Pan Lube

[rfd]

Rob, are the boolits just perched on that little rod? If so, seems like they would tend to fall off unless you dip real slow.

i rarely lose a bullet off the lift but ya can make other kinds of lifts that'll better keep a bullet from falling off and can do multiple bullets in a single dip.

[Captain*Kirk]

I like that little chicken wire basket! Think I will cobble me up one.

[Froogal]

neat eh! when I refill the vacant holes in mine I reheat it with an electric heat gun (like some people use for stripping paint etc) only takes a couple of minutes - I sit the lube pan on a cork placemat for insulation - doin it this way I can lube small batches of boolits without slowing my loading process down much and at the end I dont have a bunch of lubed projectiles left over.

That is how I do it.

[chuck40219]

i rarely lose a bullet off the lift but ya can make other kinds of lifts that'll better keep a bullet from falling off and can do multiple bullets in a single dip.

Great photos, looks like a good way to do things. I have a mild case of the shakes, this way is not very usable for me though. I have a problem with setting them upright in a pan. Seams all I have to do is look sideways at the pan and 1/2 of them fall on their side. I know, stop looking at the pan sideways.

chuck40219

[chuck40219]

Cookie cutter looks like a great ideal. I have been pushing them out after the lube cools. Just a thought, the cutter might compress the lube in the groves?

chuck40219

[greenjoytj]

Just a thought, the cutter might compress the lube in the groves?
chuck40219

Liquids cannot be compressed. The lube is a semi-liquid or semi-solid take your pick.

[rfd]

Cookie cutter looks like a great ideal. I have been pushing them out after the lube cools. Just a thought, the cutter might compress the lube in the groves?

chuck40219

no. doesn't work that way. i'm doing .410's right now, will take some pics.

[greenjoytj]

Emmert's Lube, aka 541

I’ve never read about Emmert’s Lube being referred to as 541.
Is the numerical designation a reference to the percentage of its ingredients?

[chuck40219]

Quote Originally Posted by chuck40219 View Post
Just a thought, the cutter might compress the lube in the groves?
chuck40219
Liquids cannot be compressed. The lube is a semi-liquid or semi-solid take your pick.

no. doesn't work that way. i'm doing .410's right now, will take some pics.

Look I am replying to 2 post at the same time.

Poor choice of words. I was thinking about some who complain about their lube not staying in the grease groves. Cookie cutter might press grease back in the groves instead of being pulled out when pushed out of lube cake.

I have not had that problem, yet! Apparently I chose a lube formula that worked the first time for the way I pan lube.

chuck40219

[redhawk0]

I use a cast iron pan and an old camp stove. I melt my lube and with tweezers stand up my boolits. Let it harden and use a cookie cutter made from whatever caliber (fired case not resized). It lifts them out of the lube and with a plunger (through the drilled out primer pocket) I punch them out on a piece of luan plywood. Then I resize them in a Lee push through die and put them in a plastic container with a small amount of mica powder to keep them from sticking together.

It works for me...the trick is to use the camp stove on a very low heat to just melt the lube without over heating it...but that's not a difficult step.

redhawk

[greenjoytj]

rfd
Is the cutting end of the cookie cutter blunted square like fresh off a case trimmer, or is the end sharpen with a deburring tool?
If its been sharpened which direction is the blade sloping?
Sharp edge towards the bullet might cut cleaner,
or
Sharp edge away from the bullet for a spatula like effect smoothing the lube into the grooves.

[rfd]

rfd
Is the cutting end of the cookie cutter blunted square like fresh off a case trimmer, or is the end sharpen with a deburring tool?
If its been sharpened which direction is the blade sloping?
Sharp edge towards the bullet might cut cleaner,
or
Sharp edge away from the bullet for a spatula like effect smoothing the lube into the grooves.

the inside mouth of the case is very lightly chamfered.

since i no longer use .45-70 grease groove bullets, i modified my .45-70 cookie cutter case by first lightly annealing it, the running through a .45 reforming die, then partially into a .40-65 sizing die. a light chamfer to the inside of the case mouth and it was ready to cookie cut gato feo lubed lyman 410663 1:30 alloy cast bullets that were first sized to .410 diameter.

[rfd]

excess lube is scraped off the corian board and dumped back in the lube tin to melt and reuse.

[JBinMN]

excess lube is scraped off the corian board and dumped back in the lube tin to melt and reuse.

LOL I like the "divers weight belt" on the can. I call that "hillbilly ingenuity".

[rfd]

LOL I like the "divers weight belt" on the can. I call that "hillbilly ingenuity".

... and proud of my redneck heritage, too.

[guninhand]

I oven heat my boolits in the lube cake in a toaster oven and, when cooled back to room temp, break the seal with a nose punch in the chuck of a drill press (not turning, of course). In my experience it is important to get the push out from the cake perpendicular to the base of the cake. If not perpendicular, drag occurs on the side cocked towards the cake hole's inside so that the lube there can be dragged out to some extent giving incompletely filled lube grooves. So the drill press goes a long way to make sure there's 90 deg downward pressure where you want it be 90 deg at the start, the breaking of the seal, then the boolit is pushed out the rest of the way with fingers

[RogerDat]

I don't dip or pan lube stuff going into a brass cartridge but I use a wire dipper much as shown to dip Minnie balls. The lube is in a Mini Dipper which is essentially a really small crock pot, something like a potpourri pot. Gets wax/Crisco mix warm enough to melt and not hot enough to burn. I also use a Minnie Dipper pot with water in it to heat container of tumble lube. I have considered trying out straight Lee Alox (or white label Xalox) heated to dip rifle bullets in. Haven't done it because I'm mostly doing powder coat so not much need. With tumble lube along the lines of BLL or 45/45/10 sometimes being used for pistol calibers.

This is a Minnie Dipper. https://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-16-.../dp/B0000CCY14 I found both of mine at salvation army for $4 not the $24 they sell for new. They are too small to easily be used as a double boiler with a can of lube. Slightly larger crock pot might fit that use. Larger would also offer a temperature controller. Little Dipper is one pre-set temp. Happens to work for my purposes. Might not for all pan lubes.