HELP I have a mess with liquid ALOX

[twally]

I have had my Alox lubed boolits drying now for 24 hours and they are still sticky.

What can I do to salvage the boolits?

[Rocky Raab]

Unless the temp is just too low for the volatiles to evaporate, you used too much.

You can swish them in mineral spirits and then spread them out again. That should still leave enough LLA to work.

[twally]

Thank's Rockey

I'll do that, I am going to run them through the sizer and then give them one more coat of liquid Alox as per instructions the came with the Lee sizing die.

[Shiloh]

I'd run them through the sizer if need be, and then stir with a few table spoons of mineral spirits only. That ought to be sufficient to lube the areas swaged clean of lube.

What kind of boolits are these?? Do you know how fast you will be running them??
I have run Alox lubed boolits at 1200 with a very light coat of alox only. No leading.

Shiloh

[Rocky Raab]

Perfect. Do exactly as Shiloh suggests in his first paragraph.

Next time, put your bullets (up to 200 or so) in your plastic tub. With your bottle of LLA, "write" one large N quickly atop the bullets. That is plenty LLA. Really.

Swirl thoroughly, spread on waxed paper in a warm place overnight. Done.

[hoosierlogger]

You could always add more boolits and some mineral spirits and swish them again.

[AriM]

welcome to LLA.....thinning it with a fast evaporating carrier is truly sage advice....the LLA will never fully harden on it's own....well not never, but it would certainly take many weeks of exposure to dry warm air.....been where you are at, kind of frustrating.....even more frustrating is trying to get that stuff out of your dies....yuck

you might consider melting just a tiny bit of paraffin over the heated boolits....it will help harden the coating....just do it very sparingly and make sure the boolits are hot enough to get an even coat.....

if it's all too much trouble, try out "rooster jacket".....it's an excellent product, and much easier to apply than LLA

[twally]

I'd run them through the sizer if need be, and then stir with a few table spoons of mineral spirits only. That aught to be sufficient to lube the areas swaged clean of lube.

What kind of boolits are these?? Do you know how fast you will be running them??
I have run Alox lubed boolits at 1200 with a very light coat of alox only. No leading.

Shiloh

Shiloh
These are .40 175gr boolits that will shoot at around 950fps. Ihave read a sticky about alox and it mentioned mixing with Johnson paste wax and ms. I asked a few questions about it but haven't got a reply yet.

I think I need to size them since they droped at around .402-.403 but they were really gooy so I splashed some mineral spirits on them and stired them up and they look a lot better, I'll see if they are dry by morning.

If this alox method works well I would like to try for .357also, but first I need to figure it out with the .40, this is my first cast boolit batch as well as lubing.

[Rocky Raab]

LLA works great, twally - but everybody uses too much at first. It's hard to believe how little you really need. You should see only the faintest "honey" color after they're swirled.

For the mix, melt LLA and JPW about 50/50 over low heat (I use a candle warmer and the mix never gets over 160*) then stir in some mineral spirits. The final mix will be 40/40/20 or 45/45/10 or near that. It isn't critical at all. Store in a squeeze ketchup bottle you can get at any dollar store.

I shoot .30-30 at 2000 fps with just LLA or the mix - never a problem.

[bigboredad]

I use the mix that rocky told you about and i also warm the boolits p with a hair drier and that really speeds up drying time

[twally]

LLA works great, twally - but everybody uses too much at first. It's hard to believe how little you really need. You should see only the faintest "honey" color after they're swirled.

For the mix, melt LLA and JPW about 50/50 over low heat (I use a candle warmer and the mix never gets over 160*) then stir in some mineral spirits. The final mix will be 40/40/20 or 45/45/10 or near that. It isn't critical at all. Store in a squeeze ketchup bottle you can get at any dollar store.

I shoot .30-30 at 2000 fps with just LLA or the mix - never a problem.

I just read a post that jpw is no longer aviable in stores it has been discontinued,
Is there an alternitive for the JPW?

And thank's again Rocky for the advise.

Wally

[tall grass]

Wally

I still see a lot of it on the store shelves around here. I don't think that it has been discontinued but the price is a lot higher, over $6.00. It's what I use to lube most of my boolits.

Jim

[high standard 40]

JPW is nothing more than a small amount of carnauba, some paraffin, and mostly mineral spirits. All can be purchased seperatley if needed.
Here's a source for carnauba. The rest can be found just about anywhere.

http://www.thesage.com/catalog/FixedOil.html

[jbunny]

mini wax brand floor polish works for me
jb

[geargnasher]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

Read and follow directions, you will find happiness with LLA.

Gear

[Shiloh]

Shiloh
These are .40 175gr boolits that will shoot at around 950fps. Ihave read a sticky about alox and it mentioned mixing with Johnson paste wax and ms. I asked a few questions about it but haven't got a reply yet.

I think I need to size them since they droped at around .402-.403 but they were really gooy so I splashed some mineral spirits on them and stired them up and they look a lot better, I'll see if they are dry by morning.

If this alox method works well I would like to try for .357also, but first I need to figure it out with the .40, this is my first cast boolit batch as well as lubing.

I opened my LEE sixe die to .4025 or so. My 40's shoot fine after running through this die and Tumble Lubing. 950 fps is fine. You could bump them if need be but that sounds good to me.

Keep the alox on the light side. As already started, at first one tends to pu it on WAY to heavy and thick. A thin, light coat is all that is needed.

Shiloh

[Vance in Ak]

I've only used it a few times as I'm just getting into casting, but I'll echo what the others said about making sure you use just a minimal amount. I also cut mine with just a touch of mineral spirits to mak it a bit thinner (I'm using Xlox from Lars45. I hear it's a touch thicker). Dries overnight in my 60* basement.
I intend to try the formula the geargnasher mentions sometime just for fun (seemed to work fine straight). I already picked up the Johnson's paste wax. Lots of it around here.

[DLCTEX]

Ace Hardware still had JPW the last time I looked. $ 6.00 buys enough to last a very long time.

[twally]

I found it ACE Hardware had the jpw.

[35remington]

"LLA will never fully harden on it's own....well not never, but it would certainly take many weeks of exposure to dry warm air"

Ahem.

If you've found this to be true, you're doing it incorrectly.

I can get them to dry adequately to the point that they're ready to be loaded in 24 hours or so.

If I can do it, anyone can.