Lyman 4500 and stick lube

[Lefty SRH]

My wife bought me a Lyman 4500 for Christmas. I'm setting everything up and now ready for boolit lube. I already have a lube recipe I like from pan lubing.

Is it better to make lube sticks with my lube? Or just melt it down and pour it into my 4500?

[Dale53]

You're going to get varied opinions here. I have a Star, an RCBS, and a Lyman lube/sizer. I have my Lyman set up for Black Powder lube for my black powder handgun (Ruger Bisley Vaquero .45 Colt).

I have a coffee cup warmer that is low heat. It takes quite a while to melt enough bullet lube for the luber. However, that is NOT a minus but a plus. It never overheats the lube. It can sit, melted, all day long without degrading the lube.

I use Emmert's Home Mix (50% pure natural beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Canola Oil). For some time now, I have modified it to replace the Canola Oil with Anhydrous Lanolin as it holds up better long term.

Method:
When I finish sizing/lubing I fill my sizer with melted lube. I also refill my Pyrex cup (8oz size) with solid lube chunks (just break off enough pieces to fill the cup). By the time I need more lube it is melted and waiting for me.

I got this idea from Spence's book on reloading the Trapdoor Springfield 45/70. It was an excellent tip.

It is most efficient, certainly easy, and I wouldn't go back to molding lube sticks for MONEY!

Dale53

[Maven]

Lefty, I do something similar to Dale, but only when the reservoir is low, i.e., several inches below the top. I use a single burner hotplate I got from Sears + an old pan to melt my lube, being especially careful not to burn it. I then use an old ladel or a Rowell 1 lb. ladel that Advance Car Mover* sells to pour the melted lube directly into the reservoir without spilling a drop. If your casting area is unheated, you may want to thoroughly heat the #4500 with an old hair dryer so the casting doesn't split because of the hot, liquid lube. Hope this helps!


*http://advancecarmover.thomasnet.com/category/rowell-ladles?

[fryboy]

you can do it either way that you desire , i do both so ... [shrugz] both have pro's and con's and both accomplish the same thing ( how'd that old sayin' go ..."what ever rocks your boat" ) i will state that just pouring it in is a lil less labor intensive , but i'm also the kinda guy who can enjoy making sticks
usually a pan lube will work in a sizer , but some of the harder lubes dont pan as well as some of the softer ones ( personally i dont like too soft of lube for pan lubing as i use the "whack it crack it push it out"method as opposed to a kutter ) i also bought my 4500 just because of the easy heater feature and use a hard lube exclusively in it