Storing Boolits: Sized and Lubed or not

[dbarnhart]

Do you:

1. Store your boolits sized and lubed, or

2. Store them unsized & unlubed, and lube/size as you use them?

[sdelam]

Why would you store bullets? Load them things... Really I dont lube until I'm ready to load them.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

[QUOTE=dbarnhart;1619146]Do you:

1. Store your boolits sized and lubed, or YES

2. Store then unsized & unlubed, and lube/size as you use them? YES

some times i get on a roll and size and lube a bunch at one time
just like when i cast

[RayinNH]

I have both :D. When I cast I might get say 500 done. I use Dillon storage boxes to put lubed boolits in. I'll lube enough boolits to fill the box. The rest sit unlubed until needed to refill the box. When I'm at the reloading bench I like to load and not lube...Ray

[btroj]

I have some of both. I cast when I can, I size and lube when I can.

I can't say this is something I really even think about.

[ku4hx]

Do you:

1. Store your boolits sized and lubed, or

2. Store then unsized & unlubed, and lube/size as you use them?

I enjoy casting. I enjoy loading. I enjoy shooting. But the one thing I do not enjoy is sizing and lubing. So when I've cast all my back will stand, I let all those little boolit shaped ingots cool and I do the size and lube thing en masse simply to get it over with. And since I cast 99.99% of all my boolits from six cavity molds, I end up with a lot more boolits than I have empty cases generally. The way I see it, if I'm not going to size and lube them (make them "load-ready") why cast them at all?

I have about 15,000 of those specialized little ingots all lubed and ready and knowing I have none left to size and lube lets me sleep at night.

I store my boolits in large peanut butter jars and coffee creamer jugs. Works good; lasts a long time.

[bobthenailer]

Since i water drop from the mould for all of my cast bullets i allways size & lube when done casting . this febuary i cast / lubed & sized 20,256 bullets

[That'll Do]

I have them stored both ways. Usually if they aren't lubed and sized, it is because I haven't had time to do so.

I usually lube and size them before putting them in disposable food storage containers.

[geargnasher]

Either loose in cigar boxes, sized/lubed/stacked in rows several layers deep with slick heavy cardboard between, or in individual, custom-sized brass containers.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28901&d=1296091775

Gear

[462]

Some of my boolits are naked and lounging about and some of them are fully dressed and ready to go.

[Shiloh]

I size and lube as I need them. That being said, I have a refried bean cans full of lubed and sized boolits that I haven't had time or the weather to load and shoot.

SHiloh

[Cherokee]

I have both, only because I haven't gotten to the size/lube step yet. Most of mine are ready to load.

[koehlerrk]

Most of mine are sized, lubed, and ready to load. The only ones that aren't are the ones that
I've cast in the last couple weeks and haven't gotten around to processing yet. That way, when I need to load, I just load.

[John Guedry]

Size 'em,lube 'em and put 'em in little tin boxes till I load 'em.

[Dennis Eugene]

Both. Dennis

[Max Brand]

I size and lube all my boolits ahead of time just so they'll be ready when I am because I don't want to have to wait for lube to dry if I'm reloading. I cast, size, lube, dry and then store them in Folgers plastic coffee containers until I need 'em.

Max

[Inkman]

Sized, lubed and ready to load.

Al

[emrah]

Here's another (hopefully non-thread-jacking) question: Do boolits deform if you store TOO much of them? Let's say you cast several thousand that you are not ready to load just yet and store them in an ammo can. Would the boolits deform from the weight?

Emrah

[sharpshooter81]

nope.

[nwellons]

With one of my boolit calibers, I size them the day after casting because they are easier to size.
I think my sizing is a little aggressive with my .42 Berdan but that is what chambers best.

It doesn't matter with the rest of my boolits and I don't have to size about half my calibers.

[Merlin1274]

I size and lube. The Plastic Coffe Cans work great for storage. write on the outside what it is so when I and ready to load its a no brainer.

[Arkansas Paul]

I tumble lube so it takes 24 hours to dry if you don't use a fan. When I want to cast I don't want to wait several hours so I store mine sized and lubed.

[jcameron996]

You need to read the sticky on Recluse' 45/45/10 lube. That lube will dry in less than an hour even if you get heavy handed with it like I am prone to doing.

[MT Gianni]

I try to keep my casting to two or three months a year. i size when I get around to it so I have some of both.

[MusicMan]

I just ran across a few hundred .357's lubed and sized in about 1968 and the lube had dried out and fell off when you picked them up. The lube was the black stuff from Lyman. They had been stored in small plastic boxes about 4"x4" with 2 layers deep.
So I guess the answer is that they won't last forever if sized and lubed.

[.22-10-45]

+ What MusicMan said. I have had lubed bullets stored for a year or more with a green line formed at top edge of gas-check where it contacted lube. I see this verdrigris on some long loaded ammunition also..My lube is a beeswax-anhyd. lanolin-castor oil mix. Something in there is reacting with brass.
Other than that..some of the old-time single shot masters including Pope wouldn't lube until either at match..with hand pump, or at the most a day or two before..claimed fresh lube was more accurate.

[alamogunr]

I have several boxes of Cast Performance boolets that came with a Linebaugh .475 that I bought from an individual. The boolets must be several years old. The lube in those boolets is stlll adhering but has shrunk until it looks like a thin coating in the groove. I intend to relube before using them. Beyond that, I usually size and lube within a week or two of casting. I then store them in a closed container(various) because my shop is multi-use and exposed/lubed boolets get a fine coating of very fine sawdust on them. May not hurt but doesn't look good.

[ShooterAZ]

I do both, but more of them are sized and lubed and stored in food containers. I make labels indicating date, diameter, alloy and lube used. My memory just aint what it used to be!

[captaint]

I do it both ways. I probably have as many sized & lubed as just cast and stashed. When the mood strikes me, I size & lube a bunch and stack them in their little won ton soup containers. They seem happy enough in there....enjoy Mike

[alamogunr]

My memory just aint what it used to be!

Mine either but I go on relying on it despite all the evidence to the contrary.

[Centaur 1]

I use the peanut butter jar method. I cast as much as possible when the weather is cooler, summer here in Florida is not good casting weather. Sometimes I cast enough to fill a jar and sometimes I get on a roll and fill several jars. I label the jar "as cast" and approximate hardness. At the other end of the shelf I have a pb jar for each type of boolit that is sized and lubed. The boolit that I use the most is the RD TL358-100-RF. It was intended for use in the 380acp, but works equally well in 9mm, 38 special and .357 mag. I keep two jars of that boolit, one at .356" and one at .358". When one of those jars starts to run low, I just grab a jar of "as cast" boolits and size according to what's needed. I like this method because the jars are clear plastic and I take a mental inventory of what needs to be done next in order to keep things moving.

In addition to peanut butter, I also use mayonnaise jars and those smaller jars that come filled with grated parmesan cheese. Calibers like my 32 S&W long that I don't shoot very often, fit great in the grated cheese jars. My way of thinking is to keep my supply out in the open so that I'm not suprised when I go to load, I don't want to find that I don't have enough boolits that are ready to load.

[**oneshot**]

I do both:
I keep x number cast and sized, the worse the weather the more I store this way.
The rest I just keep in coffee jugs.