Lube lost off of .45 copper clad...

[Alvin in AZ]

Lube lost off of .45 copper clad...
All together about 450 of them?

They have been sitting for well over 20 years and besides the lube mostly melting
off, they were dusty and dirty as anything so... I boiled them to remove the dirt. :)

Shooting them through a Uberti 45Colt and only 20 shots left quite a bit of lead so
they need re-lubing. I've been smearing/pressing soft candle wax into the groove
with my fingers on about 20 of them for a test.

Basically -I don't know how to lube- these bullets any other way.
I've read the stickies and a bunch of other stuff and the search function doesn't
seem to recognize quotation marks so... here I am asking super basic questions. :/

The 250gr RN FP Laser-Cast boolits shoot real nice and don't seem to lead the
barrel at all! :) I guess they are similar to you-guys' home made boolits? :)

Got any suggestions for a guy that is this clueless? :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- my main load is 8.8 grains of 800X (no longer needed 16 gauge powder:)
pps- or 8.3 grains of Unique, the Little Dandy rotor dumps either one :)
ppps- http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/unique.jpg

[Skipper]

Tumble lube in Lee Liquid Alox........let 'em dry and shoot them.

[DLCTEX]

+1. Dale

[Boerrancher]

Or tumble lube in Johnsons Past wax let dry and shoot them.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Alvin in AZ]

Ok, cool, three votes for tumble lube. LOL :)

Here's a wrinkle...

Just before reading your posts I noticed as I shoved the bullets into the case mouths,
the copper plating was getting scrubbed off by the RCBS bullet seating die. I figure
it's the "crimping shoulder" doing that, since the exposed lead is outside of the case.

It's only happening to half of them and only about 1/3 of the way around the bullet.
Will the "tumble lube" be effective if applied to the "bare spots" after seating?

And just to understand how it's done...

How does a guy go about lubing them up so that the large groove will be full of lube
like they were originally?

Alvin in AZ

[Bass Ackward]

Move north. :grin:

[rusty marlin]

If you want the lube groove filled you'll need to either pan lube the bullets or get a luber/sizer.

With the Lee tumble lube the groove doesn't need to be filled. Its a thin layer distributed all over the bullet.

You might need to clean your seating die. Pull the stem and shoot the inside with carberator cleaner and wipe the crud out with paper towel. Clean the stem the same way.

[Boerrancher]

I tumble lube even bullets with the deep lube grooves. Matter of fact I just did some 461 dia boolits for my 45-70 and they had 3 deep grooves. I gave up on the lube/sizer when I started recovering lots of my boolits with all of the lube still in them. It does not take a great deal of lube to prevent leading. In my 30+ years of shooting cast boolits, I have found that proper boolit size is more critical than the type or amount of lube. Don't worry about filling up the lube groove. You only need a thin layer of lube covering the boolit. Use a 22 L.R. as an example.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Dale53]

In case you still want to try filling the grooves in your bullets, as issued, try Goat Lips pan lubing:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/panlubing.html

Dale53

[Alvin in AZ]

In case you still want to try filling the grooves in your bullets,
as issued, try Goat Lips pan lubing:
http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/panlubing.html
Dale53

Cool one! :)
I had no idea that even existed. :)

So... got a URL for something similar so I can understand using a lube/sizer? :)

Just want to learn about this stuff. :)

Alvin in AZ

[docone31]

I use the Lee push thru sizer.
You do not need a video for that one.
Pan lube, screw in the sizer die, put the base of the casting on the ramrod, push through the sizer, get another one, repeat, repeat, etc.....
As simple as that.
when pan lubing, spray the pan with PAM, lightly, set the castings on the pan, preheat, pour the wax on to the level you want it. Let it cool in the oven with the oven shut off.
Turn the pan upside down, let the wax release from the pan, push the castings through by pushing the nose into the cake.
Size em, load em, have a ball.
I make my own lube. 45% beeswax, 55% vaseline, some Marvel Mystery oil, and some Carnuba oil. Not much of the Marvel, and Carnuba.
Works for me.

[JIMinPHX]

+1 on what Dale said.

[Alvin in AZ]

+1 on what Dale said.
You know, I think I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. :)

Another 20 I shot today, that I'd filled the grooves with soft candle wax by
hand, didn't seem to lead the bore up much, if at all. :) Shot them up first.

The copper clad bullets still had a heck of a coating of wax on them after I'd
boiled them and they leaded up the bore something awful. Shot the last 10
I'd loaded today and the barrel's a mess again. :/ Experimented with shooting
them ever'other shot or so, mixed with the mighty-fine-shooting Laser-Cast.

Well so I cooked me up some lube, my own recipe, of soft-candle wax, some
hard-candle wax and some high moly sulfide content lithium grease in about
a 2:2:1 ratio and going to try my hand at pan-lubing. :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- thanks for all your help! :)

[runfiverun]

copper plated usually doesn't use lube, how is your case flair??

[Alvin in AZ]

copper plated usually doesn't use lube, how is your case flair??
I believe my flair is fine, but maybe my crimp is too much? :/
They originally came with the large groove full of yellow grease.

I believe the following has something to do with it and greasing the crap
out of them is the best way to go... -?- :)

Boerrancher said:
"In my 30+ years of shooting cast boolits, I have found that proper boolit
size is more critical than the type or amount of lube."

You guys tell me...
Depending on which ones I mike they come out anywhere from .450 to .458".

They are 230 grain round nose "Copper Clad" made for 45 ACP.
They were cheap as anything back in the mid-80's. :)
Shipping was cheaper than sales tax back then, remember that? :)
Even on lead for cryin' out loud. :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- thanks for working with me on this :)

[pjh421]

The skinny boolits are a large part of the problem. I imagine you're getting quite a bit of gas erosion.

Paul

[Alvin in AZ]

The skinny boolits are a large part of the problem.
I imagine you're getting quite a bit of gas erosion.
Paul

Yeah. :/

...so I'm calling the 30 shells I shot tonight, a success! :)

Thanks for all the help! :)

The Lewis Lead Remover didn't have any lead on it but I can see some really
fine/thin silvery streaks in the barrel. Like the barrel is tin plated in those spots.

The next 30 might not do so good?
I'm figuring that's about all I can expect from these sorry suckers tho. :)

After messing with the paraffin based lube I'm guess that I know why most of the
recipes are based on bee's wax. :)

The paraffin doesn't stick to the bullet worth anything and has low strength both?

If I get into casting, I'll get me some bee's wax. ;)

Alvin in AZ

[pjh421]

II remember reading an article in the Cast Bullet Journal many years ago in which the author held that Paraffin provides no lubrication. Man those CBJs are a gold mine of information. Beeswax is a great basis for a soft & effective lube. PM randyrat for beeswax.

Paul

[Alvin in AZ]

...article in the Cast Bullet Journal many years ago in which the author held
that Paraffin provides no lubrication.
Paul

Remember back in school those old "true false" questions?
And how all you had to do was look for "absolutes" like "always, never" etc? :)
Some guys ("authors";) like to talk that way for some dangged reason. :/

You saw it right here in this thread...
This stupid ugly old gringo proved with very-little experimenting that paraffin
does indeed provide lubrication and made a whopping difference too.

My original experiment of filling the grooves by packing by hand with straight
paraffin prompted me to continue. ...since it worked good. :) Easy as that.

If beeswax works a "lot better" than paraffin at preventing leading...
...that would sure as heck be a very welcomed trait tho. :)

Anyway...
I was planning to see what they had for sale at Sportsman's Warehouse.
Got any suggestions on what to buy?
Or maybe, what to stay away from? :)
I'm figuring on pan lubing. :)

IMO, the stuff I made won't store worth anything. :/
Whether the bullets are loose or loaded either one.
My homemade stuff is soft+crumbly, oily crap seems to me. :)

Alvin in AZ

[pjh421]

That sounds good. Perhaps the author was referring to bullets at rifle velocities. I'm sticking with beeswax.

What can you mix it with to improve it's consistency? Bullshop has a good recipe that I use.

Paul

[runfiverun]

they don't have crap at sportsmans warehouse.....
i have melted candles, added some jpw, a capfull of lucas oil treatment.
and mixed in about 3 oz's of bees wax or 50/50 b-wax alox.
and made a pretty good lube.
if you have a good carrier and a good lubricater mixed together that is about all you need for most handgun rounds.

[Alvin in AZ]

they don't have crap at sportsmans warehouse.....
You're right, all their stuff is good stuff. ;)

So I called and the guy didn't know what I was talking about, thought I wanted
"gun grease". LOL :) He talked to somebody and came back with "we don't have it".



if you have a good carrier and a good lubricater mixed together
that is about all you need for most handgun rounds.

Yeah my concoction worked pretty dangged good too. :)
It's just too soft and oily and messy and crumbly to suit me is all. :/
I managed to make it soft, oily -and- crumbly. LOL :)

Alvin in AZ