Who says you gotta melt out the lube?

[Whistler]

Bought myself a used Lube-A-Matic on a Swedish forum and thought about how to get the previous owner's old lube out. Turns out I could just fish it up with an allen key and turn the wrench until I could pull it all out.

So who said its tough and messy to change lube? ;)

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5845/20111031233216.jpg

[Chicken Thief]

And what about all the lube still inside the luber?
It will take a (long) while before the new lube has ejected all the old and you will be able to count 100% on the lube qualities again.

[midnight]

I melt all mine out with a hair drier and let it drip in a can. I mix all the old lube in a jar and use it to flux my melt. I keep 3 lubesizers (RCBS, Lyman 450, & Lyman #1) in use just so I don't have to clean out lube very often.

Bob

[btroj]

Whatever floats your boat. I don't know that I would even bother to get rid of the old lube unless it had gotten extremely brittle or dirty, or something like that.
I would take the size die out and just crank on the pressure screw. Clean up what comes out, replace size die, add my lube and go. The small amount of old lube still left will be gone in a few bullets.

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here- do what makes you feel happy.

[Mal Paso]

I've never had any "Bad Lube" or anything incompatible with the next so I never clean out the old lube, just add the new. I don't stop shooting the older boolits just cuz I might have found a better lube.

[Guesser]

Been using an early 450 and have never cleaned it out, just add new and go. For my cast hand gun boolits a little mixed loob doesn't seem to make a difference. I use what ever is on sale or I have mixed my own a couple of times. Don't make no never mind no how!!!!

[Hardcast416taylor]

Everybody has a favorite way to the same thing Whistler. From slicing bread to shaving (or not shaving) their kisser to mowing the grass. If it works for you, then that is the way it should be done.Robert

[KohlerK91]

I have never cleaned out my lube sizers either(2 Star sizers). If we all shoot as much as we think we do then the will work its way out after a hundred or so boolits. Put another stick in(it doesnt have to be the exact same thing) and keep lubing, it will be ok. A little mixing of the lube has not hurt my 45 acp loads. I have gone form SPG to Canabus RED to "perfect lube" to mirro lube without a hitch.........................What ever I have on hand.

[snuffy]

Toss the whole shebang in a big pot, cover with water, boil it for about a half hour.(of course after you remove the piston and sizer die). The lube melts, floats to the surface. Let it cool, then skim the lube off the surface, clean luber!

Apparently not too many are concerned what their boolits are lubed with.

Tonight I wanted to use an old lyman sizer that was last used with 50-50 alox. The lube passage holes had hard dried lube in them. I certainly did NOT want to try to push through that ap-cray with the carnuba red I'm now using. I removed the "O" ring, held it in a pair of pliers and heated gently with a propane torch until all the lube had dripped off. Slick and clean, like new!

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Oven at 250 degrees for about ten minutes does it here. I, of course, AM smart enough to accomplish this task when Mamma is not at home.

Rich

[Whistler]

Haven't really encountered the issue before, when (or rather if) I switch lube I do like most others, just add the new stick and keep going, taking about a hundred or two boolits for the new lube to reach the die.

However, several people have been moaning about the mess of cleaning out. With this press I was very uncertain what was in it and felt I would rather clean it out, as it was bought second hand and I have my doubts about the previous owners ability and knowledge when it comes to casting (you should have seen the molds I bought at the same time, but you would've wished you hadn't). I found that just turning the wrench was an easy way to empty the large reservoir. Sorry if anyone was offended. ;)

[captaint]

Whistler - Offended?? We don't believe in getting offended around here. We just kick around other ideas, that's all. enjoy Mike

[bowfin]

I agree with Whistler.

I would also be removing an unknown lube from the sizer. It's one thing to mix lubes when you know what they are and from where they came, but there is too much time and effort involved in casting and reloading to use up something that may or may not be a lube of some sort.

[Sonnypie]

I don't have a Luber Sizer.
So I'm just watching. :popcorn:

For me to change lubes I pick up a different bottle of LLA. :bigsmyl2:

By the way, that lube you removed reminds me of the last time I was snaking a sewer pipe. And I would much rather deal with unknown lube, than what came out of the drain....:shock:

[snuffy]

Since consistency is the name of the game for anything having to do with reloading/casting, you must get every bit of the old lube out of a sizer. Otherwise there will always be some of the old lube still in there, mixing with your new lube.

Since I knew that carnuba red had to be heated, and the old tamarack would flow right out if heated, I almost installed the heater and let it go on high for awhile to rid the sizer of the alox. It probably would have worked, but the OCD in me had to be sure it was all out of there. Besides, it hadn't been cleaned since it was new back in '75!


Sorry if anyone was offended.

Heck no. The purpose of forums like this is sharing of ideas and experience, ways things get done. If people are so easily offended because someone disagrees with them, then they should probably stay in bed.[smilie=f:

[Buddy]

I also bought a used lubriisizer a few months ago. It had old lube in it and I just cast and lubed some 225 grrn for my 45acp. I don't have any idea what the lube was but it took me a couple of hrs to get the lead out of my Colt. I refilled it with some NRA, problem solved and lesson learned.

[Whistler]

I once bought a used .358 sizer die. It had been cleaned on the outside and looked very fine, but in the flow holes there was some black lube. I didn't think much about it, just put it in my brand new Lyman 4500, heated it up and cranked out some Carnauba Red.

Now I finally realize why, even now after 5,000+ boolits lubed through that die, I always have four small black streaks in the lube groove of my boolits! It is probably the Lyman Super Moly lube, that people say is almost impossible to remove from the lubrisizer.

[thehouseproduct]

I boiled my Lyman 45 when I got it and it turned the process into a complete restore when all orange paint joined the melted lube floating on the water!!:-)

[thehouseproduct]

But it does look much nicer now in a metallic grey engine paint.....

[BossHoss]

LOL. great stories. I boiled mine, P.o.'d the wife the FIRST time. LOL. I used an old pot but boiled it in the house....

Next time I boiled the water in the house took it outside and poured it into the old pot and sizer.

Lyman Moly is a #$#$^#$^ and should be only used to teach nubes what not to use. LOL. I had the same streak effect going on , took out that die , hair dryer'd it clean.

Moving on to a Star for the bulk of my lubing now, with the old 450 leak o matic doing BP lube only.

The 450 was a good way to get my feet wet,,,er sticky,...in using a luber.

[Lloyd Smale]

only time i worried about getting lube out was when i was cleaning the machine and they there wasnt enough in them to worry about recovering it. I wouldnt bother pushing out lube just to put another brand in. Just add it on top of it.

[trench]

I' ve had bullets that keyholed when using one type of lube, be ok with another type. So, yes, you might not want to just use up whatever's in the luber machine. At least, not without considerable test firing first.

[azrednek]

My first RCBS Lubamatic I bought used and had to clean out the old lube. No idea what was in it but I had to really get it hot to flow.

[leadlober]

I bought 2 used RCBS lubmatics and disassembled them and placed them in a metal baking pan lined with paper towels, Placed them into the oven at 170 degrees, the lowest my oven will go. Prop them so the old lube will run out and leave them for about 30 minutes. Roll-up a paper towel and push into the inside to sop-up whats left. Pretty much removes the bulk of the lube.