About done pan lubing

[Ickisrulz]

I have only been casting a year. I have been pan lubing with a bee's wax/parrifin wax/Vaseline mixture and then sizing with Lee push throughs. I've about had it with the build up of wax on my bullet seating die. When one lubes and sizes with a lube/sizer does this preclude the build up of lube on the seater die?

[DLCTEX]

It does when you have a good fit of boolit to size die and have everything adjusted correctly. I was finger lubing .476 boolits until my sizing die arrived and was having problems with depth of seating changing due to the excess lube. I loaded some 480 Ruger today and it sure was much more pleasant.

[oregonshooter]

I feel your pain.... I'm buying a Star ASAP after 3 attempts at pan lubing.

[Southern Son]

Ickisrulz,
I, too, feel your pain. Most of my loading is for a 45/70 with black powder. The lube I am using is sticky as all get out and it would build up in my seating die (i was using it to take the bell out of the end of the case, more than seat the boolit). I just bought a Seaco Lube Sizer and I am loving it already. No lube on the nose means no build up in the seating die. No standing boolits in a tray to pour the lube over, no putting the tray back into the over to re-melt the lube onto a new batch of boolits, no waiting for lube to cool before I can start using the boolits. My only regret is that I did not buy one years ago.

[Master Mariner]

I have been using Lee Alox, with total success. All the witches brews are just a waste of time.
All I do is warm up the bottle, spread a thin layer, swish it around, let it dry overnight and load the bullets without incantations or dancing in the moonlight. My .45 ACP rounds, in various pistol are accurate and without issues. K I S S

[Dan Cash]

Each to his own but I can have 200 bullets ready for loading in 30 minutes by pan lubing. No muss, no fuss. There have been a couple of videos posted here by others that well demonstrate the technique.

[Lead Fred]

I don t know what you guys are doing, but I just pushed 200 up my seating die, and there was zero lube on it.

You water dropping them pups? Maybe they are compressing when you stuff them in the case, and its squeezing out.

Using Bee's wax, Lard, and veggie oil

[mdi]

I usually don't get any lube on the noses of my boolits when I pan lube. I stand them up and bring the lube level up just to cover the top lube groove...

[acemedic13]

This brings a question to mind. Cant you size the boolits in your lee push through sizer BEFORE you pan lube? That way there is never any lube even near the die. Or are yall just specifically talking about the seating die when you actually load the boolit into a case? Forgive me if I am a bit off on the topic. I usually just alox.

[Tom-ADC]

This brings a question to mind. Cant you size the boolits in your lee push through sizer BEFORE you pan lube? That way there is never any lube even near the die. Or are yall just specifically talking about the seating die when you actually load the boolit into a case? Forgive me if I am a bit off on the topic. I usually just alox.

I was wondering about that myself..

[Ickisrulz]

Lee says you have to have lube on the bullets to run them through their sizer.

I was just asking if the dedicated lube/sizers prevented a mess. I have seen a few videos showing pan lubing techniques and it seems like many people are successful at it. But so far I have been disappointed with the mess, the speed, and the hassle. Even after tweaking my techniques. I am thinking about a Star machine sometime in the future and just wanted to be assured that it will be a solution to my problem (while I understand it is not the only solution). Thanks for the replies.

[cbrick]

I was just asking if the dedicated lube/sizers prevented a mess.

so far I have been disappointed with the mess, the speed, and the hassle. Even after tweaking my techniques. I am thinking about a Star machine sometime in the future and just wanted to be assured that it will be a solution to my problem (while I understand it is not the only solution). Thanks for the replies.

Welcome to Castboolits Ickisrulz,

Yes, the Star will be a top notch solution to your pan lubing and seater die woes. There is a learning curve with the Star but it's not bad and once mastered you will never look back.

Rick

[jimmeyjack]

I got pretty good at pan lubing. that said, after purchasing a lube/sizer I will never pan lube again. The diference in speed and mess is amazing:!:

[Bent Ramrod]

Eventually you will have to take the seater die apart and clean it, whatever you use to lube the boolits and however you do it. Either the lube builds up on the stem and presses the boolit deeper and deeper in the case as you load a bunch of them, or it builds up on the throat so the boolit sticks and the shell comes back out empty. Maybe one of those sliding precision alignment seaters with the window in the side would allow the buildup to be monitored and cleaned without taking everything apart.

[cbrick]

Eventually you will have to take the seater die apart and clean it, whatever you use to lube the boolits and however you do it. Either the lube builds up on the stem and presses the boolit deeper and deeper in the case as you load a bunch of them, or it builds up on the throat so the boolit sticks and the shell comes back out empty. Maybe one of those sliding precision alignment seaters with the window in the side would allow the buildup to be monitored and cleaned without taking everything apart.

Not really, with my Star properly adjusted I get very little to no lube at all in my seater dies and have zero problems with any of them changing the seating depth. It's quite rare that I need to take a seating die apart for cleaning.

Rick

[mdi]

It's advisable to clean all your equipment from time to time. I don't wait for probs. to arise before I do any cleaning. For dies I use a lot I drop them in a mix of mineral spirits and Marvel's Mystery oil at the end of a loading session, and soak overnight. I think tool maintenance is just part of using tools (been a mechanic for many years and still have tools from high school; 40+ years ago.). If youy don't like cleaning/caring for your tools, just toss them when they get dirty any buy new, clean ones![smilie=1:

[Ickisrulz]

I sure don't mind cleaning my dies and do so after all large batches. However, there for a while I had to clean off my seater die every 25 loads. Since I've tweaked my pan lube method I have successfully loaded 100 or more without changes to seating depth. It would sure be nice not to have to worry about this as much.

[PacMan]

With the Saeco sizer lube should never get close to the nose of the bullet. I like mine.
Dwight

[Dan Cash]

Using a name brand of commercial cast .45 bullets that had a hard, blue lube in the groove and some unknown clear over all lube, build up in the seating die was a problem and required a cleaning at about 1000 round intervals. I have been shooting my own cas bullets for the last 10 years or so using the pan lube method with my own lube. The same seating die (Dillon) has not required cleaning since I adopted this system. The bullets are fired as cast.

[atr]

I pan lube on boolits I dont wish to run through a sizer, some boolits cast at the correct diameter so there is no reason for me to use a sizer. I find that alot of the mess associated with pan lubing can be eliminated if you use a "cake-kutter"which is at the same diameter as the boolit.
I have also found that both pan lubed boolits and those run through a sizer will deposit some lube in the seating die during the seating process. I think it is important to occasionally clean the seating die so that the seating depth doesn't "wander".

[blikseme300]

I feel your pain.... I'm buying a Star ASAP after 3 attempts at pan lubing.

Oregonshooter,

You won't be sorry! Get a Star and never look back. I am a tightwad, but after messing around with pan and tumble lubing for many years I got a Star and now have no problems with sizing and lubing quantity & quality boolits.

Bliksem

[JesseCJC]

This brings a question to mind. Cant you size the boolits in your lee push through sizer BEFORE you pan lube? That way there is never any lube even near the die. Or are yall just specifically talking about the seating die when you actually load the boolit into a case? Forgive me if I am a bit off on the topic. I usually just alox.


I was wondering about that myself..


Lee says you have to have lube on the bullets to run them through their sizer.

I was just asking if the dedicated lube/sizers prevented a mess. I have seen a few videos showing pan lubing techniques and it seems like many people are successful at it. But so far I have been disappointed with the mess, the speed, and the hassle. Even after tweaking my techniques. I am thinking about a Star machine sometime in the future and just wanted to be assured that it will be a solution to my problem (while I understand it is not the only solution). Thanks for the replies.

I use the alox and a small q-tip to apply in the push through sizer all the time before I pan lube. Makes life much easier and a hell of a lot less mess. Just a thin coating of the alox that comes with your push through sizer is all that's needed and I usually do about 3-400 at a time while I listen to music with zero leading in the dies. Granted I too am having issues pan lubing but i think it's just because I am choosing the wrong lube.

[mdi]

The only sizing equipment I use is the Lee push through dies, and I have no plans on getting a lubersizer. I pan lube tumble lube, and shove them through the Lee dies. I also have some gas check molds that I use and fix the checks with the Lee dies. Sometimes I'll use a little case lube or the like to wet the dies occationally, as mentioned above, when I affix gas checks or sometimes a pre-lube sizing. This system has worked for me for all my cast boolit shooting in 3 different calibers, magnum velocities and low velocities, plain base and gas checked, and hard alloys (linotype) and soft alloys (nearly pure lead). I only reload about 200 at a time, in stages, thats 4 boxes of ammo which is usually enough for a shooting session (except my "Elephant Loads" in my .44 Mag. where 1 box is plenty!), and I can do that two times a week easy. Sometimes I'll cast up a bunch for future use, but I don't have a quota and I enjoy working with gun stuff, so quantity isn't a necessity, and the Lee system fits me quite well...