Sizing with Lee's sizers question

[moptop]

Okay, I just purchased several Lee bullet sizers and of course it says to ALOX the bullets before sizing to prevent leading of the die and then after to make sure they are totally coated. I have read on several past threads of guys complaining about the Alox gumming up the dies. My question is, instead of lubing with the Alox, couldn't one roll them on a pad of case resizing or simular lube first to allow smooth sizing then use the Alox afterwards? Has anyone tried this?

Also, can the Alox lube be used to lube non tumble lube bullets as well instead of , say, pan lubing?

Thanks in advance for the info!

[shepherddogs]

You can use Alox on any bullet. The Tumblelube bullets are not supposed to need sizing. I cast a bunch of 38 wadcutters and lubed em in a cool whip type container. The first ones were really gooped up. Then I read about thinning the Alox with mineral spirits. That made em a little neater but still a bit messy. No barrel leading encountered with lightly lubed bullets but they are only going about 900 fps. Don't know if that would be the case at 1500 fps. I didn't size any of them. They seemed to be pretty uniform. Out of the first 100 I loaded about 6 or 7 of them swelled the cases just a little. Still not bad results for pretty dang cheap. One last thing I learned by accident. My mold didn't drop the bullets easily and they came out at .360 instead of .358. I got some Frankford Arsenal Lube from Midway and the bullets drop much more easily and the bullets came out right at .358. For low speed loads I bet you could get by without lubing after sizing.

[454PB]

You can use a different lube to allow them to slide through the Lee sizer, and it doesn't take much. A lot of people use the spray sizing lubes...like Hornady One Shot. I simply put a small smear of boot waterproofing on the nose of every third boolit or so.

[garandsrus]

moptop,

A member here, Riccochet, said that soapy water worked well as a sizing lubricant for a Lee die! I think the mix was probably a little bit thick so that the water wouldn't run all over the place. Very easy to rinse off :)

The reason he was using water instead of Alox was that he wanted to oven heat treat the boolits after sizing, so he didn't want any lube on them.

Alox before sizing doesn't present any problems though. Just make sure it's dry.

John

[yondering]

Search back a few days, we just had another thread about this. Seems like a fair number of us, myself included, don't lube at all before sizing. The dies do need to be smooth inside though; some of them are pretty rough.

[docone31]

I paper patch, and radically size them to wrap them. I use dish soap as a lube to size with. It is a simple matter after they have been sized to rinse them in hot water. From there I size them after wrapping. I use JPW to size my patches.
I just busted my Challenger press radically sizing the wrong boolitts to .308. I accidently sized my .303 British down to .308 in one pass. I usually use the .311, then the .308 for them. My .30s go right through the .308 dies.
For pistol castings, I pan lube and push em through.
No worries.

[k8bor]

I use plain water on mine. It drys a short time later, and I haven't have any die leading problems...........

[Pepe Ray]

There may be a misunderstanding here.
The complaints of "gumming up the dies" are not referring to the Sizing die.
There talking about gumming up the boolet seating and crimping dies.
This is commonplace when you have lube OF ANY KIND on the boolet nose, any where front of the case mouth.
Pepe Ray

[Russel Nash]

^^^ and for that I have heard that you tumble the loaded rounds in baby powder and the stickiness goes away.

[Pepe Ray]

OH sure,
I get it now.
That must be why Oranges have skins, to keep your fingers clean.
Right:smile:
Pepe Ray

[Bret4207]

Okay, I just purchased several Lee bullet sizers and of course it says to ALOX the bullets before sizing to prevent leading of the die and then after to make sure they are totally coated. I have read on several past threads of guys complaining about the Alox gumming up the dies. My question is, instead of lubing with the Alox, couldn't one roll them on a pad of case resizing or simular lube first to allow smooth sizing then use the Alox afterwards? Has anyone tried this?

Also, can the Alox lube be used to lube non tumble lube bullets as well instead of , say, pan lubing?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Yes to all the above. The Lee sizer can also be used with any spray type lube, even PAM works. It just reduces the friction of the boolit sliding through the sizer.

[Beekeeper]

Brett,
Survivalists Dad here with a quick question.
If you use Pam will the alox even stick to the boolit after you size?
I use lee sizers for everything and am always looking for new ideas on sizing and not having to clean out the goop

[Russel Nash]

I might try unscented lanolin and 90% rubbing alcohol mixed together as a lube. That is what Dillon uses as their case lube.

I figure if I want to lube them with something else, just a quick dip in an alcohol bath will get rid of the residual lanolin.

[largom]

Okay, I just purchased several Lee bullet sizers and of course it says to ALOX the bullets before sizing to prevent leading of the die and then after to make sure they are totally coated. I have read on several past threads of guys complaining about the Alox gumming up the dies. My question is, instead of lubing with the Alox, couldn't one roll them on a pad of case resizing or simular lube first to allow smooth sizing then use the Alox afterwards? Has anyone tried this?

Also, can the Alox lube be used to lube non tumble lube bullets as well instead of , say, pan lubing?

Thanks in advance for the info!

As Bret4207 said YES. I do not use alox but lube in a Lyman 450 with oversized size die then run the Boolits thru a Lee sizer. Even though the Boolits have lube in the grooves I still roll them on my case lube pad before going thru the Lee sizer.
LARRY

[Bret4207]

Brett,
Survivalists Dad here with a quick question.
If you use Pam will the alox even stick to the boolit after you size?
I use lee sizers for everything and am always looking for new ideas on sizing and not having to clean out the goop

Hmmm, I don't know. I've never tried it. It's just a lube. I admit I usually dry size my boolits with the Lee. I've never seen much problem with it. I have rolled them on a case lube pad and done it that way and don't recall any issue with the Mule snot sticking to the boolit. BTW- I dry size before applying the Mule Snot because I don't like having to clean it off before applying the GC.

As for the crud in the seater dies- I have that problem too and not just with Mule Snot. If I dust the boolits with Motor Mica or cornstarch before seating it helps. Some guys actually wipe the nose before seating. It's an issue I haven't come up with a good answer to yet. I hate cleaning lube outta dies, but it has to be done occasionally.

[shotman]

Dont think Pam will work. The spray case lube does. I got about 1000 311413s in a large lot of reloading supplies. I know they cast a .311 but WW and softer had no real problem. But this bunch must be lino type. Even with the spray lube they are tough. without it I had to drive a stuck boolit out with a punch. Most are going to get a remelt

[Maven]

You can also use wire pulling lube (water based), which you apply by hand, by "tumbling" them as you would with liquid alox, or by rolling them on a pad/paper towel coated with it. It's inexpensive and available in the electrical supplies section of Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.

[Bret4207]

Dont think Pam will work. The spray case lube does. I got about 1000 311413s in a large lot of reloading supplies. I know they cast a .311 but WW and softer had no real problem. But this bunch must be lino type. Even with the spray lube they are tough. without it I had to drive a stuck boolit out with a punch. Most are going to get a remelt

PAM will work as a light lube for boolits. That much I know first hand. What I haven't done is seen if LLA sticks to the boolit. The boolits I did using PAM are still in storage so I can't say one way or another. It was just an experiment based on something someone told me. WD-40 works, Hoppes worked, all the gun lubes worked....it's just a light lube. There are guys here that say even soapy water works and I have no reason to think it wouldn't. It seems like lead alloy doesn't need too much for a lube.

Now, the time I tried to size .340 boolits down to .329 in one pass...that was different story! All the lube in the world wouldn't help that job.

[Echo]

I don't use the Lee sizing method - if I did, I would be tempted to try straight liquid soap. I would guess a little would go a long way.

[Fleataxi]

moptop: I've never used lube before sizing with a LEE sizing die.

I've used Alox afterward, but never before.

Fleataxi

[KD5NRH]

I've started using Dawn dish soap and water in a spray bottle, since I reload in the garage and don't care to mess with or smell Liquid Alox any more than necessary. I just give a few squirts on the pile of unsized bullets after every three or four dozen, and no trouble. You do want to make sure to clean up the press and dies afterward, though, as a rusty sizer or press ram can ruin your day. For that I tend to just wipe everything down and put a little bore butter on the ram and inside the sizer.

Rinse the bullets in the sink, let them drip dry and toss them in a baggie with a little Liquid Alox, shake until coated, then carry them out to the shed and lay them out to dry. Less mess, and the smell is tolerable by the time they're dry enough to handle.

Bore butter would probably work great as the sizing lube too, but that would hit the budget a little harder than I care to explain to the wife. Either way, between the scent of the Dawn and the Bore Butter, my reloading station smells a lot better than it would if I used Liquid Alox around it.

[TAWILDCATT]

I notice that every one mentions one shot.I use lyman spray for sizing cases.
and why cant you use the Lee lube by hand dipping just over the grooves,and set bullets upright over night.
as I understand Lee lub is the same as auto under coat.for rust preventive.I am sure all these lubes are the same ie:commercial products.:coffee: [smilie=1:

[madsenshooter]

Dont think Pam will work. The spray case lube does. I got about 1000 311413s in a large lot of reloading supplies. I know they cast a .311 but WW and softer had no real problem. But this bunch must be lino type. Even with the spray lube they are tough. without it I had to drive a stuck boolit out with a punch. Most are going to get a remelt

If you adjust your die so that you're near the camming point on your handle you can get some really tough bullets through one of these dies. Cam it over, it goes a bit, adjust the die down a little, cam it over......Trying to do a toughy from the beginning of the stroke, you'll bust the linkage pin on your press.