Lee tumble lube?

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savagelover

savagelover

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When you use the tumble lube on cast bullets and then size them, doesn't the lube come off the bullets. It seems like you would remove some of the lube. Or isn't anything to be concerned about.?
 
I dislike tumble lubing from start to finish. Lube coming off the bullets and getting everywhere (during handling, sizing, and everything else) is one of the issues.

<edit> Some people size before lubing and claim success. Others claim it will lead the sizing die. And some people are able to use the bullets unsized. I solved the whole issue by throwing away my TL mold.
 
I've used the liquid alox for lubing ball-ets
and the Lee REAL bullets for muzzleloading,
and to re-lube cast bullets I've bought that
had a poor grade of lubricant applied by
the maker. It's good stuff
I think that the tumble lube alox is supposed
to be applied and dried after the sizing is
over and done and then loaded.
I've never done anything to any of the
projectiles I've tumble lubed except to
load and fire them
 
Ranger99 said:
I've used the liquid alox for lubing ball-ets
and the Lee REAL bullets for muzzleloading,
and to re-lube cast bullets I've bought that
had a poor grade of lubricant applied by
the maker. It's good stuff
I think that the tumble lube alox is supposed
to be applied and dried after the sizing is
over and done and then loaded.
I've never done anything to any of the
projectiles I've tumble lubed except to
load and fire them
Click to expand...
. Forgot to mention that these are not lee tumble lube bullet,but regular semi wad cutters. I have heard that they can be tumble lubed as well
 
I use Lee Liquid Alox. I don't size the bullet before or after. They drop from my molds 1/1000" over bore diameter; perfect. My bullets are conventional, not specially designed for tumble lubing. I shoot mild loads and have no trouble with leading in .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers.

In my experience, Alox is easy to overuse. I dilute the stuff about 10:1 with mineral spirits and even then apply the watery mix sparingly, just enough to get a noticeable color change on the bullet. Use a blow drier to evaporate the mineral spirits quickly while agitating, then apply a dash of cornstarch to the bullets to eliminate stickiness. I can be loading 10 minutes after lubing. If you are getting a lot of Alox in your dies, you are using too much.
 
@J-Bar speaks truth here.

I use tumble lube over 1300fps in handguns, over 1600fps in rifle. Some go much faster.

I cut the Alox 50/50 with mineral spirits. Put 2 pounds of bullets in a tub,add 1/2tsp of the mix. Tumble, let dry.
For rifle, do it again.

If you are getting it all over everything, you are using far to much. It's easy to overdo it. A little goes a long way.

It's an excellent lube for certain scenarios. Easy and fast to use.
 
I size on the Lyman and then I Lee Liquid Alox all the bullets. I squirt a few drops in a plastic Folgers can and then shake the bullets about 100 at a time in there and pour over tin foil to dry. They shoot great and are accurate. Both rifle and pistol.
 
EMC45 said:
I size on the Lyman and then I Lee Liquid Alox all the bullets. I squirt a few drops in a plastic Folgers can and then shake the bullets about 100 at a time in there and pour over tin foil to dry. They shoot great and are accurate. Both rifle and pistol.
Click to expand...
That's the same way I do it only I use wax paper. I lube mine again after I size them and add the gas checks
 
Properly applied/dried (Lee) ALOX will not be messy, come off on hands, or scrape from bullet.

- Use full-strength Lee ALOX -- a dab on thumb/forefinger ("greasy fingers")
- "Grease-up" the bullets as you pick the up one at a time/place vertical/base down on a plate. Thin film. Bullet groove fill plays no part.
- (Renew the ALOX on your fingers every 4-5 bullets to keep things greasy)

Bake (yes bake) at 225 for 40-45 minutes/allow final cool/dry overnight. Thin-film/ALOX'd bullets will not be tacky at all at that point

Shoot them. guntootsmiley.gif
FAST....!
 
If I use a thin line,mine are dry the next day. Very little tackiness if any thinking of trying pan lubing next. My toaster oven should work well for this. Hard to find bees wax around my area. So thought I'd try toilet rings and vasaline. Or just melt down some stick lube I found. Do a small pan at first to see how it goes.
 
I used to use alox some and did as MEHarvey does except for the baking in an oven. I just set them out in sun all day and got the same results. After trying out powder coating I put up my lubrisizer and have a couple of bottles of no longer need alox sitting on a shelf wasting space and a couple of sticks of lube in a drawer doing the same.
 
I tried pan/dip/thinned lubing for quite a while. Then I realized how much was dripping off/wasted while drying... and how just long it took to dry... if it ever really dried.
Then I discovered just how thin a coating worked extremely well -- up to 2,400fps so far
All Baked Greasy Fingers thereafter....
Dry as a bone the next day,

I use PC quite a bit now. But the nose diameters on bore riders still require bullets be ALOX'd if they're going to chamber.
Old as the hills as it is.... ALOX is still really good stuff.....
 
doubleh said:
I used to use alox some and did as MEHarvey does except for the baking in an oven. I just set them out in sun all day and got the same results. After trying out powder coating I put up my lubrisizer and have a couple of bottles of no longer need alox sitting on a shelf wasting space and a couple of sticks of lube in a drawer doing the same.
Click to expand...
If you want to be rid of the lube you have send it to me, I'll use it and be happy with it..
 
The lube makes it easier to size.
I thin with 1/3 mineral spirits.
A light coat is all you need.
I tumble the sized bullets to redistribute the lube. The TL design causes the bullets to retain most of the lube. Enough to do it’s job.

A bottle will do 5-7,000
 
Appreciate your reply. That's the same way I do it. A little lube then the gas checks and then another light lube.
 
Yep...lube, size, then lube again. I thin 1/3 with mineral spirits and dry on wax paper. They're good to go the next day. LLA is also good for re-lubing commercial bullets with that useless hard lube in their grooves. By re-lubing with LLA, I've eliminated the leading problems at target + velocities...~1000 fps. All of the above comments are for standard bullets with Lyman/RCBS lube type grooves. Best Regards, Rod
 
I size bullets first, then lube. I use alox mixed with paste wax. A whole can of Johnson’s paste wax to a bottle of alox. I heat the bullets with a hairdryer and heat the lube. When it’s soft, I put the bullets in a ziploc bag and glob some in. Knead it a while and then dump on paper plates (targets) and let dry. They aren’t tacky when dried even if I accidentally use too much and have them be brown on color from over lubing.
 
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