Pan Lube - FAIL!

[Kawfeegod]

Ok, so finally got around to pan lubing some boolits. I used a 1-1-1 mix of beeswax, parafin, and vasaline with a couple of crayons for color :) I set my little soldiers up in the pan, poured the hot lube in and waited a few hours for it to set ( it was outside in the 30 degrees) started to push the boolits out after they set, and no lube in the grooves. Where did I go wrong? I guess the only thing I can think of is that the lube and boolits were different temps when I poured the lube in. Any advice would be great.

[jh45gun]

Just a guess on my part but maybe the lube is too stiff and not sticky enough to stick in the grooves. The beeswax is stiff and so is the paraffin so that just leaves the Vasaline which is only one third of the mix;. I could be wrong but that would be my guess.

[docone31]

55% beeswax, 45% Vaseline, Large scoopful of Castrol wax stick, a bit of Marvel Mystery oil. Works great. I make 5lbs at a time to control the mix.
I doubt I will have to make more in my lifetime unless it gets outdated.

[garandsrus]

I think you are correct in that the boolits were too cold...

John

[Recluse]

On most days, I'd rather hang an infrared bullseye on my butt and then go mooning rattlesnakes in the dead of night than suffer through the frustration I encounter whenever I try to pan-lube. [smilie=b:

But the first time I ever got it to work, I took my heat gun to the boolits while they were in the pan and lube-less. Got them hot enough that I couldn't touch them without a reflexive cuss word flying from my lips, replaced by the scorched finger. Figured they were just right in temperature at that point. [smilie=1:

THEN I poured the lube in, let it set up for the rest of the day while I went back into the house to sacrifice a chicken and light some incense in offering to the Gods of the Silver Stream, hoping that my sacrifice would please their Holiness. I was a little worried since the chicken came from the grocery store and the instructions indicated it was for roasting and not appeasing the spirits. But I figured what the hell and proceeded to sacrfice it anyway.

Something must've worked 'cause when I went out to start pushing the boolits out, lo and behold, the lube was in the grooves!

So nowadays I make sure to always have an extra chicken or two in the deep freeze and some incense laying around in case I need to pan-lube. Oh, and I also keep some NRA 50/50 sticks around too.

:coffee:

[454PB]

You need a "kakecutter" for pan lubing. Cut the head off of the appropriate fired case and use that to slide over the cooled boolits and cut them from the block of lube.

[snaggdit]

I had the same trouble my first try. 60% beeswax, 40% vasolene. I found that if I just let them cool just enough to solidify the wax then pushed them out of the warm wax it worked perfectly. Once they were cold, the sizer really stuck it into the grooves.

[runfiverun]

i just melt the lub then dip the boolits in it and set them on wax paper.
then size and put all the squeegied lube back in the cup.

[Kawfeegod]

I will give all the suggestions a try. I think I can order chickens that are bred for pleasing spirits on the interwebs. I figured that I would just heat the boolits in the pan in the oven for a spell then pour in the lube. I do have evil scientist plans to build my own lubrisizer. Machine shop + too much time to think = Muawhahahahahah. Or I could spend $400, but what fun would that be.

[armyrat1970]

Not sure what you mean by pan lube but why not just swirl them around in the pan of hot lube to fully coat them? All the grooves should fill. Then set them on wax paper to dry.

[357maximum]

What boolit design are you playing with???






Your mix is likely just fine.....It is likely your technique that needs a bit of help IMHO.


Get that lube HOTTTT pour it in your shallow pan just above where you want it to actually end up. Wait and you will see the wax climb the boolit for awhile, it will then recede as it cools...once the mass has frozen back up to a not hard but not soft stage see if you can jostle/wiggle one of em up ...does it have lube? If not you will need to A. use a cakecutter or B. put the mess in the freezer until hard enough to remove the cake with boolits and all from the pan. Let the mass warm back up to room temperature and see if you can push them critters out. Now do they have lube? If not you need more vaseline or a touch of pure lanolin in your mix.

Good luck and may the great God's of Galena shine upon you.


When you tire of this situation...go buy a lubrisizer...I recommend eith the star if you are only using a limited variety of styles...or an old lyman 45 (not 450 or 4500) I like the older 45 model ..(never had an alignment issue with the older ones.

[zampilot]

Beeswax, crisco and 4 oz of veg oil will do fine. Dont set them out in the cold to cool if you dont heat the boolits up. There are a couple of really good tutorials on youtube.

[Wayne Smith]

Put a little anhydrous lanolin in your mix. It will stick to anything! Seriously, I have some in mine. My only trick is to loosen the boolit in the block by pushing it slightly down, then up from the bottom and remove. My lube sticks that way when it won't just pulling them straight out. Also check the depth of your lube grooves.

If they are to shallow somebody here can probably send you a few extra loobe grooves to try!

[Harry O]

You need a "kakecutter" for pan lubing. Cut the head off of the appropriate fired case and use that to slide over the cooled boolits and cut them from the block of lube.

Needs to be said again. Look, it is simple to take a fired case and drill the base out to use as a cutter. If you want to get fancy, you can even solder a washer on the outside to give an extra place to hold it. Cutting it out ALWAYS works.

[Dale53]

Some time ago, I wrote a five page article on pan lubing with details. You can follow that and are almost guaranteed of success. I have pan lubed thousands of BPCR bullets with minimum fuss.

However, you MUST follow the directions exactly. After you have consistent success, then you may modify things to suit yourself. Modify one thing at a time if you change anything - that way you'll know what REALLY works and WHY.

Just write me direct and I'll send it to you by attachment. The price is right (0):mrgreen:. My e-mail address is in my profile.

Dale53

[montana_charlie]

There are a couple of really good tutorials on youtube.
And this is one of them...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBDFO0ftCQc

CM

[Green Frog]

What Dale53 says!! :drinks:

I had gotten absolutely NOWHERE with pan lubing until I mixed up a batch of Emmert's and followed his directions. Nothing but death is idiot proof, but his pan lubing method comes close! :wink:

One trick is to use good lube, with that one listed to start the thread WAAAY too hard for pan lubing duties, and the other I garnered from Dale is to not let the lube cool down quite to room temp. Too cold, and any lube gets brittle. I like to push my bullets out by hand when the lube block is just comfortably warm to the touch. :-D

Froggie

[badgeredd]

I had trouble trying to pan lube the first three times I tried it. Then I happened on a post that mentioned getting the boolits warm before you lube.
I decided to take my last unsuccessful batch, pan, lube and boolits and put them in the oven. I preheated the oven and boolits to 350 degrees. then set the timer for 15 minutes. Once everything was melted and heated I took the pan of boolits and lube out and let them cool. When the whole mess was cool enough to handle. I tried pushing them out. Still too warm. Let them cool some more upside down until everything was just slightly warm to the touch. The lube cake came out easily. Started pushing them out of the cake and GOLLY, it WORKED.

Edd

[Kawfeegod]

357- I am using a lee mold .45acp 228gr 1og 2 lube grooves.


I will try the preheating thing and also email dale53 for his bible on pan lubing. I have to get by with this for now until I can afford a star or my own creation...

Thanks again for the help.

[RU shooter]

I had trouble trying to pan lube the first three times I tried it. Then I happened on a post that mentioned getting the boolits warm before you lube.
I decided to take my last unsuccessful batch, pan, lube and boolits and put them in the oven. I preheated the oven and boolits to 350 degrees. then set the timer for 15 minutes. Once everything was melted and heated I took the pan of boolits and lube out and let them cool. When the whole mess was cool enough to handle. I tried pushing them out. Still too warm. Let them cool some more upside down until everything was just slightly warm to the touch. The lube cake came out easily. Started pushing them out of the cake and GOLLY, it WORKED.

Edd This is whats called the "Goatlips method" a member here with a link to his site on pan lubing and it does work well regardless of what lube formula your using Do a search for Goatlips pan lubing method ,I've been doing it this way since day one and has never failed yet.

Tim

[Dale53]

I have used the oven method and it works. However, 350 degrees is WAY hotter than necessary. Too hot a temperature degrades the lube. I use no hotter than 200 degrees and if you preheat the oven, bullets and lube are up to heat quickly.

Dale53

[camotruck]

I just finished reading the "Goat Lips" pages and though new I anted to chim in and say he sugests 170 deg. F

[Dale53]

Goatlips temps are correct for a lot of lubes but will not melt some specialty lubes.

I bought a lube pump from a Single Shot supplier (used but "as new"). It turned out it was made by Charlie Dell and had his "patent lube" in it which would not melt in boiling water (212 degrees). So, I had to use higher heat. NRA 50/50 Alox/ beeswax and Lars White Label Carnauba Red will melt with boiling water as will Emmert's (about 135 degrees and SPG). So, that takes care of most but some of the exotic lubes just flat require more heat. If they will melt with boiling water you can use a double boiler and are assured of not overheating. I used Emmert's for a period of years without degrading it - just added new as it was used. That is a tremendous advantage. I had a good friend that used direct heat and "killed" his black powder cartridge rifle lube.

It is a good practice to only use enough heat to get the job done as most of the lubes are seriously degraded if over heated.

Dale53

[wire nut]

kawfeegod, I feel your pain. went through the same deal a week a go. I think your problem is the same as mine was. The lube is to hard. I used almost the same recipe that you used and had the same problem. Add more vaseoline a little at a time until you get the right hardness. I also heat my lube in a doudle boiler and i heat it until it is around 195 degrees. After adding more vaseoline and getting the lube hotter when i pushed the boolits out of the lube the lube was sticking in the lube grooves. Give this a try and I believe you will start seeing better results. Wire ntu

[dwtim]

I skipped all this and made a cake cutter as described in two previous posts. The difference is that I purposely cast .002" for most of my bullets, so in addition to using a drilled-out case of the caliber needed, I also rammed the neck expander way down to open up the mouth. For .30 cal rifle I use a .32 pistol case and have excess. (I suppose I'll switch to a .30 Carbine case if I find one.)

My method isn't anywhere near as fast as poking the bullets through the cake, but it produces consistent results no matter what lube, as long as it's cool enough to gel.

[Kawfeegod]

I ended up heating the boolits in the oven to 300 degrees. Pouring the hot lube and letting them sit. I just punched them all out and lo and behold....WE HAVE LUBE!!! Woo Hoo! I will try lowering the temp as well, I'm sure too high a temp is not doing the temper of the lead any good. Again, thanks for all the suggestions, I'm just glad I get to finally go shoot some of my fine boolits!