Lee sizing die question

[Bisbee]

Lee states that boolits must be lubed before sizing to prevent leading in the die. Do most of you lube prior to sizing? Or is it a step I can pass on to save some time?

[PuppetZ]

I never lubed a boolit yet before pushing it through my lee sizer. I'm hitting 3000 soon and no leading so far. Although lubing them beforehand might make it easier to push them through the die and perhaps also easier on the die in the long run.

Frank

[Pat I.]

I never lubed a boolit yet before pushing it through my lee sizer.

Me either.

[Sonnypie]

I do.
It makes the whole process easier on everything.
But hey, I don't really care what you do to your equipment.

[GRUMPA]

I only lubed my boolits once, before I put them thru the Lee sizer. It made one heck of a mess for me and with me at most sizing it .001-.002 smaller it wasn't worth the fuss. So since that time that I never forgot about I just run them thru dry and never had an issue.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I do lube before I size with a push through sizer type.

If I were NOT to lube the boolit first, I'd figure some way
to lube the die...maybe with a case lube.

one homemade case lube is thinning Lanolin with 90% Iso. alcohol,
1 to 10 ...I believe ??? I've never made it.
then put in a spray bottle...then give a quick spriz on the die...every 5th boolit or so.
Jon

[TNFrank]

I've been lubing my boolits before I size them and again after they're sized as per the instruction that come with the Lee Sizing Die kit. Not sure why I need to lube them again after sizing but that's what the instructions say to do and that's what I've been doing and it seems to work well enough.
I do know one thing, when I run out of Liquid Alox I plan on ordering a quart of Liquid Xlox since it's a lot cheaper and is suppose to work just as well.

[mdi]

I don't use alox to lube bullets prior to sizing as Lee states. That's really messy. I often use Mink Oil Boot Dressing as it's light, not messy and comes off bullets/cases easily, I don't even bother removing it. It's not necessary to lube every bullet because of the residual lube left in/on the die. Lee suggests lubing before sizing so as to not lead the die (they have no control of how large a bullet you're gonna size nor it's alloy), and after sizing because alox works on the bearing surface of the bullet, not just filled lube grooves.

[Tomuchiron]

I Prelube with Silicone Aerosol spray ,( I have a lot that I don"t need.) ,. Also Like my dry teflon Motorcycle chain spray, I also use it for case lube. Then tumble lube after sizing.
If some resize alot harder than others , , check for out of round.
Mike

[FergusonTO35]

Hmm, silicone spray. I'll have to try that out, I have a bunch of it. I was wondering the same thing because it seems kind of wasteful to tumble lube before and after sizing.

[ShooterAZ]

I use Dillon's case lube spray (contains lanolin) to pre-lube boolits for the size die. It doesn't take much, and works quite well. I then TL with LLA after sizing. If sizing more than .001-.002, it will take a lot of effort without any lube and you can lead your die.

[geargnasher]

Hmm, silicone spray. I'll have to try that out, I have a bunch of it. I was wondering the same thing because it seems kind of wasteful to tumble lube before and after sizing.

Wasteful? Not really. If you use the right amount (VERY little) by heating your boolits and the LLA or thinning the LLA with petroleum mineral spirits, a 4-oz. bottle will lube 100,000 boolits or more with two coats. This is cheaper than just about anything else you could lube them with before sizing.

Anything that goes through my Lee sizers gets lubed beforehand with either case lube or 45/45/10. If you use a liquid Alox-based tumble lube (either straight, diluted, or 24/45/10), make sure it's completely dry before going through the sizer, the Alox is a lousy lube when wet and it WILL make a mess. If you don't put on too much, and let it dry correctly, it's about the best sizing lube you can use because it doesn't have to be cleaned off to get Alox to stick to it after sizing.

Gear

[hardy]

Hi all,call me cheap but Adam,s Ale does it for me,Put your boolits in a shallow dish of water and off you go.No clean up(make sure to blow off press) and no worries about immiscible fluids.Only need to use a WET one every second or third stroke.you,ll feel how much you need.How,s that? Cheers Mike

[Windyvista]

I think it makes a huge difference in how much you are resizing. My personal experience is that sizing 0.003 or 0.004 without a good lube is just asking for stuck boolits. The very first boolit I tried to size in a Lee die got stuck 1/2 way through the cycle and had to be melted out of the die as it was not budging. I had been advised to use WD40 but that did not work at all. Once I tumble lubed with Alox, they passed through die with no problem.

[turmech]

I use spray case lube before sizing most of the time. I have used WD-40 and it worked OK for me. The case lube worked better.. I also think the more you have to size the more important the lube beforehand, as stated.

[ku4hx]

Yep, lube before sizing. Just makes things a mite easier.

[ipijohn]

I use 45/45/10 before and after. BTY, the reason WD 40 doesn't work so well is that it has a very high percentage of kerosene in it which has about zip for lubricity.

[David Bachelder]

I tumble lube with Alox then size. I do not relube and I have not had any leading problems. I'm of the opinion that it takes very little lube to get the job done.

[joesig]

No lube. Do you lube your boolits before running them through your RCBS Lyman, Star sizer? Note how smooth the interior of those dies are. Lee's dies are hit and miss for finish. A few minutes with some 300/400/600 wet-dry paper on a metal rod will make Lee dies have the same mirror finish and boolits will slip right through. .