bullet lube recomendation

[Carbon_15]

I just picked up an older lyman 450 luber sizer. I have been using the lee push through sizers and Rooster Jacket tumble lube.
Im not sure how to pick from the hundreds of commercial lubes on the market. I will be lubing 230gr .45 and .38 special both at around 800-850fps. Accuracy is most important but smokiness is a concern too. I avoided lead bullets for a long time because the smoke drives me crazy. the smell of alox gives me a nasty headache!!
suggestions?
-can be used without a heater
-accurate with low velocity .45 and .38
-as clean as possible
-no alox smell

thanks

 

[winchester1886]

If you are not going to use Alox then I suppose you will need a heater if you use the hard lubes.I don't like tumble lubes to sticky,Hard lubes like Red Rooster or Blue Angel or good but need heat to soften up.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Bullet lube...

Carbon 15--Recently got into bullet casting myself. I like bullet lube to stay put on the bullets, even on warm days. To obtain that, a harder lube and a heater is necessary.

The heater is no trick to use--Lyman sells one that fits on all their luber-sizers, including the older model, which will go with the heater if you don't insist on using all 4 screws to hold the luber-sizer down. You aren't swaging copper here, nor anything else heavy-duty, you're just squeezing a cast lead bullet down a couple of thousandths of an inch. So the sizer doesn't really need all 4 screws. The heater fits their 2 newer models for all 4 screws, anyway. I screwed the heater to a board (holes come pre-drilled) then screwed the luber to the heater after maneuvering it so as to come over the most holes. (Holes come pre-drilled and threaded.) Clamp the board to my workbench in use, plug in the heater, 20 min. later you're in business.

I use Lyman's Orange Magic lube, which works slick with their sizer with the heater, and solidifies nicely when cooled to room temp. The Orange Magic doesn't stink when applied; doesn't smoke (well, just a little) when fired. No discernible accuracy difference between my target loads with commercially-cast bullets, and my own cast bullets.

I cast bullets specifically for low-presure .38 Spl target loads. Haven't done .45's yet--can't find the right mould on the used market.

I know you don't want to use a heater, but I still suggest that you consider it, just because of the good results.

 

[mdi]

http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html Try these folks for lubes. Excellent pricing, product, and shipping. Good folks to deal with too. They are sponsor/vendors over at castboolits http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php

 

[USSR]

^^^^^ I'm using the BAC lube from the above guy. Good stuff and reasonably priced.

Don

 

[snuffy]

http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html Try these folks for lubes. Excellent pricing, product, and shipping. Good folks to deal with too.

+1, me too!

I use the carnuba red. It's also a hard lube that needs a heater. So I bought one. Problem with the Lyman heater is, there's no thermostat, it's full power as long as it's plugged in. To remedy that to run at half power, get a electric light dimmer switch. Wire it into a box with a plug receptacle in it. This is a simple rheostat that throttles the power to a room light. You'll need a cord and then wire it up.

I'll have to take a picture of mine. If you know ANYTHING about wiring, it should be simple. I'm no electrician, and I made it work.

Anyway, carnuba red needs about 100 degrees to flow through a Lyman 450 sizer. With the dimmer on half way it's perfect. You need about an half hour lead time for it to warm up. You can turn the dimmer on high to give it more heat, but don't forget to use it, the lube will run out of the sizer on high too long.

 

[RustyFN]

+1, me too!

I use the carnuba red. It's also a hard lube that needs a heater.

Me too, great lube and you can't beat the price.

 

[snuffy]

Well, I had the camera out, so I took a pic of the lube heater control;

 

[Russt]

I also use White Lable Lubes. Carnuba Red, Commercial Red, BAC, & 2500. I've had good results with them using them in mag. pistol loads and light cast loads for 30/30 & 45/70. Another lube I've recently tried is Speed Green & Speed Green w/carnuba from The Bullshop. www.bullshop.gunloads.com. He has a lube he's experimenting with also called lotak. He's sent a few samples out for guys to try and get some feed back on it. I've ordered from both companies and both are good folks. Great products & service.