Mix liquid Alox with ???

[Pistolero]

Hi Guys,:-D

I see on this site alot of advice to mix LLA with 'mineral spirits' or some such to thin it out & make it last longer.

I use it straight but was wondering what sort of stuff exactly could I mix it with?

would WD-40 or RP-7 work?

can I spray the boolits with RP-7 before sizing?

has anyone tried something similar???

Thanks!:Fire:

[geargnasher]

WD-40 is basically kerosene with a few other VOCs added, plus propane propellant, I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I use a little mineral spirits (good ol' paint thinner) and a bit of carnauba from cheese wrapping and shoot happy.

Gear

PS WD-40 was actually never formulated to be a lubricant, google it sometime for an interesting read.

[peter nap]

WD-40 is basically kerosene with a few other VOCs added, plus propane propellant, I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I use a little mineral spirits (good ol' paint thinner) and a bit of carnauba from cheese wrapping and shoot happy.

Gear

PS WD-40 was actually never formulated to be a lubricant, google it sometime for an interesting read.

I assume your talking about Laughing Cow Cheese (I use it in muzzzle loader lube and a few othher things) ..

Will it dissolve in the mineral spirits or do I have to melt it and pour it in the MS. I dd see a video of a fellow heating gas on the stove..:mrgreen:

[masscaster]

Actually, when i have bullets that I'm taking down a bit more than usual in the sizer, I use 2 old hand towels, put just a smidge or 2 of Crisco in the center, pour in some bullets, roll up the towel then gently rock it back and forth like milking a cow. Have another clean towel, put them in that and do it again to remove excess Crisco. they'll be nicely & lightly lubed, plus this WILL Not effect your bullet lube in the lube grooves, as will some oils such as WD-40. No Breakdown.
Hope this helps!!
Jeff @ Forefather's Casting

[geargnasher]

I assume your talking about Laughing Cow Cheese (I use it in muzzzle loader lube and a few othher things) ..

Will it dissolve in the mineral spirits or do I have to melt it and pour it in the MS. I dd see a video of a fellow heating gas on the stove..:mrgreen:

You get the idea. 50% alox, 45% paint thinner, 5% Laughing Cow rinds, approximately. You need to warm it to get it to mix, but in a microwave for a few seconds at a time, NOT on a stovetop. Play around with it, I haven't tried many variations, just the above one worked so well I stopped experimenting. Folks here recommended monkeying with LLA like this to get it to work better.

Gear

[beagle]

I mix the liquid alox with lighter fluid for dipping round balls for ball loads. defininitely makes it dry quicker./beagle

[geargnasher]

I mix the liquid alox with lighter fluid for dipping round balls for ball loads. defininitely makes it dry quicker./beagle

Ronsonol, not Kingsford, right?

Gear

[looseprojectile]

Kingsford is a lot cheaper and is what I use. Buy it on sale and it is less expensive than paint thinner. Charcoal lighter fluid is handy for a lot of cleaning tasks. Strange as it seems, it also works well for lighter fluid.

Life is good

[MtGun44]

How about beeswax. ;-)


Never mind, been done.
Bill

[UweJ]

Before I start with a new bottle of LLA I put it in a cup with hot water. After it gets a little warm I open it up and fill the rest of the bottle up with paint thinner. I don´t want to thin it down to much.Works good for me.
Uwe

[shotman]

If you just put it on hot It will dry and not be sticky. I am still on same little bottle and its coated several 1000s Boolits should be room temp too

[DLCTEX]

Alox and JPW, thinned with mineral spirits.

[Larry Gibson]

Is LLA so expensive that we really have to "thin it out to make it last longer"?

I constantly read here and on other sites that LLA doesn't work well and have to wonder how many of them have thinned it out with other "magic" ingrediants. I've use LLA quite a bit. I warm it up in a bowl of of water and then use it per the instructions and it works as Lee says it should. About the only variation I use is that sometimes I dip lube some long bullets that I want to shoot "as cast" and don't have a sizing die for (long 6.5 bullets for the 6.5 Jap come to mind).

I still mostly lube with a Lyman 450 but do use LLA in some instances. My experience is it works as directed. Just my observations.

Larry Gibson

[Rocky Raab]

Agree with Larry. Since a bottle of LLA comes with every Lee sizing die set, I think it's silly to try to make it last longer. Heck, just finding a place to store the bottles until the first one gets used up is a pain.

BTW, though, if you are of the "add wax" persuasion, or just like to use warmed LLA, the PERFECT thing for the job is a candle warmer. They're also sold as coffee warmers for the office. Plug it in, set a metal or ceramic container on top, and in no time your wax/LLA is melted. But it never gets hot enough to smoke or catch fire. I use a candle warmer and a cleaned tuna can to melt JPW for bullet dipping, and often toss in some carnauba (I like the stuff from Maker's Mark bottles). Never even burn my fingers when I dip the bullets.

[odoh]

I do the 50/50 LLA/JPW thing. Not to necessarily stretch the product but perhaps additionally 'stuffs' would buy some benefit. I keep a lil' fancy fruit preserve jar and nuke it in the micro. Using an ol' bent nose hemo-stat, I dip the bullets, set'em out to dry. Cap off the jar 'til next time.

[Shiloh]

Hi Guys,:-D

I see on this site alot of advice to mix LLA with 'mineral spirits' or some such to thin it out & make it last longer.

I use it straight but was wondering what sort of stuff exactly could I mix it with?

would WD-40 or RP-7 work?

can I spray the boolits with RP-7 before sizing?

has anyone tried something similar???

Thanks!:Fire:

Make it last longer??

No. Just thinning it out. I use it 2.5:1 Alox to mineral spirits. Absolutely no problems. Coats boolit, dries faster, and less gumminess to it.

Shiloh

[243winxb]

Xlox from Lar45, link bottom of this page. Just warm and use, works great on TL or normal bullets. http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/liquid-x.html

[Jack Stanley]

Though I thin the stuff very little and normally they are left to dry down in the dungeon . The other day I took a tray of them outside and left them in the sun on a eighty degree day . They don't seem quite as tacky as they were .

Jack

[bcp477]

I thin the LLA 50 / 50 with turpentine.....then paint it on my paper-patched bullets with an old (small) paintbrush. No wax or other additives -works just fine that way (at least, for paper-patched bullets anyway).

[DLCTEX]

The reason I thin it is to lessen the build up clogging my reloading dies. When reloading 45 ACP the alox will build up in the nose of the die and caused the boolit to be seated deeper and/or stick the boolit in the seating die. Thinning with mineral spirits makes a a thinner coating that dries better and cures the problem. Adding the JPW adds some carnuba wax and other unknown ingredients that prevent leading in 30-30 and 45-70 better for me than straight alox. I picked up this from Boerrancher(I think), but I believe he applies them in separate steps.

[Bass Ackward]

I cheat. I thin with Bull Plate lube.

Either that or I put the bullets in a bag and drop in some bull plate (sparingly) and roll around. Then transfer the slugs to another bag and use the LLA full strength over top the Bull Plate.

If you mix in too much Bull Plate, and you don't need to, to see a difference, then it won't dry right and you will need some motor mica or molybdenum disulphide to dip the bullets in. If you do this anyway, (:grin:) you may just love the difference in performance.

[StarMetal]

The reason I thin it is to lessen the build up clogging my reloading dies. When reloading 45 ACP the alox will build up in the nose of the die and caused the boolit to be seated deeper and/or stick the boolit in the seating die. Thinning with mineral spirits makes a a thinner coating that dries better and cures the problem. Adding the JPW adds some carnuba wax and other unknown ingredients that prevent leading in 30-30 and 45-70 better for me than straight alox. I picked up this from Boerrancher(I think), but I believe he applies them in separate steps.

Isn't it amazing how much lube fouled seater has to grip a bullet and let the case just pull away from it? I hate that too. Usually have to screw the die out and tap it on something solid to dislodge the stuck bullet.

Joe

[44man]

Use enough thinner so it will go through a spray gun nice and smooth. Then crawl under the car and coat the metal real good. It might still rust but what the heck, you tried! :bigsmyl2:

[223tenx]

Guys,
I found out by accident that d-limonene is an EXCELLENT solvent for LLA and it changes the odor to a nice citrus orange. Where can you get it? I got it as grip solvent for regripping golf clubs. Came from Maltby golf works. I'll find a link and post it later. You can also get it at most any scientific supply house that sells chemicals.

[223tenx]

www.golfworks.com. You might check with them first and see if they're still using it for grip solvent.