Rooster Jacket?

[MikeS]

Hi All.

While there's literally tons of info on this forum concerning LLA, or 45:45:10, as well as other variations of LLA, there's almost nothing concerning Rooster Jacket. I did a search, and most of the stuff it came back with are small references to Rooster Jacket, like "or you could try Rooster Jacket" or "I tried Rooster Jacket, but didn't like it", etc. Is there any particular reason info on Rooster Jacket is so sparse? Is it just because it's relatively expensive?

I'm interested in trying some, and was wondering, can I tumble lube it like LLA, then pour out the boolits on wax paper? If so, would I be better off standing up the boolits, or just leave them on their sides like I do with LLA? When tumble lubing with it, should I use more of it than I would normally use LLA, or should I use a very small amount? I've seen references to using a screen to let them dry on, but have never seen that same recommendation for LLA? Is comparing it to LLA a valid comparison, or are they apples & oranges?

Thanks for any info!

[imashooter2]

I use Rooster Jacket on .45 ACP and .38 Special competition loads because I want to make a whole lot of them in minimal time and because RJ dries clean and hard quickly and will not transfer any lube to cases when the ammo is poured into .50 cal cans for storage.

I tumble it on about 500 at a time and spread them on a plastic trash bag to dry. After about 4 hours dry time, I tumble on a second coat and spread them again to dry at minimum overnight before loading.

Touching each boolit to stand it on its base would defeat the whole purpose of film lube. Spread them and leave them as they lay.

RJ is not as good a lube as LLA. I have used LLA to over 1,900 fps in rifle and RJ fails well before that. It is just fine for pistol rounds at 800 - 900 fps though. My experience is you need to use 2 thin coats. The viscosity of the lube is different and you will wind up using substantially more RJ to coat the same number of boolits.

[fecmech]

My results with Rooster Jacket are about the same as the previous poster, .45 and .38 level target loadings. I think RJ is a commercial floor wax product

[fryboy]

years ago before i found recluse's excellent recipe i loathed LLA , it did work however ... but the RJ was much cleaner , less tacky and smelled way better , a bottle goes along ways and one can thin it with water if so desired , i pour thru a funnel and lay on wax paper , a screen would work perhaps better but ... while i have read rooster's web site i tend to not push it too hard , the one guy stated 1400 fps ..... could be as i know a few guys here post that they run bare boolits faster than that with good results ( something else i'm not ready to try lolz ) if you wasnt so far away i'd let you try my bottle , for 38 wadcutters it's ideal and easy , if one was to add a lil mica it's remind me of hornady's lube on their lead boolits ( could very well be as rooster makes some products for hornady under the private label brand ) i'd consider it apples and oranges even tho both are lubes , one is petro based ( LLA ) and the other is water based , unlike LLA one flood coats the castings let drip a minute or two and then spread out to dry , it doesnt really take that much

[noylj]

I suspect Rooster Jacket is a wax emulsion and appears identical to AnchorSeal.
By itself, it has not performed well for me. However, the performance I was comparing it to LLA was accuracy. It didn't lead any more than LLA.
For LLA, I tumble lube about 500 at a time and the coat is so thin you can't see it. Two thin coats work great.
I have tried the "place bullets in funnel and pour in RF," but the coating seemed VERY thick. I either poured the bullets out onto aluminum foil and had "puddles" around the bullets or I let them drain in the funnel and (thanks to forgetting about them, I had a Cone-O-Bullets.
After that, I decided I just didn't like the funnel and tumble-lubed like LLA. Applying a thin coat like LLA was not sufficient, so I went to two thin coats.
My next experiment will be:
1) 2 coats LLA
2) 2 coats RJ
3) 1 coat LLA, 1 coat RJ
4) Recluse 45/45/10
5) 2 coats AnchorSeal
6) 2 coats AnchorSeal 2 (hybrid)

[fecmech]

Rooster Jacket can be easily applied by placing the bullets in a ziploc bag and adding a very small amount of RJ to the bag. Close the ziploc and then massage the bullets around a bit in the bag to spread the lube and then empty on to a screen or waxed paper. If you put too much in the bag the first time just add more bullets.

[leadman]

I spoke with the engineer at Rooster about this lube. He does indeed sell it to manufacturers for 22 rimfire and 38 wadcutters. He would not say which companies though.

I have been tempted to buy some to try but most everything I cast I need (or want) to size so why bother with this.

[TXGunNut]

Tried some on some 45acp boolits a few weeks ago and wasn't impressed but I'm going to try it again. I applied two coats TL and let dry on wax paper. May have put on too much, stuff is almost clear. Hard to tell. When loading I noticed a residue from the lube on the shell plate. Also noticed quite a bit more leading than with LLA. Boolits were a bit oversize so that was a factor that I need to resolve before trying it again. Think I'll also add some color somehow to help determine coverage.

[MikeS]

As it's water based, you could probably use a few drops of food color.

[TXGunNut]

That's what I was thinking, thanks. Should have a color picked out before the sizer arrives.

[MikeS]

I'm probably going to add some red food color, as that's the only color I have I use it to color the water in the auto dispensing water bowl for my dogs, so I can see the water level, as without it I was having trouble actually seeing the level without shaking the bowl, now I can see from across the room.

[TXGunNut]

I like red, was thinking green, too.
I was wrong about the leading on an earlier trip, was just powder or lube residue. Sized and re-lubed the boolits , shot 50 rounds with RJ followed by 70 rounds of LLA lubed swc's thru my Colt Defender 45acp today. A few passes with a Tornado brush and two patches later the bore was spotless. Almost as easy as a BP rifle!
Glad I tried it again.

[MikeS]

Well, I got some Rooster Jacket, and cast up some TL452-200's to try it with. I gave them a first coating by tumble lubing using slightly more than if I was using LLA, and poured them out on wax paper. The RJ did something I've never seen before with LLA, and that is it went thru the wax paper! I usually lay out a sheet of wax paper over a granite kitchen counter top, and when I did this, the wax paper was stuck to the counter top! After removing the boolits, I wet down the paper, and was able to remove it from the counter top. After sizing them thru a Lee push thru sizer I coated them again, and this time poured them out on aluminum foil. After letting them dry for a few hours, I stood up each of the boolits, and let them continue drying like that, and after sitting all day long (equivalent to sitting overnight) they were nice and totally dry (LLA usually stays slightly tacky). Now I need to load up 2 batches of these boolits, one with LLA, and one with RJ, and see which one shoots better.

Has anyone tried coating RJ over LLA? Does it work? Or does the LLA make the RJ bead up? From what others have said, LLA works better for higher speed boolits than RJ, but if the boolits were lubed with LLA, with a final coating of RJ, would that eliminate any benefit of using LLA? What I'm thinking is being able to use LLA as the actual 'lube', and just using a thin coating of RJ as a sealant so the boolits could be handled, loaded, and the loaded rounds handled without the tackiness of LLA?

[870TC]

I have put Rooster Jacket over LLA or Glenn's Xlox, works okay. I wanted to get away from the alox being sticky and the RJ did a good job of covering it up.

[Ranch Dog]

I've started shooting so many semi-auto bullets I thought I would try it with my 25 ACP, 32 ACP, 380 Auto, and 45 ACP. Even built a neat little drying table.



I started with my TCP chambered in 32 ACP and it did quite well. I did all my load work with my TL314-75-RF with the lube.



Didn't work to well today in my TCP chambered in 380 Auto (738B). Looks like there is no lube on the bullet.



Well, back to Alox.

[simba]

hi folks ,

Regarding the issue with '' rooster lube jacket ''
I have tried several times to lube my casted 9mm with rooster.Unfortunatelly I could not avoid the ''smoke '' and leading problem with my XD.

I am using RCBS 125 grain round nose mold.%90 lead %5 tin and %5 animony.
using hodgon clays powder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJnCHhsheP8

I have the same problem with above video.

What is your advise '' how to use rooster lube'' for 9mm ?

Or how can I avoid leading & smoke ?

[williamwaco]

hi folks ,

Regarding the issue with '' rooster lube jacket ''
I have tried several times to lube my casted 9mm with rooster.Unfortunatelly I could not avoid the ''smoke '' and leading problem with my XD.

I am using RCBS 125 grain round nose mold.%90 lead %5 tin and %5 animony.
using hodgon clays powder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJnCHhsheP8

I have the same problem with above video.

What is your advise '' how to use rooster lube'' for 9mm ?

Or how can I avoid leading & smoke ?

Simba
I watched the video.
I can say that all lubes will smoke, some more than others and some powders smoke more than others.
I shoot only out doors so I never pay any attention to it. I can't really comment on the smoke.
With any good lube, and Rooster is a good lube. Leading is almost always caused by bullets being too hard, too small or in most cases both.
The worst offenders are commercial hard cast bullets which are almost always undersized.
In your case you are using Lyman No. 2 formula. When this alloy was developed it was considered a hard alloy. It will measure abut 15 BNH.
For automatic pistol bullets, I prefer something in the range of BNH 10-12. I usually use 100% clip on wheel weights with about one half one percent tin added for "castability". Anything over 2% tin is wasted for this use.
I would recommend you take about 6 pounds of your alloy and add 2 pounds pure lead.
Cast up about 125 bullets.
Inspect them carefully as soon as they hit the drop pad and remelt any that are not perfect. DO NOT WATER DROP THEM OR HEAT TREAT THEM.
When they are cooled reinspect them carefully - top, bottom, and 360 degrees and again reject any that are not perfect. You should wind up with about 100.
Now size them to .357 if you have only a .356 die, do not use it. Wait until you can beg, borrow,or steal a .357 or .358 die.
After they are sized, tumble them. Rooster is hard to gauge because it is clear once it os on the bullet. You should use all the bullet can hold without running off. Dry them fully. This can take anywhere from two hours in August to 48 hours in December.
Now refer to this post:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...35#post1623235

.

[noylj]

Why are the instructions ALWAYS to size the bullet.
I haven't sized one of my cast bullets since the early '80s.
Try as-cast and, if needed, adjust alloy to get the "size" you need to chamber.
Since all the bullets I use for 9mm and .38 Super drop at 0.358 and they all chamber, I don't even think about sizing...

[noylj]

Re: Smoke
Most of the time, smoke is a sign of too much lube. There should be so little on the bullets that all you see when wet if a faint haze and wet/slick look. When you pour them onto wax paper or aluminum foil, there should be almost no transfer to the paper/foil.
When dry, you should be saying: "Did I really put any on these bullets."
A little goes a long ways.
Also, my personal snarky comment: If you notice the smoke, you aren't concentrating on the target/sights enough. I shoot only indoors and never notice my smoke, unless I am thinking about all the comments on line and actually think to look for it. It just puffs in front of me and is gone. My only complaint about LLA is that it irritates my chest to breath it after shooting, and that is only on very rare occasions--and I still don't notice any smoke.

[williamwaco]

Why are the instructions ALWAYS to size the bullet.
I haven't sized one of my cast bullets since the early '80s.
Try as-cast and, if needed, adjust alloy to get the "size" you need to chamber.
Since all the bullets I use for 9mm and .38 Super drop at 0.358 and they all chamber, I don't even think about sizing...

I always size my bullets for two reasons.

1) I find that with handgun loads around one out of each five or ten will not chamber with an as-cast bullet. I would rather size 100 bullets than to have to knock one back out of the chamber/cylinder at the range with all the other shooters snickering under their breath.

2) I cast from scraps. I am more interested in shooting than tinkering with alloy recipes. I try to keep BNH between 9 and 13 but no closer than that. This level produces bullets that are frequently too large to chamber.


.