Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

[John Boy]

Nor have I ever had the LLA or Xlox fail to harden (some complain it never dries).

For those that complain ... your Mrs's hair dryer makes short work stiffening the lube up and drying

[sierra1911]

Found a couple of short cuts to making and using 45-45-10:
1. Heated the JPW on an electric hotplate outdoors right in the JPW can. Used my lead thermometer to ensure that temp never exceeded 375. Didn't need the big pan lid which I had handy to control a flare up.
2. When the boiling stopped (or changed dramatically) I dumped it into a glass measuring cup and learned I had roughly 8 oz. Dumped it back into the can.
3. Warmed two bottles of LLA and added to can.
4. Let it cool a bit and added 2 tablespoons of low odor mineral spirits (easier to add more later than remove some). Mix is closer to 45-45-6 than 45-45-10.
5. Let it cool to lukewarm sealed the can with the original lid.

Lubing bullets now consists of:
1. Putting 200-250 TL452-230-2R WD COWW boolits into a plastic bowl.
2. Standing Walmart hair dryer up in bowl on high heat and high fan. Dryer came with a 'diffuser', which is wide enough to hold dryer in vertical position.
3. Stirring boolits after 60-90 seconds and continuing to heat for another 60 seconds until they are somewhat uncomfortable to the touch.
4. Scooping a little over 1/4 teaspoon of lube from the can with a small spoon and putting on hot boolits.
5. Tumbling boolits - they will quickly melt the lube.
6. Dumping on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. As soon as they are cool the lube will be dry and loadable.

[wyattbearp]

I am using 45/45/10 with Luman 311644 over 4227 in my .308 . Lyman data says a little over 1700 fps. No leading and GREAT accuracy.

[Redhorse702]

Thank you for your post and for sharing. I just learned something... this is a great day!

[Wheeljack]

I'm trying to make some test loads and am making up 50 round batches at a time. So, I thought of lubing the 50 rounds at a time. Tumbling seems to coat all of the bullet, base, tip, ogive, etc.. For a small batch like I have, I thought that I might just smear the lube on the wax paper in the tray and roll the boolits around. This would put most of the lube in the area where it is needed the most. A little heat from a blow drier might help. Does this sound doable?

[JWFilips]

Well each to his Own: The traditional way is called tumbled lubing & it works well. Stick with it & it won't fail you. Change it up too much and you may need to start a new thread

[mikeym1a]

This is an interesting thread. It is for those who wish to do it themselves. I have a large jug of Whites 45/45/10, and like it. But, I also have at least 6 of those little bottles that lee packs with their dies. I may even make it myself, just to consolidate what's here, and to be able to say, 'I did it myself!!'.

[USAFrox]

Made my first batch last night. Checked it today, and it is hard, almost like candle wax. I must have boiled off too much of the jpw mineral spirits, or something. I'm still going to try it out, and hopefully it will still work fine, after I heat it back up to liquid consistency.

[wyattbearp]

I use 45-45-10 to tumble lube Lyman 311644 sized to .309 with aluminum gas checks that I make in my Rem 700 .308 . On top of 21g of 4227 I'm getting a little over 1700 fps with excelent accuracy (sub-MOA) and no leading. Cleans with 1 wet patch and 2 dry leaving a very shiny bore.QUOTE=Topper;718916]Excellent article.
Curious if lubing bullets this way will hold up to faster velocities, say 1700 to 1800 fps.[/QUOTE]

[Recluse]

I'm trying to make some test loads and am making up 50 round batches at a time. So, I thought of lubing the 50 rounds at a time. Tumbling seems to coat all of the bullet, base, tip, ogive, etc.. For a small batch like I have, I thought that I might just smear the lube on the wax paper in the tray and roll the boolits around. This would put most of the lube in the area where it is needed the most. A little heat from a blow drier might help. Does this sound doable?

Lot of work for absolutely zero gain. The ingredients in any tumble-lube will not contaminate the powder in your cartridge, so nothing is gained by trying to smear the lube on.

Secondly, the entire concept and reasoning as to why so many of us utilize tumble-lubing for certain boolits is that it is very quick and very efficient and very inexpensive. The only thing that even comes close to the speed and efficiency of tumble-lubing is using a Star sizer. If you cast, load and shoot a variety of boolits, as many of us do, then it helps to have a separate Star sizer set up for each caliber and style of boolit--but you're talking a LOT of money at that point--and I'm just not that serious of a shooter any more. I love reloading and casting far more than I love shooting. I basically shoot so as to have a reason to cast and reload.

Tumble-lubing works best when you keep it as simple as possible.

Virtually all new casters and reloaders want "shiny clean" boolits and try to devise all sorts of ways to get them without having to individually wipe the noses of each loaded cartridge. The majority of us quickly got past that.

Made my first batch last night. Checked it today, and it is hard, almost like candle wax. I must have boiled off too much of the jpw mineral spirits, or something. I'm still going to try it out, and hopefully it will still work fine, after I heat it back up to liquid consistency.

Just heat it up, add a little bit of mineral spirits back to it then apply it to your boolits and tumble. Far easier to work with the lube when it is too hard rather than when it is too viscous.

[olaf455]

I love reloading and casting far more than I love shooting. I basically shoot so as to have a reason to cast and reload.

I shoot to support my casting and reloading habits.

[USAFrox]

Just heat it up, add a little bit of mineral spirits back to it then apply it to your boolits and tumble. Far easier to work with the lube when it is too hard rather than when it is too viscous.

Thanks, Recluse! Will do.

[Model1952]

Thank you, Recluse for the instructions & to the Mods for making this a Sticky so long ago!

When I tumble-lubed my 1st container of boolits with my new batch of 45/45/10, I think that I experienced the same kind of magic as when I loaded my first Lee-Enfield magazine with a properly loaded charger.

A little bit really does go a long way ... and all of the boolits are pretty-evenly coated. WOW!

Thanks!

[JeffG]

Very easy and excellent instruction Recluse. I got in the JPW I ordered and made up an 8 oz batch of lube today. I cooked the JPW in the can at 275 for probably 40-45 minutes total after the wax was fully mealted, until the can was half empty then stopped. I only needed to add 1 teaspoon of mineral spirits and when it cools in the clear plastic bottle, it's a very slow moving sludge that liquifies very nicely when I put the hair dryer to it and the boolits for a minute or so. I tumble lubed them, waited about 15 minutes for them to setup a bit then pushed the TL356-124-TC through the Lee .357 sizer, then back for another round of lube. Looking very good. I will be curious to see how they shoot compared to traditional LLA once the boolits age harden for a couple weeks. Thanks again

[myg30]

For small batch you can put a half spoonful in a zip lok baggy, drop it in a cup of hot water till its liquefied, then add your boolits and mush them around till coated.
This may not be covered under tumble lubing but I didn't want to start a new thread for mush lubing with 45/45/10.

Mike

[JeffG]

For small batch you can put a half spoonful in a zip lok baggy, drop it in a cup of hot water till its liquefied, then add your boolits and mush them around till coated.
This may not be covered under tumble lubing but I didn't want to start a new thread for mush lubing with 45/45/10.

Mike

We always seem to have plenty of the Hillshire Farms sandwich meat containers around so I have several dedicated for tumble lubing. Pop the lid on and do the ole swisheroo and pour out.

[44magnum29]

How does it hold up to 44 magnum loads?

[Model1952]

I tried my 45/45/10 on a small batch of 240gr Hornady HPs over 10.5gr Unique. Chrony said the average FPS was 1069. Fired with a S&W 629-1 3". There was no leading and only a little smoke.

HTH

[FloridaFlyBoy]

Thanks Recluse This boolit newbie appreciates your step by step pictorial and analysis. Can hardly wait to try it. Thanks for your service, to our USA, THE Republic of Texas, and us boolit hobbyists.

[w5pv]

I likes to sees the smoke.I have never any leading with the 45/45/10 in any of my hand guns.The smoke I wuz jest joshing