Lubeing cast bullets

[savagelover]

Can lee liquid alox be used on non tumble lube bullet to prevent leading. I have been powder coating some,but am thinking about going back to regular lube. Also can the wax seals for plumbing use be used for old fashioned pan lubing? I don't cast up a lot of bullets at one time, maybe only 50 or so. Not going to buy a luber sizer . I like the old way. I still use the lee dippers as well. Thanks, johnny

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Can lee liquid alox be used on non tumble lube bullet to prevent leading. I have been powder coating some,but am thinking about going back to regular lube. Also can the wax seals for plumbing use be used for old fashioned pan lubing? I don't cast up a lot of bullets at one time, maybe only 50 or so. Not going to buy a luber sizer . I like the old way. I still use the lee dippers as well. Thanks, johnny

If you're talking about the wax donut seals used under toilets, I've melted them down, added paraffin wax and some Lee Liquid Alox to make lube sticks for my Lyman lubrisizer 450 but never tried using them straight for pan lube. Could work just fine.
FortuneCookie45LC says so, too.

 

[savagelover]

Appreciate the reply. I don't cast a lot,so I'm thinking of staying simple. After all I'm a simple old man, leading a simple life. Lol

 

[mdi]

Yep, alox works on "standard" lube groove bullets. BTDT. The toilet seal rings used to be made from beeswax and made good bullet lube, but recent mfg rings are made of junk refining dregs "wax" which does not make good lube. There are some simple recipes here; .https://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?58-Boolit-Lube-! One I use is my "Speed Green", 3 parts beeswax, 1 part synthetic 2 cycle motor oil...

FWIW I have been casting for quite a while and still don't have a lubersizer. When I started casting I had an old Lee pan lube kit and used that for several hundred 44 caliber bullets and at the time was on a limited budget so a lubersizer, dies and nose punches were too much. I refined my methods and today I still pan lube usually 100-150 at a time and not a big deal being "slow". Pan lube and Lee push through sizing...

 

[savagelover]

Thanks for the reply

 

[Crosshair]

Tumble lubing non-Lee bullets works just fine.

I use Johnsons Paste Wax with some Vaseline and a little Allox. Tumble in a container, let it sit for an hour for it to not be so runny, then dump it on a pan in a pile. Let it sit for a day, then spread it out and let it dry the rest of the way.

 

[dredd]

I don't cast a whole lot either, so I use the Shakey-Shakey method as well.

I use 45% Alox, 45% Paste Wax and 10% Lighter Fluid (for Zippo's & such)

I measure carefully... Glop, Goop & Squirt.... Yep, looks about right.

Shake, Swirl, Roll Around for a while and then dump them out.

I stand mine up to dry after that. Wax paper comes in handy, but not really necessary.

 

[PapaG]

Cast and precision sized for fifty-five years. Now, for most of my shooting regardless of mould type it is cast,tumble, load and shoot.
For the rest, cast, weigh, inspect,size to groove (or cyl throat dia), carefully load and shoot.

 

[cfullgraf]

I’ve tumble lubed non-tumble lube bullets with Lee liquid alox. It worked fine but I did it with low velocity rounds like 380 ACP and 45 ACP 230 gr RN.

I’ve done more lubing using a pan, melting the bullet lube, then cutting out the bullet with a “cookie cutter”.

This was done in the 1980s to 1990s.

When I returned to casting in the past few years, I got a real lubri-sizer and also have been dabbling with powder coating.

 

[bullseye308]

I cast for 38 and 357 and tumble lube both of them. Always have and probably always will. My 9mm’s I cast and powder coat. I use the Lee 158 swc tl in my 357 cast from wheel weights and tumble lubed with Lee Alox. The barrel has had nothing but bullets down it for just over 5k rounds and there is just a light grey wash all the way down it. I clean everything but the barrel on it when it needs it or it looks bad. My 38 gets tumble lubed as well and I don’t clean the barrel on it either, nor have I had the need to, although it only has about 2k through it. Cast, size, tumble lube, dry in the sun, load. No worries.

 

[41 Mag]

The Lee 452-300 is a standard lube designed mold. I've been using them with either straight alox or the 45,45,10 version from White Label Lubes for up to full house loads out of my 454 with no issues.

I also use it on bulk batches of the HG 68. Usually just take one of the vacuum seal bags, pour in 50 -100 bullets, dribble in a bit of lube, and hit the bullets with a hair drier to warm it all up and then tumble the bullets around to get everything coated. Then the whole batch gets dumped on a tray covered with wax paper to dry.

Don't sweat one little part sticking as there is plenty of lube to make up for that. One other thing I do for the high energy loads is to run a patch slathered with alox down a clean barrel just to prime it up prior to the first rounds down the tube.

 

[savagelover]

Greatly appreciate all the replies. All my cast bullets are for 38/357 or 44 cal. I shoot a lot of 44 special. Thanks again,johnny. 73 soon.

 

[BW460]

Mix 35 parts Lundmark Liquid Paste wax, 30 parts Lee Alox, and 35 parts Mineral Spirits. Landmark makes several waxes so make sure you get this one. It has carnuba wax in it. I bought a plastic catsup bottle to put it in. Trust me, this is the solution to all leading problems. I don't cast but was ready to give up on commercial lead bullets until I found this. I tumble lube 2 thin coats of this. Wait 24 hours between applications. It only takes a little bit of this. If you can see the lube on the bullet after it dries, you used too much. This solved all my leading issues. Commercial lube is too hard. I leave the commercial lube on and tumble over it. Just shake the bottle well before you use it.

 

[kmw1954]

I use the 45/45/10 formula in lube groove cast bullets. 45/45/10 is 45% Alox, 45% Johnson floor paste wax, 10% mineral spirits. Works great.

 

[Bazoo]

The way I apply tumble lube, is heat the lube in the microwave, heat the bullets some with a hair dryer, put the bullets in a ziploc bag and drizzle some lube on. Then I knead the bag, when everything’s coated I dump onto paper plates.

I mix a can of Johnson’s paste wax and a bottle of alox in a pot.