Dusting alox lubed boolits

[softpoint]

Have thousands of commercial cast bullets for .45 ACP, got 'em years ago. They are lubed with some kind of blue lube that appears to enhance leading rather than eliminate it. I have fought with these things since I got them. I've tried boiling the lube out and re-lubing, that doesn't work well as the melt temperature of the lube is too high, I've tumble lubed 'em with some success, but the quantity of .45 acp I run on my dillon makes that a pain, too because of the alox in the seater. I've read of dusting the bullets with motor mica, or corn starch. Which is preferred? I have both. I know mica is a lube in itself, as some swaged lead bullets come with a light coat of it. Corn starch, other than for thickening gravy ,I know little about. Is it abrasive?

[Calamity Jake]

If you want to do away with that commercial lube, lay news paper on an old cookie sheet, spread the boolits on it and put a 225° oven for about 30 min. That hard lube will melt off and be soaked up by the paper. Let em cool then relube.

Dusted aloxed boolits will still build up lube in your seater.

You may want to anneal those hard commercial boolits, if so then replace them on the cookie sheet and in oven at 400° for one hour then turn off the oven and let cool inside.
I did this to some commercial 38's given to me that still leaded after replacing the lube, softer + different lube stopped the leading.

[First Big Foot]

Hi Softpoint:
I have been lubing my home cast bullets with Lee Liquid Alox for about 15 years. Stick the bullets in a baggie, then squirt half an oz or so over them, then "masage them around until evenly coated. Dump in disposable pie tin and Place in oven at 107 degrees, (my pilot keeps it there perpetualy). After dry, (about 24 hours), Size the bullets, (they might be leading because they could be a bit too big), and repeat the baggie process for a second coat, and dry well. (Be sure to lube BEFORE sizing.)

I do 9mm, .44, .45, and 30-30 this way. The .44 and 30-30 get gas checks prior to the second coats, during the sizing. Two or three hundred bullets in an afternoon and NO leading.

In Your Service:
First Big Foot

[Freightman]

I use talcum powder on Alox they also smell good when shooting.

[mtgrs737]

I use talcum powder on Alox they also smell good when shooting.

Is the talcum powder abrasive?

[Jumbopanda]

I heard somewhere that talc is abrasive while mica is not. I don't know for sure if that's true, but I decided to stick with the mica anyway. I got a 1lb bag (a LOT of mica) for $16 on Ebay.

[softpoint]

I have some dusted with mica, they do feel much less sticky, We'll see how that goes, if they still gum up the seater, I'll try putting them in the oven and then re-lubing. Problem with that is the darn things are bevel base. BIG bevel base. Then there's the mess in the sizer!They actually shoot pretty good with light loads and a coat of LLA. They are hard as chinese arithmetic though, and loaded without the LLA on them they leave leading in the barrel that is tough to clean out.

[RayinNH]

softpoint, as Calamity Jake said these will gum up your boolit seater so keep an eye on boolit seating depth, it can get away from you quickly. Unlike Jake though I'm not sure I'd cook them in the wife's oven for an hour while she's home...Ray

[chuebner]

I use wax paper for drying alox lubed boolits. When dry I lightly sprinkle cornstarch baby powder on the boolits and use the paper to roll them around until dusted. The cornstarch is light enough to eliminate the stickiness of the alox and prevents lube buildup in my seating dies.

charlie

[geargnasher]

Some quick answers: Talc is at the very bottom of the Mohs scale of hardness, with diamonds being at the top.

cornstarch isn't any more abrasive than powder soot.

If you're having to add mica, talc, or cornstarch to make your LLA boolits not sticky, try this: Mix LLA with and equal part JPW fresh from the can, add an additional 10% mineral spirits, warm very gently to mix. Use as you would straight LLA. You will find it coats thinner, much less sticky, dries in a couple of hours, and reduces seater fouling 1000%. Oh, yeah, and as a bonus it leaves your barrel shiny and you can in some cases up the velocity a bit over straight LLA without leading.

Gear

[softpoint]

I'm going to try that LLA-JPW mix, too. Ihave a couple of Ranch dog molds, and they are designed for LLA, They don't give me as much problem as the pistol rounds, though, because I don't load them on a progressive

[Three44s]

I use LLA thinned with mineral spirits and some moly powder thrown in for good measure. Upon treatment, the boolits get placed base down on a sheet of wax paper to dry.

The mica powder does certainly reduce stickiness as well.

And I have had good results applying LLA to bullets lubed and sized conventionally that otherwise insist upon leading. LLA added ....... leading stopped.

Three 44s

[NuJudge]

Regarding lube build-up, the Dillon Seating dies can be disassembled to clean, without losing adjustment. If I'm using Tumble Lube bullets, I use the Dillon seat die.

CDD

[Rocky Raab]

It seems to help a lot if I dust my bullets with mica well after the LLA has dried. Weeks later is not too long. I don't dust some of them until just before I load them, and that works very well indeed. It definitely keeps down the die buildup, make the exposed lead non-sticky and might even help as barrel lube.

[1990notch]

I read that mica is sometimes used as an abrasive for toothpaste. I'd like to use it but don't want to use anything abrasive. My impression is that talc is less abrasive than mica. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Melt them down and pour your own, be done with the 101 ways to try to make them work.

[geargnasher]

I read that mica is sometimes used as an abrasive for toothpaste. I'd like to use it but don't want to use anything abrasive. My impression is that talc is less abrasive than mica. Does anyone know if this is true?

Again, talc is at the BOTTOM of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Diamonds are at the top.

Mica is not motor mica. Mica is the term for a certain group of shiny, scaly silicates. Motor mica is an industry term for extremely fine powdered graphite, which is a dry lubricant and perfectly safe for shooting. Many smokeless powder kernels are coated with graphite.

Gear

[1990notch]

Again, talc is at the BOTTOM of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Diamonds are at the top.

Mica is not motor mica. Mica is the term for a certain group of shiny, scaly silicates. Motor mica is an industry term for extremely fine powdered graphite, which is a dry lubricant and perfectly safe for shooting. Many smokeless powder kernels are coated with graphite.

Gear

Thanks for clearing up the mica question. I though mica was mica, didn't know there was a difference with motor mica.

[dominicfortune00]

Years ago I bought a Lyman case care kit, and in it was a small tube of motor mica to lube case necks before resizing.

It didn't look anything like graphite, it looked like ground up, powder fine white mica.

AFAIK, motor mica is just mica ground up very fine, like powdered sugar in consistency.

Real mica, that you might find in North Carolina while hunting for sapphires, is a translucent mineral that is found in flat sheets of varying sizes.

It is stacked together like the pages of a book, and can be peeled apart one layer at a time.

[Echo]

Unlike Jake though I'm not sure I'd cook them in the wife's oven for an hour while she's home...Ray

I'm VERY sure that I will NEVER cook lubed boolits in SWMBO's oven! Carrumba! Alox aroma wafting in from the reloading room is bad enough...