LLA question

[Blammer]

Ok, I lucked up and the 41 cal boolits I cast don't need to be sized as cast! Yea, well we'll see how they shoot.


but my question is, I had about 100 bullets that needed the LLA treatment.

How thin or thick should the coating on them be? I've only LLA'd a few bullets at a time by hand, say 10 or so, so I have no idea what they should look like, really.

I did it and they had a slight yellow haze to them when done, when standing em up on end with my fingers they all felt slippery and well coated but I couldn't "see" it very well.

Suggestions if this is good enough would be nice.

Trial an error will tell but the fewer trials the better I like it.

[Bent Ramrod]

Blammer,

By the time I thin the LLA to a level of runniness sufficient to coat boolits being swirled or tumbled in a container, it winds up being a thin brown layer on most of the surface, with a slightly heavier brown layer clinging in the corners, bottom and top, of the lube grooves. Generally each boolit so coated will leave a ring of lube around itself on the wax paper I stand them on to dry (which I recycle).

I have never seen evidence that this is an underlubed condition, but I typically use LLA to coat tapered plain base or heeled boolits that can't be lubed in a conventional lubrisizer. I don't know how they'd be if pushed to the limit in velocity.

[mooman76]

It shouldn't need to be thinned too much. A little thinning goes a long way. I usually thin so that it pours easily but not watery. Probubly about the consistancy of pancake syrup. You can warm it up in some warm water or heat in the micro carefully for about 5 seconds at a wack until workable, with top loosened of coarse. That will make it workable so you can dilute it if needed.

[Sprue]

Myself I usually hold the 4 oz bottle of LLA under warm running water till I I can hear it slosh around when I shake the bottle. I've never thinned it. Then all I need to do is stick a finishing nail down the spout of the bottle to get it started.

But, I place about 100 cast bullets into a plastic tub/bowl and put 15 or so drops of LLA on em and shake or swirl them around for a few minutes. I then dump em out on a plastic tray, if not just leave them in the tub. I'll give them a slight tumble or shake in a few hours or so just to turn them a bit. I don't handle them or attempt to stand them up. After 24 hours I load them up if needed or else place them in zip lock baggies for storage. I've never considered LLA as being messy.

Lately though, I have moved on to a RCBS Luber Sizer. Making my own lube, or making Felix lube from a recipe that is. What a hobby, there is always something else to try!

My two cents......... :)

[Dave Berryhill]

What do you use to thin it with?

[kjg]

Ok ,the older lla was required to warm the container in microwave, but the newer lla dosn't require it to be heated, or warmed,what i use to lube my lyman, rcbs or lee droped boolits, is a plastic 1 gallon jug cut off lid area and leave handle exposed drop handfull of boolits in and pore just enough to cover the boolits (this is done by trial and error) and swish them around for couple of minuets or song on radio, nowlook at the boolist, are gooves filled if you see lead put a few more drops untill you see know lead exposed you now have enough lube, soe of my loads are pushed up in speed and and velosity, I'm making them for hunting and defence, as well as light target loads, really havent used my lyman 4500 in a while some times think about dumping it but if ever decide i need it i'd have it and to replase it after it was gone would be tough. kjg

[Bent Ramrod]

I generally thin my LLA to the consistency of syrup, and get the results I described in the previous post. Mostly I use lubrisizers, except for the specialty boolits I mentioned. Generally by the time I need to cast some more of these specials, the LLA has lost enough solvent to be a semigelatinous mass in the bottle. I put a little bit of lighter fluid into the bottle, shake and let it sit until the thinner has penetrated and the material is homogeneous, and then unclog the spout and coat as Sprue has described.

The kind of velocities I'm going for with these boolits are in the 900- to 1300 ft/sec range, so what dries on the surface seems to be sufficient.

[Dale53]

Most who report on thinning LLA use mineral spirits. Some do 50/50 and apply two coats. That seems like it would be efficient use of the LLA.

I have one of Ranch Dog's bullet moulds for 45/70 and I will be using LLA for the first time. Ranch Dog has had excellent results with his moulds and LLA and is a great source for SUCCESSFUL use of LLA.

Dale53

[warf73]

Blammer I weight every boolit first, that way I know how much they weight. I make sure all the boolits weight exactly the same i.e. 255.X grs the rest get melted down again. Then I add my LLA were the boolits gained 0.1grs in weight, if they gained too much I cull them out and remelt them, if they didn’t gain enough I cull them out and remelt them.
If you fallow this process you will get 20 boolits that weight exactly the same with LLA on them out of 500 and you will have wasted at least 4 hours of your life.

Or

Just put 50 or so in a baggy add 2 teaspoon to the bag and mix them up, pull them out and set them on a wax paper sheet base down.

The 2nd way is much faster.

Hope I helped ya out :)

Warf

[4570guy]

I use approx a 50-50 sol'n of LLA and Mineral Spirits. It comes out pretty runny. I dump my bullets in one of those plastic lunch meat containers or Folger's coffee buckets and squirt about a teaspoon or two of thinned LLA in (I never measured it, just go by sight)... then shake, tumble and roll the sealed container around. I typically lube 150-250 bullets at a time.

Most come out with a thin light coating just as Ramrod said. I then dump them out on a sheet of butcher paper. I used to stand them up, but I stopped even doing that, and let them air dry for a day or two before loading them. Some of the bullets appear to have very little lube on them -- just a thin film. I've had no leading problems whatsoever. I cast for .45-70, .30-40, .30-06 and .303 Brit and I've used this technique from 1300 fps - 2200 fps.

[Dave B]

I thin mine 50-50 and swirl them in a Cool Whip tub. They don't look like they have a lot on them, but haven't had any leading problems at all. A little goes a long way. I leave them in the tub to dry a couple of days or dump them on wax paper for overnight dry.