Lee liquid bullet lube question

I recently acquired a fine MP-433-640 4C mould that is of the gas check design. I want to shoot these boolits sans check, so I sized them in my old Lyman 45 without applying my usual Lars 2500 white label or the Lars Red lube and decided to try the Lee liquid Alox mixed with mineral spirits spirits. The reason I'm going this route is because I don't like the lube build-up on the gas check shank. Here's the question: Does a guy apply this sticky stuff liberally so that part of the boolits are brown and part are not, or do you only have to apply it sparingly so that you can hardly tell that the boolits are coated?

lube size lube.
mineral spirit thinned down coats.
keep the velocity's low for best accuracy.

Liquid Alox application Posted by on 20 October 2011 01:22 PM

Best results in applying liquid alox are when the alox is heated before applying, or thinned with paint thinner. This makes it flow more easily, and results in a more even coat. One technique is to boil water and pour it into a coffee mug, and then drop the bottle of liquid alox into the mug for about five minutes. Place your freshly cast bullets into something about the size of a Cool Whip bowl and drop a few drops of liquid Alox on the bullets. Mix the bullets around until they are all coated. Lay the freshly coated bullets on some wax paper to dry. Liquid alox will usually dry enough overnight to reload the next day, depending upon the humidity. Tacky bullets can be dusted with powdered graphite. If you subscribe to the "more is better" line of thought, your coated bullets may never dry. Don't go for a "golden" color but rather just a light varnish. If you discover that your bullets are sticky the next day, you can get by with using a little less the next time. Keep reducing until the "stickiness" is gone by the next day. If you are sizing your cast bullets, it is necessary to lube them first. Because the sizer will remove some of the surface of a larger diameter bullet, you may need to re-lubricate the bullets after they have been sized. Many of our bullets are of the "TL" or Tumble Lube design. These bullets have many shallow grooves that are perfect for allowing Liquid Alox to adhere to a great amount of surface. It has been reported that the accuracy of these bullets is high.

From Lee

Sparingly is all it takes

If you see bullets with a tan color you used too much.

You can thin that alox until it pours like coke. Mineral spirits, Johnsons One Step floor wax, etc.
You can go as low as 1 part of alox to 2 parts mineral spirits.

For 100 bullets I would put perhaps 15 drops of the thinned mix in a round container, swirl for 5 minutes. Set open top container in front of a fan for 10. Repeat. Two thin coats is 10 times better than one thick patchy coat.

Consistency is the goal here, exactly the same amount on every bullet absolutely evenly coated all the way around.

After the second swirl spill onto wax paper in front of a fan. Should be dry enough to load in less than an hour.

Go read the thread on Ben's Liquid Lube. You will learn a bit.

Some 9mm I did today with LLA. I tumbled as I cast while the bullets were still warm. About 100 at a time with a drop about the size of a pea. I left them in the bowl with the lid on while I cast the next 100 or so. Dumped the first batch out and tumbled the second batch and let it set while I shut everything down and cleaned up my area. They are not sticky at all.

Attachment 187891

I do it all the time with handgun boolits.
Never tried rifle. As stated, keep it thin and light. I size with a LEE push through with boolits very lightly lubed with really thinned alox or even just mineral spirits. Then with a light final coat.

SHiloh