LLA leading issue

[thirtythirty]

Hey! I FINALLY got a tube of LLA a couple of days ago. Unfortunately it arrived with a large crack in the container and it was a solid mass of...something disgusting looking. Anyways, after a little perusing I found several threads that mentioned mineral spirits+old LLA=good lube. I gave that a shot and got AWEFUL leading in my Marlin 336 (30-30). I was using 8 grains of Red dot, which should theoretically have been pushing my lee 170gn FN around 1300 fps. Was I just pushing it too fast? Is it possible to use too much of a thinning agent? All the places I've read have addressed using too much lube, but I haven't found any that have reported using too little? Anyone had a similar experience? I'm letting a batch with a thicker mixture dry as we speak, but I thought I'd ask in the meantime.

[NuJudge]

You may have an undersize, or soft bullet for what is probably microgroove rifling in your Marlin. Some Marlins are made with conventional rifling, but most are made with a lot of very small lands.

If you do a search, you'll find a lot of threads on how to get microgroove rifling to shoot cast bullets. In short, bullets need to be a little larger, harder, and with a gas check.

[RogerDat]

Might also try dipping bullet base in lube rather than tumble lubing. I don't do this in a big way but tried a few after an old timer that sells $5 packs of reloads at a gun show told me about it. He uses the plastic inserts from store bought box of bullets as a drying stand and just dips the base of his high powered stuff in LLA then sets them in the tray to dry before sizing. Lot more lube in the groove that way.

When I did it for 8mm mauser I followed sizing the dipped bullet with a tumble lube for good measure. They worked but I liked powder coat better. Still options is good.