Home made tool ?

[XWrench3]

I am new to casting, but somewhere, a while ago, i read that one way to lube cast bullets was in a pan with lube in it that you put in the oven until the lube is melted and then you use, if i remember right, a cartridge casing (to use like a cookie cutter) with the bottom chopped off to remove them. The problem as i see it is that a case is tapered all of its length, and if you used this method, the bullets would be undersized let alone it would take a terrible amount of pressure to run them through. So how do i make a (cookie cutter type) cylinder to do this without a lathe? Or is this something i can buy somewhere inexpensively?

[JSnover]

I use a fired case that hasn't been resized. The neck may need expanding to get over the fresh boolits, or you can keep trimming the mouth back until it's wide enough. Deburr it before you check the fit. I drilled the primer pocket out. Push the case down over the boolit, put my thumb over the hole and pull the case up quickly, creating enough suction to pop the boolits out of the pan. You can use a nail and/or a wood dowel as an ejector. What cartridge are you using?

[Pepe Ray]

If your lubing 38/357's use a 35Rem case.
For 45's use a 45-70 case ETC.ETC.

[Terrier]

There is a supplier of Lyman 310 parts and dies that makes their version of a Cake Cutter. The tool is designed specifically for cutting pan lubed bullets out of the cake. Here is the link, scroll down almost to the bottom.
http://www.the310shop.com/

Terrier

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Using an expanded fired cartridge case to cut "Pan Lubed" bullets out of the lube is an old-time process. One of the tricks to make it easier is to also drill out the flash hole and put an ordinary nail in the hole with the head inside the case and then put a wine cork over the protruding section and the point. When you push the "cake cutter" as it was once called down over the bullet and cut it loose...when you pull the cutter and bullet out of the melt--you push down on the cork/nail and it forces the bullet out of the cutter. Heating the lube in the oven ....if you put the bullets in the pan first and then melt the lube (keep the temp low) around it then you will get less lube under the bullet bases, but then comes the juggling act of getting the pan out of the oven-level so that none of the bullets tip over into the melt. A real pain with long rifle bullets, but not so with short fat hangun bullets. Better if you can heat the pain on some other low heat source outside of the oven. Lube doesn't need/take much heat to melt it. You shouldn't have to use much pressure to cut bullets out of the lube; things should slide easily. Commercially made cake cutters are still produced and sold by "the 310 shop.com". They are made out of aluminum and appear exactly made to the same shape as the old Lyman Cake Cutter. Naturally they are a lot more expensive than making your own out of a fired casing. LLS

[mdi]

I pan lube a lot. The main reason for oven heating is to get the bullet and the lube to the same temperarure. This way the lube sticks to the bullet better. I mostly lube handgun bullets and have never had any tipping probs., but if I did I'd just turn off the oven, open the door and let the pan cool. I made my own "cake cutters" out of various sizes of tubing. I carried two or three bullets in my pocket and when I happened on some tubing, I tried the tubing for a fit to see how close to bullet diametet the I.D. I found some steel tubing just a little larger than my .430" bullets. I cut a piece about 6" long and tapered one end. I rounded the other end for comfort and put a piece if shrink tubing around the tube mostly for looks. I can punch out 7 or 8 bullets before I have to dump them out of the tube. Then I put the next batch in the holes left from the previous run and start over.

Piece of cake!8-)

P.S. Just noticed this: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=55770

[montana_charlie]

Or...you can do as Harlow does...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBDFO0ftCQc

CM

[dromia]

The bottom line is that pan lubing is a pain.

Yes you can lube boolits this way but at some point you'll realise the civilised way is to get a lube sizer.

Let the vitriol descend. :mrgreen:

[geezer56]

I tried the pan lube thing, still use it sometimes on some 45-70 stuff. What a pain. The best $35 I ever spent was on a horrible looking Lyman 45. Some cleaning and shining, looks like a new one now. Works great, I went ahead and mounted it on a 10X12X1/4 in. aluminum plate and mounted the plate to the bench. That way I can use the old iron on the plate trick to keep the lube warm in the winter time. I for one won't go back to pan lubing full time.

[13Echo]

For really large and odd sized bullets I prefer pan lubing but the cake cutter method is messy and really not as easy as just pushing the bullets out of the lube cake. For smaller bullets (pistol and rifles under 38cal) I prefer the lubersizer.

Jerry Liles

[mdi]

The bottom line is that pan lubing is a pain.

Yes you can lube boolits this way but at some point you'll realise the civilised way is to get a lube sizer.

Let the vitriol descend. :mrgreen:

Good thing we got somebody here to tell us how backward we are! [smilie=w:

[Junior1942]

Why go to all that bother when Lee Liquid Alox is so cheap and easy to use?

[XWrench3]

well, if i could find a lubrisizer for $35.00, i would buy it! and as far as lee liquid alox goes, i do use it, in my pistol rounds. but honestly, i duplex it over top of the lube that is already in the grease grooves of the store bought bullets i have shot. i figured i would try using straight lla on my 45 acp loads, at least onece, all by itself to see how it holds up. but on the 44 mag, and 45-70 rifle bullets, (especialy the 45-70) i do not want to take a chance and lead the barrel. cleaning a pistol barrel of lead is bad enough. i can't even imagine cleaning lead from a rifle barrel!

[jim4065]

............. i can't even imagine cleaning lead from a rifle barrel!

Try a stainless or copper scrub pad. I used to clean out lead with solvent on a cotton patch 'till someone here showed me the light. Now I don't care if a barrel leads up because it takes less than a minute to clean it. [smilie=w:

[dromia]

Try a stainless or copper scrub pad. I used to clean out lead with solvent on a cotton patch 'till someone here showed me the light. Now I don't care if a barrel leads up because it takes less than a minute to clean it. [smilie=w:
A good pre soak with Kroil helps too.

[fordwannabe]

I use the push the bullet through the back of the cooled lube trick...but I don't know nothin...just ask my teenager. Tom

[XWrench3]

I use the push the bullet through the back of the cooled lube trick...but I don't know nothin...just ask my teenager. Tom

i do not have to, my kid has the same afliction. it is called d.u.m.b.a.s.s. syndrome! if he talks back also, it is called s.m.a.r.t.a.s.s. syndrome. LOL!

[Ben]

XWrench3 :

I think this is what you are looking for :

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

[Doc_Stihl]

Those lee "lub" cutters work great. I have one in 44 and a 50 for muzzle stuff'n lead.

Pan lubing isn't as bad as it sounds. Just find a method that's enjoyable. I usually use a couple pans and the oven at 180. I sort and weigh and check bullets and set them in the pan while one is in the oven. Then swap. After cooling and cutting you just put the next bullet in the space left from the previous. Goes pretty slick. AND! if you use lar45's carnuba(white label lube) the whole house smells nice too. I usually keep my bullet pan INSIDE a throw away turkey pan, that way the spills don't make it inside the oven.
(DON'T SPILL LUBE IN YOUR OVEN. EVER!...ps. Lyman Moly Lube is invisible in a dark oven. PPS Lyman Moly Lube SMOKES BADLY at 400 degrees)


Oh and I think Twain said it best....

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” - Mark Twain

[softpoint]

I started using one of my Ranch dog molds(430-265) in my 4" Redhawk. I wanted the higher volume.(6 cav.) It doesn't lead one bit in that revolver with full tilt loads. I use that bullet in my .444 too, but haven't run it wide open. I use the LLA for both applications, that was what the bullet was intended for, I've pan lubed a few times, and decided I'd rather be a dedicated shooter than a dedicated luber. ! It does a fine job, but I only do it now if I happen not to have the sizer die I need. And even then, I start looking at the bottle of LLA. Guess I'm just lazy!:mrgreen:

I bet Lyman Moly would give Moms apple pie a distinctive flavor, Doc, I've made some homemade moly lube before and It stinks to hell when you are making it.

[armyrat1970]

well, if i could find a lubrisizer for $35.00, i would buy it! and as far as lee liquid alox goes, i do use it, in my pistol rounds. but honestly, i duplex it over top of the lube that is already in the grease grooves of the store bought bullets i have shot. i figured i would try using straight lla on my 45 acp loads, at least onece, all by itself to see how it holds up. but on the 44 mag, and 45-70 rifle bullets, (especialy the 45-70) i do not want to take a chance and lead the barrel. cleaning a pistol barrel of lead is bad enough. i can't even imagine cleaning lead from a rifle barrel!

The Lee Lube and Sizing Kit is available in most calibers from Midway right now for under $16.00. That's what I use.

[Edubya]

I made me a couple of cookie cutters. They work perfectly!
I share a building with a golf shop and they had done some repair on a golf club and threw the old shaft out. Anyway, I saw that the club shaft was tapered and the idea stuck me. I took it in to my work shop and dropped a .44 slug down it, ran a long wooden dowel behind the bullet for measurement, marked it and put a tube cutter on the shaft and cut it off. It's about two feet long and has a grip on it but I cut the top of the grip off so that the bullets can stack up in there then pop out.
After that worked so perfectly, I grabbed the other part of the shaft and dropped a .38 bullet down there and repeated the action. The .38 cookie cutter is only about 4", but it works too. I lubed up a bunch of both calibers with my lube by setting them on their butts in a lid of a tin that I had and poured the melted lube into the lid, let it set up 'til it was hardened and got to produce the finished product in about 1/3 the time as I had previously done.
Once you remove the bullet, you can set another bunch of bullets in the holes then melt the wax again and repeat the process again and again, just replenish the lube mixture that was pulled out by the previous bullets.


This stuff works! Easier and as inexpensive is "Lars Carnuba Red"

"Felix Lube formula

2 Tablespoons mineral oil
1 Tablespoon Castor oil
1 Tablespoon Ivory, or homemade soap (grated)
1 Tablespoon Lanolin
Beeswax - Piece approximately 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" X 1 "

Heat mineral (baby) oil until it starts to smoke.

Add Castor oil, and stir continuously for 1/2 hour.

Sliver the soap, and stir into the mixture a little at a time, until melted.

Add the beeswax before the lanolin, and then when that is melted, reduce or remove the heat and add the lanolin, thus not running any risk of burning or scorching the lanolin.

1 teaspoon of Carnauba wax can be added to give a shiny bore. This can be found on the seal of Makers Mark whiskey, or the red wax on cheese from the supermarket (also known as "jewelers wax", used for fine polishing).

Once made, let cool. This can be re-melted in a microwave, and poured into the lubrisizer.

The problem with the Felix recipe is there is not an exact amount by weight of beeswax. Only a chunk such and such size. Easy to add too much.
The mix I like best is 2 TBS baby oil, 1 TBS Castor, 1 TBS ivory, 1 TBS lanolin and 8 oz of beeswax."
http://www.castpics.net/RandD/felix_lube/felix_lube.htm
EW

[Marlin Hunter]

For some bullets you might be able to get a gasket punch. 44 cal (.430) can use a 7/16 (.437) punch.

http://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/115/gfx/small/3427ap1s.gif

or go to an Ace Hardware or equivalent store (hobby shop) and get some brass tube that will fit your bullet. A 12" tube is about $3

ttp://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1425088&kw=brass+tube&origkw=brass+tube&searchId=40377525503 (http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1425088&kw=brass+tube&origkw=brass+tube&searchId=40377525503)

[mdi]

That's thinkin' on yer feet! I work in a heavy Equipment Repair shop and have found a bunch of stuff that I can use with my boolits. I've used thin wall stainless seamless steel tubing for my cutters. I use a discarded axel socket, 4 1/2" dia as a small smelting pot, holds about 30 lbs lead.

[Freightman]

Why go to all that bother when Lee Liquid Alox is so cheap and easy to use?
Right on Jr.

[Beekeeper]

Yes but can Lee Liquid Alox be used in something like my S&W sigma 40S&W?

[bruce drake]

I lube my 9mm boolits with LLA and fire them in my Taurus 99 without any problems regarding leading. A bit smoky but LLA is smoky in my rifles also.

Bruce