Stupid question; Tumbled Alox aplied in addition to comercial hard lube

[Sakoluvr]

I thought about experimenting with a tumble application of Alox on purchased boolits that have hard lube already applied in the grooves. Will the hard lube get destroyed in the tumble?

[Ben]

Not a stupid question.
No harm at all in what you're planning.

Ben

[Sakoluvr]

Thanks Ben. Hey, if a little is good a lot is better. Right?

[rockrat]

I have done that using thinned LLA. Works fine.

[dragon813gt]

I use BLL to coat all my bullets even if I use traditional lube. Alox would work the same way.

[Sakoluvr]

Great minds think alike. And I thought it was stupid!

[Hick]

I too use BLL in addition to the traditional lube on most of my cast boolits

[Bookworm]

Count me in too. I purchased some Missouri Bullet projectiles for a cartridge I had not yet started casting.
I tumble-lubed them in 45/45/10, worked fine.

[jsn]

I'm not sure if the old lube will fall out or not. Probably not in newer boolits.

I have thought about dipping the bottoms of handgun boolits in heated Alox (up to the top of the single lube groove), then wiping off the bottoms, on older boolits where the old lube was drying out.

I have never been a fan of Alox on the entire boolit as per the instructions, especially on the nose of semi auto rounds, as the stuff then gets all over everything.

[centershot]

I have never been a fan of Alox on the entire boolit as per the instructions, especially on the nose of semi auto rounds, as the stuff then gets all over everything.

Not if you're applying it properly!

[VICIOUS]

HI; I thin out lee alox and lightly coat already sized and lubed bullets. Mostly if I have leading issues.

[psweigle]

I'm not sure if the old lube will fall out or not. Probably not in newer boolits.

I have thought about dipping the bottoms of handgun boolits in heated Alox (up to the top of the single lube groove), then wiping off the bottoms, on older boolits where the old lube was drying out.

I have never been a fan of Alox on the entire boolit as per the instructions, especially on the nose of semi auto rounds, as the stuff then gets all over everything.

I just put a little mica powder on them. No more sticky boolits.

[Sakoluvr]

Take into account that I have recently started to load cast for the first time. Been reloading for my rifles for years, but recently got into the .45 Colt.

I went ahead and gave it a go. Only did a small batch of bullets that had commercial LBT Blue . Put a very small amount of Alox in a container and tumbled them. The LBT Blue stayed put. Left them overnight and they were pretty dry with a waxy feel. I would not exactly call them sticky. I then decided to put a dab of Johnson's Paste Wax in the container and soften it up with my heat gun on low and a foot or two away. Gave the cast another tumble. Put them on wax paper for an hour or 2 and checked them. Voila! The JPW quickly dried and also took the slight sticky feel away from the Alox. No need for Mica and the benefit of JPW.

I know a lot of folks do the LLA and JPW (mineral spirits) in 1 step, but I am liking the result too much to change anything right now. Gonna load them up and hit the range next week. Who else does this 2 step method?

[GhostHawk]

I did something similar with Carnuba wax and Johnsons one step. Mixed up maybe a shotglass full, heated with a soldering iron to get it to melt. Ended up with a whitish gel, about a big matchhead sized lump in 50 bullets dried in under an hour and gave a smooth slick non stick surface.

But in the end I decided it was easier to add the carnuba and do it all with one lube, with 2-3 light coats depending on application.

Play around a little bit, but if you get stuck in the weeds go back to basics.

[wv109323]

Wieners at one time sold a cast bullet that was tripled lubed. Cast with conventional lube, a liquid lube and then a mica powder coat.

[Sakoluvr]

For those that have applied mica to dry up the Alox, does the mica come off easily? Messy to handle? I really like the JPW as a final layer over the Alox. Very clean to handle and I bet they will seat very smooth in a snug neck, which I need when using 2400.

[Tripplebeards]

Newbie question...so if I tumble over my lubed and gas Checked bullet will it provide me any benefits or is it overkill? Will Alox do as good of a job or better than my lube and would I be better to use it instead of a traditional lube? Is Alox meant for only slower projectiles or can it also be Used on high speed rifle bullets? If I do try it I will tumble again in johnsons paste wax so it's not tacky. Can I tumble over my GC?



Attachment 194127

[robg]

Tumble lube works fine for rifle boolits and gas checks ,if your worried just wipe gas check base on a rag to remove any excess.

[runfiverun]

you guy's are newer so you don't know that 45/45/10 lube was designed to do exactly what your doing.
Bens tumble lube also does the overcoat.
they both work without the lube under them too.

how fast they will go just depends on your circumstances.
I use some of the very first batch of 45/45 lube to this day and only use it in a couple of rifles.

oh the 45/45/10 lube is cooked JPW to remove the solvents then alox [Xlox from LS's stuff from the link below] is mixed in and mineral spirits is added so the lube is applied thinner and dries faster.

[DerekP Houston]

I did this to some comcast 38 special SWC I got a few years back. Solved my residue/light leading issue like a champ, I used the thinned version. I've also used BLL as an overcoat on my 9mm hitek rounds to salvage them instead of remelting.