Lube not staying in grooves

[longinosoap]

Got a Lyman 45 in what I thought was a good deal-$60 delivered to my mail box. Bought RCBS 429 die and top punch. Lube is 40% beeswax, 60% lard with olive and canola oil added. Bullets are cast from Lee 429 mould.

Lube is as soft or softer than SPG. However, I cannot get it to stick in the grooves. I adjusted the stop up and down (all the way) stopping at points in between. Lube squeezes out the top and bottom of the die, making a mess, but none in the grooves. Bullets are swaged, but alas, no lube. I have always tumble lubed with LLA but going to black powder. Pan lubing didn't work either as the lube wouldn't stay in the groove when I punched them out. Made a punch cutter out of a case and that helped, but a royal PITA. I can use my finger and the lube stays in the grooves.

Thought a lube sizer would be the answer, but so far no luck. The only thing I can figure is the lube grooves in the Lee mould are not very big and the lube is not sticking in them. Any advice is appreciated.

[Cmm_3940]

I'd guess your lube is too soft. I use a stiffer lube , along with a heater. When I get it too warm, it doesn't stay in the grooves. This happens most often with the Lee molds that have two small grooves instead of one big one.

[waksupi]

Add more beeswax.

[Springfield]

For my BP loads, which is most of them, I like 6 parts Beeswax, 2 parts paraffin and 2 parts 2 stroke oil. It is firm but soft, and just sticky enough to stay in place. And a larger lube groove will not only help the current problem, but will also probably work better keeping the fouling down with BP. Accurate Molds makes some nice 44 BP bullet moulds. For what it is worth, I took first place in my class using 44-40's at the 2014 California Blackpowder Shoot-out, so I do have SOME experience in this area.

[retread]

Add more beeswax.

Agree with that. I made a pile of homemade concoctions, some worked and a lot didn't. Now I buy TAC-1 and Tac-X here on the forum from randyrat. Great stuff, good price and no mess. Works for me!!

[longinosoap]

I added beeswax to stiffen it up. Haven't had a chance to try it yet. Will see tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

Springfield-just getting into BP after shooting subs for several years. Going to try it using what I have without spending more $$. If I decide to go full time with the real deal will definitely take a look at a new mould. Thanks.

[leftiye]

Tain't sticky enough.

[longinosoap]

So leftiye, how would ya "sticky" it up?

[leftiye]

Lucas red & tacky, vaseline, stp, maybe assembly goo, something like that. Lithium grease seems to work well. Be careful not to use too much or your lube will be too soft.

[randyrat]

Add 1-2 ounces of Lanolin/pound of lube will work along with warming your lead bullets a bit just before lubing.

Be careful when adding Petroleum base ingredients to Vegetable base grease/ oils you could make a mess.

[Cmm_3940]

Add 1-2 ounces of Lanolin/pound of lube will work along with warming your lead bullets a bit just before lubing.

Be careful when adding Petroleum base ingredients to Vegetable base grease/ oils you could make a mess.

A small amount of liquid dish soap may help in that last case, depending on the circumstance.

[fredj338]

I think you may have too many lubes, try dropping one or two. BW by itself is sticky, so go with that & one oil.

[Old Jim]

The petroleum based "wax" currently used in toilet bowl rings is some super sticky stuff. I use it with soy wax and a dab of vegetable shortening in my black powder guns.

[longinosoap]

I have tried several things since this post. I got lots of help from randyrat. He's been great as far as answering questions and dispersing wisdom. I got some lanolin from him and added that to my recipe. Great service! Very sticky but still no luck. I whipped up a batch of Emmert's using lanolin-still no go.

I have come to the conclusion that maybe it's the RCBS 429 sizing die in the Lyman 45. For some reason the lube does not get up high enough in the die to fill the grooves. It gets under the bullet, it comes out the bottom of the die, but no lube in the grooves. I have adjusted the depth up and down. At Randy's suggestion, I heated the bullets. Nothing works.

Has anyone else had issues with different brands of dies? What am I missing?

[Cmm_3940]

I have a LAM II, not a 45, but that sounds like what happens when I don't have it set deep enough. Some short pistol boolits actually required a minor alteration to allow it to adjust deep enough to get lube in the grooves. If you get it set too deep, you'll know because you'll get lube on the nose of the boolits.

[longinosoap]

I have set it deep, don't know how to get it any farther down. What is this alteration?

[Cmm_3940]

I removed the locking nut from the depth adjustment to allow more room to adjust deeper. Optional - replace the locking nut on the other side of the thingamajig. But like I said, this was on an RCBS, not a Lyman.

-Chris