My experiences with lube dipping boolits

[ghh3rd]

A while back I stumbled upon dip lubing on a whim, when I was making some Felix Lube. A Ranch Dog TL 265 boolit was laying on the bench and I attempted to dip it in the lube but dropped it into the hot batch of Lube. I was able to fish it out, and set it on the counter and forgot about it.

Later I noticed that the TL grooves all had a nice ring of lube in them. I have dip lubed many more of the Ranch Dog TL 265 boolits since then, warming the boolits on a piece of aluminum foil on top of our toaster oven set to 300 degrees.

Recently I read a post about dip lubing. I was about to lube some 425 gr boolits with nice deep lube grooves in my Lyman lube sizer, and decided to experiment with dipping a reject first.

I heated up some lube, and took a cool (room temperature) reject boolit and dipped it, not knowing what to expect. The result on one dip was full lube grooves, and a thin coat of lube over the rest of the boolit.

I did the same for my entire batch of 425 gr boolits, and ran them through a Lee .460 sizer which removed all of the excess, except for the base. I used a toothpick to scrape of the majority of lube from the bottom of the gas check before running them through the sizer.

I do have a Lyman Lube Sizer, but this turned out to be a quick and dirty way fill some lube grooves.

[BAGTIC]

Over the years I have scavenged many cast lead bullets from range backstops. I have noticed that many of them especially handgun bullets have the grooves full of lube even after impacting the berm.

What was that lube for? If it is still in the grooves it obviously contributed nothing to lubing the bullets passage dow the bore If the grooves had been half as deep there would still have been plenty of space for the necessary lube. I suspect it has more to do with trdition than with science.

[luvtn]

Over the years I have scavenged many cast lead bullets from range backstops. I have noticed that many of them especially handgun bullets have the grooves full of lube even after impacting the berm.

What was that lube for? If it is still in the grooves it obviously contributed nothing to lubing the bullets passage dow the bore If the grooves had been half as deep there would still have been plenty of space for the necessary lube. I suspect it has more to do with trdition than with science.

Yep so have I. Makes one wonder if they need lubing at all?
lt

[Bret4207]

Okay, we've had this discussion before. As I recall the explanation that made the most sense to me was that if the boolit fit properly and the lube was being pushed around during it's trip through the barrel by pressure and centrifugal force and you had no leading, then it was obvious that the lube DID do it's job. With a a properly fitted boolit it appears there's not very much lube needed. Thing is, how much seems to vary from gun to gun, load to load, etc.

[btroj]

How much line is required to give a thin film oer the surface of the bore? Not enough that you would notice it was gone.
In some low pressure handgun cartridges the lube behaves as much as a seal as anything.

Think we use lube purely because of tradition? I suggest you try shooting some in lubed bullets in a variety of cartridges and at various pressures and velocities. Won't take long for you to understand what leading is and that this "tradition" developed because of a need.

Don't think of lube in a traditional sense of the word. It works as a seal, a film lubricant, it softens the fouling, and most important leaves a consistant bore condition after each shot. To think o lube as something that needs to melt Putin the bore and leave gooey grease all over is to sell it short on what it does.

[1Shirt]

Agree w/Btroj and Bret. That said, dipping a size & checked blt and using a push thru die is one way to get a blt of a size not normally found in commercial size/lube dies. Example, .226 .267/.268, .315f etc. etc.etc. Have a couple of the odd sizes made by Buckshot, which are excellent and reasonable. It is an extra step, but I like to check & size, then dip, then run them back thru the die. Also depending on length of blt, I use tweasers for little 22's, and fingers for long 6.5's, 30's etc. I dip only to the highest groove.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Eric H]

I have been tumble lubing all my boolits and they are not all out of a tl mold. Had no to little leading in 9mm,40 ,and 45 acp. Havent started my 30-06 yet. but it is in the works. I know I dont have as much experiance casting as some here. So far all the info I have gleened from here has been a great plus.