I found that my Lee mold casts these way too small. I need to lee-ment it out to about .359.
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very useful & informative. I'll give it a try soon.
thanks for the info and the great pics.
Been looking without success...except Amazon, where they have a 22 oz. can listed for like $122!:shock: Ebay was no better! Ace Hardware, you say? I just ordered a bottle of Lars' 45-45-10, whick mat 77, may be a lifetime supply...but I may do some more looking. I don't cast any more, but will use it for a 2nd lube for any commercial boolits I buy, or...maybe just go with all plated, as that seems to be the wave of the future. :-)
I made my first batch of 45/45/10 today! Glad that I did it out in the detached garage with the doors open. It makes a mighty stink! Made right at about a pint, which should last me for a whole lotta boolits.
45-45-10 lube works rally good, I have all the stuff to try HiTek but havent yet, also going to give powder coating a try also , it fun just to tinker with all this stuff, I just got back into casting 3 or 4 months ago and have 7 or 8 molds now and the capability to cast more that I will ever shoot, But Im going to have to get out and shoot a bunch just so I can keep up with my addiction LOL, I actually like to reload and cast more that I enjoy shooting , and from what I have gathered from a lot of the guys on this forum Im not the only one .
Good evening, I can't get Johnston's paste wax or the liquid polish here. I ordered some of Lar's White Label 45/45/10 a couple of years ago. An absolutely fantastic product. I have been using it for 2 years and have lubed 600+ lbs of boolits. I use 1 tsp for 500 32 wadcutters. I warm the boolits at 200F for 10 minutes in a toaster oven, set the plastic container with 1 tsp of lube on top to melt, pour in warm boolits, swirl and shake, pour out to dry.....easiest way to lube. I used thinned down Lee Alox for over 10 years and often had to clean the seating die and the tube for the boolits on my Load Master. Not with 45/45/10.....takes the best lube system and makes it better!
I've just been to Lar's site and couldn't find 45/45/10. I wanted to buy some to compare with what I made. I suspect that mine is somewhat different since I start with Alox 606-55. Without cooking all or some of the solvent out, it is difficult to predict what consistency you will end up with. I've had fairly good luck with my concoction but have wondered how close I've come to real 45/45/10.
Is there another source?
It in there - look under the xlox section
16oz. for 12.95
FWIW:
Alox 606-55 = LLA = Xlox
mix of oxidized calcium soaps.
Lars 45/45/10: http://lsstuff.com/store/index.php?m...products_id=31
Data sheet: http://www.thegearboxguys.com/data/ALOX606-55pds.pdf
MSDS: http://www.thegearboxguys.com/data/AX60655.pdf
Lars explanation of what is used where: http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/msds.html
No wonder for decades I avoided bullet casting.
Before anyone's head explodes, let me explain. I'm in my mid 50s and started reloading in my late teens. Growing up in Maine, I didn't even know what a cast boolit was. Wasn't until Ross Seyfreid was writing about cast bullets and Veral Smith /John Linebaugh in G&A magazine. That it started to catch my attention. But, being an Alaskan Tramp Bushler ( timber faller) I couldn't very well pack around everything needed to cast boolits.
And living and working in Southeast Alaska doesn't lend itself to keeping molten lead in the pot.
Anyway, fast forward to my current situation, living in the Interior where we might get 11" or precipitation a year. And not traveling via skiff . I have room.
And This site. Cast Boolits! It allows me to get the questions I have answered, when I figure out what the correct question is.
I thot , before I read this thread that tumble lubing ment putting boolits and lube in an electric tumbler. :#\ .
This is a great thread! I see that L.S. Stuff has 4t-45-10 lube. I will try it.
Making the stuff is still a bit beyond me.
45-45-10 is good lube, you'll enjoy using it.
Ben
You think YOU were a lurker... It took me 4 years before I put up my first post. :)
And then it was to ask a question elsewhere that was already answered here.
But I'm in a bit of a quandary here. I'm using a double boiler method on the same hot plate that I use to heat my low budget lead pot - so it gets plenty warm. I've started out with 300ml of Johnson PASTE wax, and I've been cooking the heck out of it. I mean for hours! After hours and hours of cooking I've gotten it all the way down to 280~290ml. I'm about at the point that I'm ready to pour off some to make room in the (2C) measuring cup to be able to add the Xlox and mineral spirits. This is PASTE wax we're talking about, right? Looks like it in the pictures....
So now I'm going back out to the garage to start cooking it some more. Maybe the trick is that I'm not starting early enough in the morning to sneak up on it. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but what the heck... When you can't sleep casting is at least a past-time that won't get me trouble. [smilie=b:
If I'm doing something wrong (scratching head), would someone be so kind as to tell me what it is I need to be changing? I'd really appreciate it!
GP
I think it is that you are using the "double boiler", rather than in a pot directly on the heat. Or at least that is what I "think" is what you are doing different that in the OP. I have made it in small batches outside and usually am done in less than an hour.
I can see why ya would want to use a double boiler, but if you stay right there & stir in a directly heated pot, you can monitor the heat to speed up the process. I reckon that the 212F degrees(100C) is not hot enough to "cook off" the solvents in a quick manner. Where having the heat directly on the container means a faster cook...
Just a thought, anyway.
G'Luck!
:)
Thanks for the insight. I think you're right on target about the temperature in a double boiler. So I came up with a workaround and we'll see just how well it 'worked around' this Sunday at the range. I cooked it down from 300ml to 280ml and gave up on the cooking. I poured off about half of it (back into the can) and added the Xlox, keeping the heat on. Once well mixed and heated a bit I killed the heat and added 'about' 3% MS - mixed that in, let it cool and bottled it.
I'm working under the concept that cooking the JPW removes solvents that adding MS replaces, and ~3% brought it back somewhere near to a 50/50 balance. (I had to use all of my fingers and toes to work that formula out and it's probably still wrong!)
The consistency after completely cooling seems right (by my standards). It's thick enough to not want to 'flow', but like molasses in January, it does work it's way down to the nozzle of the clear ketchup/mustard dispenser bottle that I'm using to store it. Not quite as thick as Alox, but pretty 'stiff'. For November, it's pretty warm here in Georgia this year (hitting the low 70's in the afternoon). The only part of this that I have not checked yet is smokiness - that comes Sunday. I anticipate it working fine. It certainly works better (cleaner) than straight Alox in the sizing die. At this point I'm quite impressed with Xlox.
Next time I'm going to save myself a lot of frustration by using a 40/60 Xlox/JPW in a very small batch (10ml total) out the gate and see how well it performs. Then I'll adjust the ratio as necessary, pushing the paste wax up as far as I can before I get build-up in the sizing die, leading in the barrel, or excessive smoke. I'm only loading for pistols so extreme velocities are not an issue. My measuring cup is made of Pyrex so I cannot/don't want put it directly on the heat, but the capability to measure in ml increments makes getting the mixture 'right' pretty easy.
GP
Well, I think you are gonna be close anyway.
:)
I am very happy with that 45/45/10, or what I get that is close to it and have not had any issues in any of the loads I have made using it. And I'd bet that I am not "exact" on my combining of ingredients. I just dump in the JPW from the whole can, add a bottle of Alox after it has cooked a while & then add a little MS to it after it cools just a bit. { I do add just a mite of MS to the Alox bottle to get all of it out & into the mix, but I reckon it evaporates a lot while heating & stirring.]
Then, I stir again & once it has cooled enough to put in the plastic condiment bottle [I made the mistake of doin that too early & had a hard time getting the cap on. Won't do that again. ;) ] and the rest goes into the JPW metal can & a couple of Alox bottles I used to make the stuff. It may not be exact, but it works great for "me", dries quickly when applied, & is not "tacky" to collect on everything, + last a lot of boolits.
G'Luck! with your batch & you can always modify it by "tweaking" the ingredients around to make it the way ya want it to work.
:)
How many coats are you guys using for pistol boolits? One coat enough, or does it need multiple?
Can't speak for anyone else, but I use one coat if I am using "as cast" boolits & then load.
If I size, then it is one coat before sizing, & the next coat before loading.
:)
I would rather have the extra coat of lube, then not have enough. Lube & powder smoke doesn't bother me & it is such a light coat I usually don't have much anyway. Better than not enough lube, IMO.
;)
G'Luck!
:)
I actually sized unlubed then lubed afterwards. I'll see if I get leading or not.
Made my first batch today after reading the first 20 pages or so of this thread. Mixing by volume is a pain, so I started with 140gm of Johnson’s paste wax (which is a terrible brown mushy mess and not what I’d call a paste wax, but anyway) upt it in a tall coffee cup in a pot of water and boiled for about 2 hrs leaving 100gm of JPW. Put the cup on the scale and added 100gm of LLA and 22gm of deodorized mineral spirits. Gave it a couple stirs and dumped it in the bottle.
It’s almost water thin when hot and about like chemical maple syrup @70F. Did a small batch of bullets, seems to work, will load and shoot them next weekend.
For those of you that do a second coat, do you preheat the bullets before the second coat?