Lubesizer vs tumble lube vs pan lube vs powdercoat?

[mattri]

Every application has it's pros and cons- what is your experience?

Lubesizer is the tried and true, tumble lube is quick and dirty but some say effective, pan lube maybe between the two? PC the new kid on the block.

Thoughts?

[Goofy]

Tumble lubed once, never more. For smokeless I use a small diameter rubber tube to dip the shank of bullets in thinned ALOX up to the crimp ring. Set them on wax paper and when finished lubing the bullet bases are wiped clean on a paper towel. Let dry for about an hour then dust with a graphite/mica mix.

No lubrisizer on my house. I pan lube for black powder. 30’ in the fridge makes for clean separation.

[waco]

They all work well when done correctly. Pretty much your choice. No wrong answer here. I used a Lyman 450 for years and years with great results. This was just how I learned. I then played around with Ben's Liquid Lube for sometime with handgun boolits. BLL also works quite well as an overcoat to a lubed rifle boolit. I never even bothered with trying to pan lube. Looked like a PITA and very messy. I know it works well though. PC is all the rage now for most, not all. It is simple, clean, and effective. This is probably the way that is the cheapest too.
Try a few methods if you have the means and see what works best for you.
My one big grip about pc is with bore riding boolits. It makes the nose too big. There are a couple ways around this but that's a topic for another day.
Walter

[Mk42gunner]

You left out finger lubing. That is where you smear lube into the groves by hand, then either size with a push-through die or load as cast. I have done it for trials of lube, I would not want to load fifty or even twenty at a time that way.

Never tried pan lubing, my house doesn't have enough level spaces to sit melted lube with boolits to harden. I was preventing a big mess.

The Lyman 450/ RCBS Lubamatic work fine, but they are slow to process large quantities since you have to handle each projectile twice. They are way less expensive than the Star to get started though.

I kind of wish I had waited and got a Star, just for those times I want to load a bunch of handgun rounds.

Never powder coated anything, yet.

Tumble lube is fast in application, slow in drying. A light coat that dries completely in 24 hours is better than a heavy coat that never dries.

Robert

[onelight]

Never have pan lubed but use a Lyman 450 , tumble lube with 45-45-10 and shoot a lot of Hi-Tek coated they all work.
With bullets that are not a perfect size or alloy Hi-Tek at low to moderate velocities is the most forgiving and I use the 450 and TL on my cast.

[Soundguy]

Tried pc...ugh...no.

I tumble lube with alox or bll for small stuff 32cal handgun and under or if it is lee microgroove.
If regular grease groove..pan lube. Set in pan pour cool. Pop cake out of pan, push bullets out of cake. No mess no wiping..no handling each bullet. Push out with a dowel.. Grooves shear the lube easily with nice fill out.

Re melt cake for next rounds unless same type then just push new bullets in holes and heat till lube fully melted... Rinse..repeat.

Have occasionally doubled up on lube on fast gas checked stuff. Alox or similar lube..bll..rooster jacket.., gas check and size, then pan lube.

[Photog]

A pint of WLL 45-45-10 tumble lube has lasted SSSSOOOO long, I haven't bothered with exploring other options. I've had good results with Alox/WLL so why change? Its easy and here in AZ it dries quick. Cheap and easy too.

[Targa]

Pan lubing worked great but powder coating is a bit better for me.

[charlie b]

I pan lubed a lot when younger. Thousands of rounds, mostly .45acp. Could not afford a lubesizer. Now days I powder coat.

I would not mind having a Star lubesizer. If I did I might use it more than powder coating.

[GregLaROCHE]

I tumble lube in LLA and gas check my high velocity 6.5mm boolits, because it’s a pain to stand them up to PC them. .45 cal rounds get PCed most of the time or else finger lubed if I’m fooling with BP. Don’t forget the other way to prevent leading. Paper patching.

[Midohhntr]

RCBS lube-sizer, smeared Crisco in the grooves of those T/C Maxi's for years when I shot muzzle loaders, messy as heck especially in the summer. Still use the lube-sizer but I'm finding PC to my liking...

[LenH]

Never pan lube, tried LLA and found it not to my liking, have a RCBS lube sizer I use for certain applications. I bought a Magma Star and haven't looked back.
I dabbled in powder coating and am on the fence about it, I just don't like it for my Bullseye rounds.

I guess it is all up to you as to what you you want to use. But once you get a star set up you can easily do a pile of bullets in a short while.

[ioon44]

Every application has it's pros and cons- what is your experience?

Lubesizer is the tried and true, tumble lube is quick and dirty but some say effective, pan lube maybe between the two? PC the new kid on the block.

Thoughts?

I have done all 4 of the methods you listed and settled on Hi-Tek being the best for me and I shoot a lot.

[dverna]

The "right" answer for me will be different for others.

Read all you can. Determine your volume in each caliber and how many calibers you want to lube/size. Watching YouTube can get you a feel for how messy and how much time each method requires.

The person dealing with 10 calibers, and 3-5 bullet types per caliber that shoots 2-3k rounds a year will give a different response than someone casting for 3 calibers, and uses one or two bullet types per caliber and shoots over 15k rounds a year. Rifle shooters will have different needs than pistol shooters.

There are too many variables that most posters do not include when they tell you what works for them.

Short answer...every system works or no one would use it.

Example....I have a Star but would never use it to lube 200 rifle bullets that need a different lube than what I have in the machine. That is what the Lyman is for. PC might work for all my needs, but I lube indoors and will not run PC in the house.

[prs]

I tried pan lubing, once. Too slow and messy for me. Tumble lube for lower velocity is OK, but I size anyway so lubsizing is a common go to for me. I have become very fond of and prefer powder coating. I tumble a couple of hundred bullets at a time in a vibratory case cleaner with aidsoft pells and tight lid. I let one batch tumble while the other is baking. Then I final size; so lube sizing is quicker, but I still prefer the coated jewels. Clean/dry loaded rounds and clean barrels.

prs

[GregLaROCHE]

Today it is hard to beat powder coating.

[Walter Laich]

another PC convert here.

I like the fact that the PC doesn't melt or get soft in our hot Texas Summers like the lubed bullets do.

I also like "messing" with mixing colors (if they end up ugly they still shoot fine :razz:)

PCing is somewhat of an art and practice is needed to develop the process

[Jim22]

I have a lube-sizer, I tumble lube, and have gotten into powder coating. They all have advantages and disadvantages. If you have the right size dies the lube sizer is a joy. Mine has a heater. If you want your boolits a different diameter you need to do something different. Unsized boolits can be tumble lubed or powder coated before loading. I have been experimenting with softer alloys for my Marlin 1894C in .357. Someone told me to size the boolits .360" for micro-groove rifling. I don't have a .360" sizing die so have been casting the plain base boolits with 50-50 COWW and soft Pb without sizing. Then powder coat. The PC seems to protect the softer alloy boolit and accuracy has been very good. Consistent 1.5" groups at 50 yds with iron sights. For the .32 S&W long I am using LLA and sizing the boolits to .312" with a Lee push-thru sizer. I also have two colors of PC powder from Smoke. I can cast the same boolit from straight COWW and use one color. The 50-50 boolits get the other color so I can tell by boolit color which is which.

Hope this helps.

[AndyC]

I've done all of the above - and settled on powdercoating before sizing through my lube-sizer.

[gwpercle]

Lube sizer , one stroke of the handle and the boolit is sized , lubricated and if required a gas check is seated . One step ... it doesn't get any faster or easier than that .
No matter what method you use 9 out of ten times they require a trip through a sizing die ...
Some powder coaters size them twice . And don't forget about getting gas checks crimped on ... that's another step .
I just don't see a benefit for me to change my method ... besides my Lyman 450 was paid for in 1971
Use good lube (Lithi-Bee ) and I've never had a leaded barrel .

I also don't care for the unnatural look of green, red and blue boolits ... it just ain't right.
Gary

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I think the powder coated boolits look purty, but that's were the love affair ended.
You need lots of extra equipment, it messy to apply, time consuming...and if applied incorrectly, you have numerous failures like I did...NO THANKS !

[fredj338]

I dont see a reason to pan lube unless you want to use a special lube & not unload your luber/sizer. For gen pupr handgun, no comparison to coated. Cleaner shooting, less smoke, not much more work depending on coating choice.

[Soundguy]

The lube stick price for those lube/sizers is outputting. 5-9$ for a 3.5-4" maybe hollow stick. If you look at price per oz it's scary. You can make an entire cook pot of home brew that could last year's for the cost of a couple sticks.

Liquid alox also good..better than stick price. Not as good as homebrew

[DonHowe]

Lubesizing, tumble lubing and pan lubing all involve lubricants. At the risk of drawing fire, powder coat is not lube. It is more akin to plating. If it works for have at it but it ain't lube.

Regarding pan lubing, I have done lots of bullets that way. All but a few have been for BPCR and schuetzen where molds have dropped bullets of correct diameter and thus need no sizing. It is not a fast lubing method but I have used it in applications that do not involve high volume shooting. Kind of a mindset I guess like BPPCR and schuetzen.

[high standard 40]

Tumble lube. I tried it but I hate the smell of Alox.
Pan lube. Never tried it. Sounded too slow and messy.
Hi Tek. Tried it and got mixed results. Worked ok on 40 S&W and 45 ACP.
Powder coat. I just recently tried this on a couple of guns that never liked cast in any form I ever tried. Results are promising so far.
Lubrisizer. This fills my needs in almost almost every circumstance. I use Felix lube exclusively.

[Soundguy]

Im going to have to try that Felix lube

[mattri]

Great replies all, very interesting feedback.

[high standard 40]

Im going to have to try that Felix lube

I've, had great results with it. So far I've used it to 2200fps in a 7BR XP100 with no fouling and great accuracy.

[Soundguy]

When cooled.. How hard is it? Presuming a hair softer than beeswax as that is the majority constituent along with oils..etc?

[lotech]

I've seen no disadvantages to conventional sizing / lubing. When the accuracy-oriented CB competitive shooters begin using powder coated bullets, that would be a pretty good indication that the process is superior to the conventional method. That hasn't happened.

And tumble lubing? What a mess. It may be a cheap way of lubing but I couldn't see it offered any advantages over doing things the right way. However, it might be okay for low to moderate velocity handgun loads, particularly if bullets didn't need sizing. Pretty limited usefulness at best.

[Mk42gunner]

When cooled.. How hard is it? Presuming a hair softer than beeswax as that is the majority constituent along with oils..etc?
My version of Felix lube (no carnuba) came out way softer than the commercial crayon lubes, and is slightly sticky when the freshly lubed boolits touch each other. I tend to lube immediately prior to loading. It is also soft enough that it seems to spin off the bullets in flight easily, at least I haven't picked up any from the berm that still had lube in the grooves.

I like it, and as mentioned above, it is a lot cheaper than buying lube by the stick.

I never made any lube molds, I just remelt it to fill the lube reservoir at the end of my session.

Robert

[high standard 40]

When cooled.. How hard is it? Presuming a hair softer than beeswax as that is the majority constituent along with oils..etc?

I make my Felix with the carnauba. It require just a moderate amount of heat to flow well in my Lyman 450. It is a somewhat tacky lube so I lube only when I'm ready to load. I assume it spins off of the bullet well because I have never found any lube on a recovered bullet.

[dverna]

The lube stick price for those lube/sizers is outputting. 5-9$ for a 3.5-4" maybe hollow stick. If you look at price per oz it's scary. You can make an entire cook pot of home brew that could last year's for the cost of a couple sticks.

Liquid alox also good..better than stick price. Not as good as homebrew

4” solid sticks are less than $3 from lsstuff. 20 sticks...2.5 lbs delivered worked out to about $60.

[Soundguy]

That's way way way more than homebrew

[BigMoney_NoWhammey]

PC. Keeps my dies clean. Great for semi auto pistol

[reloader28]

4” solid sticks are less than $3 from lsstuff. 20 sticks...2.5 lbs delivered worked out to about $60.


Thats about $58 more than it costs me to make a 5-6 year supply.

I pan lube for my 500, but I dont shoot it very often and dont have to size them so I dont have a size die. I have finger lubed these also.
I tried some tumble lube in handguns and it worked OK for me.
Everything else is lubesized for me.
I will never powder coat anything. The commercial PC bullets didnt work for the few I shot, its an added expensive when everything I shoot is perfect being lubsized, and I dont think you can get any more gay looking then having a rainbow of ammo on your bench. Bullets are supposed to grey or copper and if I ever did PC it would have to be copper or grey colored

[MT Gianni]

I tl for tl wadcutters and the 90 gr Lee 32 cal swc.
I PC some pistol loads and a few rifle loads.
I run a lot of mine through the lubesizers. It seems to be faster than pc set up, sizing and the rest. I need it to add diameter to some bullets.

[Soundguy]

Thats about $58 more than it costs me to make a 5-6 year supply.

I pan lube for my 500, but I dont shoot it very often and dont have to size them so I dont have a size die. I have finger lubed these also.
I tried some tumble lube in handguns and it worked OK for me.
Everything else is lubesized for me.
I will never powder coat anything. The commercial PC bullets didnt work for the few I shot, its an added expensive when everything I shoot is perfect being lubsized, and I dont think you can get any more gay looking then having a rainbow of ammo on your bench. Bullets are supposed to grey or copper and if I ever did PC it would have to be copper or grey colored

Agreed. Cook pot of homebrew is cheap

[mdi]

Personal choice. I have used three; liquid alox (dip lube 'cause I don't like "brown noses"), pan lubing (my go to for most of my heavy loads), and PCing (a bit more labor intensive). Depending on the load/caliber/gun I still use these three. When I started casting and lubing I was on a budget and lubersizer and all the dies and nose punches I'd need were a bit over my budget, and I was trying several different home made lubes and pan lubing would be much easier to use different lubes for testing. I'm in no hurry and I do a lot of dip lubing with 45-45-10 which works quite well for most of my handgun bullets...

[one-eyed fat man]

Lubrisizer and Alox for smokeless, pan lube and homebrew for blackpowder.

[Soundguy]

Because of this thread found out about Felix lube. Located all ingredients. Making some up tomorrow or Friday. Can't wait to try it.

[waksupi]

I've, had great results with it. So far I've used it to 2200fps in a 7BR XP100 with no fouling and great accuracy.

I've went up to around 2700 fps with it, and I believe some have pushed 3000 fps.

[high standard 40]

I've went up to around 2700 fps with it, and I believe some have pushed 3000 fps.

It is good stuff. I couldn't ask for anything better.

[charlie b]

I think the powder coated boolits look purty, but that's were the love affair ended.
You need lots of extra equipment, it messy to apply, time consuming...and if applied incorrectly, you have numerous failures like I did...NO THANKS !

Just curious, but, why does powder coat need lots of extra equipment? The only equipment I use are a toaster oven and some airsoft BB's in a plastic tub (zip lock). It is time consuming compared to a lubesizer, but, I don't own a lubesizer. I only had some failures when trying to use Harbor Freight powder. Once I bought the 'good' stuff it has worked well.

And, again, yes, I'd love a Star lubesizer and then I probably would not powder coat. I just can't justify the cost of the lubesizer when PC works for me.

[justindad]

I also don't care for the unnatural look of green, red and blue boolits ... it just ain't right.
Gary

Amen to that! I plan on tinkering with PC someday, in an attempt to make the softest possible hollow point, but I dread the lipstick look.

[justindad]

Because of this thread found out about Felix lube. Located all ingredients. Making some up tomorrow or Friday. Can't wait to try it.

Check your soap. The Ivory available to me basically says: “Ingredients: lye based soap &/or detergent based soap.” I don’t trust it, so I’m using sodium stearate.

Also, be forewarned that making lube can lead you down a long corridor of tinkering, from which I still have not returned:)

[Soundguy]

I've done Ben's red and bll too.

Ps..the Felix lube came out fine. Already pan lubed a batch of .323