Regular lube on a RD mould

[RU shooter]

In general use will a TL ranch dog mould hold enough regular lube (Lars 2500+) to be effective ? I have the lee frog snot just don't like it much for rifle use.

[kir_kenix]

I've used regular lube on plenty of TL designed boolits. 99% of the time you won't have any problem...However, I have run into a couple of designs that do not carry enough lube. The RD 165 DOES carry enough lube for my purposes (though I now own a NOE mold of the same design with standard lube grooves. It is superior at higher velocities in every way).

Only molds I can think of off the top of my head that didn't work at all were a .358 SWC and a .429 swc with TL grooves. Neither one of them seem to hold enough conventional lube to be used at reasonable velocities (though they both seem to work fine on the very low end of the speed spectrum either way). Never got either of them to work well at higher velocity with LLA either, so maybe its just a poor design.

I say lube 'em up and let 'em fly. I'm sure you can come up with a load/lube that will shoot the RD more than satisfactorily with conventional lube. Odds are you will find a combo that outshoots LLA that you started with.

[knifemaker]

I have used both the RD 350 gr. for the 45/70 and the RD. 265 gr. for the 44 mag Marlin rifle with White label BAC and 2500 and had perfect results after sizing&lubing in my 450 lube-sizer.

[1Shirt]

Have had no problem as long as you are not oversizing the RD's. I think as cast is probably what I have had best luck with, and lubed to that size in a lubersizer.
1Shirt!

[Bula]

I run the RD 265 .44 cal mold thru a .432 sizer and NRA 50/50 thru my Lyman 4500. Works fine. Only issue I could imagine is if your sizing down enough to really displace a lot of lead from the grooves while sizing.

[hithard]

I been putting the RD339-200tl threw my sizer with 2500 lube. Taking them upwards of 2k fps. and things are looking really good. I'm going to push them over the 2k mark this weekend. just to see if they will hold.

[MikeS]

I have the same question (sort of) in reverse. Ranch Dog uses LLA by dip lubing, if a the LLA was applied in the 'normal' way boolit tumbled, then sized, then tumbled again, with the finished product having so little of it on the boolit as to be hardly noticeable, would this be enough lube on a 30 cal rifle boolit? Or in other words, does dip lubing put more useable lube on the boolit?

[hithard]

Mike,

Each and every bore is different. What works in one may not in another. Send a few down range and monitor the barrel as you go. Which is what you should be doing no matter what you start out with. Look for those little sign that will either tell you things are good or going bad. I always bring a cleaning rod with me to the range, just to monitor things should the need arise.

[MikeS]

Hithard: You're absolutely correct, and your answer will answer 99% of all shooting related questions asked here. Having said that, there's also such a thing as learning from the experiences of others. If 20 people answer the thread, and 15 say they had no problem with it, and 5 said they did (and the 5 weren't the usual Lee bashers) I would do exactly what you said to do. If OTOH of the 20 people, 15 people said it leaded their bores, where dip lubing didn't, and 5 people said they had no or few problems with it, I would just go ahead an continue using the dip lube method and not bother trying. There are some cases where your answer would be totally wrong, say if somebody asked if using 100gr of Bullseye in a 30-30 is a safe load!

[44man]

While I never figured out the Lee lube grooves or crimp grooves and why they were even thought of, they shoot just fine with regular lube.
Never size so much the grooves are wiped away.

[Elkins45]

I have the same question (sort of) in reverse. Ranch Dog uses LLA by dip lubing, if a the LLA was applied in the 'normal' way boolit tumbled, then sized, then tumbled again, with the finished product having so little of it on the boolit as to be hardly noticeable, would this be enough lube on a 30 cal rifle boolit? Or in other words, does dip lubing put more useable lube on the boolit?

I have had good success in the 300 Blackout tumble lubing with 45/45/10, but I don't think I'm near the edge of the performance envelope. I think it depends on if you define more lube as being more 'usable' lube. The prevailing wisdom (at least as I understand it) is that tumble lubing is sort of a yes/no thing---you either have enough or you don't, and that excess lube doesn't really help.

[RU shooter]

I pan lubed my first batch of them yesterday and it appears theres plenty of lube on them.Upon sizing the bands were just barely kissed by the sizer. Thanks all.

Tim

[JIMinPHX]

I have successfully used both Carnuba Red & Lyman Super Moly lube on .30 cal TL boolits a little above 2,000 fps. I think that the biggest thing with using conventional lube on a TL boolit relates to how far down you size the boolit. If you only mash it down .001" or maybe even .002" from raw size, then you have good chances of positive results. By the time you take off another thousandth or two past there, there isn't much lube groove left & your chances of success become much more slim.

[popper]

MikeS - I've used LLA on the RD TL 30 cal for 30-30 & 308, no problem. Just a bit smokey, no leading @ mid to high end loads.

[runfiverun]

i'd be more afraid of filling the t/l grooves with regular lube that's an awful big floating gasket cutting into the bearing surface of a rifle boolit.
i'd only lube about 2 of them,or one and the area above the gas check.
that's plenty of lube.
you ain't trying to keep powder fouling soft.

[RU shooter]

i'd be more afraid of filling the t/l grooves with regular lube that's an awful big floating gasket cutting into the bearing surface of a rifle boolit.
i'd only lube about 2 of them,or one and the area above the gas check.
that's plenty of lube.
you ain't trying to keep powder fouling soft. Good food for though. Theres only one way to find out,Ill be shooting some this week and see what happens.If groups go crazy I'll try using less lube . Im only pushing them down a 18.5" barrel at tops 2K fps. so less may be better.