quick question on lubing bullets

[45pro]

When using LLA after you tumble lube them is it necessary to stand them up on their end and space them apart so they are not touching to let them dry? I have been doing this, but when i need to do 2-3,000 at a time, it gets really time consuming. So...is it necessary? How about after sizing?

[tinyejp]

I don't bother standing them up. I do tumble them twice, once before and once after sizing, but I haven't had any problems with letting them dry in a single-layer "pile".

[45pro]

sweet, this would make things roll a little faster. Anyone else?

[mooman76]

Not needed but I do sometimes if I have time and feel like it. I also will mix them around after they dry abit when laying down so they dry better on the under side. Probably not needed either but they dry with less of a flat spot and I think they dry quicker. I put a small fan on them too.

[williamwaco]

I tumble once.

AFTER sizing.

I have tried it both ways and see no advantage to tumbling before sizing.

Then I dump them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and spread them out so none are stacked.

I do not dilute the Lee Liquid Alox with mineral spirits. When I do, most of the lube runs off onto the waxed paper. Enough remains to lube the bullets adequately but if I tumble with the full strength lube, it stays put. ( It takes signigicantly longer to tumble them this way because it doesn't spread as fast. )


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[ku4hx]

When using LLA after you tumble lube them is it necessary to stand them up on their end and space them apart so they are not touching to let them dry? I have been doing this, but when i need to do 2-3,000 at a time, it gets really time consuming. So...is it necessary? How about after sizing?

Depending on caliber, I lube 300 - 500 at a time in a one gallon HD freezer bag with thinned LLA. When all are fully coated by rolling the bag around on a folded towel, I pour them out onto one of several 30"x30" (or so) cardboard drying trays. I do make sure there's a single layer but that's it; I prefer the bases are exposed. I let them dry over night. I repeat the bag-rolling process (different bag) with a tiny bit of Motor Mica then put them into their "permanent" storage jugs.

Most I size; some I don't. Sizing gets a second roll in the LLA before final MM coating.

[45pro]

I tumble once.

AFTER sizing.

I have tried it both ways and see no advantage to tumbling before sizing.

Then I dump them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and spread them out so none are stacked.

I do not dilute the Lee Liquid Alox with mineral spirits. When I do, most of the lube runs off onto the waxed paper. Enough remains to lube the bullets adequately but if I tumble with the full strength lube, it stays put. ( It takes signigicantly longer to tumble them this way because it doesn't spread as fast. )


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It doesn't lead up your sizing die or make it significantly harder too size without lubing them first?

[Wolfer]

I've always lubed very very lightly with thinned LLA before sizing but I think I'll try it without because my molds all cast to the same as I size. I only do that to seat the checks.
It seems to me that it's easy to get too much LLA on if I'm not careful. I haven't done any testing to see if more lube is less accurate but it seems that way to me.

[cf_coder]

I give mine a shot of some homemade Dillon case lube (alcohol and Lanolin) in a platic baggie. Let them dry under a 60 watt bulb, which also heats them up a bit and run them through the Lee sizer. Then I dip lube in some 45-45-10 Recluse lube and use my ghetto cake cutter to slice off the extra lube. Just got done doing around 200 Lyman 358156 this afternoon. About half with and half without the gas check.

[jonk]

They look nicer if you stand them up, but it doesn't impact performance; you just get a gob of lube dry on one side.

[DLCTEX]

I switched to 45-45-10 due to sticky boolits, gummed up dies, and lube accumulation in guns. Many people put too much LLA on boolits, as did I. I was trying to fill grooves and coat boolits heavy to avoid leading. I now know that a VERY thin coat is all that is necessary. If you get leading with a thin coat, look to other issues, as in fit. 45-45-10, properly done, dries quickly to a hard coat that needs no mica an does not accumulate in dies or guns. There is also less smoke than Alox alone. Just my dos centavos, Amigos.

[zomby woof]

Old cookie sheet with wax paper. dump on boolits and shake the cookie sheet until they're all separate.

[RU shooter]

They look nicer if you stand them up, but it doesn't impact performance; you just get a gob of lube dry on one side.
One easy way to keep that flat sided "glob" from forming without standing them up is to get a section of wire mesh lath the holes are diamond shaped with raised edges that allow good air flow around the bullet and no "glob factor"

Tim

[williamwaco]

It doesn't lead up your sizing die or make it significantly harder too size without lubing them first?

Leading - NO. My very first Lee sizing die was a .357 actually .3575.

It has now sized about 500 bullets pretumbled with 70/30 LLA/ Mineral Spirits. What I learned from that exercise was that IF you tumble before you size, they will LEAD LIKE CRAZY unless you tumble again after sizing.

Now it has sized about 20,000 as cast (.360-.362) with no lube of any kind.
I experimented with Hornady and Imperial sizing wax and it does make them easier to size - but it doesn't help nearly enough to be worth the trouble. ( My arm is 70 years old. You should notice less difference than I do.)

The die body is completely clean with no trace of lead either visible or by feel. It leaves an almost mirror finish on the sized bullet bands.

I am now doing the same thing with my .358, .430, .452, and .311 dies.

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I do not see any problem with lubing first. I just do not see any advantage to it. either in leading or in accuracy tests.


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[Lead Freak]

I'm not taking credit for this (someone else on the site suggested this a while back), but I dump them out on wax paper and give them a light spraying with WD 40 before sizing. I then roll them around in a covered Tupperware bowl with a small amount of staight, warmed up LLA added. A very small amount of LLA is all it takes. Too much, and I end up cleaning out the top off the seating die several times while loading 50-100 rounds.