Lubing your Lee push through die

[burch]

I’m planning on trying my luck at pan lubing. I need to size my bullets. Should I lube first or size before lubing. I’m using a Lee push through die and was wondering if I’m supposed to lube the die. If I use Alox to lube it I’m afraid the pan lube won’t stick to the bullets.

[sniper]

Yo, Burch;
There's probably no way to do it wrong. I always figured that my pan boolit lube would be sufficient for lubing the sizing die. I don't think a layer of Alox will pull the lube from its groove, if a "cake cutter" is used, though. A 375 H&H Magnum case cut off at the head will work for .357 Magnum, but I don't know what a person would do for .41-.45 caliber, seeing as how the old old cake cutters are akin to hen's teeth nowadays.

Somebody with more experience than I may have another opinion. However, if you are tumble lubing, 2 coats of whatever lube...I like BLL or Lars' White label 45-45-10...one before sizing and one following might be a good idea. But, that's just me. YMMV

[Hick]

Whether or not you lube the die will depend a lot on how much you are sizing. Some of my cast bullets are so close to the desired size that the Lee sizer does fine without lube. But-- if you size more they may lead the die. Try a few and see. One trick I use is I have an old bottle brush (the small round kind) that I use the clean our my reloading dies when lube builds up. The brush is dirty with lube. When the bullets start to not go in the Lee die smoothly, I "clean" the Lee die with a few strokes of the brush (which rubs a little of that old lube on the inside of the Lee die), then go back to sizing. That seems to work, and lets me size without putting lube on the bullets.

[burch]

I’m sizing 45-70 so their pretty long. I’m only taking a thousandth off of em. I’ll try lubing first. I’ll be using a hot plate and cake cutter. ��

[Bazoo]

The benefits of sizing first is you'll have little to no lube on the nose of the bullets. If you lube then size you'll have lube pushed on all the bullet noses and it'll have to be removed with a solvent soaked rag. You can use something for lube when sizing like remoil, just give the bullets a quick spritz.

[Minerat]

I just use an unsized case for 41's and 44's drill out the primer hole and put a roofing nail with the head in the case and piece of dowel to push the Boolits out.

I use a push thru to size first, using a little axle grease to lube and have no problem with a moly bee lube sticking.

[burch]

I just used an unsized case for 41's and 44's drill out the primer hole and put a roofing nail with the head in the case and piece of dowel to push the Boolits out.

I pretty much did the same thing but used a once fired case. Works perfectly

[Harter66]

I thumb lube with Darrs , and size after lube .

I have Lee's and a few made by Buckshot before his retirement . I can't remember now how far I've sized ,maybe .308 to .301 . I did stick some lead once . Major hassle to get out without messing up the die .

[burch]

I thumb lube with Darrs , and size after lube .

I have Lee's and a few made by Buckshot before his retirement . I can't remember now how far I've sized ,maybe .308 to .301 . I did stick some lead once . Major hassle to get out without messing up the die .

That’s what I was afraid of. With these bullets being so long I kinda figured they might get hung up. I’m definitely gonna lube first.

[Minerat]

Burch, that's what I ment, great minds work alike.

[burch]

Burch, that's what I ment, great minds work alike.

I knew that. Lol

[Dre_sa]

I load for .577-450 and .43 Mauser.

I've not had any issue with pan lubing and then pushing through a Lee sizer die.
Lube does accumulate at the bottom of the die, and the bullets do come out pretty much covered in lube, but with the bee wax / shortening mix I lube with it's a simple matter to wipe excess off with a paper towel.

I'm using grease cookies anyway, so it's a huge mess regardless.

Come to think of it I need to whip up another batch or two of each and make some clouds and thunder again.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My recommendation would be to Size first, then pan lube...much less messy.
Also, I would lube the die with the same lube as in the pan, which can be easily done by running a prelubed boolit through the die every ten boolits or so.

[Minerat]

......Also, I would lube the die with the same lube as in the pan, which can be easily done by running a prelubed boolit through the die every ten boolits or so.

I like that idea, I'm stealing it!

[John Boy]

I pan lube the bullets after they ar resized with the Lee Lube/Sizer.
But I mop the inside of the die wit Lehigh Valley Lube & Cleaner (a muzzleloader product). It cleans the die and the LVL&C lubes & dries the inside of the die.
Unfortunately, the patented product is off the market ... and have the last 10 bottles that were available for sale

[burch]

What’s a good recipe for pan lubing. I’m using it for 45-70 smokeless loads. 1000 - 1500 FPS.

[gpidaho]

I like to use 4oz. of olive oil mixed in a double boiler with bee's wax until I get a mixture of 9oz. I believe this was posted here sometime back by Larry Gibson, so I give him the credit. Gp

[mazo kid]

There are literally hundreds of home made lubes, look in the stickies here. For black powder, I use 1-1 beeswax/bearfat (or whatever tallow/oil you may have) to start and then you can adjust to your desired temp range by adding more of one or the other, depending on which way you need to go.

[dkf]

I usually run the bullets through the sizer after they are pan lubed. I use a 50/50 mix of WLL BAC and Carn Red. Some time I have to try sizing before lubing and using a cake cutter, just never bothered.

With Lee push through sizers I found they are usually a little rough on the inside. So I usually buy them a .001" or so under the size I need and polish them to size on the lathe. They size nicer for me doing that, especially for larger diameter hard bullets.

[hpbear101]

I have a bottle or two of liquid case lube that I don't like for sizing cases. If I am going to size bullet's in a push through sizer I spray a some liquid case lube shake it around a bit then size.