Cast 'em, sized 'em, lubed 'em... now what?

[JeepGeeek]

Title says most of it.

I cast some .45ACP bullets today. About 50. Would have done more, but it was a test run.

They turned out pretty well. About a 80% "good" ratio, not bad as I've not tried this but twice so far, and am still learning technique. Towards the end, I didn't have any bad bullets.

Sized 'em (OK, I didn't really-- but these are tumble-lube bullets, and it's accepted that being Lee they're ok for shooting sans sizing).

Lubed 'em: Lee liquid Alox in a baggie till they were all covered. Had the kid help. (OK kiddo- 5 squirts in the baggie.. now seal it, now gush it up!!!)

Set 'em on a paper plate with tinfoil on it in the garage. They're mostly dry as of 2300, and will sit there till I get off work at 1800 today.

I've heard of folks using mica after lubing the bullets. Is this something I should do tomorrow when I get home before I load the bullets, or should I have done it immediately after pulling them out of the lube baggie?

Is talc an acceptable substitute? How about graphite? I don't have Mica laying around, but have plenty of both talc and graphite. These bullets will be assembled into rounds tomorrow and will then sit around till I get to firing them. Once the load is proven, I will be making about 1500 rounds to go into storage. At the moment I'm looking to store them by putting into quart-sized ziplocks since I don't have any boxes to store them in and putting them in the plastic boxes will be 1)expensive and 2)bulky.

 

[Bush Pilot]

Loading seems like the next logical step to me, but that's only my opinion. Why would you add mica?, I've never heard of anyone doing that

 

[JeepGeeek]

apparently- and I'm only going on what I've read- you add the mica so they're not quite so gummy/sticky while sitting around waiting to be fired.

:shrug:

 

[JeepGeeek]

quick google search:

scott5June 16th, 2007, 09:42 PM
Layusn1,
What ReloaderFred said.

Back when I started shooting lead in my 9mm's and 357's I got a little bit of leading and it was a pain to clean it out.

So what I did was drop some bullets in MICA (a white dry lubricant)
and shoot them.
It takes about 500 rounds in each barrel to do the trick.

Now I can shoot lead at jacketed speeds without leading.

so it seems as though graphite would work the same. Just won't be white (big deal!)

 

[CBS220]

Mica will work. I haven't tried graphite, but I find mica unnecessary unless you have a terrible aversion to getting a tiny bit of stickyness on your hands...

 

[zxcvbob]

Lubed 'em: Lee liquid Alox in a baggie till they were all covered. Had the kid help. (OK kiddo- 5 squirts in the baggie.. now seal it, now gush it up!!!)

Sounds like you are using a lot more lube than you really need to. I put 50 to 100 bullets in a plastic ice cream bucket, drizzle just a little Alox on them, and shake them around and around to coat evenly. Then sit them on an old metal cookie sheet to dry for a day or two.

Regarding bulk storage, go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a 1 gallon metal paint can with a lid. They work great for storing loose ammo. I use one for storing .45 Colt ammo (my favorite load uses 230 grain Tumble Lube bullets) I'm not sure how many hundreds of rounds it holds. Or for a more traditional look, buy a surplus .30 or .50 caliber ammo can (the .30 is the skinny one)

Talcum powder (make sure it's really talc and not corn starch) should work just as well as mica, but IMHO they are both unnecessary. I did try some talc on my bullets once, and even though it took some of the stickiness off, it was still ugly and a little bit messy. And who wants ammo that smells like baby powder

 

[Ifishsum]

They shouldn't be sticky - it does sound like you may have put way more lube on than you needed. 5 squirts for 50 - with pistol bullets I thin the liquid alox with mineral spirits and use 7-10 drops per 100 bullets and swirl them around in a tupperware bowl, it's really all you need. They dry pretty hard and they just look like they have a thin varnish on them.

I agree with zxcvbob that adding talcum powder or mica will just make more of a mess.

 

[JeepGeeek]

Thanks Ifish.

What's your approximate ratio for thinning the Alox? OK to keep it in the original plastic bottle after its thinned?

 

[Down South]

Some folks mix their LLA 50/50 with mineral spirits. Yes it can be stored in the same bottle. I have several bottles of the LLA plus another 32 oz jug of it. I've never tried it yet as I pan lube. I do have a tumble lube WC mould and have cast several hundred of the wad cutters. I will use LLA on them whenever I get around to loading them.
I would check the diameter of the boolits and slug the barrel if you are planning on shooting them as cast.

 

[Griz44]

I does sound like you are using WAY more lube than neccesary. I rattle them around 150-200 at a time in a plastic round bottom bowl and dribble just enough in to get a good coat. I have been averaging around 2500-3000 per 4oz bottle. I don't cut it down any, I like a fairly heavy coat on them. I do warm it up before application though. Since I usually do 500-1000 at a time, I just pull off a long strip of wax paper and spread them out on the 7' long work table to dry. I will roll them all over the next morning and let them sit all day for the nights reloading session or short term storage in the ziplock containers.

 

[TexasSkyhawk]

I mix my LLA with some Johnson's Paste Wax (I "cook" the JWP first to get rid of the solvent, then add it to the LLA). This eliminates some stickiness as well.

But, I'm also a fan of using mica. Done correctly and sparingly (it only takes literally a pinch to do over a hundred or more boolits), it makes zero mess and definitely keeps your fingers cleaner and seating dies happier.

Huge NO TO GRAPHITE.

You'll get a mess that will take you weeks to clean up--if you can ever clean it up. Plus, your barrel will get so gunked up and you'll pull your hair out trying to get your patches to quit being "black" when running them through your gun while cleaning.

Jeff

 

[JeepGeeek]

thanks for the info guys. keep it coming.

How do you cook the LLA? Down to a slurry, to powder?

 

[scrat]

a few things

If you go to pour you LLA and its too thick. Run it under some hot water for a few minutes. In fact you should do that all the time. This will thin it out. Now what i do is this. I take a 2 liter bottle. Not an ice cream bucket as they just never seemed to be that good. So then i would cut the 2 liter bottle so that its about 5 inches tall. Then drop in 50-200 bullets sometimes. put in about a dime size maybe quarter size amount of the LLA then tumble them around until they are all coated.

Next.

go to your local .99 cent store and get some wax paper the type for cooking. It works the best.

Lay out a good piece then drop all the bullets on the paper. i try to stand them up as not to lay them on there sides as well if you do you will see.

Now when they are dried for about 24 hours or more. you can do a couple of things. 1 you can put some Talc powder (baby powder) on them as this will completely eliminate the stickyness or 2 just load them up.


or


i try to cast way ahead of time. Spend about 4 hours casting. get about 500-1000 done. Then lube them all. let them dry for over 24 hours then box them up and shelf them. The longer they sit the less tack they will be. i have bullets i lubed 6 months ago today that are not tacky at all.

Sizing. DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ AND HEAR. All bullets should be sized. Lee states that none of there bullets need to be sized. HOGWASH. 1st you need to keep your molds very clean. just one little splatter of lead in between the halves and the bullets will come out bigger. you wont see it. Until you go to press them or load them. Then your going to come back here complaining of the bullets not chambering. Its cheap insurance but well worth the effort to purchase a sizing kit from lee and run them all through the sizer.


Next tip. Ket some kerosene or mineral spirits, lighter fluid, some kind of petroleum distalites. Keep it handy with a rag near by. Also keep some smaller rags. a swab like one from a .410 shotgun works great. (depending on what caliber your shooting). WHY. when you go to load them since you did not size them your going to have a build up of LLA on the cases as well as in the dies. So anyone of them is what your going to want to have handy. Simply put some on a rag. Then after you load up a whole bunch of them. you can wipe off the cases. Then use the swab to go up the die to clean out the insides. Later when your done i usually clean out the die with mineral spirits followed by some good old fashion Detergent and hot water. then dry it off.

 

[Ifishsum]

I only thin the Alox a little bit, maybe 20% thinner. I also warm it before use. It's no problem keeping it in the original container.