more on Lee tumble lube

[hornetguy]

Has anyone ever tried to reflow the lube, once on the boolits?

I know you can melt and remelt Lee's alox pan lube, but I've never tried it with the tumble lube.

I'm doing an experiment as we speak, with about 5 sticky ones, to see if warming them up to about 250 will reflow the lube for a more even coating.

film at 11......

[racepres]

I would bet that it would work.. but, how ya gonna keep it from 'flowin'" off to the bottom o the pan??? MV

[hornetguy]

I would bet that it would work.. but, how ya gonna keep it from 'flowin'" off to the bottom o the pan??? MV

I was hoping to find the "magic" temp that would get it to start to flow, but not get it too thin.
Kind of the way it does when you first put it on.

Gravity IS a pain, sometimes.

[racepres]

I kinda know what yer up to... I went to the "tool store" and got one of those "grabbers" for small parts on a rigid stem [they are made on a flexible stem also] the one w/ retractable fingers for retrieving small parts. I use it to "grab" the end of boolits in order to dip them in the LLA up to the front band , and then set them on a wax paper to dry..... I don't like the lube "all over".. Just on the band! Slow for sure .. but effective for me when I use LLA. MV

[Ranch Dog]

I don't think it will achieve what you are hoping for. If it flows at all it will pull from the lube in the grooves more than it will pull lube from the body on the bullet body. Don't set them on Momma's cookie tray for the experiment! I lube a bunch of bullets but no longer work with traditional lube grooved bullets as I only shoot those with the Micro-Bands. Most of my rifle bullets are dipped base first and then set on their base on a sheet of wax paper. If I can't grab the bullet nose with my fingers, I use a "grabber" like racepres mentioned above. After the setup time and the bullets are off the wax paper, I use a putty knife to remove the remaining lube off the paper and store it for reuse.

Running the bullets through a Lee Lube & Size Kit die will really leave them clean. All of the bullets I cast have L&SK dies associated with the mold and pretty much just seat the gas check without really sizing the bullet. If there is much resistance from the die with a particular batch of dropped bullets, I simple pre-lube the die with a little bit of Alox on a bore mop. The Alox really, really hangs in there and I usually don't need to re-lube the die with the mop.

Sometimes I will tumble a batch of "fat" bullets before sizing. I simply thin the Alox and it won't create a mess. One of the attached photos will show that. The bullet had a light coat of tumbled Alox for the sizing operation and then was dipped base first as described above. I always complete my lubing before the pass through the sizing die as that will clean the bullets up real nice! In fact this method is probably about the best for a quick fill of the lube bands and would be worthy of a trial with traditional lube grooves. The Alox definitely attracts and attaches to itself with subsequent applications and it might fill those grooves faster.

Melting a bunch of bullets in a casting pot will teach you a lot about Alox. I've melted bullets with just about every kind of lube and one way or another the lube will boil or burn off. Not Alox or at least now with a Lee pot on max. What a mess! The lube will flow to the sides of the pot and pretty much never go away.

The little bands of sticky stuff really impress me with all the shooting I do but the bullet I'm working on for my Marlin 375 really tops them all. This bullet has two lube grooves and is only exiting the barrel at 2000 FPS. But its doing it with 54.5K PSI behind it! This is a WW mix that approximates Lyman #2 with #8 shot added and then water quenched for a BHN of 21. There is no leading and a beautiful lube star at the muzzle. I've attached images of that bullet. Lots of lead up front with only two Micro-Bands at the base. The forward bands are crimp grooves at various locations on this trial bullet mold and all but one or two will go away on the inventory molds.

[PatMarlin]

The little I've used LLA was kind of a pain as it kept gumming up my dies. What am I doin wrong?

I wound up using the micro band boolits in my Lyman 45 sizing die with what ever lube I had on hand, and it shot well. At least for my 45acp.

Havn't tried my Ranch Dogs yet.. :drinks:

[Ricochet]

My seating dies gum up with ANY kind of lube on the boolit's ogive. Have to stop and scrape it out now and then if I don't want the boolits to seat deeper and deeper, or else progressively back out the die. A very light coat of LLA prolongs the clogging process greatly, but there's still transfer of the lube to the seating punch.

If you want to reflow LLA, you'll have to do it with solvent. Forget heat, it won't flow till the boolits sag.

[hornetguy]

My seating dies gum up with ANY kind of lube on the boolit's ogive. Have to stop and scrape it out now and then if I don't want the boolits to seat deeper and deeper, or else progressively back out the die. A very light coat of LLA prolongs the clogging process greatly, but there's still transfer of the lube to the seating punch.

If you want to reflow LLA, you'll have to do it with solvent. Forget heat, it won't flow till the boolits sag.

so, the solvent of choice would be mineral spirits? Or is there something better?

[Ricochet]

Yes, mineral spirits is the stuff it comes dissolved in.

[Ranch Dog]

Ricochet... You using a Lee seating die? If so and if it adjusted right... steel against lead displaces Alox every time. The Lee bullet seating die should bottom out (ram fully raised) and there is plenty of room inside of the die barrel for any wax to move out of the way.

I load thousands of bullets a year in all these lever calibers and I haven't cleaned my dies in several years. Actually, the largest buildup of Alox I see is with the Lee Factory Crimp Die. There is always a big wad of dried Alox sitting on top of it. Kind'a like a bugger! Pick it and throw it away!

[Ranch Dog]

The little I've used LLA was kind of a pain as it kept gumming up my dies. What am I doin wrong?

You must be using too much. Look at the image above, the bullet on the left. That bullet has been tumbled once with a very, very light coat of Alox. I let it dry and dip as explained above. The excess wax is removed by the L&SK die.

[Ricochet]

Yes, RD, I use mainly Lee dies. The problem comes with wax or Alox getting trapped in the hollow cavity in the end of the seating plug, filling it and pressing the boolit in progressively deeper in the cases as it builds up. It definitely won't flow around the boolit! It just has to be cleaned out. I unscrew the die and dig it out with a little screwdriver.

The buildup on the Factory Crimp Dies looks nasty, but affects nothing functionally.

[calsite]

are you letting it completely dry before resizing? I think I let mine dry 2-3 hours before I resized I think I going to try thinning mine abit with Mineral spirits for resizing , that outta speed up drying time and then try dipping them a second time like RanchDog, those are some purdy boolits

[Bad Water Bill]

CALSITE Well you made me do it. I took out a bottle of LLA and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. I hate to admit that in public. So put on wax paper and let dry over nite. If 3 hours is over nite to you you must be suffering from a bad case of sleep deprovation. I find that 6-8 hours works much better providing it is not a hot stickey nite in the Liberal Republik of Richard Dailey. :kidding: BWB :castmine:

[Lloyd Smale]

ranch dog i just ordered one of your molds for the first time and reading this i have a few questions. First i got the sizer too. Do you find that you usually get better accuracy with the ranch dog bullets sizing the bullet to true it up or unsized or is it just pot luck depending on the gun or are you just using the sizer to seat the gas check and spec out a sizer that doesnt size your bullets much.]. Second do i understand correctly that you lube then size and then just shoot them. Ive allways lubed sized then lubed again when using tumble lube. Is this a waste of time. I guess i allways did it becasuse i never had that good of luck with tumble lube and figured a little more would be better. Also i see you dip your bullets. Any advantage to that over shaking them in a bowl other then keeping the lube off then noses to keep the mess down. The only thing i tumble lube anymore is 38 special bullets and sure wouldnt want to hastle with dipping them. I shot just to many of them but i guess I could do it with the 4570s if theres any advantage to it.
You must be using too much. Look at the image above, the bullet on the left. That bullet has been tumbled once with a very, very light coat of Alox. I let it dry and dip as explained above. The excess wax is removed by the L&SK die.

[calsite]

I think the bottle says let dry and then apply abit more when resizing (correct) I've actually resized mine right after I lubed them and then let them dry, and lubed them again. I think the way the bottle says probably works the best. I run a .44 cal. bore brush with a little Hoppes on it through my sizer die when I'm done to keep her clean. I had a buddy tell me that adding Mineral Spirits to the L. Alox would speed the drying time. Thanks for the shout.

[hornetguy]

I warmed the 5 boolits up to about 250 for maybe 10 minutes. It didn't affect the lube much, but they do feel slightly less sticky now.. could just be my imagination.

I'm thinking that when I get to casting for the 45-70, I'll maybe just do the dip thing. I think that getting the sequence right will be the key...

maybe, dip, let dry, put gc on, push thru sizer, see how the boolit looks after that.

I really don't like lube on the gc.... maybe it won't affect the powder, but I just have visions of loaded cartridges sitting there, with the lube soaking into the powder...

maybe I think too much.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive had tumblelube contaminate powder in my 38s so dont think it cant happen.
I warmed the 5 boolits up to about 250 for maybe 10 minutes. It didn't affect the lube much, but they do feel slightly less sticky now.. could just be my imagination.

I'm thinking that when I get to casting for the 45-70, I'll maybe just do the dip thing. I think that getting the sequence right will be the key...

maybe, dip, let dry, put gc on, push thru sizer, see how the boolit looks after that.

I really don't like lube on the gc.... maybe it won't affect the powder, but I just have visions of loaded cartridges sitting there, with the lube soaking into the powder...

maybe I think too much.

[Ricochet]

Oh yeah, you can size 'em months later and stuff will transfer off the boolit noses to the cavity in the seating punch. It's true of any hard waxy lube as well, not just LLA. If it's on the nose, it'll clog the die. I think you guys that haven't seen it just haven't been paying attention.

[USARO4]

PatMarlin, try cleaning out the seating die with a Q-tip soaked in Ronsonol lighter fluid, it dissolves the lube very quickley.

[454PB]

If I'm going to size them, I use something other than LLA as a sizing lube. I use the same stuff that I use as swaging and case sizing lube, which is boot waterproofing. This stuff works as well as Imperial Sizing Wax or Hornady Unique, but comes in a 3 ounce tub and costs $2. I smear a little on every fourth or fifth boolit, then size and tumble lube. It's much cleaner than using the LLA as a sizing lube.

I suspect the boot waterproofing is mostly lanolin, because it smells nice and even softens your skin. It wipes off both your hands and the boolits or brass easily, no water or solvents required. Since I've been using it, I've never dented a case nor had anything stick....even when swaging jacketed bullets.

[PatMarlin]

Yes, RD, I use mainly Lee dies. The problem comes with wax or Alox getting trapped in the hollow cavity in the end of the seating plug, filling it and pressing the boolit in progressively deeper in the cases as it builds up. It definitely won't flow around the boolit! It just has to be cleaned out. I unscrew the die and dig it out with a little screwdriver.

The buildup on the Factory Crimp Dies looks nasty, but affects nothing functionally.

That was my main problem with LLA. I kept getting inconsistent OAL's. Cleaning was not a problem just having to do it often. Probably using it a little to thick and too much like RD said. I bought some mica to try but never have as yet.

I really like my Lyman 45 lube sizers, but hey- I've got a bunch of LLA, and I won't hesitate to use it for an accurate firearm load. Just not for everything.

[mroliver77]

I used to really slather the boolits up good with LLA. It sometimes took a week for them to dry. "sigh". After being set straight about it I started thinning it and using a very thin coat. This works well but I hate trying to stand all the boolits up on wax paper. The boolits I had with gobs of the stuff on I added some mineral spirits and lwft set covered overnight. I then added new boolits and tumbled until I had the desired coating on all. I still cannot understand how tumble lubing is considered fast. Standing them all up is a pain for me. I usually managed to knock them over a couple times too. The Star sizer wades through piles of boolits in no time! There is a fellow at gunshow that sells cast bullets at a very resonable price. Willbird and I have tried them and get lots of leading. I asked what alloy he uses and "HARD" is all he can say. He also sizes .38 to .357 and .30 to .308 etc. Nice looking bullets too and very HARD!! Buy garsh do they lead.To use up the few K that I had I tumbled in LLA and it helped. A friend had his Security Six all leaded up and asked me how to clean it. I fitted My boollit in MY alloy with FWFL and fired a cylindr full. Barrel was sparkly clean! I told him it was the Felix lubes magical qualities. There are a couple aplications where I will try Ranch Dogs Dipping aplication. I thought mebbe after it is dry apply a coat of Johnson Paste wax to seal it with a harder coating. Or just dump it all in the Star............

[PatMarlin]

I haven't got to use my R-dog mold yet, but first off I'm going to lube them through my old lymans with either speed green, LBT blue soft, or Lar's.

Done that with great sucess on other tumble lube boolits.

[Lloyd Smale]

ill probaly try that myself but its kind of a pain on the star. Usually takes to passes to get all teh groves but i guess its still faster then one pass through a lyman.
I haven't got to use my R-dog mold yet, but first off I'm going to lube them through my old lymans with either speed green, LBT blue soft, or Lar's.

Done that with great sucess on other tumble lube boolits.

[Lead melter]

Well, I'll add another fly to the Alox.
I have found I get the best accuracy with LLA by using a slightly different method.

1. LLA comes in a 4 ounce bottle. I always keep an empty around, so I dump 1 ounce into the empty bottle and add 1 ounce mineral spirits to the 3 ounces LLA. I now have a very thin LLA with which to work.

3. Pour cast boolits into an old butter dish, add thinned LLA to this just to get a thin sheen of lube on the boolits, dump on waxed paper and allow to dry overnight.

3. Attach and seat gas checks if needed, add another light coat of LLA, dry overnight.

4. Add yet a third coat of LLA, then allow to dry. This results in a nice, even coat of LLA over all the boolits without too much gummy mess on the sizer or the seater.

5. And yes, I save the dried stuff for reuse just like Ranch Dog.

May not be the best way, but it works for me.

[Ranch Dog]

ranch dog i just ordered one of your molds for the first time and reading this i have a few questions. First i got the sizer too. Do you find that you usually get better accuracy with the ranch dog bullets sizing the bullet to true it up or unsized or is it just pot luck depending on the gun or are you just using the sizer to seat the gas check and spec out a sizer that doesnt size your bullets much.]. Second do i understand correctly that you lube then size and then just shoot them. Ive allways lubed sized then lubed again when using tumble lube. Is this a waste of time. I guess i allways did it becasuse i never had that good of luck with tumble lube and figured a little more would be better. Also i see you dip your bullets. Any advantage to that over shaking them in a bowl other then keeping the lube off then noses to keep the mess down. The only thing i tumble lube anymore is 38 special bullets and sure wouldnt want to hastle with dipping them. I shot just to many of them but i guess I could do it with the 4570s if theres any advantage to it.

I'm sorry that I missed this Lloyd, I've been spending this week shooting pressure trace data... 300 bullets out the barrel in the last two days! I will get back to your questions, but let me list my "process" again.


I cut a new bottle of Alox by filling the airspace in the bottle with mineral spirits. I warm the Alox in hot water. I do use bulk Alox from Lar45 but thin it accordingly.
Very, very light tumble lube. The bullets are just "tacky" with the Alox. If the bullets are "wet", add more bullets to your bowl.
Set them out to dry on their base. Drying time varies but this light coat will set up in about an hour.
Install the gas checks.
Dip them, base first and deep enough to cover all the Micro-Bands.
Set them out to dry on their base. Drying time on this coat will take about 2 to 4 hours depending on the temperature and humidity.
Size and seat the gas checks with a Ranch Dog Sizer.


I usually complete all my molding, lubing and sizing in a day. I know that the lubesizer guys say tumble lubing takes too long but I disagree. I normally cast about 500 to 600 bullets at a time. The first lube step is done in less than thirty minutes and the second lube step takes about hour. Casting and installing the gas checks is what takes time and that is common to either method of lubing. I use the two drying periods to do other things. I don't know how it could be any easier.

If you are shooting a RD bullet out of a Marlin, the pass through the sizing die is simply to "true" up the bullet and seat the gas check. I cannot comment on other firearms and their bullet needs. Alloy and casting temperature will effect the final bullet diameter but the RD bullet should be at the target diameter after the pass through the die.

You should not have a mess, even on the bullet nose, if you follow the steps above. The tumble lube step should leave a film, not a coat. The dip is thick but it should never get too the crimp groove. The sizing die will clean it off the bullet. By following these steps I have never had Alox foul my bullet seating die. I collect a little bit in my Factory Crimp die but even that is a minuscule amount. I've loaded 400 bullets in the last three days and FCD doesn't have enough lube collected in it to lube one bullet. I have always wiped my loaded cases off, even prior to being a caster, to remove all the case lube or anything that might have been picked up in the loading process. I'm not sure what the big deal is in cleaning off a case even if you make a mess.

[Cayoot]

So Ranch Dog, are saying that you DON'T apply any alox AFTER sizing?:confused:

I thought that the sizing process removes most of the lube that is in position to be effective (on the driving bands as opposed to in the lube groves-because LLA does not migrate well out of the lube grooves.)

Wow! This is a radical departure from the way I was taught and have read about using LLA!

However, if this is the way that you do it and you get no leading....WOW!!!!

I'm gonna have to try changing my ways!

[Ricochet]

Michael, how are you holding your boolits to dip them? It's a little tricky with short ogives to hang onto them.

[hornetguy]

REAL men don't have long fingernails.....[smilie=1:

[Ranch Dog]

REAL men don't have long fingernails.....[smilie=1:

Good one! Real men have short ones and they don't care if the have Alox under them :drinks:


Rico... I'm only working with my bullets and the Lee TL452-230-RF. That later bullet and my TLC432-265-RF has a very short nose, I use pliers, forceps, a "grabber", or any other handy tool that will grab the nose. I have a small Sears Robo-Grip plier that I like the best. In that they are spring loaded, the grab, dip and let-go is fast.

I got to get shooting, but here are some pictures for your consideration...

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox_Buildup.jpg
Let's start with the bullet. This is a my 300-grain 444 bullet that went through my lube process detailed above. It is a sample out of a bin of about 300. The wax build up on the nose is from the wax buildup at the entry to the sizing die (bottom). As you can see, the bullet body is pretty clean. I do not lube again, and seat it in the case just as it is. I pulled the seating stem out of my seating die and you can see the build up on it. This stem has seated at least 5000 TL bullets without being cleaned. I'm sure it has not be disassembled for at least 5 years. There is a little crud outside the contact area, but it will eventually dry up and fall off. The contact area (a rim just inside the outside edge) is bright simply because steel making contact with lead will displace the wax. It will flow. Honestly, I'm going to reassemble it just like it is as I need ammo now for my pressure trace testing. When I pulled this apart, I really thought it would have a lot more buildup. After I seat this bullet and in that it is going to get shot today, the nose will quickly be cleaning with a rag and mineral spirits. If it was going to storage, I'd leave it like it is.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/375_Wax_Star.jpg
Here is the Alox star on my Marlin 375 after shooting my TLC379-235-RF. This bullet has the least volume of wax of any of my designs... .03 CCs. By comparison, the TLC432-300-RF has .045 CCs. This is the star produced after some max load trace testing of the bullet... 2100 FPS at 54.5K PSI! I won't offer load data at that level but the Alox hung in there and the groups were outstanding.

[Lloyd Smale]

Lookiing at what your doing it seems that conventional lube sizing that bullet would give simular results if the lube was good. Looks like it has plenty of lube capasity. Basicaly its the same results youd get if you pan lubed and sized it. have you actually done testing to see if the first thin coat is helping at all?

[Ranch Dog]

Lloyd...

I think of the first coat doing two things: It provides lube on the bullet at the area that will contact the sizing die. As the second coat applied through the dip, I believe it helps fill the the lube grooves. This material is very found of itself.

I've tried dipping the first coat and it just doesn't fill the grooves any better than the light tumble. It uses a much wax as the last coat but you still must apply that second coat.

[Ricochet]

Thanks, Michael!

I'm going to have to look around for something to grab the boolits with without damaging them.

(And of course I wasn't admitting to having a short ogive myself!)

[Lloyd Smale]

that second coat grabbing on to the first makes sense. Im going to have to give serious time to experimenting with that bullet when it gets here. It would be neat to actually run it like you recomend and run it sized and lubed in a star using my own lube to see which works better. Ive never been a fan on tumble lubing but may with your method and fillng out the lube groves it would take the velocitys that everyone preaches they get that i never came close to. Cant see why it wouldnt. it looks like your design carrys enough lube and straight allow should do at least as well as something like nra fourmula that is nothing but alox cut with beeswax. I also made up a batch of felix lube that i replaced half the beeswax with the alox that used for tumble lube and a couple more variations of felix made with alox. . What might me a good experiment is to tumble lube a light coat of normal tumble wax and then pan lube them in that expermentle wax. My thoughts with that lube was to try to come up with a hard lube that would actually lube and hold up a little better in a long rifle barrel then normal 5050 does. another thought i had was it may possibly work as a conventional harder lube and also still be able to be used as a tumble lube by heating it or thinning it with mineral spirits. With all the back problems ive had lately i havent been able to even shoot let alone test though but hopefully they will get me fixed up soon and i can get back on it.

[Ranch Dog]

Lloyd...

I hope you get to feeling better and can get out and do some of this shooting!

For the record, the Marlins I have been shooting these bullets in have had nothing special done to them, they are just as they were purchased. I only have one lapped rifle, my 444P, and I shoot it very little. I just make sure the copper is removed from the barrel and have at it.

[Ranch Dog]

Hey fellows,

My trial molds for the TLC359-190-RF arrived so I was anxious to cast! I thought I would also go ahead and time the various steps to see just how long the process takes. Not that any of this is a timed event , as I normally won't even start casting if I'm pressed for time as I make too many mistakes.

Again here are my steps in applying the Alox: First, extremely light tumbled coat of Alox Install the gas checks Alox dip coat Pass through sizer

I had cast 425 bullets, here is what each operation took: #1 :31 #2 1:10 #3 :49 #4 :39

Installing the gas checks is common to any application (:18/100) so here is what the time looks like per/100 bullets (times above divided by 4): #1 :08 #3 :12 #4 :10 For any comparison purposes, the total time involved in appling two coats of Alox and seating the checks while sizing the bullets with the Lee sizer would be about :30/100. Again, this wasn't a horse race. I enjoy this work or I would be out buying jacketed bullets. Your times might vary. I took several phone calls, talked with my wife, petted the dog, etc. while timing these events.

The first coat dried two hours and the second coat 4 hours. I completed my entire casting event in one day (I didn't time the casting). I hope you don't mind some pictures...

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox01.jpg
First coat has been squirted on the bullet. Notice that it is so little you can barely see it.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox02.jpg
This picture is to emphasis just how little Alox should be used on that first coat. The wax residue in the middle of the sheet of paper is where I've dumped 425 bullets in 31 minutes. That spot is tacky, not wet. I've used very little Alox at this point.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox03.jpg
For the second and final coat, I use Alox that I purchased through Lar45's LsStuff (http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/liquid-x.html) who is a member here on Cast Boolits. I use it because of the volume of Alox I consume. It is no different than that purchased through Lee Precision. The 32 oz. bottle is heating up in a sink of hot water to make it flow better.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox04.jpg
The small "Jell-O" bowl I use for the dip.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox05.jpg
The bullets have been dipped and now are sitting on their base. This bullet has enough nose that I could grap it with my fingers; no tools needed. The Alox is flowing off the bullets onto the paper but it will be recovered.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox06.jpg
It has taken me 49 minutes to dip all 425 bullets. I have picked the first dipped bullet up for this photo. The Alox has set up and formed it's coat around the base of the bullet. The bullet base is actually pretty free of Alox from resting on the paper.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox07.jpg
I've gone ahead and moved the bullets out of the rows so that I can recover the Alox. The bullets will dry four hours in this position. Notice the excess Alox on the paper.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox08.jpg

[Ranch Dog]

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox08.jpg
I've started to recover the Alox and let it flow back into the bottle. I use a putty knife to scrape up the row of excess Alox.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/images/Casting/Alox09.jpg
Notice the paper. Every bit of the excess Alox has been recovered. I used two Jello-O cups (4 oz. ea.) of Alox to dip these 425 bullets and returned one cup!

[Cayoot]

This is great RD!!! I'm learning lots (like every time I come on this board).

About recapturing the Alox, do you reconstitute it some how or just throw the dried remnents back into the container with the (still liquid) stuff?

[jeff223]

OUTSTANDING Michael :drinks:
im going to start lubing up my 35 caliber Ranch Dog boolits just like what you showed in the pictures.i never knew you could reclaim the alox on the paper

i bet your going to like those 35s Michael,they are wonderful shooting boolits.i wont waste my time or lead on any other design boolit.RANCH DOGS are #1 :cbpour:

awsome pistures :mrgreen:

[Ranch Dog]

If the Alox will flow back into the bottle, I let it. If it doesn't, it gets cut with mineral spirits until it does.

[randyrat]

Lube after cast and cool, size while lube is still wet.... Lube again let dry over night minimum. I've never had a major problem with any of my seating dies building up lube and i check OAL regularly... Possibly using too much.. Or i'm just not paying attention:kidding::kidding: I gotta take a good look inside my seating dies and see if there is some buildup of snot.. I never worried about it because i never have to change my seat depth.

[Cayoot]

If the Alox will flow back into the bottle, I let it. If it doesn't, it gets cut with mineral spirits until it does.

I'm talking about the dried up alox that you scrap off the wax paper with a putty knife. Do you just drop the pieces back in the alox container with the liquid stuff, or do you find a way to (re)liquify the dried up alox before you put it back in the bottle?

Thanks

Bary

[kamikaze1a]

I wonder if most are applying too much Alox lube? I used to use Hornady swaged lswc's and they had a knurled or diamond pattern on their bearing surface which was sort of the same idea as the small grooves on the tumble lube Lees. Hornady used some lube that was probably Alox. They came with only a really thin layer of lube and I did not have any leading problems. I must admit that the Hornady's were swaged and using cast may be different but I think it could apply? I am thinking only a really thin layer will suffice and the amount I see left after a dip is excessive...IMHO What you all think?

[Ranch Dog]

I missed Cayoot's question but the chips or tough stuff gets put into a tub that is very wet with mineral spirits. I will keep working it until I feel it is ready to use again. This hasn't happened yet as with my "method" I have very little remaining.

I think you are right kamikaze1a, most probably use too much LA. Those are some nice looking bullets that Hornady produces. The Hornady Bullet Display Board that was given away in PMV had a complete lineup of those bullets on them.

I keep surprising myself with this Liquid Alox! I've even started using an eyedropper to apply it to very small bullets such as these I cast for my 25 ACP...

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/Casting/SNS/Images/SNS009.gif http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/Casting/SNS/Images/SNS010.gif

This is a bullet, not of my design, that had been sitting on a shelf at Lee Precision for quite some time. It has a traditional lube groove near the base and I just could not get any Alox into it with only one tumble. I tried one drop of LA applied to the nose of the bullet and that did the trick! It flows real nice down the bullet and pools at the base, filling the groove! In the picture on the right you can see the amount of lube in one drop. There isn't enough lube to scrap off the baking sheet when I'm done!

I've got a new bullet in the works for this caliber along with all the semi-auto calibers you find in the Saturday Night Specials; 25 ACP, 32 ACP, 380 Auto and 9mm Luger.

[kamikaze1a]

Ranch Dog, I tried out my two light coats of Alox boolits and JPW yesterday. I found no leading at the 800fps I was running. Also tried one light coat of Alox and then the spray on Carnuba wax instead of JPW and got good results too. The spray on wax treated was less sticky than JPW and I did not lose any Alox during application of Carnuba since heat was not necessary so may be a good alternative (for my application)...

[jonk]

Lee has a picture on their data card that comes with a lube and size kit illustrating a bullet melting... and the lube still clinging tenaciously to the bullet.

Ergo I do not think you will get it to melt.

[wiljen]

Probably not the heat that causes problems when coating with JPW over Alox. It is more likely the fact that JPW is about 50-60% spirits. If you cook down a new can of JPW and let the solvent air off you'll end up with roughly 1/2 a can of wax left.

[kamikaze1a]

wiljen, the more I thought about it, the more I agree with what you said. I'' continue my testing of the spray on CArnuba wax and see where that takes me...thanks for all the input!