What bullet lube works best in a non heated sizer. Will doing 38 and 45 colt for cowboy. So fair low velocity stuff.
Shop temp winter 45. Summer 80.
Can blow a space heater at the sizer.
Suggestions? Thanks.
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What bullet lube works best in a non heated sizer. Will doing 38 and 45 colt for cowboy. So fair low velocity stuff.
Shop temp winter 45. Summer 80.
Can blow a space heater at the sizer.
Suggestions? Thanks.
White Label Lube, BAC.
White Label Lube 50-50
BAC or 50/50 would be my vote. I'd like to recommend 2500+ but I've had to use a heater in the winter months to get it to flow.
http://www.lsstuff.com/store/
I also would recommend White Label BAC. I have had great results with in numerous pistol calibers with my Lyman 450 with no heater. If you ever get into rifle, White Label 2500 is great, but like mentioned above, during the winter cold you may have to heat the lube-sizer with a heat gun to get it flowing.
If your into making you own, Ben's Red works without a heater for me.
So how many boolits will a 1 stick do? looking at 38 or 45 lc with 1 lube groove.
I never bothered to count. Pretty sure I did a couple thousand w/ one bag which has 6, I think, sticks in it. Found out yesterday that the limit is 80 sticks for a medium flat rate box. I'm trying to squeeze every penny right now.
I use a 40 watt bulb in a flexible-neck desk lamp, aimed at my sizer and I can use any lube. The harder ones require a little more wait until the thing warms up a bit, but if you want harder lube, use a little bigger bulb.
Cowboy action, you could easily use beeswax/vaseline and no heat and be pretty happy. :grin:
Some sort of 50/50 mix would work. Half beeswax and the other half either Vaseline or lithium grease.
I don't know that anything will flow well at 45 degrees that wouldn't be a runny mess in the summer. You will need to heat it up to at least an approximation of room temperature or you will break something trying to get it to flow.
TAC 1 is another great choice..Just PM me after you decide..Here are all the details on ordering.. Easy to order fast delivery and high performance lube with low smoke all at a great price.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...old-sprue-lube
Yep, BAC is one of the good ones, and you must be kidding about buying "1" stick. ;)
There are very good lubes at very good prices from a number of sources and that makes home brew a questionable venture at best.
Have about a half of a #10 tin sitting on the counter where it has been for a couple of years.
Haven't taken the time/trouble to get into sticks mostly because of the great and well priced lubes offered.
I hate the process of melting lube to pour into the sizer/luber, so That is another thing in favor of buying my lube with the hole in the center.
Randyrat's lube looks to be one of the good ones, and the prices are good.
I do like the availability of the plastic tubes available with the White Label Lubes like BAC, but can't see that as a deal breaker. I have some LBT - blue soft - sitting here without the tubes, but the tubes are nice for storage and keeping the lube clean.
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
If you order them in a bag from Lars that's what they come in, a ziploc bag. Keep them in the box they came in or any other storage method you desire and they stay nice and clean.
Yep, I have mine in bags, but I also paid the extra for the plastic tubes. Worth it to me.
Keep hoping the LFT soft blue doesn't melt down into a big blue lump! :p :kidding:
CDOC
I was not thinking of buying just 1. :-). Trying to figure out how many I need to buy, so if I know how many 1 does then I know how many I need. Thanks for the help for a newbie.
Mach Cat,
For handgun loads other then maybe the most extreme, making a lube for that use is not rocket science. I used my home brew for my .44 mag loads with no problem other then listed in the example below.
I made it for years, and most concoctions worked. Only failure I recall was one time when I had made the lube too soft.
So, with that in mind, pick a good lube such as that from Randy Rat, or one of the White Label lubes such as BAC or a LBT product and buy a good supply.
It will last on the shelf a long time, so look at the cost of product and cost of shipping and buy enough to get a good value for your money.
The products are so good, and many of the prices so reasonable, it is not worth making your own.
As said, made mine for handguns for year, However, when I went to shooting the 45/70 with cast bullets for hunting I wanted to hedge my bets with what was likely a better product so tried a few commercial lubes. Now I just use a commercial lube for everything.
With a rifle/scope combination, you may be able to see a difference between lubes. I thought I did between the LBT soft blue and the White Label "BAC".
Haven't tried Randy Rat's product, but can't help but think it is one of the good ones and will shoot better in your handguns then you can.
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
I will add a vote for TAC 1. My garage gets to the low 40's and up to the 90's. It works fine at all those temps through my Lyman 450. Works great in my handgun calibers and have used it up to 2000 fps in rifles so far in Texas summer heat and our winter.
I make my own 50/50 beeswax and Crisco. Have shot CAS for years with this lube. Black powder and smokeless.
The only draw back is bullets are very "tacky/sticky". I usually only lube the amount of bullets I'm going to load in the near future and keep them separate in the 50 count plastic cartridge holders that new cartridges come in. I put them in the cartridge holder point end first and then flip them upside down next to reloader and then they are all standing right side up ready to be loaded. I melt the lube in a double boiler and fill the luber reservoir as needed.
Tac-1 here. Awesome stuff. I spent lots of money on a popular blue lube, but found Tac-1 to be just as good and he has an order for Tac-2 (harder than Tac-1) heading my way now. Can't wait as I needed a re supply.
I've never done any kind of scientific testing on lubes so not going to recommend any particular one. Regarding how many bullets a stick of lube will do, its way more than you might expect. I think I get around 1,000 bullets and maybe even more with a stick. It takes at least 1 stick to fill the lubrisizer when you 1st buy it though so you have to account for that.
SPG lube works just fine. .38 special, .45 Colt, and 44-40.
Before the base heaters were available I just hit the sizer with a propane torch till the hard cold lube started to flow into the grease grooves of my cast boolits.
Surely that ruins the paint?? I've managed to keep my RCBS Lubrisizer like new for over 40 years and don't think I could stand to put a flame to it. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockindaddy
+1 on The Ben’s red! As a matter of fact the last thing you want is a heater when using Ben’s red! Use the heater and you’ll wind up with a puddle on the floor!Quote:
Originally Posted by 35 shooter
Lars Carnube Red is a great lube. Heat your lubersizer up with a hair drier and give it a touch of heat as the work progresses. You don't want a heat free lube. gets tto soft even in Washington summers.
I use my own lube mix. It is a mix of bees wax, Johnsons Industrial stick wax for saw blades cutting aluminum and a stick of automotive moly-grease. It does require a heater. Have 5 Star Magma sizers that all have base heaters. Also have 4 Old Lyman 45's and 450's. I fire up my propane torch and warm up my Lyman sizers before I begin to size up a batch of boolits. If I am sizing up a larger batch I just warm up the sizer again with the propane torch. Has worked for years! I don't like soft lube as it melts too easily. If the ammo warms up in the summer the lube can get soft.
I make my own NRA Lube with ATF and make it as soft as I want it to be by how much you put of one thing. You need to test to see how much of it . That is ATF . I use the heater at times but most of the time I do not , I use it in the Lyman 450 . I use the same lube in all the cals. I load and no problems.
No heat is required for Lithi-Bee Lubricant .
The maker I used to buy it from ( Garth Choate) got out of the lube making business ... but gave me the "recipe" and said it was easy to make .
1 part Lithium Grease ( automitive , Lucas Red-N-Tacky #2 - part no. 10574 )
3 parts Beeswax
The "parts" are by weight ... 1 lb. grease to 3 lbs beeswax ... or you can cut those amounts in half . Any lithium wheel bearing automotive type grease will work ...
do not use "white lithium grease " it's a different type .
I started making my own after finding out how simple it is .This lube is as good or better than NRA Alox-Beeswa 50-50 lube . The Alox formula was changed and the new stuff isn't as good as the old alox ...that was why Garth went to the Lithi-Bee lube , he claimed it is better and he's right .
Never needs a heater to flow and if too soft you can add up to 1 part Gulf Wax Paraffin Wax to the mix to firm it up .
Gary
I use White Lable 50/50 and I have to use a bit of heat when my room gets cold. I guess I don't have to, but it sure makes it easier. I just use an old hairdryer.
My first heater was an old clothes Iron set on a steel plate that the Lyman 450 was mounted to. I'd just plug it in until the body of the luber got warm and the lube started to flow, then turn it off and start sizing...
Search reptile heater into Amazon and you'll find many inexpensive ways to heat your lubrisizer. Lube should be chosen for performance in the gun, not the lubrisizer.
It is my Firm opinion that soft lubes are better , in handgun boolits , than hard lube .
I have picked up way too many berm boolits with the hard lube still in the boolit lube groove ... it is doing no good there , you want it coating the barrel !
That's my story and I'm sticking to it !
Gary
I have used a hair dryer and got it flowing when I used it. I now powder coat my cast.
I am getting started casting for rifle and pistol. #429421 for 44 mag, Lee 200 gr. SWC for my 45 acp, and 311291 for my 30-30 and 30-06. is there a different mix for rifle vs pistol?Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle
This is the only mix that I know of .Quote:
Originally Posted by triggerhappy243
1 part Lucas Red-N-Tacky Lithium Grease /
3 parts Beeswax . Never any leading in any of my handguns or 30-30 rifle with Lithi-Bee ... using it since 1978 when the maker told me he thought it was better than NRA 50/50 with the reformulated alox - beeswax .
When they changed the alox formula ... they messed it up for bullet lube ...
Gary
so, how do you mix this?Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle
Felix World Famous Lube. Recipe in the lube stickies.
Triggerhappy243 ... I mix Lithi-Bee like this :
I use a Crock Pot and stiff Wire whisk . Put the beeswax and grease in the crock pot on High . Have the lid and fire extinguisher at hand in case the beeswax "flashes" and bursts into flame ... the lid can smother the fire and the extinguisher ...in case things get outta hand .
The beeswax will melt ... the grease only softens ... so as soon as the beeswax starts to melt ... start blending with the wire whisk and blend the mix as well as you can . stop , turn off pot and let cool ... do this two more times .
The melting , blending and cooling three times gets the mix well blended without burning or scorching the ingredients . So far I have never had it flash fire on me but I'm careful about overheating the beeswax ...400 degrees or about , is where it will burst into flame ... And high heat for a long time will damage the beeswax ...
that's why the crock pot , getting it to melt , stirring and shut off the heat , three times , letting cool between each mixing ... helps with not scorching the beeswax .
My wife tells me my crock pot , on high , will get to about 280 - 300 degrees F ... that's great ! It should be a safe way to melt beeswax , it melts nicely at about 150 degrees F and stays away from that 400 degree flash / burn temperature .
Gary
thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle