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Thread: Coloring bullet Lube?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    DonMountain's Avatar
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    Coloring bullet Lube?

    A few years ago I bought a bunch of White Label white colored lube to use in my RCBS LAM II for both rifle and pistol rounds. It has worked out really well for me, except for one thing. The white color of the lube makes it hard to see if I am getting enough in the lube grooves of the bullets as they are sized. Is there any ways to color this stuff? I always used to use the blue colored lube from some guy that used to make molds too. And that was easy to see?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    You will have to melt it to color it. Use candle coloring die found at craft stores. Or your kids broken crayons will work.
    Some may suggest food coloring but that is water based and may not work.
    Calamity Jake

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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calamity Jake View Post
    You will have to melt it to color it. Use candle coloring die found at craft stores. Or your kids broken crayons will work.
    Some may suggest food coloring but that is water based and may not work.
    Line, chapter and verse!

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Thanks everybody for your quick responses. And I think we have a "craft store" in town and I will have to take a look next time I have to go to town. I was hoping to just heat an individual stick of lube up in the microwave to melt it and add the dye, then just pour the melted lube into the LAM II when it needed to be refilled. Has anybody tried this and was successful or could offer any other suggestions? Thanks.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

    Calamity Jake's Avatar
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    You can melt it in the MW but go slow or you may burn the lube.
    One of the best ways to melt is to use a double boiler or you can put the lube in a jar
    and set it is some hot water on low heat from a stove, stir the color in real well.
    Calamity Jake

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    Shoot straight, keepem in the ten ring.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Sprue's Avatar
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    Use about a 1/3 of a piece of Grayon(s). Suit your tastes if you need a darker shade, add little more
    Sprue ™

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
    Mal Paso's Avatar
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    I always heat and pour the lube into the sizer. Fewer air bubbles. I used to microwave in Pyrex but blew a bullseye out of the bottom of the measuring cup. Now I put a 6x6 square of 1/4" steel plate on a gas burner and heat in a stainless pot while stirring.
    Mal

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  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Would more light at your sizer help you see it.....melting down and coloring the white lube then melting again to pour into your sizer seem like an awful lot of work .

    I found an LED flashlight with a flat base and adjustable head just the thing for adding light where needed on my loading bench.....I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other...extra light helps me see things.
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  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I used crayons with the only batch I made and then started PCing never tried out my lube.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

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    Food coloring might work.
    Political correctness is a national suicide pact.

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    only to God and my own conscience.

  11. #11
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hickory View Post
    Food coloring might work.
    The gel ones or the liquid?

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I use pieces of crayon and melt that into the lube.
    KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master

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  14. #14
    DOR RED BEAR's Avatar
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    Wax die on ebay about $6 dollars a bottle. Works a lot better than a crayon. Bottle will last a long time.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master redhawk0's Avatar
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    I use a crayon as well. I melt my lubes in a cast iron pan on a camp stove. when I see the edges starting to melt I lower the heat and before it finishes completely melting I turn the heat off. The cast iron stays hot enough to melt it the rest of the way. I pan lube with this setup as well and use a cookie cutter for 30 cal and up.

    redhawk

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  16. #16
    Boolit Bub eagle27's Avatar
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    I use kids wax crayons for colouring lube, blue is a good standout colour (some crayons today are plastic based so watch what you buy). I normally buy a good beewax based lube, heat in an clean empty tin food can on low gas heat until just melted, add in half a crayon and then pour into my Lyman 450 lube/sizer.

    Loading some 'blue' cast bullets for my 404 Jeffery.


  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Been using crayons for over 40 years I like green ones, about one crayon will color a lot of lube.

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy
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    I purchased all the ingredients but the petroleum jelly and caster oil to make 666+1+1 lube from Hobby Lobby in their candle making department. While I was there I noticed all the different colors of dye. . .there were a lot! One package has about 12 little squares (about 1/2" X 1") was about $3.00. I bought the black and about 3 little squares was more than needed to do a batch of lube. I think a package of this coloring would last a guy a good while and any color you could want at a small price.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master Good Cheer's Avatar
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    Old ball point pens?

  20. #20
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    I have been considering this very thing, my eyes are not so good and with good light I have a hard time seeing 2500+. I really like the lube, emailed them a while back asking if they could color some for me to buy... but no answer. So, I am going to do my own... 1 stick at a time. It will be purple!!!

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