Minumum time Lee Alox to dry before sizing

[ghh3rd]

I was wondering how long I must wait before sizing some boolits with a light coat of Lee Alox. I believe that the directions say overnight, but I am impatient.

I have a batch that I lubed this evening, and after only about 45 minutes they already seem fairly dry. I will be applying a second coat of Alox, but am concerned that I may gum up my sizing die if I size them too soon.

Has anyone had any (good) luck taking this shortcut?

Thanks,

Randy

[waco]

lube em, size em, lube em again, let dry overnight, load em
works just fine
if sizer die gets gummed up, easily clean with small brush and mineral spirits
hope this helps
waco

[thenaaks]

what's the rush? let 'em dry! i see a gooey mess in your future if not.

[thenaaks]

p.s.
my alox coated bullets never "dry" to my liking....i coat them with rooster lube after aloxing...then they feel nice and dry, and crap doesn't stick to them.

[sheepdog]

I've also heard never lube within 24 hours of casting to allow for shrinking.

[ghh3rd]

what's the rush?

I have to admit -- that I am a procrastinator. I was supposed to have loaded up some .40's to take to the range tomorrow, to shoot with a friend who is curious about cast boolits and reloading.

I just cast a quick batch of 150, and guess I'll give them a 'rush job' tonight, so I can load them tomorrow morning. It sounds like the worse thing that will happen is that I may have to clean the die.

I'll probably procrastinate and clean the die just before I need to use it again :-)
Thanks,


Randy

[geargnasher]

... and wheelweights will ruin you barrel, too, Sheepdog!

Gear

[Nora]

If you would like it to dry faster, cut it with mineral spirits. Most do anyway. A lot seem to go 50/50, some even thinner. I like 2/3 LLA to 1/3 MS. For the lube and size in a hurry, I consider no longer tacky to be done enough to run threw a push threw die. Give it a second coat till no longer tacky, load and shoot. The usual in my case will normally take 4 to 6 hours each drying cycle.

Nora

[geargnasher]

If you would like it to dry faster, cut it with mineral spirits. Most do anyway. A lot seem to go 50/50, some even thinner. I like 2/3 LLA to 1/3 MS. For the lube and size in a hurry, I consider no longer tacky to be done enough to run threw a push threw die. Give it a second coat till no longer tacky, load and shoot. The usual in my case will normally take 4 to 6 hours each drying cycle.

Nora

+1 and add jpw up to 50% to help eliminate the sticky.

Gear

[shooting on a shoestring]

I use my LLA cut with mineral spirits and then toast them in a toaster oven (bought at a GoodWill store like new $7) about 5 to 10 minutes. They're ready to load as soon as I can touch them.

[Bob Krack]

I am not speaking from actual experience, 'cuse I never tried it - but if'n ya slobber up the die, the lead will scrape it out. Might be messy, but as far as sizing to diameter - I see no issue.

[wilddog45]

I rollem around in a paper bucket with alox, let them set for half hour then size them and alox again and let them dry over night on wax paper.

[Three44s]

I rollem around in a paper bucket with alox, let them set for half hour then size them and alox again and let them dry over night on wax paper.



+1!

And if you just have to get these buggers loaded ASAP ........... try a heat lamp over them for the final drying.

Three 44s

[nonferrous]

+2, A splash of Mineral spirits and a dab of JPW, let them dry overnight or bake them and they don't handle too bad.

[Bret4207]

I don't Mule Snot them before I size. I use a spray on lube or even diesel when I size. Then I lube them.

[bedwards]

Do they ever get unsticky? I haven't cut mine with spirits yet, but the last ones I did I ended up powdering them with talc a week or so later.

be

[wallenba]

I was wondering how long I must wait before sizing some boolits with a light coat of Lee Alox. I believe that the directions say overnight, but I am impatient.

I have a batch that I lubed this evening, and after only about 45 minutes they already seem fairly dry. I will be applying a second coat of Alox, but am concerned that I may gum up my sizing die if I size them too soon.

Has anyone had any (good) luck taking this shortcut?

Thanks,

Randy

I don't lube with ALOX anymore but when I did, I never waited for it to dry to size. I just ran them up my Lee push thru sizer wet, re-tumbled then let them dry. Worked for me, but was a little messy and slippery but cut way down on the time before loading. Hint; don't try setting the boolit on the punch, just start it up the die with your fingertip.

[OutHuntn84]

Lightly lube em w/ alox size em relube em and set em out over night. Clean your sizer asap to make sure it dosent get the chance to dry on there, might make it a lil tuffer to get out.

[DLCTEX]

I have used a hair blow dryer to speed up the process.

[markinalpine]

For handgun boolits, I'm a staunch proponent of JPW. I drop the boolits in the melted JPW, let them soak long enough to warm up, strain them out with a slotted plastic spoon ($1 from the grocery store bargain bin), and stand them up on a cookie sheet to dry, which lets me scrape the residue off for reuse. The boolits dry by the time they've cooled down to the touch. After the JPW has been melted, cooled, and re-used a few times, it gets kind of hard, so I've been adding turpentine to soften it up again, and I think it smells better.

Mark :coffeecom

[Cloudpeak]

I spray the bullets with Hornady "One Shot" case lube, size with the Lee push through and then use LLA/Xlox cut with low odor mineral spirits. No mess. This has worked well for the 35,000 plus bullets I've cast so far. My first can of One Shot lasted for around 20,000 bullets and I always spray my brass before sizing, too. A little goes a long way.

BTW, XLOX is a better value than the LLA. Same stuff as far as I know.

[sniper]

I did a batch of ~350 bloolits last night. Lubed with LLA thinned ~30% with "odorless" mineral spirits. Quick and easy! They dried very fast--a couple of hours, and they were dry enough to handle. Very little residue on the wax paper too, and what was there was not sticky. I was surprised.

Sized them, but don't recall if I lubed 'em again... it was late when I finished.
If not, I'll break out the tub and do 'em again...I don't suppose that will hurt anything at all atall.

I have 2-8 oz. bottles of Xlox waiting for when I run out of LLA, and I'll probably try 50% Xlox, 50% JPW, thinned to taste, and see where that leads.

It is all fun and relaxation.:grin:

[Nora]

I'll probably try 50% Xlox, 50% JPW, thinned to taste, and see where that leads.


Mmmm that sounds like it would be good on crackers!! :coffee:

Nora

[bohokii]

i run my bullets through my lee sizing dies right from my water bucket they are barely dry of water before i shove them through i rub about one bullet in 5-10 on a candle so far so good then i lee alox them in a gallon ice cream and they often are dry enough after sitting in the sun for 5 hours to throw in a box and bring in the house (althoug the smell is still a tad persistant so i leave the box next to an open window

[looseprojectile]

did not go into details. I size my boolits dry in a Lee sizer add the gas checks if they need it. They come out of the sizer really shiny. I put the boolits in a zip lock bag and add the Alox that I have thinned. Smoosh them around a little and dump them out on a cookie sheet and heat with a heat gun till they start to smoke. In about fifteen minutes when they cool they are ready to shoot. You that have little patience or time can get this procedure down to about ten minutes total with a fan to cool them. I do all my boolits this way. Instant gratification is not quick enough.
I usually add a coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket on top of the Alox using the same method. Heat to distribute the alox or wax and cool with a fan. Simple. This proceedure is a lot faster if you don't have to size or gas check them.

Life is good

[Leftoverdj]

You don't need the first coat for sizing. Anything greasy or soapy will work for that. Thin the LLA, as others have suggested. Place them to dry in front of a fan. They'll be ready in a few hours, depending on humidity, etc.

A thin coat will dry much more rapidly and be far less tacky. For .38 Special, .45 ACP, and similar, if you can see it, you have enough on. You may need more for velocities over 1000 fps, but you'll have to let experience be your guide on that

[sniper]

Mmmm that sounds like it would be good on crackers!! :coffee:

Nora


THAT would reallly stick to the roof of your mouth! Hmmmmm...'zennybody ever tried lubing boolits with peanut butter?...I wonder...:wink:

[Leftoverdj]

THAT would reallly stick to the roof of your mouth! Hmmmmm...'zennybody ever tried lubing boolits with peanut butter?...I wonder...:wink:

High enough oil content so that I expect it would work for moderate pistol loads. High enough salt content so you would have clean as though you had been shooting corrosive ammo.

[44man]

Alox seems to dry enough to resist dust after a day---sprayed under a fender! :bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[looseprojectile]

I cast boolits for a couple of my friends using the Lee 50 caliber mould and the RD 265 grain .44. Using my system of lubing and sizing we get very good accuracy and no leading. A load in the 500 Smith shoots at 1300 fps and gets better groups than any jacketed load. The same guy shoots the RD .44 out of a .445 Super mag at the same 1300 fps and has great results. These loads are a couple or three grains less than maximum of H110.
I would send you some of the boolits that I make for you to critique if you would.
The reason I would do this is to find out if what we are doing is a fluke or perhaps someone else could get the same results that we do.
It might be that we are shooting these boolits in guns that are not typical.
I have not measured those guns to find out if they are tight or loose in the critical places and have just enjoyed the excellent shooting.
My experience with the RD gas checked boolit in the Rossi .44 rifle has convinced me that I will never need a better load than twenty grains of H110. They shoot clean and better than I can hold. One of those loads that that if I miss, "it ain't the gun".

Life is good

[Ricochet]

THAT would reallly stick to the roof of your mouth! Hmmmmm...'zennybody ever tried lubing boolits with peanut butter?...I wonder...:wink:
Anybody ever try Alox 606 on a sandwich with grape jelly?

[jonk]

I like to let them dry for a week. I cast on saturdays usually, and load too- and load the ammo with the bullets I cast the week before.

When let dry that long there is NO stickiness.

If I must cast and load the same day I go for the lube sizer or if I really have to use LLA, a fan will dry them in an hour or two.

[44man]

I cast boolits for a couple of my friends using the Lee 50 caliber mould and the RD 265 grain .44. Using my system of lubing and sizing we get very good accuracy and no leading. A load in the 500 Smith shoots at 1300 fps and gets better groups than any jacketed load. The same guy shoots the RD .44 out of a .445 Super mag at the same 1300 fps and has great results. These loads are a couple or three grains less than maximum of H110.
I would send you some of the boolits that I make for you to critique if you would.
The reason I would do this is to find out if what we are doing is a fluke or perhaps someone else could get the same results that we do.
It might be that we are shooting these boolits in guns that are not typical.
I have not measured those guns to find out if they are tight or loose in the critical places and have just enjoyed the excellent shooting.
My experience with the RD gas checked boolit in the Rossi .44 rifle has convinced me that I will never need a better load than twenty grains of H110. They shoot clean and better than I can hold. One of those loads that that if I miss, "it ain't the gun".

Life is good
Naw, just kidding! Many like the stuff but I have found nothing as good as Felix or Lar's lubes and I have yet to try speed green, too stingy to use my bottle of Bullplate.
That RD 265----WOW! I bought it for the Marlin but the gun sucks with anything so I tried the boolit in my old SBH. 1/2" to 3/4" at 50 and 1-1/4" at 100. I lube it by hand with Felix and push it through a .432" Lee die. It shoots like a dream from Whitworth's S&W too.
22 gr of 296 and a Fed 150 primer, no idea of the velocity, never checked it.
I am super messy and there is lube all over the boolit, the bench, the press handles, in the dies---EVERYWHERE! :-D:-D I just wipe the bases off. You can call all of my boolits "outside lubricated."

[Ricochet]

That's great to hear! I bought the RD432-265 for my Super Blackhawk (and secondarily for my 1894 Marlin), but haven't gotten around to trying it out.

[mikes farm]

I saw a youtube video of a guy that lubes his sizing die with Alox instead of lubing boolits. I have been doing that and do not see any signs of leading the sizing die. After sizing I tumble lube with Alox/JWP.
Mike

[Crash_Corrigan]

I cast mine and dump into a 5 gallon plastic bucket of cold water. When done I run the boolits thru a Lee sizer after dunking each boolit into a shallow dish of dawn and water for lube. They go thru the sizer really easily. Then I rinse them in hot water and let them dry on a large old towel. Once dry they get a LLA bath in a gallon plastic bucket with the top on. This is thinned about 30% with Mineral spirits.

I then dump 'em onto wax paper onto a shallow baking pan or cardboard carton and place them under a floor fan at high speed for a few hours. I do this in the doorway of my garage so the fumes blow out into the neighborhood not into my house.

They are usually dry in a few hours and they are ready for a dunking into another plastic pickle container with some corn starch. This prevents them from sticking together and makes them easier to handle.

At this point they are put into peanut butter plastic containers with labels and saved for assembling into loaded rounds at a later date. I usually wait for a month or two to use my boolits as they will harden up some during that time period.

Of course I have some boolits for years in containers as once the pot is going I tend to go a little crazy with the casting. Then or course there are the molds that I found interesting and I had to buy them and cast with them but I did not have a weapon to fire them with.

Presently I have over 1,000 different .45 caliber boolits in various weights for the 45-70 which I have not yet obtained.

I am a sick person.

[Cloudpeak]

Of course I have some boolits for years in containers as once the pot is going I tend to go a little crazy with the casting. <snip> I am a sick person.

I've got around two years worth of loaded ammo for my 9mm and 45 pistols and nine 3 gallon containers full of cast and lubed bullets. I probably wouldn't need to cast for the next several years. But, I like to cast. I also figure that, if I croak before I get them all shot, cast bullets sized and lubed will sell better at my estate sale than lead ingots would. I figure I've gone to a lot of work to render range scrap and wheel weights into muffin ingots. I'd think the lead would be worth a lot more as bullets.

In keeping with the LLA thread theme, I think a coating of LLA would be the best thing you could use to keep the lead from oxidizing over a long period of time and if the sized and lubed bullets were stored at moderate temps and low humidity, they should be just as good in 10 years as they are now. Thoughts?

[ETG]

Has anyone ever tried lacqure thinner or acetone to cut with - would dry a lot faster the mineral spirits. What is JPW?

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

THAT would reallly stick to the roof of your mouth! Hmmmmm...'zennybody ever tried lubing boolits with peanut butter?...I wonder...:wink:


Yep, but gotta use the smooth . . . in my Rem cap & ball . . . a little different, but smells good when you shoot that cloud!

Think hot peanut butter on toast!

I also am ignorant on what JPW is . . .

[smilie=s:

[Ricochet]

Johnson's Paste Wax.