How much lube ?

[BigSlick]

Hi guys,

I was rattin' thru my stuff last night late and found a box of bullets that I must have had for a long time (or my memory is completely shot) since I don't remember buying them or trading for them.

They are .452 230 RN commercial cast. They look OK, except the lube in the one groove has partially cracked off a few bullets. No doubt from being moved around over the years.

I will definitely load these, my only question is which ones to cull for a relube.

I would say, most have 90% or better have the groove mostly or completely filled. Maybe 100-150 have 60-70% lube left, some less, a few none left at all.

How much lube is enough to prevent a serious case of streaking ? It's a blue green color, so I don't have a clue as to what these were actually lubed with.

Whaddya think ?

Thanks in advance for any help ;)

'Slick
________
CZECHOSLOVAKIAN COOKING (http://www.cooking-chef.com/czechoslovakian/)

[felix]

The lube that remains is probably worthless. Relube them all. ... felix

[Lloyd Smale]

what felix said. I would have to think that the lube if it has dried enough to fall off the bullets has lost most of it lubricating ability.

[9.3X62AL]

Another vote for 'soak in solvent and start over'. A lot of the crayon wax hard lubes on commercially cast boolits are barely capable as bullet lube at their best state. There are few things I despise more deeply than a leaded barrel. Root canals and spinal taps are preferable.

[KYCaster]

Slick: I occasionally have customers return bullets that they "found on the bottom shelf when I cleaned up the loading bench" and no longer have a need for. The most recent was a style that I haven't made in at least twelve years. I sold them the following week to another customer who has shot a couple hundred of them so far with no problems at all.

I found some .38 wadcutters on the bottom shelf of my bench. They were unsized and pan lubed with 50/50 Alox and stored in a plastic box with a tight fitting lid. I know they were at least twenty years old, and probably older. I shot them all, and again, no problems at all.

Many of the bullets I use for IPSC competition are culls that I won't try to sell to my customers, many of them culled because of gaps in the lube. If they have ~60% of the groove filled, I'll shoot them. Again, no problems at all.

Assuming the lube was OK to start with (and that's a big assumption), I wouldn't anticipate any problems. The only way to know for sure is try it and see what happens.

Enjoy
Jerry

[OLPDon]

BigSlick:
If you are taking the time to ask about the and taking the time to load them. I would want one thing less to worry about. You have more to worry about in the loading process then to worry about the lube. Dump the lube and if you don't want the hassle of removing the lube use them boolit and lube and put them in the melting pot the lube will be good for fluxing. If you just want to shoot them to see how lack of lube or old lube pans out. You could also remove the lube on some and relube some with good lube load all with same charge and compair them.
Then get back to us and tell us how old Lube vs new Lube vs half filled lube work.
Don

[happy7]

YOu could just tumble lube them in Lee Alox. That wouldn't take much cost or effort.

[Sundogg1911]

I shot about 100 45 ACP's that a friend had cast and loaded. They were the first that He had cast, and He didn't know about lubing untill after He had them loaded (I wonder what He thought the grooves were for)[smilie=1: I think they were from a Lee TL mold. after shooting probably 100, we yanked the barrel outta the springfield 1911, and I was suprised....hardly any leading at all. I'm still amazed. I shot some cast out of my Para Ordnance 1911 that I had sized to .451 instead of my usual .452, and I was leaded up like crazy. I guess barrel fit may have more to do with leading than lube. Or maybe it was just luck. I sent the .451 to Stillwell and had it honed to .452 right after and never had the problem again. I didn't think that .001 would matter all that much. Now im convinced that (Like my Wife says) size does matter. :-?
:castmine: