homemade lube with TL molds ?

[mikes farm]

I am thinking about starting to cast bullets, have cast alum before.
I am looking at the Lee 357 TL mold so that I do not need to resize.
I read about Alox and do not want it gumming things up and do not wish to
clean it off of the bullet tops. I would prefer to make wax based lube and pour it
from the bottom up in silicone pan. Can the bullets cast from Tumble lube molds be lubed this way ?
Regards
Mike

[Ben]

I can't say, but if you do it and report back on your success we'll both know if it is feasible.

Ben

[markinalpine]

I shoot handgun's with swirl lubed boolits a lot. Just melt the lube, drop the boolits in, and pull them out with a slotted ladle. I do this with TL and regular boolits, sometimes with straight melted JPW (Johnsons Paste Wax) and sometimes with my own secret formula special boolit lube (2/3 beeswax, 1/3 carnauba, with a dash of Smiling Mink leather waterproofer and a soupcon of turpentine, oops, don't anybody read that.)
Dump them out on wax paper and stand them up to dry/harden.
NO LEADING in my pistol or revolver.
I also swirl lube boolits in wax based wire pulling lubricant, and run them through the appropriate size Lee push-through sizer before lubing them as described above.

[Rocky Raab]

Yup. Johnson Paste Wax works very well at this. It is MUCH more effective to make a tubular "kakekutter" and slice the bullets free from the hardened wax than to try to peel the wax off.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c170/RockyRaab/IMG_0551.jpg

Here's one I made for .30-cal cast bullets, using a 30-30 case. Cut off case head, drill hole completely through golf ball handle, cement case in place. Chamfer the UNSIZED case mouth and it will neatly cut the wax and slide closely over the bullet. Bullets will pass through the handle to be plucked free when they emerge.

Use other cases or cut neck and shoulders from bottleneck cases to fit larger calibers.

[markinalpine]

Like the handle! I'm fixing the miserable Kakecutter I made a while back. Even have an old flog ball I found in the street.

[HeavyMetal]

The trick to pouring lube in a pan is to not knock over the boolits your Trying to lube!

Seriously in the "beginning" I went through all these steps and, as long as I kept my shooting needs low, pan lubing worked very well but was tedious to say the least.

I always had some boolits that fell over, put to much lube in the pan you name it it happens!

In the end I moved on to a lube sizer because of my ammo demands.

In the end your shootind needs will be your deciding factor as well.

Also do not go into this expecting the TL Lee design to fit your gun and work perfectly!

In most case's it works great but in just as many the boolits come out to big to fit the gun. Bear in mind molds are like guns each one is a rule unto itself.

Let us know how this works out for you.

[Recluse]

I am looking at the Lee 357 TL mold so that I do not need to resize.
I read about Alox and do not want it gumming things up and do not wish to
clean it off of the bullet tops. I would prefer to make wax based lube and pour it
from the bottom up in silicone pan. Can the bullets cast from Tumble lube molds be lubed this way ?
Regards
Mike

First thing, there is a good chance you WILL need to resize the boolits that come out of the Lee .358 TL158SWC mould. I have that mould, and for the record, it is my number one accurate boolit hands-down. I love it and will never part with it.

But, I size every boolit that comes out of it. At only around $15 per (Lee) push-through sizer, I have no idea why anyone wouldn't pick one up when they pick up the mould.

One of the keys to successful casting and reloading is consistence in controlling variables. Boolits of varying sizes is a variable that is easy--and necessary--to control.

Now as far as the alox (LLA) goes. . . . the number one mistake made by virtually every new caster who tumble lubes is using too much of the stuff. First time I used the stuff, no way was I convinced that the little scant amount I had on the boolits was enough. So, I added more. And it gunked things up and smoked like crazy.

Started cutting my LLA in half with JPW (Johnsons Paste Wax) and then very slightly thinning with odorless mineral spirits. Unbelievable results. Superb and consistence accuracy, zero leading, little to no smoke and cleaning the bore is simply a non-event.

I've never thought about pan-lubing TL boolits. I hate pan-lubing anyhow. Tumble-lubing is so much easier and hassle free. I have a lubrasizer I use, but a third to half of my boolits get tumble-lubed--including boolits with traditional lube grooves.

:coffee: