What is used to thin liquid alox and how much to use.
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What is used to thin liquid alox and how much to use.
Generally people use mineral spirits. Other solvents may work but mineral spirits work very well and are cheap.
I use 50/50 Mineral Spirits, found at Lowes/Home Depot/paint store. Some bottles of alox are thicker than others, so adjust acordingly.
Only a slight hint of the alox color is needed, and 2 thin coats are better (dry faster) than one. Doing this gives the most tack free alox lube.
Thanks a lot. I will give it a try. I have been using LLA for a long time, it some times gets real thick in the bottle and I have tried several methods to thin it out and the easiest way is to place it in the Micro wave oven and setting it at 5 seconds at a time until it gets soft enough to squize it out. I have actually tried the Mineral Spirits a long time ago but that was on a bottle of LLA that had became so thick that it was unusable. I could not get the Mineral Spirits to mix with it, thats when I tried the Micro wave method. I tried putting the bottle in very hot water but that was to no avail. My reason for wanting to thin it now is to see how it works with less coating. I have read that it works good on low velocity loads such as cowboy shooting.
I've also used mineral spirits (odorless and plain) to thin alox and make 45-45-10. I've read of using naptha (lighter fluid) but have never tried it...
Just so happens I was doing some experiments, isopropyl alcohol is not the way to go. I'd say the LLA is semi-soluble in it. Separates from the alcohol in little blobs, like some parts of the LLA is soluble, some aren't. I was looking for something that'd evaporate fast as a carrier and leave my bore pre-lubed. I've been getting vertical stringing when starting with a clean barrel, as the LLA works its way out the bore. Once it gets out near the end, the stringing stops. Takes about 10 foulers as I've been trying to use the absolute minimum amount of the LLA.
Lighter fluid works just fine. Drop a 1/4"nut, or bullet, in the bottle to stir it up better as you shake it.
BvT
BvT: I will try the 1/4" nut thing sounds workable. A nut for a nut. Thanks to all.
Just an idea, why not make yourself some 45/45/10. 45% melted/desolvented Johnsons Paste Wax, 45% LLA, and 10% mineral spirts.
Check out "Recluse" for a thread on its making and use.
It works, and it works great.
Jerry
Carolina Cast Bullets
Is any one making and selling the 45-45-10 lube?
heat it in HOT water all you need to do will dry too
Mold Maker: I mixed as per your suggestion and it deffinatly needs two coats. It works great. I will be doing this from now on.
I've tried the 50/50 mix and it works well.
Then I got an idea; cut pure LLA with JPW and add 10% mineral spirits and see what happens. It turned out a golden color that dries really quick and is almost too slick to hold onto. Yup, I use it on all my boolits.
I guess everyone has a "formula" for their own personal need. I love reading all the advise and suggestions on this forum. Saved me lots of money on one hand, cost me a bit on the other. Kind of addictive...............:bigsmyl2:
Just my $.02 worth,
HV in SC
Hi all, been a while (several years I think) since I've posted on this site.
I have been experimenting with bullet lubes for a while now, some I've made and some commercial. I have even taken to using LLA on some jacketed bullets for increased performance and cut down on copper fouling.
I have used mineral oil to thin down LLA and used multiple coats in conjunction with regular bullet lubes. How much mineral oil to use depends on how thin you want it to be and it doesn't take much mineral oil at all. Thinner coats for quite low velocity ammo. Heavier viscosity (and longer drying time) for high velocity stuff. My experiments indicate that the LLA is sloughed off in the first few inches of the barrel, rifle and pistol, and whatever other lube your using then takes over. If your shooting in the rang of 1200 ft/sec or over, the harder lubes don't do much for the early part of the barrel so the LLA will lube the first parts where the hard lubes will not.
Here is a tidbit I discovered about a year ago using LLA. How many folks clean their pellet guns when using the soft lead pellets? Almost no one I know. If you have a gun that shoots anywhere near the 1000ft/sec velocity with soft lead pellets, you will lead the barrels severely. Coat the pellets with LLA to end that. You should notice an increase in accuracy and muzzle velocity too.
Hope you find this useful
what is the difference between acetone and mineral spirits?
can you use acetone instead of mineral spirits to thin LLA?
has anyone tried it?
Acetone might work but has some downsides. It will eat many plastics so you need to be careful wht you store it in. It is also very volatile so the working time may be different, it is going to dry out fast. Acetone is also pretty bad stuff to inhale, make sure you do it out side. Might work fine, might not.
I personally think the mineral spirits work well and have no desire to try something else.
Be aware that there is a "green" mineral spirits available. It is milky white and I believe it's water based. Don't use it! I actually got rust on a die that was soaking in the "green" stuff...
Regular mineral spirits is available just about anywhere (box stores, hardware stores, and even some drug stores' hardware section), comes odorless and regular, and is't too expensive.
i have used a few "drops/squirts" of WD40, I don't tumble lube a whole lot, it seemed to work pretty well and doesn't smell too bad.
Bottom of this page click on "LsStuff.com" and they just started selling Alox 45/45/10 this month, check it out!
I bought a large jug of this green stuff.... was suspicious right off. Doesn't seem to mix well with Liquid Alox either. Going to get a "real" non-green supply tomorrow.
I would further recommend using Oderless Mineral Spirits if you can find it. It stinks a whole lot less and isn't too much more expensive.
Bringing this thread back to life, because I have a bottle of LLA I got from Midway during the plannedemic that is near solid. I saw the recipe about using JPW, but, 1. No longer available, and 2. my LLA is solid already. Thinking about using Naphtha and mineral spirits to thin it. Naphtha is in the original solvent, or it identifies as Naphtha.
Being the LLA is so hard, I'm thinking 5% Naphtha, 20% mineral spirits as compared to the total volume.
will the Naphtha help, or am I over thinking it?
Plus use a .36 ball to mix it.
Home Depot reportedly has a similar product to JJP called Lundmark (I think I got that right). Mix a bunch of that in your LLA and drop a cast bullet in the jar / bottle. It will help when you shake it up for mixing. Mineral spirits, too.
The strongest influence on thinning LLA is heat. Try scooping a piece from your bottle and placing it in a pan and heating it. You'll see that it becomes as runny as water or even thinner. You can warm up the LLA bottle by running it under the sink at high water temperature, squirt a bit into a ziplock bag full of boolits and massaging the bag until the boolits are coated. You'll see that less is better. Spread the boolits on the bottom of a cardboard box and overnight you will be ready to load.
Mineral spirits. Liquid Alox it too thick to use as is IMHO.
I like it the consitency close to warm syrup. Not hot, warm.
Shiloh
I used Lee Liquid Alox recently for the first time. It was liquid in the bottle and spread easily with a brush on my recently loaded 38 Colt short rounds. The bullet is heeled so all of the lube goes on the exposed part (IE outside lubricated). There are no lube grooves.
However I am not opposed to thinning it down. Auto part stores near me do not seem to have Johnson's Paste wax. They do have various other brands including Meguiar's 100% Carnauba wax. Seems like that would be a good substitute what do you think?
When I use 00 buck shot sized for use in my 30cals . I mix it with lighter fluid with it and yes some of it clump up ,but the fluid turn it into liquid .\t dry out good also after you let it sit . I normally do it that way I just load them the next day and give it over night to dry out .
I usually put my bottle of Alox in a tin can with water, and simmer on the stove until it returns to liquid, then dilute with mineral spirits.
Where can you find Johnson's Paste wax?
ACC
I heard it was discontinued, so this spring I went to our Tru Value hardware store, and I found their last can. Told him to see if he could order more, he looked and said none available.
Some other brand should be close enough to the product too work as a substitute.
I used to use 45/45/10 of LLA/JPW/OMS but I heard there really isn't a need for the JPW other than it thickens and solidifies the lube on the bullet. When it does solidify, it feels like firm wax rather than semi-dried grease. It picks up less dust.
The LLA I was attempting to thin was the consistency of a cold candle. (brand new from midway during the demic)
I boiled some water in the microwave and let the LLA sit until I could reform the bottle to be round. The contents were still hard at 200 degrees. I grabbed my Ronsonol and gave a healthy squirt or 2, (very scientific) and added about an ounce of mineral spirits. I used a bamboo skewer to poke holes in the LLA, which was akin to using a tooth puck to poke a well-done London broil. After several minutes it began to loosen up. When it was loose enough, I dropped in 2 - 36 cal. balls and shook vigorously for several minutes. I shook the bottle as well. The consistency was like thick honey.
I grabbed my batch of 303 brit. HC with gas checks and applied in my container.
I was quite pleased with the outcome.
I think you may be right. I was just surprised that midway actually shipped it. I should have contacted them back then. But it all worked out.
The Sleeping Giant has been awakened. Lube on.
This is exactly opposite. If alox is allowed to fully dry, it's harder than any floor wax. The problem is it takes a long time for alox to fully dry.
In addition to adding lighter weight solvents to it, the actual process of making 45/45/10 evaporates off some of the longer, less volatile chains in the alox. You don't actually need to add any other waxes to alox to make it work like 45/45/10. Just boil off the original heavy solvent and replace with mineral spirit.
Adding other waxes just stretches it out, if full alox temp/pressure resistance isn't needed. And it makes it soft enough to scoop chunks, if you use the heat method, rather than solvent. Pure alox is so hard when fully dried that you can hardly even cut it with a knife. But once sufficiently heated, it turns to liquid, just like any other wax. It's a bit higher melting point than beeswax.
I shoot pistol with bullets cast from range lead, which are relatively soft. Pretty much random alloy, but I know it’s not hard. My bullets are shot at velocities of 800 to 950 fps. My preference is simple floor wax thinned with OMS. If JPW is not available, then MinWax from the lumber yard also works. If MS is not available, then Coleman fuel works. I don’t think the specific wax or diluting media is that important at slower speeds in shorter barrels. I do pay attention to bullet diameter and throat diameter. Just my experience, but it’s nice to use what one has on hand.