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I was made a Presant of a bottle of LEE Lube today & I was wondering how do you now when you have coated the Bullets enough ! I tumbled them & they seem to have a good coat & I have poured them on to grease proof paper to Dry! They are for a 30-30 any advice would be a great help:confused:
Dave
d-o-k, Assuming youv'e sized your CB's to fit, what you've done is correct, but the test will be in how they shoot. If they group well and don't lead your bore, change nothing. If they group poorly and leave Pb alloy deposits (the second may cause the first), you'll need to check the velocity and maybe reduce it and think about adding another coat of Liquid Alox. Hope this helps!
I tried the Lee lube on a batch of boolits, she nearly had a fit from the smell...guess you shouldn't do it in the house. :)
Think I'll stick to gaschecks and regular bullet lube in a sizing press.
Jim
LEE says very little, happy users say fill the grooves... go figure!
I am somewhere between the two, about one drop per ten bullits (standard lube grooves, the TLs are worse. I usually don't resize).
I used it in 44 carbines with cowboy loads and it was ok, not as good as standard lubes (it never is, specially in revolvers and/or less than smooth barrels).
Anyways I'm mostly happy with Liquid Alox in autoloading pistols and it's a great time saver.
kg
D-O-K, I just swirl them in a round bottomed margarine tub until there's an even coating. Maybe 1/4 teaspoon for 100. I just do it by eye, it doesn't take much, or more than 30 seconds to get them all coated. I do them out in the shop - the solvent in them is petroleum based, as Bigbore44 found out the hard way. A little mineral spirits can thin it, too, and some prefer to use it that way for a lighter coating or for a second coat. I just use it straight up and spread them out on some aluminum foil or wax paper, depending on which one I grab when I reach into the drawer. I like to take a pencil and stant them on end and be sure none are touching. I like the system a lot and have been using it exclusively since a friend discovered it and we began experiments.
Years back I got a great deal on a used Lyman lubrisizer with a heater and some dies. I used it for many handgun bullets, mostly plain based for .38 & .357 revolvers, through which we shot at least 10 boxes a week (500rds) in the warmer weather, and for a fair amount of .44's and .45's for friends. I prowled the shows and yard sales and snapped up more sizers and punches whenever I found them. Then I began to shoot high powered rifles with jacketed bullets and muzzle loaders and the sizer gathered dust most of the time. After the first batch I tried with the liquid, I liked it so much that I sold the old sizer and the several dozen dies & top punches I'd accumulated and bought some push-throughs, a couple molds, and a rifle with the money. In the last few years, I have begun to cast for my rifles, and it seems like friends and club members keep dropping by with melters, ingots, gas checks, and old molds that have been gathering dust and "ought to be used, cast me some when you play with it, OK?" Part of it is that they know I have enough time on my hands, (I am disabled), and the other part is that they know I don't have a lot of extra cash and it's a win-win situation all around. Keeps me out of what trouble I could still get into!
Truth to tell, I probably cast four times as many bullets now as I ever did then, but I load around the same amount of cartridges according to my records. All of them get lubed with liquid Alox and push-through sized except the round balls & Maxi Balls, even the .45cal HP's that go into sabots for my .54. I hear a lot of mud slung about as to how smelly and messy and what a pain it is. I can remember trying to remove hard lube from the hardwood floor on more than one occasion when the old heated unit sprang a leak and I didn't notice right away. Alox cleans up with a paper towel from floor or fingers. The only drawback is the drying time, but I'm not the instant gratification kind of guy. I have several projects of different sorts happening in house and shop, and move from one to the other when I've been in one position too long and start to stiffen up. I will cast huge batches of many different weights and sizes over the course of a day, then work them up in small batches as is convenient, 100-200 at a time, over the next two weeks. For a man that had only a few hours here and there due to a busy schedule, it would be easier to cast and size in one session to be able to shoot on the day off. If one had to do really high volumes like thousands a week, the conventional unit would be more practical, too, I suppose, but my present system is more than adequate to my needs.
Thanks for the advice you blokes ! I've used a lube sizer for years (lyman ) so this alox was all new to me but the Chap that gave it to me swears by it !But seemed to think I'd work it out for myself !
Dave
I have never tried the lee liquid alox, But have heard that some people like it. What I use is Bull Shop Speed Green, available at http://www.bullshop.gunloads.com/. Go to prices and go the the bottom of the page. that is the price plus shipping which is under $15.00 I think. I think that I can fit 10 lubes in a package. my mom just shipped some lube to sweden for $9.00, but australia might be higher.
Delbert/BS JR.
[QUOTE=Bullshop Junior]I have never tried the lee liquid alox, But have heard that some people like it. What I use is Bull Shop Speed Green, available at http://www.bullshop.gunloads.com/. Go to prices and go the the bottom of the page. that is the price plus shipping which is under $15.00 I think. I think that I can fit 10 lubes in a package. my mom just shipped some lube to sweden for $9.00, but australia might be higher.
Delbert/BS JR.[/QUOTE
Cheers for that Mate ! When I use up my existing stock of stick lube. I'll be certainly giving you a call (I got really good deal a while back on some Rcbs lube .Ok so it was that hot I have to use gloves to handle it but there you go :mrgreen: ) I've read some good things about the Bullshop Green & would rather deal with a small company with a face than a Large corporation anyday of the week :-D I have made a point of adding your webb site to my Bookmarks ! I lso recomend anyone who casts or is in the market for cast boolits to have a look at whats avalible .On the site .Belive me they have it all covered !
Dave
Just give the batch I'm trying a second coat ! I thinned it out with a tad of White spirit !Tracey (my wife ) walked out into my reloading room to see what I was doing & just shook her head & wandered off again [smilie=w: So I may have got away with the fumes ! I'm still trying to get my head round the fact that it dosen't seem to be a real thick coating (like a normal lube ) but I suppose all of the bearing surfaces are coated. So it now remains to be seen what happens:coffee:
Dave
So, how did it work ? :neutral:
I took the 30-30 out with me as my working rifle this last trip loaded up with the Lee lubed 150 gns !Now whilst it seemed to keep the leading down ect ! I'm still a little hesitent about using it full time .More over the fact that old Habits die hard .I'll probarly use it for my Pistol cal Bullets, but I think for my long arms I'll stick to normal lube ! Well work wise any wayQuote:
Originally Posted by kg42
Dave
What kinda lube you using Dave?
A few years ago I happened to meet a Chap who knew a chap ,who was related to a chap who if you did'nt ask questions, could obtain bulk orders of certain articals at different times! I obtained from him a vast quantity of RCBS lube of which ,I'm nearly out ofQuote:
Originally Posted by Toney
Dave
I put the Lee alox in the microwave for about 30 seconds, that thins it to about half of it's cold temperature and I don't have to mess with solvents. You guys are weird.....I love the smell of alox and Hoppes!
Ah a man after my own heart I love the smell of m reloading room , Gun oil, Solvent ,Alox , powder, Case lube & the smell of a thousand forgotten Farts!:-D It's a place to go & meditate & hide from the worldQuote:
Originally Posted by 454PB
Cheers for the heads up on the Microwave idea! It works a treat !!
Dave
My room smells like hoppes and cosmoline. Got it last summer when my oldest girl moved out. Glad to get the room, and she just moved over a couple of buildings.
I'm a Bugger for punnishment ! I had it all ! The kids grew up & left home ,then my first wife ran off with another bloke (poor soul ) ! I had it all [smilie=w: I had a bench rest set up in the dinning room so I could shoot out the comfort of my window & never get wet in winter & hot in summer ! Then what did I do ? Got remarried & stocked the house with kids again !!!!Mans got to be a fool to himself !!! :mrgreen:But t the end of the day I have the inner sanctum (my reloading room ) where I can hide !(I would'nt change a thing though ! I have another generation of shooters to train up)Quote:
Originally Posted by Toney
Dave
Lee Liquid Alox is advertised with an illustration of the intact Alox - lube remaining on the bullet when it is in the process of sagging from heat of a nearby torch.
When I use liquid alox I pour a 2L soda bottle-cap full of it and dip each bullet JUST to the last lkube groove and let dry on wax paper ..I dont like coating the no=bearing surfaces of the bukllet. I dust the dried bullets next day with motor mica (powdered mica dust used by manufatuurers for motor assembly)
It IS that good. I make my own lubes and Alox 2138 for the NRA Alox-beeswax formula is not longer available.
You might try a version of SAECO GREEN bullet lube whose recipe I got from one of their field reps. on another cast bullet group . It is a luber-sizer lube, a bit hard, and a heater (or gooseneck lamp) might be needed but it works excellently with allmy rifler and pistol bullets. I shifted away from ALOX-based lubes because of smoke complaints.
SAECO GREEN
1 # canning paraffin wax
1/2 bottle STP
1 # beeswax
melt all in double boiler and mould in 1" PVC tubing capped at bottom with a center thru-screw into a 1/4" dowel rod
Yodar in Orlando
I tumble lube ALL my pistol bullets with LEE Liquid stuff. I use mostly Tumble Lube moulds. I use Lee push through sizers exclusively for rifle bullets and lube them with LEE as well. The harder, higher velocity ones get hand lubed with Smith's Blue whatever it's called.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yodar
Thanks for the tip about the bottle top methord I'm going to try that out ! I've got some .303 185 gn slugs to lube so I'll try it out on them !
Dave
I find it's easier to wipe the exposed lead on the loaded rounds with a cloth soaked in paint thinner or mineral spirits than it is to single dip them. I do that in hot weather, but here that's only two months at most. I have heard other casters also use the mica with good results. Humidity seems to slow the evaporation of the solvent in the Liq ALOX, and in muggy weather it can be messy. My pet theory is that the people who live where it is hottest and most humid are the ones that like it the least.
Yep that's what i do. I just use a rag to wipe them rifle bullets off to keep dirt and stuff from sticking on them while out hunting
I've worked with the Lee Liquid Alox a bit and find it a great product. I've also tried a lot of methods and here is what works best for me...
I heat a large mug of water in a microwave just like if I was heating up a cup of coffee. When I pull it out, I sit the bottle of lube in the cup for a few minutes. I shake it up and then with my bullets in a tub, I apply one drop to each bullet's lube grooves and then start stirring the bullets in the tub until the bead of lube has spread over the bullets. One coat for pistol bullets and three for rifle. I size the bullets after the first coat.
I shoot the TLC432-285-RF (see group buys) lubed in this manner and there is a lube star on the barrel so I figure it is good enough.
Hi Folks
I use Lee liquid alox for my Lee .312 /185 cast bullets. I tumble them using
styrofoam cereal bowls doing about 50 at a time. I do it once before sizing and after
and have had excellent results in two M39 mosin nagants and a No#4 mk 1 enfield.
Velocity has been 1800-1900 with little or no leading using heat treated WW. Am
looking forward to using them this deer season.
Mike
I think you can even get the same stuff a whole lot cheaper from www.lsstuff.com.
I bought a 10 sticks of his carnuaba red....
It may not be the solution to all your problems, but LLA is just too darn easy to apply for a feller NOT to develop a load that works with it. That load will become your gen'ral plinker load. If you find a load that you can race with all the better.
Keep some gunscrubber on hand for when your dies get gummed up with the LLA though. That's my biggest gripe. I'll be happily loading away then suddenly I notice the OAL goes all loo-loo. Time to clean the gunk out of the seater die.