Pan lube problem

[abunaitoo]

I'm trying pan lubing. It's a Lee .30 180gr gas check bullet (WW, water hardered). Hornady checks. Lar45 white lube (great guy to deal with).
I heat the lube in a double boiler. Set the bullets in the lube. Let it cool on the boiler untill I can move the pan without the bullets falling over. Let it cool untill the lube pulls from the pan. Push the bullets out from top to bottom.
Problem I'm having is most of the bullets come out without lube in the bottom lube groove. Rest of the grooves are fine. Good ones come out great.
Any suggestions?????

[klausg]

I'm a real rookie at this game, so everyone please feel free to tell me how wrong I am, but I think the bullets aren't getting hot enough. I leave mine in the molten lube until they get too hot for me to touch; like I say I'm a true rookie so I could very easily be all wet.

-SSG Klaus

[Bucks Owin]

I think you are onto something "rookie"....

Dennis

[klausg]

Bucks-don't tell me I actually had a thought that was correct; ... Whoo Hoo! I just may get the hang of this stuff, eventually. Thanks brother

-SSG Klaus

[abunaitoo]

The lube seems hot enough. It's still on the boiler when I put the bullets in. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes untill it cools enough so I can move it off the boiler.
Now that I have a cake with holes in it I'll stick bullets in the holes and heat everything on the boiler. This should make the bullets as hot as the lube.

[klausg]

I'd try leaving the boiler going with the bullets in the molten lube for 10-15 minutes, then shut down your fire; same-same when you put them in the cake, let the lube melt, then leave the heat going for another 10-15 after the lube melts. The problem is not the temp of the lube but the temp of the bullets in the lube, (I THINK). Another problem might be the relative hardness of the lube, (here I'm really stepping into uncharted waters); I haven't used Lar45, but I did have a little difficulty when I was playing w/ SAECO gold. I found if the softer SAECO lube was not cool enough, (and/or the bullets embedded in it weren't cool enough), when I started to push them out of the cake; they tended to do almost exactly what you are describing, (the other pan I was using had Thompson's Blue Angel). My not so scientific solution was to put the pan in the freezer for about 10 min, then let it come back up to room temp before I started pushing out bullets. So I'm not sure; give both a shot & see if it works; hope my meager amount of experience has been a help.
-SSG Klaus

[Bucks Owin]

Bucks-don't tell me I actually had a thought that was correct; ... Whoo Hoo! I just may get the hang of this stuff, eventually. Thanks brother

-SSG Klaus

Hey, you're doing great bro!

Here's a little device for you "cake cutter" guys. It's merely a .458 Win mag case with a slot ground into the side. That's a big ol' 310 gr .44 slug up the spout with a more "garden variety" 250 K boolit shown beside. This tool's use is obvious.
To be really fancy, I could solder some handles on it and "reinforce for rough usage" with another section of case soldered to the back side to stiffen it.
However it works fine as is and "could" be sized down to .4??" before grinding the slot...

Want a quick and easy "poorboy" sizer? Get a piece of hardwood dowel and tap the lubed bullet through your sixgun's cylinder throat......

(As I've done with the 250K) Looks good huh? (Well, except for the lousy photo!)

Not a worthy substitute for a lubrisizer, it's just free while you save up for one....

Dennis

[drinks]

My version of pan lubing is a little different, but I have very good results with it with .22 to .45 bullets.
I use a small. flat bottomed, shallow pan, sorta like a sardine can, but actually flat bottom, a 1/4 size loaf pan is about the best.
Use a hot plate with thermostat, melt enough lube in the pan to come part way up the bullet, get the lube hot enough to stay liquid but not smoke, use forceps or small needle nose pliers, place the bullets in the pan on their bases, watch, after a few seconds, the lube will climb up the bullets, remove the bullets and set them on their bases in an aluminum pie pan, after they cool, just pop the bullets off and they are ready to load.

[Bucks Owin]

My version of pan lubing is a little different, but I have very good results with it with .22 to .45 bullets.
I use a small. flat bottomed, shallow pan, sorta like a sardine can, but actually flat bottom, a 1/4 size loaf pan is about the best.
Use a hot plate with thermostat, melt enough lube in the pan to come part way up the bullet, get the lube hot enough to stay liquid but not smoke, use forceps or small needle nose pliers, place the bullets in the pan on their bases, watch, after a few seconds, the lube will climb up the bullets, remove the bullets and set them on their bases in an aluminum pie pan, after they cool, just pop the bullets off and they are ready to load.

I've read that bullet lube MUST be melted in a double boiler so as to prevent scorching which renders the lube useless.....

Not sitting in judgement, just passing the info along,

Dennis

[abunaitoo]

I tried it again. Came out the same to worse.
I put the bullets into the holes of the cake. Heated it untill everything was melted. let it cool and pushed out the bullets. Samething. Bottom groove had, at the most, half lube in it. Other grooves were fine.
I'm thinking the lube maybe to soft. I'm going to try again but add more bees wax. Let ya'all know what happends in about an hour.

[threett1]

I have a different version which works real well for me. I use a plastic dish(hard plastic) that I can put in the microwave. Have enough lube in it to come up far enough on the boolits when melted. I put it in the microwave for a couple or until lube is liquid. I then just sit the boolits in it and let it cool. I know it is cool enough when the lube is pulling away from the sides of my dish. I then turn it over and dump the cake out. Turn back over and push out from the top. Works great for me. I will say it is lube of my own making. 5 parts beeswax, 5 parts crisco, and 1 part canola oil. Killer BPC lube.

[kodiak1]

threett1 how hard is your lube once it sets?
Thanks Ken.

[threett1]

Not real hard. Kind of like the shoe polish that comes in the tins for lack of a better description. Doesn't work real good in my 41 mag but does good in lots of others like 38 special.

[Dale53]

I have an "in depth" article on pan lubing that was published in "The Single Shot Journal". Send me an e-mail and I will send you a copy.

Dale53

[Blackwater]

Don't know if this'd help, but I like adding some anhydrous lanolin to my Emmert's lube for my BPCR. Seems to help the lube stick to the bullet better when pan lubing. I can't help but wonder if a little (I use @ 6% in my BP lube) might help with LAR's lube???? Just a thought. Adding beeswax seems to me to be doubtful, but I've been wrong before. Beeswax is kinda' slickery, whereas the lanolin is very sticky. Don't think lanolin would hurt the lube at all, either, but maybe someone with experience in this can comment?

[Goatlips]

abunaitoo,

I think klausg has it right about getting the boolits the same temp as the lube so that they bond together. Dale53's offer is very much worth your while, dang betcha.

Here's another way to do it:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/panlubing.html

Bucks Owen, thanks for posting the picture of your cake cutter! I read your earlier description several times but it didn't sink into my brain pan enough that I could imagine it.

Goatlips

[abunaitoo]

Just about to give up on pan lube. Didn't work at all. Seems to be worse. I still feel the lube mught be to soft. I'm going to add some parafin to make it harder.
I've noticed that the cake was kind of hard coming out of the pan. There were spots brown goo on the pan and cake. I wonder if it's the Alox seperating out???? The cake is soft and sticky.
I've read someplace about adding some Ivory soap. Anyone know if this might help the lube fill the grooves????
I've looked around for the lanolin but can't find any.
Seems funny how the lube fills the upper grooves but not the bottom groove.

[montana_charlie]

Seems funny how the lube fills the upper grooves but not the bottom groove.

I've been wondering about that. You said you push on the nose to punch a bullet out of the cake, and the bottom groove comes out empty. Have you tried pushing a couple out from the base to see if the top groove loses the lube?

I think a cookie cutter would solve your problem...but I have never pan lubed.
CM

[abunaitoo]

I tried it again. Still no good. I'm begining to think it maybe the lube itself. Added about 1/4 of a block of parafin and the cake is still to soft to come out of the pan. Softer than the shoe polish. I'm going to try and make it harder.
I have the article from Dale53. Didn't use the lube in it. I wanted to try the Alox/beeswax lube.
I'll try pushing the bullets out from the bottom. It may help.
For those who do pan lube. What lube do you use????? I'm using the bullets for smokless powder. Rifle only. Light loads.

[ben1025]

I tried pushing bullets out of the lube. It didn't work very well for me. I use a cooky cutter. I only pan lube when experimenting with different lube. I cut off the base of a fired case and soldered it to a copper pipe. The copper pipe acts both like a handle and reservoir. The longer the pipe the more bullets it holds. Turn it up side down and the bullets fall out. ben1025