Hand lubing? What lube?

[palmettosunshine]

Hello everyone,

I'm brand new to this and trying to do it on a budget. I'm going to be casting very small lots at a time to start with and I'm wondering if I can just lube my boolits by hand. And if so, what lube do I use?

I've tried searching but have had no luck.

Is it just as simple as finding the right lube and wiping it around the base (lube groove) ? I don't think I'll be doing large enough lots to worry with pan lubing, and I'm sure its been done before by hand.

Thanks for the patience with a newbie!

Frederick

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

Liquid Alox is an easy lube to use. Used undiluted you just put some on your finger and "dab" around the shank portion and then sit it up on wax paper or aluminum foil to dry. Slow, but works well. If you get a bit too much the only harm is more smoke when the round goes off. I've done this many times when doing small numbers of bullets for a known load for hunting or limited plinking etc.

[caseyboy]

I have been playing around with lithium grease. A dab on the finger tip and then smear into the lube grooves. No leading, but I haven't shot it enough to determine if the accuracy is good or not. Seems promising so far.

[Reload3006]

357 shooter also tumbles in pure Johnsons paste wax .... by far the easiest way to lube bullets is to tumble lube you can also pan lube pretty cheap .... go to the everythings a dollar store and pick up some tin baking pans and mix up some lube.... Its a mess either way. but its cheap.

[Boolseye]

Frederick,
If you're shooting standard velocity pistol boolits or low velocity rifle, tumble lubing is a great option. get yourself some Alox, some Johnson's Paste Wax and some clear mineral spirits and make up a batch of Recluse's 45-45-10. Or just use the pure "mule snot" (Alox).

Pan lubing is also simple and relatively cheap. There are a million lube recipes, using ingredients such as beeswax, paraffin, Crisco (yes, the cooking grease), Carnauba wax and vaseline to name a few. I have been pan-lubing lately with my own recipe and having good success. There are some good lessons on the technique in the forum.
-jp

[mdi]

About the easiest lube method would be "dip lubing" in xlox or melted JPW. Warm some xlox (put the container in some hot water) and dip the bullet up to the lube groove in xlox, and set on wax paper to dry. Same with Johnson's Paste Wax. "Finger Lubing" is another method. Chapstick is about the right consistancy, just get some on your fingers and smear it on the bullet enough to fill the lube groove. I've read of using Crisco for lubing BP bullets and that may work on smokless loads, but I would fear contamination of the powder. If you are going to the trouble of making/mixing your own wax based mix, pan lubing isn't much more, if any, work...

[Ben]

palmettosunshine :

Might be worth your time to take a look at this :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34058