Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

[BouseBill]

Well I must admit something went right for a change Finally got to go out and do some shooting with the .357 loaded up with Lee’s TL358-158-SWC lightly bathed in RECLUSE’S Lube! Was most pleased with the performance of the JPW and LLA on the bullets. The barrel of my S&W Model 28-2 was the cleanest it has been shooting cast bullets. Just a very light touch of something dirty right at the start of the lands and groves on one quadrant and the rest of the barrel was clean. Followed the instructions for one real light coat, size, another real light coat and SHOOT.
Shooting was the most fun of course.
Now, if the 45ACP shooting 220gr LRN will come out just as clean I’ll be one happy camper

Thanks guys for all your expertise and information.

Bill

P.S. the barrel was real easy to clean also.

[Lonerider]

Been following this discussion for a while. Just recieved my 462-465 GC mold from BABore and planning on casting in a couple of weeks.

Recluse I have a couple of questions:

1. I live in SW Montana, things can be cool for a very, very long time, sometimes, below zero for a month or so, during the winter and during hunting season. I read an earlier post about, not wanting the lube to freeze.....so, how willl that effect my boolit with the 45-45-10 lube in my Guide Gun on those very cool days....should I be concerned, with the lube freezin on the boolit during hunting season?

2. I see where you L-S-L, using two light coats instead of one heavy application.....I will be using Gas Checks on my BABore boolits, so I wondering if I tumble lube them a second time, what is going to prevent the GC from coming off during the second tumbling session?

Lonerider

[Recluse]

Been following this discussion for a while. Just recieved my 462-465 GC mold from BABore and planning on casting in a couple of weeks.

Recluse I have a couple of questions:

1. I live in SW Montana, things can be cool for a very, very long time, sometimes, below zero for a month or so, during the winter and during hunting season. I read an earlier post about, not wanting the lube to freeze.....so, how willl that effect my boolit with the 45-45-10 lube in my Guide Gun on those very cool days....should I be concerned, with the lube freezin on the boolit during hunting season?

2. I see where you L-S-L, using two light coats instead of one heavy application.....I will be using Gas Checks on my BABore boolits, so I wondering if I tumble lube them a second time, what is going to prevent the GC from coming off during the second tumbling session?

Lonerider

First off, I envy you for where you live. I spent some time roaming around SW Montana and W/NW Wyoming on the back of a horse in my younger years. Older I get, the more nostalgic I get.

I've never had the lube freeze on me. Stiffen up, yes, but freeze no. Generally, my challenge down here in Texas is extreme heat rather than extreme cold. However, I have done some testing of the lube and boolits up in northern Maine during a late January. Tested in .357 Magnum.

I left my S&W Model 686 outside in the camp's covered porch. I grew up calling them cabins, but up there they refer to them as camps. Same thing.

The gun was extremely cold. I use Mobile 1 synthetic oil for my gun lubricants, and the 686 had no problem operating. I fired three cylinders at a range of 25 meters and noticed no change in accuracy or performance. Checking the barrel once back inside (and warm! I'm not a cold-weather person), looked just like it always does--little powder residue and mainly shiny and clean.

Basically, I noticed zero change.

As far as the gas checks falling off? I install the gas checks before I lube using an appropriate size Lee push-through sizer. If you don't have one or Lee doesn't make one for the exact size you're looking for, contact Buckshot--he does fantastic work--and he can make you one.

Once the gas checks are installed on a tumble-lube boolit, I've never had one come off from the light swirling action of tumble-lubing, so I wouldn't worry about that.

[Lonerider]

Thanks Recluse, thats what I needed to know. Will give it a try in the next week or so. We certainly can get below 0 degrees for a long time, towards the end of hunting season. Just did not want an unplanned obstruction in my barrel, from frozen lube.

As for the GC's, I will just have to try it and see what happens.
If you get up this way, let me know. I have a spare 'man cave' for visitors. Not much, but it works.

Lonerider

[CiDirkona]

I have my mix at about 60/30/10, and it stays solidified. I scrape a chunk off the top with a baby spoon, drop it on top of the pile o bullets and hit it with a heatgun for 3-4 seconds to melt it down.

1 can o' JPW, melted down to 1/4 original volume
1 4oz bottle of Lee Alox





My atypically dry mix:

[Shooter]

Thanks Recluse. This may end my sticky boolit woes, and speed up production.

[HighRoad]

Please excuse my anal-retentiveness, but how exactly do you go about measuring the 3 components? I suspect the LLA and the mineral spirits are a liquid measure. But for the JPW, is that a dry measure raked off?

[fryboy]

Please excuse my anal-retentiveness, but how exactly do you go about measuring the 3 components? I suspect the LLA and the mineral spirits are a liquid measure. But for the JPW, is that a dry measure raked off?

nope ...while the JPW is a semi solid at room temp it becomes liquid with heat ( altho i accidently simmered one can down to the thickest paste ever that dries erm cools like a rock type substance a bit of heat and it's liquid again

[HighRoad]

nope ...while the JPW is a semi solid at room temp it becomes liquid with heat

So for clarification, if I'm making a total of 9 oz of lube, I going to first cook down the JPW to a liquid and then measure off 4 oz of that as my first 45% component.

Is that right?

[fryboy]

close .... the cooking part of the JPW is to remove most the excess solvent , once that is gone then u measure , merely heating the JPW up turns it into a liquid , some have used it without cooking it down ( some also merely use JPW and no other lube ) usually from what i recall tho it comes out thinner that way , that can i cooked all the solvent out of made some thick lube i'm saving for a special project ( lube stix w/beeswax ) once u cook off most the solvent then u can add mineral spirits as needed to help control viscosity ,it's much easier to add it in later if needed than to remove it later btw

[HighRoad]

Fryboy, Sent you a PM

[Boolseye]

Thank you, Recluse! look forward to trying it.

[zxcvbob]

Should the boolits be warm or cold when applying this stuff?

[merlin101]

WOW I read all 12 pages, I guess I gotta start reloading or sumthin! I will be off to get some JPW in the am and looking forward to trying this out. Thank you Recluse and every one else for asking the questions so I don't have to.

[Recluse]

Should the boolits be warm or cold when applying this stuff?

Seeing as how you live in Minnesota and it's been known to get cold there, if you're lubing your boolits and the ambient temperature is at or below say 50/55 F or so, wouldn't hurt to run a heat gun or blow dryer over the boolits for a bit before doing the first tumble-lube.

The second light coating. . . it doesn't really matter. You already have a base coat of lube for the second coat to adhere to.

And as always, make sure the lube is warm for good viscosity.

[zxcvbob]

Thanks. That's what I did.

I was afraid if the boolits were cold (and they were) the lube would freeze up before I got it distributed. So I warmed them on a hotplate turned all the way down until they were quite warm but not uncomfortably so.

[Hondo 60]

This thread may have started a year ago, but it's very good information.

Thank you recluse for taking the time to help us noobs.

[Thecyberguy]

Recluse,
I just read all 237 posts in this thread.

I think it is all great info, but this is the 2nd time I have read it and way back the first time, I missed the fact that it takes about 20 minutes to cook the JPW to the point you want it.

Plus it is half way through all the post before I could find if the measurements are by volume or weight. I did find that measurements are all measured liquid and the JPW is liquid AFTER cooking down.

It would be great if you could go back to the first page and add in these little details , so they are right in the beginning with the other info and pictures.

At any rate...thank you for moving tumble lubing into the fast lane...I have yet to try it, but I have my ingredients and it is on my list.
Thanks again for a great idea and thanks for taking the time to experiment with this and helping the rest of us.
Have a good 'un, TCG

[Thecyberguy]

2nd time today my computer did a double post in here.

[Recluse]

Recluse,
I just read all 237 posts in this thread.

I think it is all great info, but this is the 2nd time I have read it and way back the first time, I missed the fact that it takes about 20 minutes to cook the JPW to the point you want it.

Plus it is half way through all the post before I could find if the measurements are by volume or weight. I did find that measurements are all measured liquid and the JPW is liquid AFTER cooking down.

It would be great if you could go back to the first page and add in these little details , so they are right in the beginning with the other info and pictures.

Done.

For some reason, I thought after 30 days, you couldn't go back and edit an original post, so I never bothered.

When I wrote that up and put it together a year ago, I never expected it to get over 20,000 views. I figured maybe a couple hundred and then it would fade. . .