Cast bullet lube?

Last edited:
LBT Blue by Veral smith. No leading up 2100fps. That's the fastest I have pushed a cast bullet!
 
Eastwood powder, had it in the oven @ 400 for about 25 minutes. Baked, in toaster oven, no thermomiter
 
If that's Eastwood Green Mirror, it should look like the velvet coating/Blue Mirror in the post above after only 45 sec of shaking.
and like THIS when baked.

I can think of only three things
- The shake container (if a #5) needs to also have Airsoft beads to both create more static and cushion the lead.
- You need a real oven thermometer probe to actually know what the temp (400-420) is...
- You need to make sure the oven's on Bake, not Broil.
 
I've got some beads I'll try. And a different container with a seal. I'm not spending any more money on this project. More trial n error with what I've got.
 
Last edited:
bullseye308 said:
Powder coating is fair easy. Put some powder in a plastic bowl with a 5 inside a triangle marked on the bottom. *Pour in a handful of bullets then put the lid on and shake for 30 seconds vigorously. Remove the lid and with needle nose pliers set the bullets on the tray for the toaster oven you previously lined with nonstick aluminum foil and put in a preheated oven at 400* for 20 minutes. When they come out they get to cool about 5 minutes then get knocked off the foil into a pan then when I’m all done for the day I try to get them all sized. I run 4 pans for the toaster so while one is cooking, I’m filling up another.

*I try not to handle raw bullets with my hands as the oils in them seem to cause adhesion problems with the powder. I could be wrong though.
Click to expand...
I did the needle nose thing for a while, way to slow and frustrating. I now just a glove, wiped in the lid to season before just setting them by hand. Bare hands isn't an option for exactly the reasons you mentioned
 
silicosys4 said:
Liquid alox. With the Lee push throuh sizers it works so well and takes so little time I have never bothered with anything else.
Powder coating seems tedious and time consuming, traditional luber/sizers are expensive and time consuming, and pan lubing just sounds messy and tedious.

Nothing beats dumping 500 bullets into a plastic bag, pouring a little alox over them, shaking for 30 seconds, then pouring them out to dry.
Click to expand...
Anything is better than pan lubing.....
 
Some BLL...Ben's Liquid Lube, from the Cast Boolit site. But...I think I could buy several hundred good quality commercial coated bullets for the money I'd have in powder, sensor, Oven, etc., etc. :cool:
 
Last edited:
IWAC said:
Some BLL...Ben's Liquid Lube, from the Cast Boolit site. But...I think I could buy several hundred good quality commercial coated bullets for the money I'd have in powder, sensor, Oven, etc., etc. :cool:
Click to expand...

You probably could have bought several hundred commercial cast bullets for what it costs for casting equipment as well.

Could probably buy several hundred factory rounds for what it costs for reloading equipment....

We are only different in where we draw a line...
 
8
King Medallion said:
Well that didn't work worth a damn, again.

View attachment 1201091View attachment 1201092
Click to expand...
its obvious that you aren’t using any airsoft BB’s to generate the necessary static electricity to produce the sticking of the powder to the bullets. Kinda like trying to bake bread without yeast!

Black airsoft BB’s work the best. I started out with PINK as that was all that was available during COVID, and was on sale at a drastic discount. It worked “ok”, but not as well as some black I got later. I’m still using up the black, red, and yellow Harbor Freight powder I got nearly 6yrs ago. I’m mixing Red and black for a dark cherry red, and red-yellow for a speckled orange. A little goes a looonng way!
 
My favorite lube is Lee Alox cut 45:45:10 with Johnson paste wax and mineral spirits. I only use this mix with Lee TL-type bullets with about a 30:1 lead/tin alloy, however. No leading when used in relatively low-speed loads. I don't load these hot.

Bullets and lube have to be warm when the lube is applied. But at room temperature, they are not sticky. And load and fire cleanly.

Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

I've received a number of PMs asking about how I tumble lube from folks new to the addiction. Figured I'd take the camera with me to the shop during the next tumble-lube run, so here's how I do it. . . for what it's worth. The formula or mix that I've settled on is a 45/45/10 mixture of...
castboolits.gunloads.com
 
jmorris said:
You probably could have bought several hundred commercial cast bullets for what it costs for casting equipment as well.

Could probably buy several hundred factory rounds for what it costs for reloading equipment....

We are only different in where we draw a line...
Click to expand...
There is a line, I missed the memo, because I justify it all 😁
 
Despite the obvious ease and superiority of powder coating... :neener:

I generally have best results with soft lubes. Anything which requires a heated lubrisizer is too hard, in my opinion. In fact, it's my belief that hard lubes exist primarily so that commercially-made bullets don't lose their lube during transport.

With that in mind, the OP's SPG is very good, even for hot smokeless loads. The only real downside is that it costs an arm and a leg. I reserve it mostly for blackpowder loads.

For the most part, I use LBT Blue Soft with smokeless. This generally has given results at least as good as anything I have tried, and better than most. The downside with it is that it takes a bit more effort to get - as far as I can tell, the fellow makes it all himself, and only accepts checks or money orders mailed to his house. It's annoying enough that I just order a huge amount every ten years or so and call it done.

If/when LBT becomes unavailable, I probably will start experimenting with the "blackpowder" lubes available commercially, like Lyman's Blackpowder Gold.

HTH - and try not to breathe in too many plastic fumes!

<edit> I dislike Alox and never use it any more. I also dislike tumble-lube bullet designs and have given up on them as well. The best that can be said for any of it is that you don't need much equipment, and that you can probably get it to work at least passably well for light loads. The downside is stink, smoke, mess, and leading, so I'm just not a fan.
 
When I bought my Magma Master Caster and Star Lubesizer the seller threw in 45 sticks of Magma Blue Lube.
I probably used 1/2 a stick before switching to powder coating.
It worked really well from what I could tell.
 
I mostly use White Label Lubes Carnuba Red, but also have a decent amount of his Blue as well as a jug of the 45-45-10.

The easiest of all is the last on the list, I just use a vacuum seal bag, dump in 50 or so bullets, a small dab of the lube and warm it with a hair drier then roll em around for a few minutes, and dump em on a piece of wax paper. I've use this on everything I load for up to the 454 in revolvers and rifle loads with no ill effects. The saying goes, if you can see the lube building up on the bullets you're using to much. A little goes a long ways.

The Carnuba Red does need warming, but not a lot. Sometimes I just clamp a 100w light onto the top and let it shine on the barrel of the sizer but usually the hair drier works quickly and efficiently. The Blue needs no heat but in summer it has shown to be a bit soft and messy when shooting. Nothing that was ever an issue except with the auto loaders.
 
Question and answer
I tumble lube twice with gas check in between. Works great.
Would powder coated replace gas checks.
 
Elvis Ammo on YouTube has as much info as anyone regarding powder coating. Two things that helped me with coverage were adding airsoft bb's to the plastic container to create more static and heating the bullets to 140 F to dry them and aid them in the coating process before placing them in the plastic container. When baking the coating remember to calibrate the oven temp by getting an over thermometer. If you miss the mark at 400 degrees and go higher you will see the bullet melt after the coating melts, before its time to pull so you can go on the cooler side if need be. Test the coating by smashing a bullet with a hammer to see if the coating flakes off. If it does bake longer. I always size before and after coating my bullets. I do both lube, coating and combo of the two. The bores are quite happy and accuracy is great with the right combination. Big key to it is bullet size. Size to your firearms needs.
 
Show Me said:
Question and answer
I tumble lube twice with gas check in between. Works great.
Would powder coated replace gas checks.
Click to expand...
I use pc to replace gas checks but.... I will say that's effective on flat based bullets. Bullets designed for gas checks work better with them. That's not really shocking right. My testing was in 357 and I never ordered another gas check mold. Rifle is its own game I'm still learning the ropes.....
 
AJC1 said:
I use pc to replace gas checks but.... I will say that's effective on flat based bullets. Bullets designed for gas checks work better with them. That's not really shocking right. My testing was in 357 and I never ordered another gas check mold. Rifle is its own game I'm still learning the ropes.
Click to expand...
Your testing? Sometimes your testing is good reading
I have good results and not worth abandoning my good molds. Looks clean and tidy though. For .30 cal barrels I get made .311 molds and let the barrel resize them on the way out. Say whatever but I'm happy!! I mix up 20-1 for everything. Gas checks or non.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
  • Locked
ALOX & bullet lube questions
Replies
5
Views
6K
scrat
S
O
  • Locked
Does Lyman alox bullet lube go bad?
Replies
10
Views
729
Col. Cornelius
C
L
  • Locked
Tumble Lube Bullets in a Lyman 450
Replies
3
Views
366
evan price
evan price
loose noose
  • Locked
Heated Lubrisizer for hard Lubes?
Replies
14
Views
2K
USSR
U
bfox
  • Locked
Lee alox lube
Replies
4
Views
671
Pumpkinheaver
P
Back
Top