Lyman stick lubes

[Indian]

After learning how to pan lube, (from this site), with good results, I thought it time to try another facet of reloading education. Enter the Lyman 4500. The description said it came with Orange Magic. Great. I only PL one GC rifle and one plain base pistol. The rest were all Lee TL boolits. New molds from NOE made me think I should do these the right way. Not really, just couldn't pass up the combo deal with a pot, ingot mold, and lube/sizer. Problem is, it came with three lube sticks. I would have been happy to use whatever came with it. Now I need help to choose. What do you recommed for 44 mag and 32 mag with mid to top velocities? Choices are: Super Moly, Orange Magic, and Alox. Thanks, Indian.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Lars bullet lubes are hard to beat for uses and prices. Scroll down to bottom of this page and click on the lube stick icon for better info. My self I find Carnuba Red lube great for my purposes for both rifle and pistols, his new blue lube is supposed to be better yet.Robert

[Indian]

Thanks Hardcast. Just want to try what came with the kit. Never used a lube/sizer before. Got a new toy and want to try it out now. Know what I mean? Probably use my homemade pan lube later, but it's too damn cold out to melt any down right now. Indian

[runfiverun]

slice them all into 1/2" rings then just shove alternate rings into the lube sizer till it's full.
the 3 lubes are all basically the same with just a whiff of a change.

[Ken in Iowa]

Lars bullet lubes are hard to beat for uses and prices. Scroll down to bottom of this page and click on the lube stick icon for better info. My self I find Carnuba Red lube great for my purposes for both rifle and pistols, his new blue lube is supposed to be better yet.Robert

I agree with Hardcast. The cost of the Lyman lube will be much higher than Lars' White Label or our other forum vendors. Since lube change in a lubrisizer is a bit of a PIA, I would recommend starting with a lube you'll want to use long term.

White Label BAC would be a good option for your application.

[Indian]

Thanks guys. I'll check out the vendors. Kinda of reading between the lines of runfiveruns post meant "It's all bad, just different colors". LOL.

[bosterr]

I never used any Lyman lubes. If they are all nearly the same, how about melting them all together and pouring it into your sizer.

[Indian]

Yea, I thought that too. I won't do that inside, and it's way too cold outside now. I have ALOT of a homemade lube from a recipe I got here with JPW/bee/alox, but I'm not melting it now either.

[myg30]

Indian, Just remember not to force the ratchet. You might need to warm the sizer up with heater, hair dryer, light bulb or other.
I might be wrong ( old age) I thought I read,once you get moly in your bbl. it's hard to clean out.
May of refer to moly coated bullets and not lubes. Others here have more knowledge on that, BUT heater fer sure.

I've had good luck with Lars lubes, Ben's homemade lubes poured into the sizer. Slight heat needed in cool temps. I just warm sizer with a hair dryer.

Good luck and enjoy, Mike

[Indian]

Sounds like sooner or later I'll need a heater. Does the unit that fits 'in' the sizer get warm enough to empty the reservoir?

[Tom W.]

The heater I got bolts to the bench and my lubrisizer bolts to it. As to your original question, I've found the black stuff does pretty good, but stains any clothes it gets near. Go with White Label Lubes as soon as you get the chance.

[Randy Bohannon]

The Lyman heater that goes with your 4500 will heat it up and make the hardest lube flow and drip. I have found with the hard lubes you only need to turn it on long enough for it to feel warm, it will lube your boolit perfectly. I no longer use stick lubes not that they weren't any good.Eventually I wanted to push cast boolits a bit faster and the lube recipes here were good enough with real world shooters testing and commenting.The stuff you have will do just fine for low to mid level loads,I wouldn't trust it to go much faster.Ben's Red is an excellent semi adjustable bullet lube,if I were starting with a new lubesizer and know what I know now I wouldn't bother with the commercial stick stuff. It's mostly paraffin and there are much better base lubes,sizers/dies are a pain to clean out.If you use Ben's Red it will cover all of your needs not just a few.

[gwpercle]

Super Moly-this lube has Molybdenum Disulfide in it as the main lubricant , its a soft lube and will flow without heating it. I've never used moly lube but it should work for both handguns and rifle, that's what the catalog states.

Orange Magic - This is a hard lube that must be heated to flow and then hardens. Good in higer velocities in rifle and pistol . Supposed to be a "premium Lube "

Alox Lube - this is the old school NRA formulation , it should be beeswax and alox but that is not stated in description. Alox-beeswax lube is an old , time tested lube , good in rifle and pistol loads

You have all three, free of charge , so try them....keep an eye on your barrel and let us know how they work. The only Lyman lube I have used was the black Lyman Ideal lube that came with my 1970 450 . Lyman still sells it , described as : "A great all-purpose lube." that's all they say.
Now I've used the black stuff and alox-beeswax , and experienced no leading in handguns with these old school lubes. At some point in time the original Alox formula was changed and it didn't help the old NRA lube formula. I tried some Lithium grease-beeswax lube at that time and came to prefer it in handguns (referred to as Lithi-Bee Lube) .
Try the lubes you have , I have a feeling they might be just fine in your guns.
Gary