Should I wipe off the bottom of my BOOLIT?

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Randy,

I need to try that!

Thanks,

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[canyon-ghost]

I try to think of it in light of long term storage. If the cartridges end of being five years old before I shoot them, I'd hope the bullet lube on the base isn't melting into the powder. From the 4500, I keep an old tee shirt or towel on my knee, to get rid of excess lube. You can run back through the adjustment and minimize it. If the bullet goes in too far, it will have lube on the nose. If the bullet barely goes in far enough, you get lube on the base. Yet, it's still a lot better than lubing with your fingers or pan lube, a whole lot neater.

I like the 4500 and Carnuba Red with the pin heater. Makes lots of pistol bullets.

Good Luck,
Ron

[CML]

i don't like getting lube on the nose of my boolits.
i think i'd fix the issue of getting lube on the base,seems like a waste of lube and time.

I wiped lube off for a long time, then I cut a small recess in the sizer die plug to allow the slight bevel on the bullets base a nest to sit in. This eliminated the problem for me on that particular bullet.

[saintdel]

I wipe. My loads are sometimes stored for a long time, powder fouling is a concern.

[qwiksting]

I have tried both ways. I didnt find any problems either way. Although it may be a problem if you plan on storing them awhile. If I did wipe them off all i did was put some mineral spirits on a towel, let it somewhat dry...then take the boolit and wipe it. I dont let mine sit too long before I shoot it though. Like I said, it didnt bother the load either way, but I understand about powder fouling.

[jeepyj]

I switched from a non heat lube to a new heated type in a old 45. I was always was concerned with the buildup on the bottoms because the old stuff seemed to be sort of sticky so I wiped each one as I was swaging. I'm not sure if it just my situation or not but I get a lot less now with the heated lube.
Jeepyj

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Never knowing how long it may be before I shoot some of my cast bullet handgun loads, relyability is important and why I take the time to clean the bullet base after sizing and again before loading.

Then, with my 45/70 hunting loads, it is even more important as can't begin to think why I'd want to face the even slim possibility of having a bad load caused by something I should have taken the small step to prevent.

Back to BABore's comment!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Gee_Wizz01]

I only wipe them for ammo that I intend to store for a while. When I wipe them I use a piece of heavy canvas and put a few drops of Naphtha on it. They easily wipe clean with the solvent. I don't wipe boolits that I lube with LLA, and I have never had a problem with the loaded ammo. I just used a box of 38 Spcl wad cutters that were lubed with LLA and loaded back in '97 and they were just as accurate as the day I loaded them and I had no squibs or failures to fire. I have also found that a light touch on the 450 reduces the requirement for wiping. When I first started casting back in '72 my mentor bored a hole down the center of the sizer plug that allowed the excess lube to drop out the bottom. Also if you make sure your sprues are cut smooth and you won't have as much lube leaking under the boolit.

G

[truckboss]

I use a Star.Back in my IPSC days I took a 45 acp round,HG 68, 6.0 231 and under the boolit a huge glob of 50/50.Let this sit in my car's windshield for several months,over a 100 degrees,still went bang. Didn't feel any different than the rest.

[Shuz]

I wipe the bases of all my cast boolits with one swipe across an old "holy" white cotton sock that has been streched tightly and then stapled to a 9" piece of 2x4. When the sock gets crudded up with lube I take it off the 2x4 and invert it and restaple. Once that side is crudded up, the sock is tossed.

[Gibbs44]

Do it. I just started and read that one of the members here uses a 2x4 with a sock attached to it. I use a 2x2 inside of a sock. Works pretty well. I'd still ease up on the pressure, less wiping.

[John in WI]

I like to wipe em' off. I pulled some a while back (unwiped) and there was an awful lot of powder stuck to the boolit base. Don't rightly know if it'd burn correctly or not and I'm probably being way too anal over this.

My earliest boolit lubing experience was to melt the lube in a double boiler, warm the boolits with a hair drier, and then simply dunk them in lube up to the groove. This filled the groove but left the base really coated with lube that does attract a lot of powder. I think you're right--I can't imagine powder with absorbed wax and oil is going to burn the same. I don't know if it's a requirement or not, but I suspect wiping the base helps the burn, and probably keeps the smoke down a bit too.