Tried pan lubing..what did I do wrong ?

[218bee]

What a mess. I tried to pan lube some Lee 405 hollow base boolits and ended up with a mess. Never tried this before and am sure I went about it wrong.
I had 50 boolits, found a suitable??? container made of heavy plastic to place boolits in. Am trying Bullshops NASA lube as these are for bp in my Trapdoor. Melted lube in an old pot using very low heat on the stove to avoid smoke or burning and that seemed to go ok. Poured into container to cover lube grooves and that went ok although maybe a little higher on boolit than I was shooting for. Let cool for about an hour and a half and could not get the "cake" out of the container.Loosened around edges, pushed bottom but it was stuck and not going to come out in one piece.Tried to take out a small section and that wasn't working either. So I decided to work out the boolits one by one and ended up with the lube all over everything and pulling it out of the lube grooves as I worked them out. Since I now had lube covering my hands and fingers I lubed them all by hand and shot them today with good results but would not want to repeat that again. As I said I never did this before so what steps am I missing or what do you think went wrong. I dont know if a glass or metal container would be better, thats some sticky stuff Brian makes. What ya think

[Bent Ramrod]

I would have left the lube cake and boolits to cool overnight. I generally slide the pan into a ziplock Baggie and set it in the refrigerator. Black powder lubes seem to release from plastic better when they are cold to the touch.

If you are ever in that position again, you should have a piece of tubing or an unsized, headless cartridge case made up as a "Kake Kutter." You just push the tube over the boolit and twist, pull up and go on to the next one. Eventually the lubed boolits start coming out the top of the cartridge case. It's messier than the "push out of the cake" technique, but a lot better than schmearing on the lube by hand.

I typically use a metal pan for pan lubing and warm it and the boolits before pouring in the lube. This technique allows the lube to better fill the grooves, as it takes longer to solidify around the warm boolit.

[docone31]

I use a metal pan, and put wax paper on the bottom. I then put the pan with the castings on the paper into the oven at about 150*. When the pan is up to heat, I turn off the oven, pour my lube into it, and let it cool to room temp. I then remove the pan. I grap some of the paper above the lube, and with the pan upside down, I slowly start pulling the paper.
I do not let the cake pop off as it will eject the castings without lube.
Once the cake is out, I push the castings thru by pushing the nose of the casting thru the cake. I have tried pushing the base with the nose popping out first and it does not work that well.
Sizing smooths out the lube. There will be small spots that are void. I mean small. If there is a large void, I hand smear lube onto it, then size it.
It does take a touch.
I found, the casting must be at an higher temp than room temp. Cooling the pan does make removal simpler.

[montana_charlie]

Watch Harlow Junior do it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBDFO0ftCQc

[cajun shooter]

The NASA lube is a very good lube to use. I do add about 6oz of beeswax per pound to mine as the temps in Louisiana are a little different than where Bullshop lives. The site that MC offered up is a good one to watch and learn from. You might want to have Buckshot (Ken) make you a Katecutter of the correct size. He has made two for me and his work is tops. Better than anything that has ever been made before. For my 458 bullets I have a 462 size. Pan Lubing is not bad if you have the correct tools in fact it can be down right fun and another part of this great hobby of ours.

[hiram]

I switched from metal pan to the flexible silicon (red or blue). I use the loaf pan, and it is great. I have a lightweight plastic head hammer--I taped 2 pieces of leather over the face of the head and secured it with black electrician's tape. Works great for bullet removal from the pie.

[Freightman]

I put the boolits in a Teflon coated cake pan my wife gave me and pour the lube in, then I let harden , then I put the pan in my Bar-B-Q grill which is propane fired remelt to 300 and let cool. After it is cool and hard I turn upside down and on an old towel and push out from the bottom. After you get through leave the pan with the lube as is, I put it covered up in a old refrigerator that we use for overflow on groceries as we only go to the store once a month. Then when you cast more boolits of same caliber you just sit them in the existing holes and put back into Bar-B-Q grill and heat. You bond the lube to the boolits with both the same temp. Works better than anything else I have tried, and is less mess also.

[BPCR Bill]

I've never used NASA lube, but it must be a hard one if you're worried about temps in Louisiana. I use SPG for pan lubeing. First of all, I keep bulk lube in a sealed Mason jar. When I'm ready to use it, I put the open jar in a pan of water and double boil it. The boolits are set nose down in a styrofoam tray, and then set base down in a 9" square fudge pan (I use steel). When the lube is melted I pour it in to just over the top groove, and let the lube set up for maybe a half hour. The lube cools and gets harder from the outside first to center so I have to watch it fairly closely. When it's just right the lube has cooled and started to shrink away from the sides of the pan. At this time, I take the whole cake of lube and boolits out of the pan, flip it over so the boolits are set back in the styrofoam trays nose down, and proceed to punch them out of the cake with my thumb. Then I can break up the cake and re-melt it easy enough, the jar is still simmering in the hot water on the burner. Like I say, timing is alot of it. You try to remove the boolits too soon, it's a mess. Wait too long, it's too hard and you've just wasted alot of time. The lube will just break out and pull from the grooves. But ya know, it's like casting. Some trial and error and you'll get a system that works well for you. On a cool winter day I'll just take the cake out in the garage and it'll cool quicker. The Mason jar works well, because you can store the bulk lube in it sealed up and it won't deteriorate or get filthy.

Regards,
Bill

[montana_charlie]

I put the pan in my Bar-B-Q grill which is propane fired remelt to 300...
Your entire process sounds pretty reasonable...except for that 300 degree temperature. I think anything much higher than the boiling point of water is pushing the envelope on wax-based lubes.


I've never used NASA lube, but it must be a hard one if you're worried about temps in Louisiana.
cajun shooter adds beeswax to NASA lube to make it harder for the Louisiana temperatures...
CM

[4060MAY]

BPCRbill

I used a Mason jar for a long time, the jar was old, not sure how old.

lifted it out of the water with gloves on and I heard 'pink' and a quart of lube went down the front of the stove and sink,
took about three days to clean all of it up, still haven't gotten it all out of the grout on the tile floor.

Second time this happened, in the past I did this outside with a propane stove and used a coffee can with water for the double boiler Mason jar broke as I was moving it to the pan and the lube is still in the concrete of the porch..

I use a Laboratory beaker now and haven't had and trouble since

I use a MTM 100 rnd case liner and a cake pan, never had any trouble getting the cake of lube out, I usually put it in the frig till it's hard. I use a modified Mathews lube for BP
a couple of pictures

[RMulhern]

Yep...been down that road but eye golly...me thinks I've found a better way!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/th_d4731f99.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/?action=view&current=d4731f99.jpg)

:drinks::-D

[4060MAY]

maybe you ought to sell that obsolete thing????

[BPCR Bill]

Yep...been down that road but eye golly...me thinks I've found a better way!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/th_d4731f99.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/?action=view&current=d4731f99.jpg)

:drinks::-D

Aaaaw, come on, this is supposed to be technical, difficult, and time consuming!!:coffee:

Regards,
Bill

[BPCR Bill]

4060May,
Thanks for the heads up on the tired glass. I should get a beaker to do this as well, though I haven't broken a Mason jar yet. The wife would skin me if I made a waxy mess on the kitchen appliance.

Regards,
Bill

[Jon K]

Yep...been down that road but eye golly...me thinks I've found a better way!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/th_d4731f99.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/?action=view&current=d4731f99.jpg)

:drinks::-D


But.........What method are you using for the grease cookie?

Not to hijack this thread........but I tried the eye dropper, and rolling lube on waxed paper then cutting, and I'm still looking for an easier method.

Jon

[RMulhern]

Jon

I'm not using a 'grease cookie'! IMO....no need for one when wiping betwixt shots. For hunting PP I use a cookie; cut like onto this:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/th_SeatingLubeCookies.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/Sharps110/BPCR%20SHOOTING%20RELOADING/?action=view&current=SeatingLubeCookies.jpg)

Cookie is .250" thick; 1 .030" Walters wad atop the powder column, another atop the cookie!:holysheep:smile:

[Fadi]

My first pan-lubing experience went pretty similar to the original post by 218 Bee.

I had only waited about a 1/2 hour before trying to Kake Kutter my bullets out of the pan, and it was like goopy play-doh. On my second run (with the same batch of boolits) I waited the same 1/2 hour, then put them in a chest freezer for another 15 minutes. This one went much more smoothly (though still not the picture of perfection I had in my head).

The next few trips to the range had me stiffen up my home-brew lube, and the fortunate result was easier pan-lubing.

(Now though, I run 'em through a .457 die for a Lyman 4500 reamed out to .459 and lube with that instead.)

[wiljen]

Try spraying your pan with PAM or similar cooking spray before putting your bullets/lube in. that helps too.

[jonk]

I've never had suitable results. If I'm going for a pan lube effect I just dip the bullet in the lube then set on wax paper to cool. Then push through a sizer 1/1000 over diameter to smooth.

Kudos to those of you who make it work but it isn't for me.

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

Pan-lubing is pretty messy, no matter how you do it.

Using plastic for the pan would be a mistake, IMHO - unless you don't mind waiting the extra time for the lube to cool. Better to use aluminum pans.

You could make a "Kake Kutter" out of a fired case with an expanded mouth, using a suitable length nail and a cork or rubber stopper on top to push the lubed boolits back out of the case. Or you could use the fired case with the base drilled out to push the boolits through; but that will be more messy.

Give the lube more time to cool. It won't hurt to let them sit a few days. Patience goes well with reloading.

[Gunlaker]

I use a soft tuperware container. It flexes, so when you push on the bottom, the entire lube cake comes out.

I push the bullets out from the bottom with a dowel to avoid some of the mess. It is a messy business though :p

Using a turkey baster to put the lube into the pan helps you control the depth of the lube so you don't get to far above the lube grooves.

EDIT -> I also wait overnight for the lube to solidify. I haven't tried the wax paper trick, but aluminum foil works great if you are using an inflexible pan like pyrex glass or metal.

Chris.

[HPT]

I also use the BBQ for heat & a tin loaf pan with tapered sides. Place the bullets into the old lube cake from last time, then melt on top rack (less direct heat). Carefully remove pan & set to cool until lube shrinks & bullets have cooled, but not cold (maybe 20 min @ 70 F). Lube stays in grooves & bullets are way easier to remove than if you wait until cold. I push them out by the nose with my thumb & can place in the next batch in the time it takes to reheat the BBQ. Takes about 45 minutes between batches, but I'm only using 1 pan

PS I've actually only times how long it takes to cool in # of beers - not actual minutes. I just assumed 2 beers = 20 min.