LEE Alox Lube or (fill in the blank)

[lefty_red]

I've been pushing my LEE TL bullets at around 1000 fps in my 40S&W and 1100 in my 9mm. I haven't had alot of leading, but I was wondering why alot of folks around here don't like it? I lightly coat mine twice and use them as is. Its a pain setting up alot of bullets and letting them dry, but nothing that would keep me away from ALOX.

If you don't use ALOX, then what do you use on TL bullets?

Jerry

[44woody]

lefty_red I use a liquid alox but not Lee's I make my own out of alox 350 and mineral spirits and it works just as good as lee's does and is alot cheeper to I also use a lube made with alox and bees wax it a soft lube but it work very well for me :castmine: 44Woody

[The Cod Father]

Sorry for the hijack but , 44woody , what is alox 350 and what kind of ratio's do you mix at ?


We now return you to our regularly scheduled question !!!!!!!!

TCF

[lefty_red]

I have to "cut" my ALOX with mineral spirits. It stretches it and maks it easier to coat with.

[Newtire]

I see the only "down" sided slant on the Lee Alox as

1. the fact that it is messy if you don't do it right. (I use wax paper to let em dry & wash my hands with "Fast Orange Lava bar soap)

2. it is tacky & picks up dirt..Midway mica slicks them up but now you have mica shiny stuff on your fingers & everywhere else.

3. it smokes a bit and has a strong odor(I have learned to like it like Hoppes #9 or WD-40)

On the upside though, I have been able to push .30 & .44 cal. bullets up to around 2200fps (according to charts) with no leading whatsoever.

I traded an air ratchet for a Lyman sizer & now have it all decked out sitting on my bench and full of homemade Felix-Lube and that works just as well without all the smoke.

I still use the Liquid Alox & only one coat is all I ever put on-full strength.

[Hackleback]

Where can one get Alox 350?

[XBT]

I have tried Lee alox lube and it worked fine for me, but I don’t normally use it because the loaded rounds are so messy to handle.

When boolits lubed by running them through the traditional sizing die and seated deep enough to cover the grooves, the loaded rounds are clean, and can even be carried loose in your pocket without any mess.

In most calibers I use a die that is one or two thousands oversized so the boolits are lubed without being sized.

[MT Gianni]

My personal belief is that FWFL gives me better groups than LLA. I shot Buckshots 7.62x39 several years ago and his bullets were lubed with lla and it shot great but I belive that lube contributes to accuracy and it is more important to me than leading. Many lubes will prevent leading but so what. Testing for accuracy should be the main point of the lube IMHO and it should be tested for each powder and barrell combination. Gianni.

[44man]

My worst leading in every gun has been with LLA. It is gone with Felix lube. I gave away all of my Lee crapola. I shoot heavy handgun loads for hunting. Some guys like it and I don't know why. It burns and smokes which means it is going to pot before lubing the bore.

[lefty_red]

The only thing I don't like about this Felix Lube is the making of it. It looks like a PITA. What's a decent sub?

[felix]

LAR's Carnauba and/or BullShops SpeedGreen. Try both. One should work better in revolters, and the other in rifles, especially high speed small bore. ... felix

[Bass Ackward]

I get sent lubes all the time. I have shot some really weird stuff from guys here like Joe's Bubblegum lube to some black stuff that smelt like condensed septic waste. (Makes me wonder sometime. :grin:)

Guys will praise one lube all the time. If they are having trouble with a project and a new lube solves that problem, then they have found the holly grail. If they try it with their existing loads and it doesn't perform as well, then THAT lube is CRAP. And all of that depends on what temperature zone they are in. And that goes for some pretty heavy reputation lubes as well. And by that I mean a lube that others NOW want to be burried with.

And to bad mouth a guy's lube is a fauxpa right up their with commenting on his wife or gun. Someone sent me a chunk of lube that they claimed was LAR's lube once that guys are currently raving about and I swear that it handled, smelled, and shot like Alox. I mean it was OK, but it really, really, really, seemed like an Alox derivitive to me. When I mentioned that once, LAR was QUICK to say that I was NOT correct.

Lube is a necessary evil and if you don't want to make it yourself, then you are going to have to change lubes everyonce in awhile. But that is OK, because you will get stagnent and your mind will start to wonder if the grass is REALLY greener on the other side. Then the disease strikes you and you will JUST .... HAVE to try something else.

Of coarse that is going to change everything, .... and then you just have to workem all up again. And the cycle continues. :grin:

[Ed Barrett]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see an answer about where to buy ALOX 350. Can you buy it in small (5 lb.) lots?

[charlie / sw mo]

got this off another list
alox #350--83.60 for 5 gal (38 lbs)
55 gal barrel (400 lbs) 436.00
phone #281-276-5400--i think thats in sugarland tx.

charlie in sw mo

[twoworms]

I use Lee Alox with all my cast boolits. I place them in a zip lock bag, add the Lee Alox and roll them in the bag in my hands or on something soft. I then open the bag to let them air dry, repeat as needed most times 3X. (As the Alox dries it gets thicker and stays on the boolits better.) Doing this I can fill all the lube rings on the boolit with little to no mess.
`
It keeps the wife happy also. :)

Tim

[Hackleback]

alox #350--83.60 for 5 gal (38 lbs)

!@#$%^&*()_+, that's at lot of lube!

[The Cod Father]

Too bad you can't get iut here in Canada. That would save me alot of money !!!!

[44man]

Bass is right, some lubes work great for some applications but not for others. That is why I have no luck with Alox. Even Felix has to be modified for some uses.
There is no Holy Grail. You might need a different lube for every gun. Some like Alox! I don't because it never worked for me with anything. I consider it a lazy mans lube! OK, jump on me! I never, ever, seen what is so great about it.

[Ricochet]

I'm trying Lee Liquid Alox for the very first time now. On some of these 8mm Max boolits, for which I'm going to have to cut the powder charge and seat way deep to get to function through my Mauser magazines. I actually bought this bottle several years ago, and without ever opening it, it had dried out inside. I filled the bottle back up with paint thinner, and after a couple of weeks it's dissolved and gotten usable. I've got the boolits in a coffee can on the table here with the computer now. Think I'll take the can along in the car tomorrow so the solvent'll bake out in the heat. I expect it'll tend to glue 'em to the bottom of the can.

[rbstern]

LLA works fine for me on mild, gas checked rifle rounds. On pistol rounds, it took me a while time to realize I was not using enough lube (the "light varnish coat" that Lee recommends in the product info is not enough, IMO). Didn't matter whether I was shooting mild 38 special or hot 9mm. Lead in the barrel.

I recently changed over to LAR/White Label Red Carnauba, and I am having great results. Also like that I don't have to clean the loaded rounds to get the sticky LLA off. But traditional lubes are more work in other ways, and the lube gear adds expense,.

For now, Red Carnauba is my holy grail.

I'll still use LLA in a pinch, but I'll apply it heavy.

[The Cod Father]

What is the best way to use other than LLA if you don't have a 450?

[Bass Ackward]

Well, .... there are possibilities. But all have limitations.

You can smear lube on with you finger. But you need a lube that is friendly for that purpose. And while it may be finger friendly, it may not be friendly to your barrel if your luck runs like mine.

You can pan lube. Options here are that the lube works better if it is a little firmer when solid. Otherwise you are in to refrigeration which also has disadvantages is you get caught. The obvious disadvantages are that you need ingredients that don't burn off thus changing lube properties as you heat and reheat your pan over and over and over.

A variant of this is dip lubing. Melt a small container of lube and dip your bullets. Then you run them through a push through sizer and see how they came out. If you need another application, you dip them again and run through the sizer again until the grooves fill up. Disadvantages are obvious. Pistol bullets would be a PIA, but you can use far less lube than above and discard it when it heats out.

That LLA looking any better to ya?

[Newtire]

I saw this over on the cast boolits section. alox in quart cans. hah hah...with all the lube I have now, what would I do with it! They are real great people to deal with.


Where can one get Alox 350?
I do have Alox 350 in 1 quart metal cans if anyone wants some to mix with.
Sell 1qt for $9.32 + shipping. $6.60 parcel post or $8.65 Priority. (E-bay )
Sell 1qt for $8.32 + shipping. $6.60 parcel post or $8.65 Priority. (CB board)
I can fit 5 cans in a flat rate box.
__________________

[FallRun]

I reload for 2 handguns .357 and .40 S&W and I use lee liquid alox. What I do is mix 50/50 with min. spirits line em up on waxed paper and put it on with a squirt bottle works great for me. I'm pushing the .357's at 1188 and the .40's at 919
no leading at all Hope this helps