Pad Lubing?

[linotype]

Been thinking about tumble lubing in a container or bag, and how it can be messy.

Would it be practical to lube the tumble lube bullets by rolling them across a lubed pad just like lubing brass cases?
Should keep the bottom and nose of the bullet clean, and lube the sides.

Any thoughts?

[maglvr]

Makes a lot more sense than dipping them with tweezers, like I used to do, before I realized they did not have to look like a caramel apple.
Go for it!!

[mooman76]

Some do something similar. I'm not sure how the pad would work but some put a little LLA on wax or plastic coated paper. Smear it around and roll the boolits through it with a small flat object like a paint stir stick. The stand til dry. Less messy but a little more time consuming.

[onondaga]

Why not just do it right? The instructions are simple, and if you follow them it is not messy.

You can make it messy by using a bag instead of what is in the instructions. You can compound that and make even more messy by not warming the lube or thinning it per instructions.

You can handle the bullets with your hands and roll them or dip them or use a tweezers and ignore the instructions and make even more of a mess.

It is really easier and completely clean to put the boolits into a ice cream carton like the instructions say and dribble a little lube in and tumble by tilting the carton and rotating it. Then just dump the boolits on wax paper to dry per instructions.

You don't have to touch boolits with wet lube on them at all or even touch wet lube at all if you just follow the instructions. Is is categorically not messy if you follow the instructions.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c338/rhymeswithwhat/312Checked.jpg
Not one drop of lube made a mess anywhere while lubing or drying these boolits by following the instructions.

Gary

[HammerMTB]

Why not just do it right? The instructions are simple, and if you follow them it is not messy

It is categorically not messy if you follow the instructions.

Gary

So yer sayin' follow the instructions? What have we come to!
What fun is that? :kidding:
I absolutely KNOW there must be a better shape for wheels than round. Let's try and find it. [smilie=b:
OK, I just TL my boolits by the instructions. It is not near as much fun and mess, but it sure is simple and really mess free. [smilie=l:

[williamwaco]

Been thinking about tumble lubing in a container or bag, and how it can be messy.

Would it be practical to lube the tumble lube bullets by rolling them across a lubed pad just like lubing brass cases?
Should keep the bottom and nose of the bullet clean, and lube the sides.

Any thoughts?



I use a one quart zip lock bag. Depending on the bullet size, it will hold 2oo to 300 bullets.

pour in about a teaspoon of LLA and zip it up. Knead it like bread dough for about 60 to 90 seconds.

I then pour them out into an old sheet cake pan about one half inch deep.

The wet lube never touches anything but the bullets and the waxed paper in the pan.

Messy? Not!

[MikeS]

I tumble lube per the instructions, using a plastic container similar to an icecream container, only square rather than round, and I find it makes ZERO mess. At first I used to stand up each boolit onto the wax paper, but all that did was make my hands full of LLA, and didn't do a thing for the boolits, other than keep the bases from drying! Now I just dump them onto the wax paper (dump is probably the wrong word, I pour them gently onto the paper) making sure there's only one layer of boolits on the paper, and let them dry.

For me I find that tumble lubing is much cleaner than either pan lubing (although using the WaxMeister tool it's much cleaner than without it), or using a lubesizer (of the Lyman / RCBS type). I eventually want to get a Star lubesizer, as I keep hearing how great they are, and they do look like they could lube a bunch of boolits much faster than the sizers I've already mentioned.

But for cheap, easy, mess free, nothing beats tumble lubing your boolits. And you can tumble lube any style boolit, it doesn't have to be a TL style boolit.

[BCall]

Why not just do it right? The instructions are simple, and if you follow them it is not messy.

You can make it messy by using a bag instead of what is in the instructions. You can compound that and make even more messy by not warming the lube or thinning it per instructions.

You can handle the bullets with your hands and roll them or dip them or use a tweezers and ignore the instructions and make even more of a mess.


Gary

Where in Lee's instructions does it say anything about warming or thinning the lube?

Guess we all might vary from the instructions a bit.

Me I tumble quite a few in bowls, per instructions, but using 45-45-10. But I also dip lube quite a few as well. I have found I can drive them faster without leading this way. Ranchdog's method works for me. Of course, I change his method to suit me as well. Guess I was never very good at following instructions. These were dipped with no mess to speak of, except on the wax paper.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh259/blcall/SN851719.jpg

[onondaga]

Quote BCall,

"Where in Lee's instructions does it say anything about warming or thinning the lube?"

On every bottle it says,"May be thinned with mineral spirits or warm bottle in hot water"

The area you will see that is on the back of the bottle, just above the bar code.

Gary

[BCall]

Key words "MAY BE". And not in the instructions. Simply below the caution label.

I'll ask in a different way-Please show me which step in the instruction manual that says to thin or warm before use?

[onondaga]

It really doesn't say anywhere in the LLA instructions that you personally would be better off to make up your own instructions for tumble lube either. But, there should be an exception for you especially for using bowls and dipping that is not mentioned in the instructions.

If I had RD boolits, and I would love to, that dipping is something I might try if the standard instructions didn't work for me. LLA is a surface lube and not designed to fill lube grooves like pressure lube does. It is not designed to be squeezed out or flow out of lube grooves upon firing like pressure lube does. It is designed to tenaciously stick to the surface of the bullet to keep the bullet alloy from rubbing off in the barrel. LLA is a surface lube.

That tenacious stickiness to the bullet alloy is a valid argument that LLA in the lube grooves is wasted lube and unnecessary as it isn't likely to ever touch the barrel at all because it is stuck to the boolit alloy tenaciously in the groove and doesn't flow like pressure lube does..

It is possible that 45:45:10 may have some flow capability that LLA doesn't have and that 45:45:10 may be able to flow out of lube grooves, I haven't seen that proven or demonstrated or even claimed by RD or Recluse. I doubt that 45:45:10 flows like pressure lube. I can just as easily argue that dipping is just more lube that isn't needed and is lube that is wasted except for the creation of more smoke from the muzzle.

The words, MAY BE THINNED on the LLA bottle are somewhat presumptuous. They assume that the user is able to recognize that the product has become thick from evaporation of the solvents in LLA and the words also assume that the user would recognize a benefit to replacing the thinner or warming the product to make the product more easily usable in the tumble lube method. That is just too much assuming going on for some people, I guess.

From time to time Lee does change instruction based on consumer input. I personally understand Lee's instructions and on the bottle recommendations. Obviously they are insufficient for you . The LLA instructions are also insufficient for other members on this board . Lee is a sponsor of this board, It would be nice of you to represent yourself and notify Lee with your recommendations for changing the LLA instructions and bottle recommendations to suit you personally.

Gary

[linotype]

"Why not just do it right? The instructions are simple, and if you follow them it is not messy."
Well, you have a good point, "messy" may have been he wrong term, or too strong of a term.
I do use the instructions, and zip lock bag lube. It works well.
But, the brain wheels started turning when it seemed that only the sides of the bullet were in contact with the barrel, so, why not just lube the sides. It was just one of those "gee whizzy" moments.
Appreciate the advice and comments. Never stop learning.

[Bullwolf]

I have been using a square 1 quart orange juice container to tumble lube in lately, It is just made out of thick wax coated paper.

I have also used small plastic round containers in the past. They don't seem to work as well as the square ones. I don't each ice cream, but I do drink a fair amount of milk, and orange juice.

If I am just lubing a single boolit, I will sometimes apply tumble lube by hand, using my fingers as the applicator, I often will inadvertently overlube this way though.

I typically like to lube my boolits in batches of 50-100. If I wanted to do more at a time, I would probably appropriate an ice cream carton from somewhere.

The square containers really do seem to apply the lube better than using zip loc baggies, or round containers for the swishing action.

I seem to have a bad habit of throwing away my used tumble lube containers, as they keep disappearing on me.

I cut the last orange juice container that I pressed into service in half. I tumble lube in the bottom half, and I press the top half over it when I am done, to keep it clean and dust free.

I have also been tossing it under my reloading bench when I am finished with it, so I don't need to look for it, or make myself a new one - later on down the road.

- Bullwolf