Great results with Johnson Paste Wax

[jcwit]

Iused LLA for years before I got a luber/sizer & liked it. Only had problems with leading in 9mm, other cal. like .38 sp, 45 ACP and others did alright. My only other complaint was excess lube on the end of the bullet would collect on the seating die and if not cleaned out would seat the bullet deeper into the case. Really not an issue if you're watching what you do just an aggravation. Never could figger out why I had a problem with 9mm.

[Three44s]

Leading in the 9mm ..... I would suspect too much pressure for the alloy you were using.

Double dipping the LLA ...... two apps might trump it ...... and one of my crazy twists ...... powdered moly added between the two apps of LLA?

Three 44s

[WyrTwister]

I've seen folks rub through into primer. By hand. Maybe not on the latest factory paint jobs, but I've seen it done.

That aside, maybe it's not all that harmful to use abrasive wax on boolits in a gun barrel, but I sure don't see any benefit to it, and the only way to know if it's harmful is to shoot a lot of that stuff through a lot of guns and see if it wears them out faster. Won't happen with mine.

Do not know the science behind it , but I have read that abrasives smaller than a certain point do not harm steel , just polish it . I do not know what that point is .

As far as " clean " lead bullets , I would say it would be nearly impossable to wear out a barrel . Now , what the powder flame will do to the chamber throat , is another matter .

But even there , I will bet the flame is less intense than with high velocity jacketed ammo ?

God bless
Wyr

[WyrTwister]

LOL!!!

I had not entered this thread before and the above post was the first thing I saw!

And I was thunkin ....... what in the world has "Boolit's" turned into ............ LOL!

So I investigate further ....... and I gotta ask:

What is wrong with good 'ole Lee Liquid Alox??????

You bet abrassive waxes will eat paint! ...... and that's at hand pressure.

Guns opperate at thousands of PSI and in a confined space.

Make mine LLA!

Three 44s

LLA is messy , it never really dries . Nose of the bullet stays somewhat sticky .

JPW is more readily available & maybe cheaper .

I have not shot JPW bullets yet , so I do not know the performance difference .

It might be worth experimenting , mixing a little LLA with the JPW ?

God bless
Wyr

[WyrTwister]

Iused LLA for years before I got a luber/sizer & liked it. Only had problems with leading in 9mm, other cal. like .38 sp, 45 ACP and others did alright. My only other complaint was excess lube on the end of the bullet would collect on the seating die and if not cleaned out would seat the bullet deeper into the case. Really not an issue if you're watching what you do just an aggravation. Never could figger out why I had a problem with 9mm.

Maybe the bullet needed to be a little over size ?

God bless
Wyr

[Ricochet]

Patience, Grasshopper.

LLA does eventually dry. Takes a long time.

Mixing a little LLA into JPW makes something that has been described as looking and feeling like brown cold cream. Dries to a golden brown film, which is fairly flexible and tough. That was the start of my "Brown Thunder" homemade lube that I went on to incorporate various other waxes and lanolin into. I've been making it softer and stickier as time goes on.

[Boerrancher]

LLA is messy , it never really dries . Nose of the bullet stays somewhat sticky .

JPW is more readily available & maybe cheaper .

I have not shot JPW bullets yet , so I do not know the performance difference .

It might be worth experimenting , mixing a little LLA with the JPW ?

God bless
Wyr

I started shooting JPW when I first read about it here several months ago. I use it to lube both rifle and pistol. I finally got my 30 cal mold yesterday so I am going to see how JPW holds up at higher velocities. I have never used LLA and as long as JPW does the trick I probably never will. I have several bottles of LLA sitting around just in case but JPW is a lot less expensive.

Best Wishes,

CPT T

[KevMT]

Recently I loaded some 41 mag loads that I thought I had sized the group buy wadcutter boolits for. As it turned out, the boolits were 1.5 thou oversized and due to the tight chambers in my Blackhawk could not be loaded in the cylinder without extreme force. Well, I ran them up in the case sizing die to reduce them enough to chamber. This left the boolit 3.5 thousandths undersize as measured from a pulled boolit. I took them out this weekend and fired 40 rounds fully expecting to have a severely leaded barrel when I was done. Well as it turns out the JPW combined with some rather sedate (trail boss) velocities in the 700-800fps range resulted in only a very slight amount of leading in the forcing cone and none in the barrel. Not bad. Almost makes me want to try the same "test" with Liquid alox. But I'm not sure how much I want to push my luck.

Kev

[Ricochet]

I've had to do that with a sizing die with the decapping pin removed, to get oversized cartridges to chamber. A poor emergency measure. What works well is the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for pistol calibers. Sizes the outside of the cartridge to maximum standard cartridge dimensions. A sizing die undersizes them.

[KevMT]

What works well is the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for pistol calibers. .

Yep, it's on my list for my next order. The problem is, my lack of $ plus the group buys here have pretty much eliminated my "new reloading stuff fund".

[Ricochet]

I've experienced Group Buy Poverty myself.

[Curly James]

Thought I would put my 2 cents worth in regarding this method. I have lubed, loaded , and shot approximatley 8,000 to 10,000 rounds of 38/357 ammo using boolits lubed with JPW over the last few months. My method, stolen and plagerized from a dozen smarter casters, is simple. Cast Lee RNFP .38 cal boolits in six cavity mold using range scrap with a smidgin of tin added. After they have air cooled put them in a bucket with water and a little Murphy's Oil Soap

Run them through a Lee .358 push thru boolit sizer die. The will now weigh (at least mine do) 160 grains. Heat them in a 200 degree oven in a metal tin or on a cookie sheet and while still very warm place them into a bowl and drop in a dollop of JPW and swirl until evenly coated. Spread on wax paper and let dry.

I load these in .38 spl cases using a variety of powders but my standard load is 4.5 grains of WW 231, WW SPP, mixed .38 Spl. cases and the above described boolit. These average around 820 fps and there is no or very little leading in my many 38/357 revolvers. I might add, this load shoots to point of aim in my fixed sight S&W 38s and is very, very accurate. This is my IDPA/plinking/whatever load.

The fastest I've ever pushed one of these boolit has been a little under 1000 fps out of a .357 magnum. No leading and very decent accuracy.

This method allows me to process a large quantity of boolits with little effort and time.


Kudos and thanks to Ricochet and all the rest on this board whose minds I have picked and ideas i have utilized over the years. Take care, CJ.

[uncowboy]

One of my secrets to loading fast plinking ammo, I hate sizeing my bullets!
I take the Lee Tumble lube bullets in the 6 cavity mold. I cast a pile of bullets and tumble lube them. Instead of sizeing the bullets I load them in my Dillon 550B In the 4TH die position I have a FL sizer with the decapping assy removed. I set the oversized case uo so it resizes in the 4th position. This resizes the bullet in the case saving me a full step in loading ammo. I have done this with 38's and 32's and am ready to do it with 41's. Accuracy has been very good. Pleanty accurate for cowboy action shooting and plinking.My 32's will shoot 2" at 25 YDS and that is about how accurate the conventional sizeing shoots. J.Michael

[Ricochet]

If you do that with a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die instead of a case sizing die, you won't excessively size your boolits as it probably will when using a case sizing die with the boolits loaded.

[TexRebel]

I have never sized my pistol bullets, but always use a factory crimp die after the seating die, and get great results

[kamikaze1a]

Great thread! Lot's of useful info. Will be trying out some of the techniques since I have the Lee tumble lube molds. One question though, anyone know what lube Magtech uses? It seems to be some black coating and saw some reference to SPG lube but all the pictures of SPG lube I've found, the lube was white. Any ideas?

[Lee]

Might try visiting a bowling alley or roller skating rink. I'm betting their floor paste waxes would be a close to dead-on substitute for JPW. We have 5 gal cans of floor paste wax where I work. Mainly carnauba and mineral spirits. Looks and smells a lot like the old JPW.

[taminsong]

Hello guys,

I've been lurking around for quite some time now, read and re-read this thread and actually tried JPW on some 45 acp cast bullets.

My method was heat the bullets in an oven toaster, then put them in a glass jar or steel jar, put some JPW and tumble them. Next I put them in a plain bottom metal container and back again inside the oven toaster where I heat them 'til I saw the wax melting and the bullets looks shiny. After than I stand the bullet in a wax paper and let it stay overnight.

It's true, the bullets looks dull but it's not sticky in the hands and my hornady seating die doesn't gummed up!

I don't understand why you cannot find a supply of JPW in the US? Here, there's a lot in the supermarket, plain white and red floor waxes, although the packaging is in paper carton. When I read the label, it was manufactured locally but under licensed from SC Johnson of USA.

This thread is very helpful and informative, more power!

[Tom W.]

I saw the thread on here years ago, so I tried the JPW with my .30 cal. gas check bullets and used a standard jacketed bullet load. I shot them out of my Ruger #1 as plinking rounds at turtles in a bauxite mine. After the turtles were depleted, I started shooting small sticks and targets of opportunity. Never had a bit of leading or accuracy problems.


It works well with every bullet that I have tried in on, .357, .45 Colt and .45 auto, as well as some loads in my .44 mag. I put a dollop of wax into an old bullet box or Cool Whip container and set it out in the sun for a while. It melts fast. Then just tumble lube the bullets and set them on waxed paper to dry...

[Boerrancher]

I try not to get mine overly warm, because I like a good heavy coat. I shoot it in every thing from 30 cal on up, at velocities approaching 2000 fps. For loads over that I use LLA on the first coat and then JPW on the second to keep the LLA form cloging up my sizing die.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe