Now that I've got a little better handle on casting my 125gr 38s, I've decided that pan lubing is the devil. Just to be clear, I only cast because I'm being cheap, so I'm looking for the cheapest way to get lube into the groove other than pouring it in a pan, then having most of the boolits come out of the lube with no lube in the groove, so I have to moosh some in there by hand. I'm using Mr. Rat's lube, which works very well in my model 10.
Have you thought about trying tumble lube? Way simple, guaranteed coverage.
Or powdercoating.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Menchen
If cheap is the goal, tumble lubing as suggested by el34 is the way to go. Fast, easy, cheap and effective.
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Tumble lube will can only be the fastest and cheapest way. Next would be powder coat. It has no smoke when fired no mess when loading.
I did consider tumble lubing when I decided to cast for centerfire, and for some reason that eludes me this early I decided I wanted regular lube in there. What's the second cheapest option?
Lyman could probably make more money on the lube sizers if they would give away free pan lubing kits. A little index card included would say "If you don't enjoy this, buy our lube sizer." One afternoon pan lubing and most people somehow are able to suddenly find the space/money for a lube sizer.
Pan lubing is slow and somewhat messy but effective. If you are getting most of the bullets with no lube in the groove, something is wrong with either the lube or the temp of the lube when poured into the pan.Originally Posted by ThaDoubleJ
Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.
Try putting pan, lube and boolits in the freezer for three or four minutes before pushing them out. GP
I also found that making my cakecutter from a case helps alot. I use a rifle case with the neck expanded up to a few ( .003-.005 ) over bullet dia and the primer pocket drilled out to accept a wood dowel 3/16"- 1/4". heres the trick after "sharpening the mouth with a deburring tool, lightly bell the case so when cutting it "presses" the lube into the grooves. Its worked for me.
Dip lubing works better than pan for me. Get a cake cutter if you are going to keep dipping or panning. There are a couple of folks on here selling em if you can't make your own.
If you ever visit anybody who owns a lubesizer, even an old Ideal #1, and watch it in action..... you'll suddenly find that you have something that you can sell and get you a lubesizer!
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
I never was able to find a combination that let me push bullets from the cake once it cooled the way some guys can. Therefore, I use cake cutters made by Buckshot and am reasonably satisfied with the pan lubing process. I pan lube about 4-5K bullets a year and have it down so I make a minimal mess. It does take time though. I tumble some bullets also and find it much faster.
Lyman 45
After pan lubing and tumble lubing, I acquired one earlier this year and it is a joy to use!
*If you are a modern fellow, maybe a Lyman 450
A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.
I hate pan lubing, I would rather go to the Dentist. I picked up a Lyman, but will have a Star someday.
For the cheeeeepest.......use BBDT powder coating! Very inexpensive when using that red powder from Harbor Freight.
I can crank out hundreds an hour with very little effort. All shoot perfectly with absolutely ZERO leading like you will get with grease....pan, tumble, or otherwise.
bangerjim
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I wouldn't pan lube another boolit if it harelipped Santa Claus! I'd rather hug my mother in law! A little while pan lubing and I started saving my pennies and went to every gun show I could til I found a used one for $50.00 and never looked back.
So many guns, so little time
_____________________________
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I'm with Beagle, I dip lube and I've been happy with the results.
But I don't go through massive numbers of pistol bullets either.
The average month I probably don't make more than 100 boolits, gas check and size, dip lube, let them cool, and size again to remove excess.
Drop the finished boolits into a container marked with the gun they are intended for (And both weight and size)
May load them next week, might be next month, could be next spring.
Currently lubing with a Ben's red variant (using LsStuff's Carnuaba red lube instead of JPW)
Your mileage may vary but time is one thing I have plenty of.
I can turn out several thousand pan lubed boolits in one evening......"Hey boys, you wanna go shoot this weekend then ya better get in here & lube some boolits!". Course it helps to have 7 grandsons that like to shoot & really NEED character building work to do.
An old Cherokee was teaching his grandson about life. "Inside me two wolves fight," he told the boy.
"One is evil - he is anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, lies, false pride, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth and faith. The same fight is inside you - and every other person, too."
The grandson thought for a minute and asked,"Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."
What's this about cake cutters? Are they open on top so the bullets pop out and you can just keep going? The first time I did this, I had a little "pan" made of aluminum, held maybe 20 boolits, and I filled it deep, had a good thick "cake". Took forever. I believe I figured it in at 4 hours to make 112 boolits. This time my casting went much better, and before I knew it I'd filled a serving tray with boolits. I poured my Mr Rat lube in till just the lube grooves were covered, but the stupid "cake" kept breaking apart, or if I could push a boolit out, it'd have just a tiny lube in it, have to smoosh some more in. I suppose if I had a hollow tube and could just stack them right out the top that might not be too bad.
DoubleJ
Dip lube, man, dip lube. So easy. When your lube is warmed to full liquid (careful not to burn it) the dipped coating will be nearly perfect. After drying, Running boolit back through a lee push-thru size then smoothes everything and fills in the grooves to perfection. Very little mess, barely a chance for anything to go awry
So you dip the base in the lube, then just use that Lee gadget after they're cooled to make it all look pretty?
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