Digital Dan
01-26-2016, 06:53 PM
I don't know if there's interest, but if so, let me know. In a manner of speaking I wandered off the beaten path for bullet lube and have been pleased with the results.
Short version:
Did not wish to buy a lubrisizer as I ventured into the world of cast bullets and as a result accumulated a small variety of Lee push thru sizing dies. My early adventures with cast bullets involved BP slug rifles and hammer dies...entirely different world that is and I simply did not wish to buy more equipment.
So, first run with ALOX was a bit of a mess. Then I found out that some of you wizards thin it before use. Ah Ha! Well, that helped, but next thing was that tumble lubed bullets tended to gum up the seating stem and cause variations in seating depth.
Then I read somewhere that dusting the bullets with mica will put and end to that bother and it does. It also gives a bullet with full body lube and the appearance of a fur ball. So I started using a little brush to dust them off. It was tedious, but effective. I accepted a bit of degradation to precision which resulted, but in the end, I was shooting GG bullets without the grease, with exception of BP bullets which I pan lube. Well, I pan lubed some of the bullets for the .25-20 Win. but they didn't shoot as well as the tumble lubed variety. They did shoot to the 2300 fps range in a K-Hornet without leading and that was a blessing. Still, I didn't like having the lube on the nose of the bullet...
So, I contrived to put a small amount of ALOX in a plastic container that was just deep enough to coat the shank, grabbed ahold and dunked them butt first in the goop, set them aside and let them dry.
Like so:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/Sneezer/Ducks_zpscqr0rx5a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/Sneezer/Ducks_zpscqr0rx5a.jpg.html)
Then I dusted them with mica. Ooops, forgot to tell you that I had started blending graphite in the mica. Just enough to turn it grey and only because I have had a fairly large quantity sitting on the shelf for years and I didn't think it would hurt anything.
At first I lubed, sized, lubed and dusted. It worked well enough but seemed a bit labor intensive. Then one day I found that I could skip the second lube cycle and simply dust them after the sizing process. Then I got really lazy and lubed, dusted, sized and loaded. They look a lot like Hornady lead bullets in color when finished albeit without the knurled finish. They shoot OK.
Top two were at 50 in the process of zeroing a red dot sight. Bottom two are at 100.
Short version:
Did not wish to buy a lubrisizer as I ventured into the world of cast bullets and as a result accumulated a small variety of Lee push thru sizing dies. My early adventures with cast bullets involved BP slug rifles and hammer dies...entirely different world that is and I simply did not wish to buy more equipment.
So, first run with ALOX was a bit of a mess. Then I found out that some of you wizards thin it before use. Ah Ha! Well, that helped, but next thing was that tumble lubed bullets tended to gum up the seating stem and cause variations in seating depth.
Then I read somewhere that dusting the bullets with mica will put and end to that bother and it does. It also gives a bullet with full body lube and the appearance of a fur ball. So I started using a little brush to dust them off. It was tedious, but effective. I accepted a bit of degradation to precision which resulted, but in the end, I was shooting GG bullets without the grease, with exception of BP bullets which I pan lube. Well, I pan lubed some of the bullets for the .25-20 Win. but they didn't shoot as well as the tumble lubed variety. They did shoot to the 2300 fps range in a K-Hornet without leading and that was a blessing. Still, I didn't like having the lube on the nose of the bullet...
So, I contrived to put a small amount of ALOX in a plastic container that was just deep enough to coat the shank, grabbed ahold and dunked them butt first in the goop, set them aside and let them dry.
Like so:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/Sneezer/Ducks_zpscqr0rx5a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/Sneezer/Ducks_zpscqr0rx5a.jpg.html)
Then I dusted them with mica. Ooops, forgot to tell you that I had started blending graphite in the mica. Just enough to turn it grey and only because I have had a fairly large quantity sitting on the shelf for years and I didn't think it would hurt anything.
At first I lubed, sized, lubed and dusted. It worked well enough but seemed a bit labor intensive. Then one day I found that I could skip the second lube cycle and simply dust them after the sizing process. Then I got really lazy and lubed, dusted, sized and loaded. They look a lot like Hornady lead bullets in color when finished albeit without the knurled finish. They shoot OK.
Top two were at 50 in the process of zeroing a red dot sight. Bottom two are at 100.