Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

[garbear]

Made my first batch. This is what I did and I hope it works. I melt one tube of jpw. once it was hot an smoking. I measure out 12 oz then add 3 alox tubes that I heated in the microwave because they were stiff. I did't have any mineral spirits on hand actually I couldn't find my can. Any way I have it in the empty alox bottles and had a bunch left over that went int eh mason jar. I put the bottles in the frig to cool. I think that there will be enough mineral spirits left in the JPW that I'll be alright.figure I can add it if I need it. I'll post how it work. Thanks Recluse
Garbear

[kelbro]

Made my first batch. This is what I did and I hope it works. I melt one tube of jpw. once it was hot an smoking. I measure out 12 oz then add 3 alox tubes that I heated in the microwave because they were stiff. I did't have any mineral spirits on hand actually I couldn't find my can. Any way I have it in the empty alox bottles and had a bunch left over that went int eh mason jar. I put the bottles in the frig to cool. I think that there will be enough mineral spirits left in the JPW that I'll be alright.figure I can add it if I need it. I'll post how it work. Thanks Recluse
Garbear

Yes, it will be much easier to thin it later than to thicken it.

[Texxut]

Recluse,
I understand the lube/size/lube method. And have mixed up the LLA/JPW/MS lube.

What if you are adding a gas check during the sizing, now you have lube under the gas check. Will the gas check stay put?

So I'm using 190grn (RCBS 30-180-sp) WW cast bullet, lube/size-gas checked/lube, in an '06. How fast could I expect to push this with out leading problems?

[Recluse]

Recluse,

What if you are adding a gas check during the sizing, now you have lube under the gas check. Will the gas check stay put?

So I'm using 190grn (RCBS 30-180-sp) WW cast bullet, lube/size-gas checked/lube, in an '06. How fast could I expect to push this with out leading problems?

I use nothing but the Lee push-through sizers (or ones made by any one of our excellent machinists here at Cast Boolits) to install gas checks. Typically, I install them before I even tumble-lube them.

However, when I'm sizing down my 185 .312, which actually falls from the mold at .314, or my Lee 155 which also falls at .314 (I lap all of my molds), and I'm sizing them down to .310 or .309, I'll manually "snap" the gas checks on, then do my light first coat of tumble-lubing, size, then lube again.

As far as velocity. . . I've been seeing how fast I can push the 185 grain bullet and the 200 grain bullet out of my Savage 110 30-06.

One thing I've done that has helped quite a bit is a third coat of lube. This blend dries very fast anyways, so it's not really adding much extra time to the process. The third coat applies even more lube in the grooves, and the result is I'm up to 2000fps with the same accuracy and consistency. Powder is IMR4350.

My next venture will be to do the first coat in the traditional tumble-lubing manner, then "dip lube" the boolits for the second, and maybe third coat. Will let you know how that goes.

[nanuk]

next thing you know Recluse will be using 45/45/10 in a lubrisizer!

[Recluse]

next thing you know Recluse will be using 45/45/10 in a lubrisizer!

Already doing it! Been doing it for over a year.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

WOW ! I just read all 16 pages. I will be intersted to see how this stuff works on my 158gr. RNFP for my .357. I want to push it at least to 1200 fps. I have used this 45-45-10 at lower velocities and it has worked quite well.

[kirb]

Well I finally got around to try and cooking a batch of 45-45-10. I used a 1/2 cup of JPW when melted 1/2 cup of warmed LA and 1 Tablespoon and 1.5 teaspoon of mineral sprits. Does that sound about right; it looks about like the pictures maybe a little darker. Put it on some Ranch Dog bullets hope to find out how I did this weekend.

Kirb

[Fire_stick]

Recluse,

I finally had a chance to try your recipe yesterday. I used the mix for everything for 38 spcl +P with ac ww to 357 mag with wq ww. I shot over 200 rounds, trying some new load ideas, experimenting. Guns used were Ruger GP-100 and Puma 92.
I had Zero leading, or either I don't know what leading is. My bore sure is shiney and clean after one pass of the bore snake.

I am sold. Thanks again.

[Recluse]

WOW ! I just read all 16 pages. I will be intersted to see how this stuff works on my 158gr. RNFP for my .357. I want to push it at least to 1200 fps. I have used this 45-45-10 at lower velocities and it has worked quite well.

I load up my TL158SWC boolits to 1200fps on a regular basis with zero problems. Long as you have a good fit of boolit to bore, you'll be fine.

[res45]

Recluse

I recently started ranch dipping my Lee 150 and 170 gr. Lee 30 cal. bullets for my 30-30 using the Alox/JPW mix.

I press on the GC first, then apply a little Imperial sizing wax to the bullet with my fingers before sizing. Once I have them all sized I dip the bullets up to the lube grooves in the liquefied Alox/JPW lube and stand them on wax paper to dry. Once dry I run them back through the sizer to clean off any excess lube.

I shot about 40 rds. loaded with 28 grs. of H335 through my 30-30 over the weekend and bore came out bright and shiny and accuracy was excellent. The best thing I like is no lube on the bullets nose and my seater die stays clean. The Alox/JPW lube seem to work anyway you want to apply it on any bullet type.

[onesonek]

WOW ! I just read all 16 pages. I will be intersted to see how this stuff works on my 158gr. RNFP for my .357. I want to push it at least to 1200 fps. I have used this 45-45-10 at lower velocities and it has worked quite well.

I guess everybody has their own definition on velocity, as I consider 1200 fps low or at least modest,,,no disrespect to your thoughts Charlie. It may be high for some rounds however. But in velocity in general and the lube's performance,,, I haven't had the need to go higher with 45-45-10, but have gone as high as 1400 in the .454 and 1700 in the .45-70 , no leading issues... From previous contacts with Recluse, faster seems possible, and bore size don't seem a factor.

[Boolseye]

Recluse,
do you tumble lube those 356-120 TCs with 45-45-10, or use standard lube?
-jp

[Boolseye]

What if you are adding a gas check during the sizing, now you have lube under the gas check. Will the gas check stay put?

I've had no issues with that using the Lee C429-240SWC. Gas Check in place from loading to terminal impact.

[Digger]

Okay gentlemen , maybe a silly question here but went thru the process and have loaded up some of my Miha's 40 s+w 155 gr hp's with this lube technique and so far have been impressed as to how quickly it dries .
Have yet to go out to the range but I may be to picky ..... I have always cleaned my rounds with a little mineral spirits before they go into the box , .... so the question is ..... am I defeating the purpose of the lube by wiping of the nose ? .
I do like my ammo clean before it goes into the gun , habits ... but having used the Alox before and was not impressed with the over all process being so messy .....
Recluse's method is so simple and talk about going thru a lot of boolits fast ......

digger

[res45]

I would say no,when I ranch dip my traditional grease groove bullet using the Alox/JPW mix and size the bullet it only fills the grooves with lube. No other portion of the bullet has any lube on it.

I've tumble lubed and ranch dip TL bullets so that just the lube grooves are filled and can tell no difference in results. I think most people end up using to much TL in the first place,a light golden sheen on the bullet that dries hard shouldn't cause any issues as far as collecting dirt it tends to keep the bullet seater plug much cleaner and longer as well.

[Boolseye]

I have always cleaned my rounds with a little mineral spirits before they go into the box , .... so the question is ..... am I defeating the purpose of the lube by wiping of the nose ? .

I would not do that with tumble lubed boolits. If you're tumble lubing them as per Recluse's method, you'll just have a light sheen on the boolit and no significant amount in the grease grooves. Dousing them with mineral spirits will defeat the purpose somewhat, IMHO

[rvricaforte]

I've been reading this topic for quite sometime now. Here in the Philippines I was able to obtain JPW from the local branch of Ace Hardware and LLA from one of the gunstores. Only problem is that mineral spirits is not readily available. Can I substitute paint or laquer thinner to the mineral spirits in this formula? Also, can I also use this lube for non TL cast bullets?

[zxcvbob]

Use paint thinner, or maybe K1 kerosene. (I wonder how turpentine would do?)
Yes, it works fine for "normal" cast bullets.

[MikeS]

Hey, I've been wondering, I see in this thread that some folks have to heat up their lube before they can tumble lube their boolits, so I what would happen if you were to take a similar amount of say NRA 50/50 lube, melted it down, then after heating the boolits on a hot plate, if you went ahead and tumble lubed them with the melted 50/50?

I did something similar to this with some 225gr .457 boolits I cast to shoot in my Ruger Old Army, I squirted out about a 2" long line of TC Bore Butter, melted it in a microwave, then tumble lubed these boolits with it. After it cooled off, it didn't really get hard, as it's not hard to start with, but now they have as fairly even coating of bore butter on them as a starting point (once loaded into the revolver, they will have the cylinders filled with bore butter just as if they were round balls).