Will a boolit thats 50-75% lubed cause problems?

[Lavid2002]

I have some .45 ACP boolits im lubing now. I pan lubed a batch and they cam out good. I did another and there are from spots 25-50%? that are missing lube. Most have 100% though. Will these boolits cause leading? Do I have to re-lube or can I just blast away?

Also, I think I found out how to fix the problem. When I lube and take the pan out of the oven, if I lift it up 1/4 of an inch or so and drop it sharp on the countertop very very small bubbles come up around all the boolits. I believe this to be air coming up from the lube groves in the boolits, and this fixes my partial lube problem. Has anyone else made a similar observation?


Thanks!
-Dave

[Adam10mm]

Depends on the type of lube. Anything from Lar's (dba White Label Lube) I've never had a problem with; even some embarrassing rejects where half the bullet had lube and half didn't have any, no leading.

[Lavid2002]

Im thinking it works like this
-every boolit without lube, or half covered-No way

-most of the boolits lubed and a few with a small amount missing-Should be fine?

What I need to worry about is how to get this lube to stay in the lube grooves! Frustrating....

Edit: Also its white label lubes 50/50

[mdi]

I leave the pan/bullets in the oven for maybe 20 to 30 minutes, that way the lube and bullets are the same temp. I've had no problems like you mention on several hundred .44 and a smaller amount of .45 (Lee 230 gr. Truncated Cone) using a variety of lubes.

Are you pushing or cutting?

[Lavid2002]

Pushing....I put some in the oven at 200* for 30 mins, shut the oven off and left them in(I was in a rush)


Now im home. There in the freezer now, I'm going to take them out and see how it works before I head of back to work. Ill let you know : D

-Dave

[prickett]

Pushing....I put some in the oven at 200* for 30 mins, shut the oven off and left them in(I was in a rush)


Now im home. There in the freezer now, I'm going to take them out and see how it works before I head of back to work. Ill let you know : D

-Dave

Not quite sure what was in the oven for 30 minutes. But, the bullets must be the same temperature as the wax, or else the wax solidifies upon contact w/the cooler bullet, resulting in spotty groove fill.

Again, not sure if you are already doing this, but if not, place the bullets in the pan with the wax, then place in the oven.

[Lavid2002]

Yea thats what I have been doing.
That last freezer batch I tried didnt work.


I am looking at my boolits, and I realized the lube goes up about 2/10ths of an inch OVER the top lube groove. I will try less wax. Maybe there is too much lube and it is pulling the lube out of the grove as I take the boolits out. Well see. I'm trying it now...

[jdgabbard]

I've noticed in my experience that wax tends to shrink a notable amount when put in the freezer. Its how I get my lube sticks out of the molds. I think I would try just letting them cool naturally instead.

[Lavid2002]

I tried the natural approach too, about 3 times.
This is my mold
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=313971
Here are my results : /
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0570.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0569.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0568.jpg

The good ones


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0571.jpg

Heres what I think
1)Maybe my lube is messed up? I doubt it
2)These lube grooves look VERY thin, do I have the wrong boolit mold for this type of pan lubing?
3) This is starting to look ideal....
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0572.jpg

Thanks guys
-Dave

[Fly]

Guys read my post how many pan lube.If you do it as I did you will not get one boolit
that's no perfect.I promiss.

[Lavid2002]

You think I should make some of that lube? I have tried refrigerating this lube without luck. I guess I could try it again as last time I did it I refrigerated them for a minute, and the other time they were in the freezer for a few minutes.

[Lavid2002]

I just aloxed em, I think its liquid alox from here out guys...this stuff is AMAZINGLY simply to use. Much better than pan lubing from my experience. Even if those boolits pulled out 100* lubed from the start alox is still WAY easier. Lets hope I dont get any leading.


-Dave

[Fly]

Lavid2002 the mix I'm using works great.There is no need to heat the boolit's or any
of that.Just put the boolit's on the pan.Read the post,it could not be any more easy.If
you follow it to the letter you will not have a single bad boolit

After you take them out of the fridge just take a small dowel rod & push them out from the
bottom.Throw the excess lube in a bag & store in fridge till your ready to melt it for the
next run.It last a long time.
Fly

[prickett]

I just aloxed em, I think its liquid alox from here out guys...this stuff is AMAZINGLY simply to use. Much better than pan lubing from my experience. Even if those boolits pulled out 100* lubed from the start alox is still WAY easier. Lets hope I dont get any leading.


-Dave

I found that poking the bullets out of the wax while the wax was still warm worked best. Once fully cooled or refrigerated, the bullets were both harder to remove and resulted in lube coming out of the groove.

+1 on using LLA. I started out using it but got leading. So, I went to pan lubing. I soon (ok, immediately) found what a pain it is, so I bought a lubrisizer. Now, having seen the amount of time that adds to the process, I'm hoping I'll be able to get LLA working. I'm off to the range today to try it. I found my gun LOVES 9mm's sized to .358, whereas all my tests with LLA were on smaller diameter bullets. 9mm seems to be the most difficult bullet to prevent leading. I had immediate success using LLA on .45 ACP.

[Lavid2002]

Fly, I have also found out the lube groves on my .45 bullets are exceptionally small. This may explain my difficulties with lubing.

This is the mold
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=313971

Small as in not deep enough to hold on to the lube. I will use the alox for now, but if I get any problems I will make your recipe and give it a shot fly.

Thank you very much for all the input : )

-Dave

[cajun shooter]

Have you ever tried or used a Kate Cutter? If your bullets are 451 then you want the cutter to be 453 so that it slides over the bullet and cuts the lube leaving it in the grooves. I have had Buckshot make me two and they are very nice. He knurled the handles and gave them a case hardned look. You might want to give him a call. That is the tool that Lee put in all the early pan lube kits.

[mdi]

I generally use a cutter for my pan lubing because my home made lube is kinda soft. For pushing, don't cool the bullet/cake in the fridge, push them out while still slightly warm.

[Blammer]

those missing a bit of lube should be fine, those missing 1/2 or more I'd relube.

[Fly]

I feel for the new guy's.So much info so who to believe.The last I will say on this is the formula I
posted & how I did it worked with out one bad Boolit failing out of 400.

You chose
Fly

[Lavid2002]

Thanks guys, I will give pan lubing a try when I hop to a new caliber, or maybe a new bullet design which will be soon.

For now its alox.

Fly, i'll give the lube a shot. I dont want to seem unappreciative of advice : )

I am getting some bullplate lube from someone. Is he the same guy who makes the cutters? Good to know if I ever have problems with alox...

[Capn Jack]

I don't know, I've tried both and it's a toss up...:coffee:

My bee's wax is mixed with graphite grease, so it stays sticky. I melt it, dip the.458 300GR. boolits with a pair of hemostats and stand them on wax paper, then I use a cut-off 30-06 case as a cookie cutter. As I trim each bullet I use an Exacto knife to clean any lube off of the bottom of the gas check.

The .357, I tumble lube in a plastic peanut butter jar, then using a pair of hemostats, I stand them on a paper towel. Before they are fully dry, I pick up each one and wipe the base on the towel to remove any excess lube.

It's not mass production, but then I don't own a machinegun, or shoot in competition.

Jack :mrgreen:

[catmasher]

lubes too soft

[ghh3rd]

I've used some with some of the lube missing... I noticed it when I was ready to use them and was too lazy to rectify the problem. I just made sure there was at least one fully lubed boolit before each partially lubed boolit in my ammo box. Since I use my ammo row by row, I figure I'd be borrowing a bit of residual lube from the fully lubed rounds that were fired before each partially lube round. Didn't have any leading issues.