PC/hitek/lube which process best for someone just starting out?

[anothernewb]

Not entirely sure where to put this one since it's cross posting 2 systems, but here goes.

Newb to casting/coating here. Well, not a total newb to actual casting, I did help a buddy recently and I was cranking out usable, if not perfect, boolits after a short learning curve. Been loading for a few years now though.

But to the gist of things. Through a series of fortunate events - I now have a steady source of lead - so I'm gonna roll my own from scratch.

From a newb perspective - which lube/coat process would the learned ones here recommend. Start out with traditional wax or tumble lube, or just jump straight to coating. If so - then which process is easier to learn and get decent results?

Source material is going to be varying mix of WW and range scrap.
Intended purpose is blasting/paper punching/general use pistol ammo. 45 acp, 38/357, and 9mm.
Will start just with 45 acp 200 SWC casting/coating at first.

I have no gear for any form of coating/lubing yet. so nothing to lose either way. Budget is not a concern at this time. it'll cost what it'll cost, to get started.

[toallmy]

I am afraid you will end up trying all of them anyway , so don't limit yourself . You can start out with a lee sizing die , it comes with a bottle of tumble lube to get you started , but the sizing die can be used on powder coated boolits . A member here sells powder coating at a good price and can recommend a powder to start with it goes a long way . Pan lube or dip lube are options but more time consuming . Then comes a lube sizing . 20 bucks gets you a lee sizing die then you can start shooting your own . With a little research and some questions you will be on your way .

[Yodogsandman]

Sorry, double post

[Yodogsandman]

Go the tumble lube route from Lee to start. The Lee Lube and Size Kits are under $30 for each size you'll need. Be sure to use very little lube, it goes a long way. Look for a thin, golden wash coloring on the boolit surface.

I started by finger lubing with Lyman 50/50 Beeswax/Alox and then running a fired case over the boolit to take off the excess lube. Shot them in "as cast" diameters and for most, it was a great beginning.

I now use Bens Liquid Lube (BLL) for tumble lubing after sizing with the Lee push thru sizing dies for everything. Easy Peasy! It's a mixture of 60% Lee Liquid Alox and 40% S C Johnsons No Buff Liquid Floor Wax. No leading and best accuracy! Just one coat for pistol boolits and three coats for rifle boolits up to about 2500 FPS.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-259285.html

[anothernewb]

Bummer about the wax being discontinued though.

[Yodogsandman]

Look and you will find. Really, it's still out there, depending on where you live. Go to the stores to look and don't rely on phone calls or the internet.

There's also a substitute that Ben has been working on of Lundmark floor wax and mineral spirits. 30% Lundmark Floor Wax, 30% Lee Liquid Alox and 40% mineral spirits. Same results, so far, I guess.

[igolfat8]

I suggest HiTek coating. I've done all of the wax and allox lubes and Hi Tek is one of the best so far. I like powder coating but it's a pain to stand each bullet on end. Polygonal (Glock) barrels don't like wax or tumble lubes. HT or PC works great in all barrels.

[dikman]

My suggestion is don't bother with wax lubing, because unless you use a lubrisizer of some sort you will end up with excess wax clogging the dies and that will affect the boolit seating. It did with me, and I was having to regularly clean out the dies.

As you're shooting pistol calibres Hi-Tek is probably the simplest way to go as you don't have to worry about standing the boolits up to bake. Just shake to coat, tip onto a tray to dry and then bake. You will have to use a minimum of two coats, whereas PC only requires one, but it's no big deal once you get organised. Hi-Tek is particularly suited to pistol calibres and is probably the coating system most used by professional coaters (certainly in Australia).

Nothing against PC, it has a bigger range of colours and you can get some pretty looking boolits with just one coat. I've just found that the Hi-Tek is more than adequate for my needs so haven't bothered with PC.

[2wheelDuke]

I'd say the shorter answer is "it depends." The toaster oven and maybe $20 worth of powder is all you'll have invested in trying PC. The push thru sizer will come with 4oz of Lee Liquid Alox. You can make that into 45-45-10 or Ben's liquid and have enough for thousands.

For .45acp, I prefer powder coated now. For my .38 wadcutters, I still use the 45-45-10.

[farmerjim]

I do all 3. Tumble lube is the easiest, but messy. PC is almost foolproof but is slower than Hi-Tek or tumble lube. Hi-Tek is faster than PC, but it must be done just right. They all have their place, all are good.

[DerekP Houston]

I'd buy a push-through sizer from Lee and start with that, since hitek and PC will both need one anyways. I'm actually back to tumble lubing now that I have some BLL mixed up, its just too darn easy. Once you have the sizing die and alox used up, all you need is a toaster oven and either some hitek powder or powder coat to get started with those.

[GhostHawk]

Ben's Liquid Lube if you can find a bottle of Johnson's one step liquid floor wax.

Failing that If it was me I would be looking at some variant of 45, 45,10.

Straight lee alox tends to be very thick, lumpy. Hard to get a smooth light consistent coat on boolits without thinning. The Genus of BLL is the polymers they put in for film creation also happen to make a fast drying wonderfully thin and light bullet lube.

But I do agree to some extend or another you will if nothing else in your mind dabble with all available methods. And I agree with that.

For me one big mess pan lubing told that I really did not want to do it that way.
Once I found BLL and it proved out so good I quit looking.

YMMV.

[dverna]

If I was starting, BLL. It is so easy a caveman can do it. To me, adding a cooking operation adds a step that gives little return. And if the process requires standing the bullets up on a tray, there needs to be a huge benefit or why go through the bother? Most PC guys like the lack of smoke when shooting indoors and/or the range of pretty colors. And PC may be more forgiving wrt leading...but we shot for decades with minimal or no leading by using the right alloy, bullet size and lube.

Don Verna

[Ausglock]

Handgun??? HITEK!!! That is all.

[NavyVet1959]

From a standpoint of being able to do a lot of bullets with very little time involved on your part, it's difficult to beat the Lee tumble lubing. If you can load them as-cast, lubing a couple hundred just takes a couple of minutes of your time. I swirl them in a container with a squirt of Alox that has been thinned down with mineral spirits and then set them on a glass tray with a fan blowing on them overnight. I also add a dash of talc to the container that I'm storing them in to make them dry to the touch.

Besides, if you do go the powdercoating route, you'll want the Lee resizing die anyway, so you might as well start out with it and the bottle of Alox it comes with and when you finally run out of Alox, then you can consider whether you want to go with powdercoating or not. I have a Lee resizing die for every caliber I reload for, so I have quite a few of the Lee Alox bottles and I have yet to use them up. I do powdercoating for some bullets, but I also use Alox for others. I even just dip the base of the bullets in hot wax lube and run them through the resizing die to scrape the lube off of them sometimes.

Powdercoating is fun to experiment with though. I've recently been experimenting with an electrostatic fluid bed.

[Yodogsandman]

Anyone need some S C Johnsons One Step no Buff Liquid Floor Wax, LOL?

https://www.amazon.com/One-Step-Wood-Floor-22oz/dp/B013S19HKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479358134&sr=8-1&keywords=sc+johnsons+liquid+floor+wax

[anothernewb]

Well, the lee sizers in .358, .356, and .452 arrived today. no matter what, sounds like I needed them anyway. found them used for $50 for all 3. figured that wasn't too bad a deal. have 2 mostly full bottles of alox with them.

[ioon44]

I have done all 3 types of lube and have settled on Hi-Tek, just wish I could have been doing it 20 years ago.