Alox and pistol powder

[Jim]

This may have already been discussed. If so, I apologize for the redundancy.

I like using alox on my boolits, but I'm a little aprehensive about the tackyness of it attracting powder. I've tried cleaning it off the boolit bases and found it to be a royal PITA as well as very time consuming.

It occured to me that, if I could find something to nullify the tackiness, that might be the solvent to the problem.

I dusted a paper plate with corn starch, touched the base of the boolit to the starch and tapped the excess off by just bumping the base on the bench.

It seems like it should work. Any thoughts or comments?

[MikeS]

I think you're worried about something that doesn't need to be worried about. First off, I think you might be using too thick a coating of LLA, at least the boolit in the picture seems to have a lot of alox on it. And secondly I don't think it would matter, even if a few granules of powder did stick to the boolit, they'll still burn, and if powder sticking to the boolits was an issue I think we would have heard of it by now.

But, if it makes you feel better putting some corn starch on the boolit bases, go right ahead, I can't think of anything it could change (in a bad way) other than keeping the powder from sticking to the boolit base, which is after all what you want it to do.

[x101airborne]

I have never noticed a problem with powder sticking to the boolit bases, but if it makes your world go round,...... I would pay a little more attention to when you cut the sprues. Seems you are getting a deep tear on the base. Lots of weight variation there. May even make more difference than powder sticking to the base. YMMV, of course.

[HammerMTB]

I used to have that problem. That is, powder would stick to the base of boolits coated with LLA. It didn't seem to affect anything, but if I had to pull some boolits for some other reason, it was apparent.
That quit happening when I started using 45/45/10. Problem solved.
Your solution could work just fine. There's more than 1 way to skin that kitty.
I load 3 lb coffee cans fulla pistol ammo. No time for fussing with dabbing and tapping boolit bases.

[357shooter]

Agree with the others. It's not a problem, doesn't need a fix.

[GP100man]

How about a lighter coating of alox then useing motor mica all over the boolit ????

Say shake em in a big ziploc with the mica ????

[357shooter]

As far as improving the use of Alox goes, a lighter coat with and optional coat of mica will fit the bill.

As far as fixing a problem because by the powder sticking to the Alox, I don't think it's a problem and doesn't need a fix. IMHO

[Jim]

The court rules "Unnecessary steps". So noted.

Thanks, fellas. Sometimes, I like to get some feedback to see if I'm out in left field. Obviously, this time I am.

[runfiverun]

gaaak, torn sprues.

[williamwaco]

I have some .38 specials that I loaded in 1972.
The bullets were lubed with 50/50 Lyman Alox/Beeswax.

They shoot one inch groups at 25 yards today.

Heard a bunch of flack about bullets expanding with age so I pulled a couple of them to mike them.

I learned two things from that exercise.

1) They mike exactly the same today as they did in May 1972.

2) There was Bullseye stuck to the base of both of the bullets I pulled.



I would say don't worry about alox on the base of your bullets.

[243winxb]

I do not want lube on the base of my boolits, but thats just me. What happens to Lee Liquid Alox in a hot car, metal ammo can, in the summer? Will it run or become stick? Other lubes seem to have a maximum temperature.

[williamwaco]

What happens to Lee Liquid Alox in a hot car, metal ammo can, in the summer?

Actually 243,

I can answer that question.

The ammo I described above was stored in an ammo can, in the garage, in North Central Texas in weather ranging from -4 degrees to +118 degrees, from 1972 to 2011.


.

[MikeS]

I have an interesting question. In the chart posted above there are several listings for 50/50 Alox/beeswax, and each one has a different melting temp. If they're all truly a 50/50 blend of Alox 2138F (or Alox 350) & Beeswax, how can they have different melting temps? And which temp is the correct one?

[243winxb]

williamwaco, good to know. MikeS, good question. The photo was from Midwayusa or maybe Cabelas catalog.

[Rhino]

After I tumble lube & size bullets, I dust them in a bag with a little talcum powder, gives a dry finish. easy to handle during loading, no gunk left on seating dies and fingers. No chance of powder sticking etc.

[ku4hx]

GP100man's got the solution. A light dusting of Motor Mica on thinned and dry LLA fixes the problem completely.

[DLCTEX]

I think the OP was referring to Lee Liquid Alox (LLA) which has a high enough melting point that the powder would be damaged before the alox would melt on stored rounds. +1 on 45/45/10 being the way to go for curing the problem of stickiness.

[Jim]

I think the OP was referring to Lee Liquid Alox (LLA) which has a high enough melting point that the powder would be damaged before the alox would melt on stored rounds.....

You are correct, Sir.

[sqlbullet]

I just drop them on the floor of my shop and roll them around. Lots of stuff gets on them that way. Then I have all kinds of excuses for flyers, etc.

Actually, 45/45/10 pretty well does away with any stickiness. Back before I discovered that magic formula, I would dust them with wood dust from sanding. My random orbit sander has a catch bag they accumulates really, really fine sawdust from sanding with 220 grit sand paper. I figure this is kinda the fast and easy version of paper patching.

[wiljen]

The answer regarding how can all the temps be different if they are all 50/50 is a good one. Some may add a touch of other wax to stiffen it up which raises the temp. Others may not evolve all the solvent out of Alox which will lower the melt point some. For real 50/50 using today's 350 formulation the melting point is roughly 130. My suspicion is that anything that reaches 190 has more than a little micro-crystalline wax added and may be the impact of trying to reproduce the old 2138f formulation with a slightly different wax.