip or ice cream plastic tub; squirt a table spoon of lube (Lee liquid Alox or Johnsons Floor Wax), swirl the bullets till evenly coated. Add more lube as necessary.

I have a dedicated 1gal ice cream pail. I recover with lid. Dried lube can be softened with mineral spirits.
IMO the Lee Liquid Alox is drastically better than the JPW.
 
Last edited:
GooseGestapo said:
Easier than the funnel method, use a empty cool whip or ice cream plastic tub; squirt a table spoon of lube (Lee liquid Alex or Johnsons Floor Wax), swirl the bullets till evenly coated. Add more lube as necessary.

I have a dedicated 1gal ice cream pail. I recover with lid. Dried lube can be softened with mineral spirits.
IMO the Lee Liquid Alox is drastically better than the JPW.
Click to expand...

OK, so it's just another name for tumble lubing?

Never heard of using Johnson's.

Regards,

Josh
 
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