tumble lube

[dancast]

hi folks,
been lurking here for some time, first post and looking for a little information.
i have a lee 9mm mold for tumble lube. question, can i put some in a small zip lock bag, and lube them up? lee's alox lube, also, do i size them first, or lube first, then size?
casted some with a friend, air cooled were very soft, water drop were nice and hard, usings ww. will be using lee's .356 kit. thanks....dancast

[dromia]

Ziplock bags are good, don't use too much alox and cut it 50/50 with white spirit, less is more.

Get your alox from White Label Lubes here, link at the bottom of the page under Lar 45s Ls Stuff. Same kit as Lee at a lot less dosh and Glen is one of us so merits support.

Lube first, size if you need to and then lube again.

BTW welcome to Cast boolits.

[wallenba]

If it is a TL mold, (small multiple lube grooves) it may or may not need sizing. Check with a dial caliper across the parting line and 90' to it. This will show if it is out of round needing sizing. Most of my TL molds don't need sizing. Sometimes in a six cavity mold there may be one bad cavity. In that case I try not to fill it. Yes, you can tumble lube in a baggie. If you need to size you must lube before and after sizing, or it could get stuck in or lead up the die. When I need to size them I don't wait for them to dry, I lube them size them, lube again and set overnight to dry. Just a tip on using the sizer, forget about trying to set the bullets on top of the punch, just hold them up into the mouth of the die and carefully raise the ram. It's a messy job, and thinning the alox with mineral spirits will keep it from getting too thick which can cause excess smoke, bad at indoor ranges. Welcome to the forum, most of my best info came from these guys.

[DLCTEX]

I prefer to lube with alox using a Cool Whip tub. Put in a small amount, add boolits, swirl to coat. Yes, thin with mineral spirits. Out of round doesn't bother me if the smaller dimension is not smaller than groove dia. They will be round when they leave the barrel. The TL design was intended to eliminate the sizing step.

[GBertolet]

I too like the Cool Whip tubs. They work fine. Using the bag, the bullets can't roll aroung properly, and therefore it is more difficult to get them as evenly coated. I use straight Lee Liquid Alox. It's cheap and unless you shoot indoors or the action shooting sports the little extra smoke is moot. I've read reports of LLA actually removing small amounts of barrel leading. Quite remarkable.

[Nora]

LLA is the only lube I use no matter what the boolit style. I do my lubing in an ice cream bucket. For rounds under 100 gr I will do about 500 at a time. Larger than that, about half the amount. First I will drizzle a little on the bottom in a circular pattern to get it spread out. Then I'll add the boolits and swirl them around for a few laps, then give them a little flip to fold half of them back over onto themselves the way you would the eggs when making an omelet. Then swirl some more and repeat again. I keep doing this till they all show an even trace coating of lube on them. If you can touch the boolits and get just a thin film on your finger, then this is enough. If sizing or gas checks are needed then relube after you have done so. If not one coat should do it.

Nora

[SciFiJim]

I've started cutting the LLA (actually Xlox) with Johnson Paste Wax (JPW) at a 1/1 ratio. It has enough petroleum esters in it to thin the Xlox and the wax in the JPW helps it to dry to a non-tacky finish. I mix it in a liquid dish soap bottle. It makes it easy to add a few drops at a time to a butter dish to tumble lube in. I normally lube 20-25 boolits at a time.

One thing that I found works well for me. Instead of dumping them onto wax paper, I use a foot square granite tile that I found at a yard sale for a buck. It's smooth and tough enough to scrape clean.

[mooman76]

I too like a plastic tub. I use a 1# butter tub though. I put the lid on when finished to keep it clean and next time I use it the new alox loosens the old so there is less waist.

[Shiloh]

Thin it. A little goes a long way. A THIN coat only!! Problems come from too thick an application. I love TL Boolits.

Shiloh

[GrizzLeeBear]

Nothing to add to the good info. your getting on the TL.

But, regarding sizing. Have you slugged your barrel? A LOT of 9mm prefer boolits sized to .357 or some even .358. If your barrel is .356 - .357 you will likely get leading shooting .356 boolits.

[pdawg_shooter]

I have been pushing unlubed bullets through a Lee die for years. I use them as reducing dies for my paper patching. .311 down to .301 and .459 down to .451 with no lube and no problems. I dont want any lube on the bullets when I patch them.

[shotman]

I size first keeps the die clean and is not as time consuming. I heat the lube in place of cutting it works the same and you get full use of the lube. I heat in hot tap water and use a jif peanut butter jar[plastic]. It has a screw on lid[the lid popped off a tub and that stuff is very messy on the carpet] I use moly in mine 1 tea spoon will do 200 or more. dunp on wax paper and move apart. I stand mine up but you dont have to, found it dont leave much on the base and seems to cut down on the smokeing Harbor Freight sells the big tweezer or the med thingy that used for stiches

[Doc_Stihl]

+1 to Shotman on the heating. I get mine hot and use as little as possible. My dies stay clean and I get less smoke. I use rubber gloves and stand mine up as well.

[mdi]

Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook, Lee Modern Reloading have most of the info you'll need to cast/lube/size your own. If you are using a Lee sizing die, the instructions are pretty thourough.

[TAWILDCATT]

I to use butter tub. I stand up my rifle bullets on an old cookie sheet.
you dont have to harden the bullets.and the barrel will take out the out of roundness.

[mtgrs737]

All of the above work, I cut mine with mineral sperits so that it dries faster. I also have been known to paint the bore riding nose section and front band of conventionaly lubed rifle boolits with LLA for that little extra protection from leading. Just takes a minute to do a dozen loaded rounds with an art and crafts paint brush, it may not help, but it makes me feel good and so far I don't get any leading with those rounds.

[txsnowman2k2]

well that answered that...was going to ask same questions but you all answered it with the above...have been reloading for..................ever but new to casting...i stumbled over this forum and am glad i did, great info and better folks it seems like...will be sticking around and learning...anything i can help with, just ask...tx

[Echo]

Welcome to the madness, Tx.

[corvette8n]

every time we have a party seems like there are a couple of cool whip tubs left around, I clean them up and stack them in the cellar until needed.
I swirl the boolits and dump them on wax paper until dry.

[txsnowman2k2]

thanks echo...like what i see...i WILL be askin for help/info on casting as i go along...tx