Lee Alox...opinions?

[Tedly]

I'm new to cast boolits and am now starting to buy and use Lee push thru sizers cause the Uncle's stuff is worn...boolits sized are out of round. The Lee sizers come with Alox in each kit and it seems to shoot as well as the other sizer applied lubes I've used or even my homemade pan lube. Is this good stuff or is it just my imagination? Thanks, Tedly

[2wheelDuke]

Lots of people report good results from Lee's liquid Alox. I've got a few bottles from ordering push-thru sizers. I'm currently using Recluse's recipe of LLA mixed with Johnson's Paste Wax and a tiny splash of mineral spirits.

There's been plenty of discussion about the LLA/JPW mix on the site, and many people are fans.

[geargnasher]

Works pretty good as a metal preservative :kidding:

Gear

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

45/45/10 is so easy to use compared to all other lubes
and dries fairly quick compared to straight alox.
I've have good luck with it in light to moderate pistol rounds.
I plan on using it on rifle rounds, others here have had succes with that.
Jon

[mdi]

If it's put on too thick it will not dry, clog your seating die, and smoke when shot. Thin 25% or so with mineral spirits and it's fine; no clog, no smoke, dries OK...

BTW; buy your alox from Lar's White Lable Lubes. Better service, better vendor, better price.

[NuJudge]

I don't really like the stuff, but I use it some.

I have one pistol that does not feed well with conventional grooved & greased bullets, but does well with Lee Liquid Alox lubed, probably because the lube on the nose assists feeding.

I use it on the noses of some "bore rider" type cast bullets used in rifles.

Do pay attention to whether the stuff is building up in your seating dies. It will give you incrementally deeper seating, which will screw up your crimping and give you greater and greater pressures.

Generally, I get my best results from the NRA formula: 50% Alox 2138F/50% Beeswax

[nes4ever69]

If you let it sit in a cool basement, takes a really long time to dry. And remember to clean your dies out every once in awhile, it does build up. I have had no problems.

[Jerry11826]

Can't comment on how it works for rifle or hot handgun loads. But for light handgun loads (less than 1,000 FPS) its not just the best thing, its the only thing.

Cut it (ALOX or XLOX) 50/50 or up to 60/40 alox/clear mineral spirits and pour over bullets. This prevents over lubing. Drain off and recyle excess. I generally lube 500 - 1,000 in about two minutes. Let dry, the light coat will dry rapidly. When fired the bullets will not lead your barrel.

Like it so much I plan to sell my "Star stuff" in the near future.

Good luck,

Jerry

[noylj]

I have never really noticed the smoke, but I know that LLA has started to aggravate my bronchial tubes after a long day of shooting (could be psychosomatic after reading all the complaints).
All my lead bullets are lubed with it, but in the future I will try the JPW/LLA. I have never had a lube that worked so well and was so easy to apply. I really don't know about the "tacky" complaints, since I don't carry my ammunition in a lint-filled pocket and I have never had a seating die so gummed up that it affected the COL by more than 0.003".

[357shooter]

It can work well, but does smoke a bunch when shooting over 1,000FPS (that's 90% of my shooting). Never had good results with it mixed/thinned or with light coats; so I tended to use it a applied heavier than others. That's probably why it smoked so much and clogged the seating die badly.

So it does work, but no better than conventional lube. It's not my favorite and I don't use it anymore. This is loading for handguns, no rifle experience here.

[cajun shooter]

Jerry11826, I would like to be first in line for a heads up pm when you decide to sell your Star Equipment. I will even give you all the Lee Alox that I have from different buys. I don't use it nor do I plan to ever do so as I'm a 100% BP shooter. I make my own lube or use NASA for all my shooting.

[unclebill]

If it's put on too thick it will not dry, clog your seating die, and smoke when shot. Thin 25% or so with mineral spirits and it's fine; no clog, no smoke, dries OK...

yep
i like how easy it is to use.
but it stinks.

[2wheelDuke]

yep
i like how easy it is to use.
but it stinks.


LLA does have a distinctive smell to it. And my garage/utility room usually reeks of it because I've got boolits drying.

[35remington]

It's a good lube for relatively low demand cast bullet shooting, which encompasses a surprisingly large amount of cast bullet use. It is possible to get good results with a gascheck and a suitable bullet at relatively high velocity. Used with moderate velocity plainbase bullets in rifles, good results can be had, especially combined with other things that are correct for the gun.

Don't necessarily believe dire predictions of worthlessness. 'Taint necessarily so, depending upon your needs. It may work just fine.

For non tumble lube bullets and pistols, leading is sometimes greater than desirable but accuracy is still good. Depends upon how much gets scraped off in seating. Some smooth sided bullets lose a large percentage of lube on contact surfaces in this step.

If it was as bad as some claim, White Label wouldn't be offering a cheaper version of it. I use it a fair amount myself, especially when laziness and convenience match applicability.

A lot of guys like to take shots at it here, being of the Lube Cognoscenti crowd. Their opinion don't make it a bit less useful as I'm sure it can't read too well.

It just does what it does.

[evan price]

I didn't believe it. The first cast boolits I tumble lubed were a sticky, gloppy mess and I had to roll them in graphite. Then I discovered that less is more. All you need is to just see a bit of the brown color in the lube grooves.

If the whole bullet looks brown you are WAAAAY overdoing it. Once I cut back on about 75% of the amount of ALOX I was using the stuff started working like a treat.

I recently worked up a tumble-lubed 240-gr SWC in my Ruger with light ALOX lubing and it left the bore cleaner than when I started. Was going about 1000 fps or so with 8 gr. of Alliant PROMO.

[unclebill]

I didn't believe it. The first cast boolits I tumble lubed were a sticky, gloppy mess .

me too
they looked like elk turds....:wink:

[steg]

I don't size the boolits I shoot, so alox fills the bill for me, I do dilute it a little with mineral spirits though, works for me....................................steg

[cajun shooter]

My opinion of NASA has nothing to do with any person, it didn't keep you from saying a word about Lar's White Label so in a way you are talking about yourself. White label lubes are some of the best. When they produced the BP Supreme lube I purchased it also. Dan happens to make a lube that works in my guns and to support my fellow members I purchase from him. I also make and use my own lube over 50% of the time. When I ran out of mutton tallow to make it, guess who sent me tallow for free so that I could make more?My reason for using it and NASA is that I only shoot 100% Black Powder. ALOX will turn my barrel into one huge glob of a crusty goo that is not fun to remove as far as all accounts go. I buy from Randy Rat, Pat Marlin and Muddy Creek Sam also. They are good members from which to purchase products. I forgot to mention Gussy and his lead tester the Cabine Tree. I think it is wrong to take cheap shots at a member when you don't know anything about who they are or what they do. You have yourself a nice day

[JudgeBAC]

I like it with tumble lube boolits 9mm lee TL and Ranch Dog 432-265. The ranch dog is shot in a .44 mag at about 1200 fps and it works great.

LLA also works well for me with hard cast commercial bullets at lower velocity. I have a bunch of commercial cast boolits that I paid ridiculously low prices for but boiling out the crayon lube and relubing in a sizer is too much trouble. Pour a little LLA on them and no leading at lower velocity.

In a few applications, I also add LLA after sizing and lubing in a sizer. Ex. LBT 250 gr. .41 boolit in a .41 mag. In order to get this boolit to chamber in my gun, it must be sized .410. Without LLA I get a little leading. Adding LLA eliminates the leading all together.

[keyhole]

I first used Lee Liquid Alox with their bullet for the 8 X 56R. Very pleased with the accuracy, as good as military or commercial ammo at 100 yds. Then I tried it with a 150 gr. Lee RN in a Kimber .38 Super. I know this is a bullet not really intended for the .38 Super but it works for me. Anyway, I've done fairly detailed comparisons of this bullet sized with Lee push thru die with LLA and also sized in Lyman 450 with NRA formula-type stick lube. At 25 yds. could not tell any difference. Did not notice excessive smoke with Unique and AA7 powders. Accuracy was not related to lube-type, as best as I could tell. All groups fired off hand, two handed. I repeated the test over several range sessions, to try and eliminate me the shooter as a factor. Since the LLA and Lee sizing die is faster for me, I intend to size all of these 150 gr RN bullets for the .38 Super this way.
as always, your results may vary...

[EDK]

I didn't believe it......All you need is to just see a bit of the brown color in the lube groove......

I recently worked up a tumble-lubed 240-gr SWC in my Ruger with light ALOX lubing and it left the bore cleaner than when I started. Was going about 1000 fps or so with 8 gr. of Alliant PROMO.

The RANCH DOG TLC 432 265 was my first mould for tumble lube and ALOX. It was primarily intended for my 44 Cowboy Rifles, BUT I had to try it in various VAQUEROS. Shoot 4-to-6 rounds at the end of a shooting session and the barrel is immaculate. My usual loads are 6 to 7 grains of TITEGROUP or HP38 in 44 magnum brass with a variety of boolit designs and weights.

The next experiment will be to tumble lube boolits already sized and lubed in the STAR to see if they eliminate the minor leading I'm having in the 44s. I'm beginning to think I need to fire lap one or two of them and see if it cures the minor---aggravating mostly---leading I'm getting with an assortment of lubes, sizing dies and diameters.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[unclebill]

i just shot 20 rounds of .454 casull .325gc boolits on top of 25 grains of imr 4227.
no leading.

[Tom W.]

The stuff works well. I use it when I have a boolit that I have no lubrisizer die for, such as all of my 30 and 357 caliber boolits. I too had to learn the hard way that what looks good is waaaay to much, and it will gum up the seating dies. When applied properly, there are very little problems.
Plus, anything that you get from White Lable Lubes is great, and inexpensive!

[unclebill]

The stuff works well. I use it when I have a boolit that I have no lubrisizer die for, such as all of my 30 and 357 caliber boolits. I too had to learn the hard way that what looks good is waaaay to much, and it will gum up the seating dies. When applied properly, there are very little problems.
Plus, anything that you get from White Lable Lubes is great, and inexpensive!

a long time ago i bought a quart? (big jug) of the W.L.
thats gonna last me forever.