Jacket lubing & the Pickle Jar

[30yrcaster]

Getting old and standing at the press for countless hours is getting tiring. I've been lubing jackets by hand forever but want to save some time using the pickle jar & my tumbler.

For those using the jar, do you put the jar inside the tumbler drum or on top of the wheels like the drum itself? Need to go out and find the right size pickle jar.

Thanks
P.S. Starting up my operation again so I may be posting more questions to see more modern ways of doing things.

[Utah Shooter]

I think that you will see better accuracy by doing it with the tumbler. It is not only a lazy way of doing it but gets the lube more even. I actually think anyone who makes there own should do it this way.

You can do it one of two ways. Either put it in the drum so that it bounces around a bit to mix the jackets or if you are worried the jar may break glue a piece of plexi glass lengthwise inside the jar and not put it in the drum so it mixes them up.

[aaronraad]

Don't forget to use a plastic glove if you touch the jackets again once tumbled.

I don't use a bullet block for pre-loading the cores into the jackets. As such, my left hand is for jackets only, and my right hand is for cores only. The left hand finger tips also get a light coating of lube every so often to ensure they are not adding or removing lube from the jacket while seating the cores. The left hand also gets lumbered with the job of taking out the core seated jacket, which will still have some lube on the jacket.

[Utah Shooter]

Speaking of that. I do not lube any further than that. I have just found no need for more lube. Curious what the others say.

[30yrcaster]

You can do it one of two ways. Either put it in the drum so that it bounces around a bit to mix the jackets or if you are worried the jar may break glue a piece of plexi glass lengthwise inside the jar and not put it in the drum so it mixes them up.
Putting the jar on top of the tumbler base holds it without it rolling off?

What if putting a jar inside the drum and stuffing some foam on one side so it would be like an essentric. Would that keep them mixed up?

Using the jar uses a lot more lube doesn't it? I'm using the same bottle of lube I bought a long time ago using fingers. Can't believe it's still usable. I have a large jar of Lanolin bought around then and it's turned into a jar of soft plastic. Don't know if it's recoverable or not.
Thanks

[Utah Shooter]

As long as it is the proper diameter I would not see why not.

Yeah I think that would work just fine. Good thinking. I did not really think about that one.

I was talking with one of my mentors the other day and he said it really depends on what material your dies are made out of. He has a set of Carbide dies and states that he can use lube the size of a pea to lube 1,000 .705 jackets and it works just fine. I also think it depends a bit on the lube that you are using.

I think one common misconception is that most people over lube the jackets causing inconsistent projectiles. Aaronraad, how much lube are you using with your jackets? I am sure it is perhaps a secret and if it is keep it that way. But please speak to the lubing process a bit if you would?

[newcastter]

I am very intrigued by this method but I have to admit I am lost at what step this is used for.
I have to guess before the point form but if 1 of you could really give a step by step on exactly what this is I would love to learn.

[30yrcaster]

I've made a lot of bullets since the mid 80's with Corbin and RCE dies and here's how I do it. I have a bullet rack I got from SGY. It was really expensive but works great with 6mm. It has 5 trays that hold 200 each. It also has 2 plates with beveled holes in them. I load the jackets then the cores. I then put just enough lube on my index finger to say there's some on it. I take 6 loaded jackets and put them on my felt stamp pad. The pad has lube in it from the first time I started using it. I don't add lube to the pad. I roll the jacketed cores back & forth a few times with my index finger then move them to the lid of the stamp pad in the order easiest to put them on the punch. I put about a flat pin head worth of lube on my index finger and roll it around between my index finger and thumb. If I have too much lube I rub my thumb & index more to spread it around. I do this until I fill the lid, about 30. I seat the cores. I keep doing this until all the racks I loaded are done with seating. I know exactly how much lube I need on my finger by feel as well as how much is on the jackets. That's all the lubing I do on the jackets. I've never had a stuck bullet with this method. Next I do the points. I never have wrinkles on any bullets and with a digital Starett mic, see no difference between bullets. It's very slow and takes 3 times as long than making cores or pointing. If I can speed up the lubing/core seating I'm all for it although it seems I'll be using a lot more lube.

No secrets here and the bullets shoot great in BR rifles. I only had 1 source of info when I started, Rediscover Swaging from Dave Corbin so I had to figure things out by paying money and trying.

[onomrbil]

Pickle jar is great for lubing jackets if you do a couple of things first. Cut a piece of straight wire the length of the flat part of the inside of the jar and epoxy it into place. One is enough but two won't hurt. Weigh your lube: about 0.3 gr will do 100 or so 224 jackets quite nicely. Dab it out on a piece of wax paper and wipe the inside of the jar with it. Be sure to wipe out the inside of the jar and the lid after you lube so that the following batches get the same amount of lube each time. This is to get consistent amounts of lube for each batch which will in turn make your following batches of bullets more consistent in dimensions. Tumble about 15 minutes, then flip the jar so that it runs in the opposite direction for about 15 minutes. The lube needs to be EVENLY distributed or your B/O lengths will vary, sometimes significantly.

[30yrcaster]

Pickle jar is great for lubing jackets if you do a couple of things first. Cut a piece of straight wire the length of the flat part of the inside of the jar and epoxy it into place. One is enough but two won't hurt. Weigh your lube: about 0.3 gr will do 100 or so 224 jackets quite nicely. Dab it out on a piece of wax paper and wipe the inside of the jar with it. Be sure to wipe out the inside of the jar and the lid after you lube so that the following batches get the same amount of lube each time. This is to get consistent amounts of lube for each batch which will in turn make your following batches of bullets more consistent in dimensions. Tumble about 15 minutes, then flip the jar so that it runs in the opposite direction for about 15 minutes. The lube needs to be EVENLY distributed or your B/O lengths will vary, sometimes significantly.
Do you run your jar directly on the Tumbler wheels or put it into the Tumbler drum?

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

I am a rank beginner, I now know I was over lubing, afraid to cut back and maybe hurt my dies.
I have found thru reading this thread just how little lube it takes for a .224 bullet, aronradd and Utah Shooter, thanks for your information, I was already doing the "lefty lubes" "righty handles cores" thing, now I'm using a lube pad with a tiny amount of lube and a tiny bit on my finger/thumb, works great

[Utah Shooter]

Awesome Packrat. Glad to know some of my brain goes to help.

You know if you do not have a tumbler (I do not). I just use my kids (and I) to have fun. I even had someone suggest using a treadmill. That works too, just need to find something that will hold it there besides my hands.