Slightly OT - lubing bullets with LEE equipment

[Arminius]

Howdy!

I am considering casting. I´ll start with the .44-40 and the .45 C.

If I use LEE ( or other Moulds ) with regular lube grooves, and I intend to use the LEE size / lube set, how get´s the lube in the grooves?

( I think about Bullets 429-200 FR and 452-255 RF )

I do understand that you just spray the bullets - if TL configuration - with the lube, but I do not want an expensive Lubrisizer, and I want the LEE unit, and I DO WANT lube in the grooves on the bullets ...

what shall I do, or how shall I do it?

Thanks, Hermann

[J Miller]

Hermann,

Piece of cake.

To lube any bullet with the Lee Liquid Alox just get a zip lock bag or one of them inexpensive food storage tubs with a lid and put the bullets in it. Pour in just enough LLA to coat all the bullets. Then size them using the Lee sizer. After that tumble lube them again. That's all.

The other way is to pan lube them. You set your bullets, sized or not in a shallow pan on a low heat, too hot and the lube will smoke like crazy and could ignite, then slowly add solid lube from a stick. Once the lube grove is covered take the pan off the heat and let it solidify. Sometimes you can pop the whole cake of bullets and lube out then push the bullets out of the lube, and other times you'll need a cutter.

Personally I bought an RCBS Lube-A-Matic 30+ years ago and never looked back. It works for 99% of my needs. For the rest I have a Lee press mounted sizer and my old pan lube kits.

Joe

[Chuck 100 yd]

I don`t like to have the Lee Liquid Alox (LLA) all over the bullet
so when I use it I put some in a small container like a spray paint can lid and dip the bullets base in the lube just up to the crimp groove. I use forceps to hold the bullet by the nose. Set them on their bases on a sheet of wax paper to dry. I thin the LLA about 1/4 with Mineral Spirits and often dip and dry twice. Then a trip through the Lee push through sizer completes the job.Time consuming for sure but the finished product is high quality.


Ranch dog bullet with 1 coat of LLA

[TedH]

I use a lube/sizer for bullets with regular lube grooves, but I also have several LEE molds with micro grooves with which I use the same method as Chuck. Both work well. I've driven rifle bullets well over 2K fps with no problems with the alox.

The alox will work with regular lube grooves too, just tumble them in a small tub with a few drops of alox.

[Don McDowell]

If you're going to use the lee size dies size the bullet before you use the liquid alox, or liquid alox then size and then treat them again. Otherwise the only place the LLA does you any good (the bearing surfaces of the bullet) will be wiped clean of the lube and you'll get some leading problems.
The you can also either pan lube or dip lube with regular bullet lube like Sage Brush alox. Just rig up a double boiler system and when the lube is melted start dipping your bullets. After they're dipped you can run them thru your size die. Pan lubing you melt the lube in a double boiler, then with all your bullets standing up in a flat pan pour the lube in until the lube grooves are covered. Let the pan set until the lube is almost cooled off then lift the bullets out with a twisting motion so the grooves stay full, or cut them out with a cartridge case with the primer hole drilled out big enough to let the bullet pass thru. Then you can size in the lee size dies.

[Rusty]

Try reading over on castbullet.com

Junior has some good reading material there.

[Don McDowell]

But of course non of us here know anything about cast bullets when we post here, only when we post on Cast bullets.

[Modoc ED]

But of course non of us here know anything about cast bullets when we post here, only when we post on Cast bullets.

Well hell Don, we all know you don't know nuttin bout nuttin. Just kidding of course.

I don't think that's what Rusty meant at all. He was just referring Arminius over to cast bullets as they probably have much more on lubing bullets than we do maybe more technical.

[O.S.O.K.]

I use the tumble lube method myself - lightly before sizing and then another coat after - and then stand them up to let them dry.

If you want to use regular lube, then you may wish to pan lube. This is simply melting the lube in a pan and then standing the bullets in the lube - use enough that the lube covers the lube grooves in the boolit.

Then, after the lube hardens use a correct diameter tube (just bigger than the boolit's diameter) to slide down over the bullet and "cut" it out of the lube. This makes for a cleanly lubed boolit.

[Don McDowell]

But of course non of us here know anything about cast bullets when we post here, only when we post on Cast bullets.

Well hell Don, we all know you don't know nuttin bout nuttin. Just kidding of course.

I don't think that's what Rusty meant at all. He was just referring Arminius over to cast bullets as they probably have much more on lubing bullets than we do maybe more technical.

Ed all the poster's up to Rusty's post are also on the Cast bullets board.
When some one comes along that late in a thread and says "Try reading over on castbullet.com

Junior has some good reading material there. '
It's about the same thing as saying these jackasses don't know squat about squiddle.

[PEteacher]

I've been casting for over thirty years. I've used Lyman and RCBS Lubrisizers, lots of LLA (Lee Liquid Alox), and patched boolits with paper and with teflon tape. The method I use now whenever possible is Johnsons Paste Wax. I haven't tried it yet for 30-30 or my Ruger#1 in 458 Winchester, but it has worked great in 9mm, .40 S&W, .38 / .357 mag. (handguns and rifle), .45 ACP, .45 Colt (handgun and rifle), and .454 Casull rifle.

After casting, I put a bunch of boolits in an old saucepan, heat on low, add enough JPW to coat the boolits (It doesn't take very much - I usually use more than I need.), give it a few minutes to heat the boolits up slightly, after the JPW is melted I stir occasionally, dump them in another metal container to cool a bit, spread them out on wax paper, and let them dry.

If I can shoot them as cast, they are ready to load.

If they need sized, I size them, then repeat the above.

[Arminius]

Wow!

Thanks for all the answers!

I´ll try LEE, as it keeps my first investment low.

Good Shooting, Hermann

[Rusty]

Sorry Don, if it looked like we are stupid here. It's just that Junior has some permanent articles there with good pictures to go along with his narratives. He uses a lot of low tech stuff to do what a beginner might want to try when he is first starting out with minimal equipment.

Junior was once a regular here on these boards as well, but has since migrated over to the castboolits.com forums.

[Arminius]

I only intend to start casting; am more at home there ( or TRF ), so it was my first reaction to ask there ... and loads are mainly for LA rifles, too!

Hermann

[Don McDowell]

Rusty I know who Junior is, he left because of the politics. I"ve been hanging around here since 02 or 3.

Armenius lee is a good place to start. Not alot of investment and if it turns out casting isn't for you you're not out a bunch. If casting turns out to be your cup of tea , then you'll be well grounded in the basics and it's easy to upgrade.
Good luck and have fun.

[Arminius]

THANKS!

I´ll intend to store some pounds of Lead, 1000 Primers and a can or two of Unique AFTER I found >MY< load!

LEE moulds ( yes, I know, they cal them MOLDs, but I think otherwise - I want to mould, and not that it gets Mold ... )
at least won´t RUST!


Hermann