dealing with tumble lube

[singleshotbuff]

Gentlemen,

I am fairly new to casting, been at it off and on for about a year, and I have a couple of questions about lubing and sizing.

I have a Lyman 450 that I started to set up and use, but broke a part and ran into some problems with it. Found another for cheaper than I can repair my old one for, just waiting for it to arrive. I'd like to use it for most of my bullets.

In the mean time, I have a couple of Lee push through sizers and some tumble lube. (I compulsively buy casting related stuff, even if I may not need it) If I tumble lube my bullets and then run them through the sizer, will the extra lube on the bullet noses cause problems? I tried tumble lubed unsized bullets when I first tried casting, and the lube on the noses caused sticking and lube build up in the seater dies. How do you gents work around this? It seems like this extra lube will also attract debris on the loaded rounds.

I also have a few of the old Lee pan lube and size kits (my compulsion again), I lubed a few bullets with one last night and there is still lube on the bullet noses from passing through the cake cutter tool. I anticipate this will cause stinking and build up in the seater as well.

What's the solution, or what am I missing here?

Thanks

SSB

[drinks]

SSB;
You could try putting some LLA in a small can, just deep enough to come up to the top lube groove, use forceps or pliers to dip the bullets and set them on the base on waxed paper to dry.
I do something similar with stick lubes, melt it, set bullets in the hot lube, watch as the bullet heats up and the lube rises up the bullet, set the bullet on it's base on a pie tin and let it cool.
Don

[singleshotbuff]

Drinks,

using your methods, would I size first?

SSB

[Bullshop]

If you run lubed boolits through a lee sizer you will always get lube on the nose of the next boolit comming through. Some lube is wipped of in passing and the next boolit picks it up, thats just the way it is.
If you want to use LLA without sizing and keep lube off the nose I found a trick to work. When I was single and lived mostly in timber camps in S.E. I learned to travel lite. The trick was to lay out a peace of wax paper(from cook house) and squirt about an 8to10" winding snake of lube on it. Smear it around so a large area is covered by a film. Then I would lay about half a dosen boolits at a time side by side in the film and lay something like a flat ruller on them. Using downward pressure on the ruller roll the boolits back and fourth through the lube. With a few passes back and fourth the grooves will fill with lube and there will be a film on the driving bands, but the nose/ogive will be lube free.
Well for the most part lube free as the leading edg of the first band will have a bit on it. This was a lot less messy than the method reccommended by Lee.
BIC/BS

[chunkum]

A couple of things. I've tumbled lube with the Johnson's Paste Wax method, then sized in my Lyman 450 (without adding pressure and additional lube) and the bullets shot good. And I like drinks' method with the small cans, and a sardine can or anchovy can works for diffrent caibers and numbers of bullets. I'd probably size after lubing if using the Lee sizers.

On your Lyman 450s changing times bring changing customer service responses but when my first 450 got it's little threads stripped by an unknown user in my household back in the early 70's, A call/letter to Lyman brought me 1) a new bottom and screw for the old sizer and 2) a new 450. The two of them are still working fine. Can't hurt to contact them. Worst they can do is not respond as well as they did with me. Little to lose, really. My wife recently bought me their 1200II digital scale/powder dispenser and they followed up after registration and sent me a free little Lyman powder funnel. Maybe they're in a promoting mood these days. Who knows?
Best Regards,
chunkum