Cleaning little dollops of lube from a bullet

[FISH4BUGS]

I sized and lubed a fair number of H&G #51's on my Star sizer. I wasn't paying a great deal of attention (guilty as charged) and when I was done noticed that some of them had these little dollops of lube in front of the upper driving band.
I know what caused it - excessive pressure in the Star. Ok...got it. i won't make that mistake again. Lower the heat a tad and use less pressure.
But how can I clean these bullets prior to loading? I tried simply spinning them in my right hand fingers with a cloth in the left hand fingers squashed around the upper part of the bullets. it works on some but not all.
I tried a small propane torch quick pass through the flame and doing as above but I burned my fingers too many times.
Any brilliant ideas from the hive as to what to do?

[runfiverun]

if it was the hard magma lube you can give it a couple of days then just flick it off with your thumbnail.
if it's a softer smeary type of lube your better off waiting until you load them then wipe it off with a rag.
or just leaving it there at that point.


I'm not saying this part to be a jerk.
but as a heads up to those that don't know.
but if you had a Dillon seating die you wouldn't worry about this too much since you can just pop a clip and pull the seater stem out of the die.
then clean it then put it back in without affecting the die settings.

[Soundguy]

agreed.. wait till loaded, then clean off

[Echo]

agreed.. wait till loaded, then clean off

Plus One - I seesaw in an old towel that I splashed a dollop of mineral spirits on.

[FISH4BUGS]

if it was the hard magma lube you can give it a couple of days then just flick it off with your thumbnail.
if it's a softer smeary type of lube your better off waiting until you load them then wipe it off with a rag.
or just leaving it there at that point.
I'm not saying this part to be a jerk.
but as a heads up to those that don't know.
but if you had a Dillon seating die you wouldn't worry about this too much since you can just pop a clip and pull the seater stem out of the die.
then clean it then put it back in without affecting the die settings.
It WAS a hard Magma lube (red).
The problem is that I want to sell some of these on the S&S section. I can't do that if I load them. That's why I want to clean them off before I sell them. No sense in selling crappy work.
I cast in lots of 1000-1500 and size/lube the same.
And for the record, I DO use Dillon dies. i am aware of the great feature to clean them on the fly.

[Victor N TN]

Just as long as the base is clean before you load them. I was always afraid it would contaminate the powder.

[FISH4BUGS]

Well, not very glamorous but it works. A variation on runfiverun's suggestion.
Since this is Magma red hard lube, once it gets cold, those little dollops WILL snap off. All I did was take a bullet and roll it in my left hand fingers while holding a small knife point in my right. There were typically two or three little dollops on the side of the bullet from the lube holes. Roll, pop it off, roll, pop it off, roll, pop it off, then wipe it with my fingers.
Yup....one at a time. with some 1500 to do, it will take a little time.But hey....winters are long and cold here in NH. Just another man cave casting and reloading project. Fire up the heater, put on some quiet music and off I went.
I did 500 last night and will finish up this weekend.
But the lesson is learned. I won't make that same mistake again.
Adjust your Star sizer properly!

[44man]

I will never use a hard lube because it can break free of grooves in muzzle exit unevenly and throw a boolit into a tizzy.
I get a lot of Felix on boolit noses with Lee size dies and a thumbnail will remove if too thick but I leave a lot if it won't gum up the seat die. I never clean my rounds, just keep in a clean MTM box, never a pocket. Whether a little lube on the nose helps, I can't say.
Joe, the maker of the foreskin .444 cleans his rounds with steel wool????
I can understand if you sell and want clean but the hard lube can make guys cuss over accuracy.
I bought boolits bulk at one time and the bottom of the box was full of broken out lube. About every boolit was missing lube here and there. Might as well cast air holes in boolits.
Pretty does not shoot.

[FISH4BUGS]

I will never use a hard lube because it can break free of grooves in muzzle exit unevenly and throw a boolit into a tizzy. I can understand if you sell and want clean but the hard lube can make guys cuss over accuracy.
I bought boolits bulk at one time and the bottom of the box was full of broken out lube. About every boolit was missing lube here and there. Might as well cast air holes in boolits.

Good point but probably open to debate. I have not seen any bullets that lost their lube.
The H&G 51's have a lube groove the size of the Panama Canal and the hard lube, as far as I can tell, stays where it should once it cools.
Those that I sell my bullets to have never complained about lost lube. I guess I am too much of a perfectionist.

[44man]

I want oozy, gooey, sticky, makes a mess but will spin free at exit to leave a clean boolit. But will stay in the bore behind for the next shot. Lube should soften fouling so it is shot out for a clean bore, every shot. Lube does not melt when fired, it can extrude and rub, even a newspaper wad will not burn. To extrude means the boolit slumped. Gas leakage might blow lube but most fit boolits have no lube at the front at all. Lube will be behind a boolit. Some lubes will ignite and leave ash in the bore.
Thousands of lube tests over 60 years has shown me many are a waste of time and money.
LBT Soft Blue, Magnum Lube, Felix, MML, Satan's lube and others work best.
Go to old BP sites and see what a lube change does. It is also true with smokeless.