Hand lubing

[doghawg]

One more rookie question.....

I've got a sizable chunk lead and WW's and lino accumulated so far....enough to take the plunge. One thing I'm not sure of yet is lubing. I don't want to stick a lot of money in a Lyman or RCBS lube/sizer and sizer dies and later wish I'd have gotten a Star. Is hand lubing with a fairly soft lube and then running the bullets through a Lee sizer a workable idea to start with? A PITA? Pan lubing seems like a messy proposition. I'm looking at velocity from 1000 fps to 1200 max so tumble lubing with Alox might not do the trick. Any suggestions? Thanks

[jhalcott]

WHY wouldn't Lee alox work? I've used it in some cartridges at that speed with no problems. Other than gumming up the dies, And they need cleaning once in a while anyway!!

[Dale53]

Hand lubing is NOT messy. Here is a good tutorial with details:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/panlubing.html

I have pan lubed thousands of Black Powder Cartridge bullets for mid and long range use. It is perfectly practical.

I have a Star lube/sizer as well as an RCBS and Lyman lube/sizers. Long, soft, heavy bullets (as in BPCR) are still best served by pan lubing.

Dale53

[docone31]

I pan lube everything except for paper.
The first time, you learn to do it better. After that it becomes actually second nature.
I make my lube. I get no leading.
I exclusively use the Lee Push Thru System.
I have not had issues yet, except for the wife telling me wheel weight melting stinks.
I guess I agree. I got an hot plate and I can do it outside from now on.

[Ben]

doghawg:

I think you might want to look at this, seems that it would be " just the thing " for you right now :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34058

[missionary5155]

I hand lube my 44-40 boolits (Winny) watching the news or Monday Night Football.... I do not pop that many so it is no big beal. Takes me about 1 min per boolit happily seated ...

[montana_charlie]

I have some 'new lube' I wanted to try, but I didn't want to empty my lubrisizer.
So, I applied it to the bullets by hand. It's a little running cheese over a grater, but it works best if your edges are good and sharp.

CM

[doghawg]

I appreciate the replies and thank you gents for your patience in answering what must be very elementary and repetitive questions. I've reloaded for many years and got into some advanced accuracy loading and thought I knew a thing or two....BUT......This cast bullets thing is a whole different ball game and I'm going back to square one.

Also.......As a long time lurker here I'M ON TO YOU GUYS!!!! I think some of you enjoy casting as much as you do shooting.

[JesterGrin_1]

Casting and Reloading and Shooting are all fun in there own way. Depending on how you look at it. I have found I like casting more than I do purchasing high dollar BOOLITS from some other maker where you are stuck with whatever lube they use or whatever size they make them. I can size them the way I wish for what ever fire arm I am going to use and use the lube needed for the speed they will run. And it saves some money as well.

Reloading lets me develop a load that will shoot well in whatever fire arm I am loading for instead of going through lots of money trying different makes of ammo from a manufacturer and still not getting the best accuracy that I can from a given fire arm.

Shooting. The satisfaction of knowing the rounds I developed shoot as well or most of the time better than factory rounds. And the feeling you get when you take game with your own loads that you made from start to finish is most gratifying to say the least.

And with lots of help from this forum has been the best. As I am a new caster and reloader of only a little over 1 year. :)

So yep there is nothing like it. :)