reccomend a new caster what lube to use...

[par0thead151]

I have 115 grain 9mm non tumble lube(single lube stripe) lee 6 cav. mold. and a 230 grain 45 ACP lee 6 cav tumble lube mould.
i have tried the 9mm with tumble lube, but got a good amount of leading, i will be trying 2 coats of liquid allox next time, as well as trying the 45 ACP.
im wondering if there is a better lube to use than liquid allox?
i dont mind the smoke it produces if that is what i must deal with, when using tumble lube, but if there is a different tumble lube that produces less or no smoke, i am all ears to hear about it.
thanks

[waco]

do you own a lube sizer, or are you only tumble-pan lubing?

[par0thead151]

do you own a lube sizer, or are you only tumble-pan lubing?

as it stands now, i only tumble pan lube...
i am in the market for a luber sizer, but do not know what one is the best. if a luber sizer was a reloading press, what one would be a dillon?

[HeavyMetal]

Star!

[runfiverun]

the star...
sizers are a bit costly but can be had for much less from lathesmith....
expect to pay the same amount for a star as you do for a 550

[waco]

if you wanna drop 250 on a sizer......ok
i just bought a NIB lyman 450 off this site for $100
they work just fine

[par0thead151]

what are the benefits of a star over the lyman?
i have no problem spending the $ on a STAR if it can produce faster and/or better boolits.

[geargnasher]

(in response to the original question)
Had to open that can-o'-worms again, eh? Check out the Lars website (link at bottom of page) for lube products, the sizers are a matter of preference/availability/affordability/applicablity just like most tools. Me personally, I use LLA and Lee sizer dies (the kind that fit in your reloading press) for a few high-volume pistol boolits and borrow a friend's Lyman sizer/lubricator for my rifle boolits, especially the ones with gas checks. We use anything from Lars Caranuba red to a homebrew 50/50 beeswax-moly wheelbearing grease in the sizer with excellent results (read: no leading).

I also highly recommend reading Glen Fryxell's articles on the subject at lasc.com and there are tons of good discussion elsewhere on this site.

I think you will have very good luck with LLA and your tumble-lube .45 Boolits as long as they cast plenty big (.002" over groove diam) for your gun. I would try to get some kind of sizer and use a firm (not HARD) lube for the single-groove boolits, you might have some leading issues with LLA on short boolits with little contact surface, but who knows? Just about any accepted lube will work if the boolits fit the gun, are not pushed too hard nor too slow, the alloy isn't too hard or too soft (lots of leeway there), the phase of the moon was waxing when they were cast, and you appeased the goddess Galena with many wheelweight sacrifices[smilie=1:

Good luck!
Gear

[Nora]

Try water dropping your boolits. That will help as well. The only lube I use is LLA and have no leading regardless of bullet lube groove style. I also agree that the right sized boolit at the right speed is best no matter what lube type you choose to use.

[par0thead151]

i have read that water dropping will eventually soften up. what sort of time does it take to have this occur?

[HORNET]

There are claims that WDWW will soften over time. There are also members that have tracked the hardness changes over a couple of years and say that the change is minimal. I expect that it depends on the actual composition of the alloy used. I wouldn't worry a lot about it. If your boolits are getting soft it means 2 things:
1.) you need to re-heat treat them :roll:
2.) You don't shoot enough.[smilie=1:

[geargnasher]

i have read that water dropping will eventually soften up. what sort of time does it take to have this occur?

+1 on you don't shoot enough if your water-dropped boolits get soft. Even if they do, who cares? Unless you're trying to do something like shoot .44 Magnum at stupid velocities without gas checks there is little point in trying to harden them. Air-quenched WW produce boolits somewhere between 10-13 bh, plenty for your 9mm and .45 acp at reasonable velocities. Also keep in mind it is a PITA to heat treat, if you are sizing you need to size them first WITHOUT lube because they work-soften and then lube, water dropping is ok for tumble lube boolits but only works if there is a certain percentage of antimony or arsenic in the mix (maybe some other metals too, but I know copper, silver, and gold all anneal when water quenched). Blah, blah, blah. Just go cast a bunch, roll 'em in LLA and :Fire:

Gear

[Dale53]

ON TOPIC;
A Star is faster (twice as fast), works on the "push through system" which is a superior method (doesn't bend bullets). I wouldn't give up my Star, period!

I have a Star, a Lyman, and an RCBS and had a Saeco. No comparison but I like keep the others around for black powder lube (I have competed a good deal in black powder pistol matches) and I bought them "rather right".

I have sized several hundred thousand (NOT A MISPRINT) bullets on my Star and it was used when I bought it.

Dale53

[vonnieglen]

I ordered some lube from Lars a few days ago because I was running a little low on SPG which I paid a small fortune for. There was a warning on the site warning that they were a little behind because of the high volume of sales. Well it already showed up! A couple of weeks ago before I checked out the links at the bottom of the page, I ordered some beeswax off of Ebay and it still hasn't made it here.

Now I have to run out and cast a couple hundred more rifle bullets so I'll have something to lube.

http://www.lsstuff.com/index.html

[fredj338]

I had a Lyman 450 sizer, works fine, but the Star/Magma is the Cadilac of luber/sizer. Bullet size nose first, so no special top punches & if you size LHP, no nose deformation. It is easily twice as fast as the bullets go straight thru. I have recently been using Lars BAC & have some Lars Red to try. Best buy in bullet lube out there. If you want to keep pan lubing, the Lee die system works ok. Pan lube, pop the bullets out & run them into the die. It's pretty fast, except for waiting for the pan lube to solidify.

[opentop]

what are the benefits of a star over the lyman?

I got my new star set up, and had a box of about 700 38 cal. boolits. I sized and lubed them within about a half hour or so.

http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/saa45/IM004406.jpg