Cleaning Lee liquid Alox from bullets

[Cloudpeak]

I've been cleaning each reloaded round with acetone to get the Lee Alox off the 40 S&W Lee tumble lube bullets. Otherwise, my fingers get pretty gooey after loading several magazines worth of ammo. I tried tumbling the completed rounds in my Lyman vibrating tumbler. It cleaned up the brass really nice but left a sticky mess on the bullet. Does anyone have any ideas for removing the sticky stuff that I haven't thought of? Perhaps a different media than what I was using (which was whatever was included with the tumbler when I bought it.)

Cloudpeak

[grumble]

Couple things to try, Cloudpeak.

Dampen a rag with mineral spirits and use that to wipe the loaded boolits. It'll last longer than acetone and do the same thing.

When your tumbler media is ready to replace, save it and pour some mineral spirits in it for the next "de-aloxing" operation.

Best way, though, is to use a hair drier on the aloxed boolits to dry them before you load them, and then sprinkle some motor mica on them. They're nice and dry and non-sticky after that which makes loading and handling them much easier.

[Marc2]

I read somewhere, maybe here, about putting a little alox on wax paper and then rolling the bullet through the alox with a pencil. Keeps the alox off the nose of the bullet in the first place. Only the portion that is well into the case will contain alox. I have'nt tried this but the guy who had was pleased with the result.

Marc

[Cloudpeak]

Couple things to try, Cloudpeak.

Dampen a rag with mineral spirits and use that to wipe the loaded boolits. It'll last longer than acetone and do the same thing.

When your tumbler media is ready to replace, save it and pour some mineral spirits in it for the next "de-aloxing" operation.

Best way, though, is to use a hair drier on the aloxed boolits to dry them before you load them, and then sprinkle some motor mica on them. They're nice and dry and non-sticky after that which makes loading and handling them much easier.

Thanks for the suggestions, grumble.

I wear latex gloves when cleaning bullets. I don't think they would last long using mineral spirits. I'll give it a try. Acetone doesn't last very long here in Wyoming :)

I don't know what "motor mica" is. Where would I buy it?

Thanks, Cloudpeak

[Cloudpeak]

I read somewhere, maybe here, about putting a little alox on wax paper and then rolling the bullet through the alox with a pencil. Keeps the alox off the nose of the bullet in the first place. Only the portion that is well into the case will contain alox. I have'nt tried this but the guy who had was pleased with the result.Marc

Marc,

Might work OK. But, when you're handling 500-1000 bullets at a time, rolling them across wax paper seems like it would be a drag. Also, I've been nervous about the tumble lubing leaving enough lube on the bullet as it is. I lube and then size. I've started re-lubing after sizing just to make sure I don't lead my XD40 barrel. If you were to use the roll across wax paper method, I'd be concerned that most of the lube would be removed when resizing. I guess you could roll again but I'm trying to come up with the quickest method possible.

Thanks, Cloudpeak

[grumble]

Cloudpeak, I doubt mineral spirits will be any worse on your rubber/latex gloves than acetone. It's less volitile, and would be easier on your bare skin than acetone for certain.

Motor mica is ground up mica, and has the consistancy of talcum powder. It isn't expensive, and goes a long way. I put some in an old spice container with the "shaker holes" in the top and use it to dust the DRY alox-ed boolits. Here's a source:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=290522

[felix]

Motor mica is a specialized mica which is found in various places as a raw material. Its claim to fame is that when crushed to make a powder, the rock(s) itself is not crushed in the normal sense. It just divides keeping the same ingredients in the same location within each little spec. Motor mica is called motor because each granule has two layers of shell with a sheet of a harder material in between which acts as a ball bearing. The two outer layers externally have little barbs which grab (viscosity). ... felix

[milkman]

Cloudpeak, I just grab their leetle noses with a clean, dry, cloth, twist a couple times (the bullet, not me) and they are clean and shiny. milkman

[Bret4207]

I let the boolits I tumble lube dry overnight and then put them in a zip lock with some powdered mica or graphite and let the dust adhere to the boolit.Very little mess and no "sticky" feel. Motor Mica is one brand, Check for powdered graphite or mica in any big hardware or online,

[drinks]

When your wife is not looking, snitch some corn starch and roll the bullets in that.

[Cloudpeak]

When your wife is not looking, snitch some corn starch and roll the bullets in that.

Ha. She's always watching. Always :smile:

Thanks to the rest of you for your help.

Cloudpeak