Pan lube formula in a lubriszer

[cpaspr]

My father pan lubed. That's all I saw growing up, so that's what I knew about when I started casting years later when he gave me his old pot and molds. I don't think he ever reloaded as much as I do. I'm not dissing on him, he just tended to cast and reload by the dozens. And take a while to shoot them. I reload more in the low hundreds when I load. And take a couple of years to shoot them, then make more. So I'm still a low volume caster compared to many (or most) here.

When I started, being cheap, er, frugal, I went with the only lube method I knew about when I started casting. It worked, okay, but last Father's Day I cast about 700 rounds in various calibers. And pan-lubed them all. I finally made "kake-cutters" in appropriate sizes, but that really got tiresome with that many boolits.

A few months ago I bought "half a 5 gallon bucket" of lead from an older member of our club who was selling off all of his stuff (his cancer returned). Since he lived a fair distance away, and I was working long hours during tax season, I gave the money to a mutual friend who would be going past his place to visit his kids. When I went to his house a few days later to pick up the "half bucket" he suggested I bring a couple of buckets, to spread the weight out.

Turns out the older member's grandson loaded everything on the bench for me, not just a half bucket's worth. I ended up with over 220 pounds of lead when I was expecting about 50. While I like great deals, I won't take unfair advantage. I called him up and explained how much lead I ended up with and that I would definitely be paying him what it was worth. As we were talking he told me he had three well-used lubrisizers that he'd sell for a good price. Well, I mentioned that to my wife (she who insisted I was not going to take advantage of a dying old man), and since she has seen my struggles with pan lubing, she gave the okay to buy the lubrisizers.

So, all of that backstory to finally get to my question.

My pan lube formula works pretty well, from slower like .38 and .44 Specials to faster like 9mm and .40 S&W, on up to .30 Carbine and .30-30 Win out of rifles.

Is there any problem with melting and then pouring the pan lube mix into the lubrisizers?

Thanks in advance.

[barrabruce]

If you tell them what’s in the lube it may help.
Soft/hard etc.
I would have at a guess being a pan lube it work.

[Minerat]

I use my molly bee lube in a pan, for dipping and in my sizer makes no difference. It takes a little heat to make it flow in the sizer. I'm just a dumb old guy so did not know you had to have different lubes for those uses. I even do it with my crisco-bee-olive oil BP lube.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I don't know of any boolit lube (outside of a liquid tumble lube), that doesn't work in a lubesizer?
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Some lubes will push through a lubesizer at room temp, and some lubes need heat to flow through a lubesizer. It all depends on the melt temp of your formula. One secret I've found, is the warmer "things" are(to a point), the better the lube will adhere to the boolit's lube groove. So, heating a lubesizer for a lube that doesn't require heat...just a little bit of heat...can make things go better. This is all dependent on the lube formula.
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For instance, WLL BAC can easily be pushed through a lubesizer without heat, but I've found during handling, it can flake out of the lube grooves more easier than I like, (I think it's the carnauba wax content it has?) But with some heat on the sizer...OR preheating the boolits (another secret I rarely share) will make that same lube to stick tight in the lube grooves.
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Why do I mention all that?
depending on your pan lube technique, you are likely heating the boolits. If you find a problem similar to one I mentioned, it may not be the lube, it may be the heat of "things."

[Gewehr-Guy]

If you can push your cake cutter over your bullet in a pan of cold lube, it should easily flow through a lubri-sizer. I would only fill it a third full, until you know how it flows, then you can harden or soften your lube to where you like it.

[Harter66]

Even my modified formed up Darrs lube is pretty soft , it works fine in an old Herters and 450 Lyman. I spent 12 yr thumb lubing . I had to do a few the other for lack of the appropriate H&I , I felt like the dieing 4 yr old sent to pick up the socks next to their bed ........

[Froogal]

Investigate your lube-sizer first. If you melt the lube and pour it in, you will never be able to put the lube-sizer back together.

[lar45]

Investigate your lube-sizer first. If you melt the lube and pour it in, you will never be able to put the lube-sizer back together.

???

If I have a batch of lube going that I want to use, I will pull the top plunger out of the luber and pour in melted lube. Just be sure to leave enough room for the plunger to go back in.

[Froogal]

???

If I have a batch of lube going that I want to use, I will pull the top plunger out of the luber and pour in melted lube. Just be sure to leave enough room for the plunger to go back in.

On my RCBS, there is a threaded rod that has to go all the way to the bottom. I use SPG lube that comes in a brick. I cut off small chunks and drop them in the chamber, allowing enough space so that the rod CAN go to the bottom. Ideally a person should use the hollow lube sticks, but SPG was available only in the brick form when I bought it.

[gwpercle]

Soft lubes work just fine in the Lyman 450 without any heat .
If your lube is soft ... it will work ... mine is Liti-Bee (1 lb. lithium grease + 3 lbs. Beeswax) a soft lube .
If your lube is harder ... a flood light , hair dryer or heat gun can warm the lube body ... or you can buy a heater made for the 450 and hard lubes .
If you don't have hollow stick moulds to fill the reservoir with ...cut up chunks can be pressed into the chamber or melted lube can be poured in ... leave room for the pressure cap at the top .
The Lyman 450 was the best most useful thing I ever spent money on ...
one cycle of the handle produces a gas checked , sized and lubed boolit ready to load ...
I ditched pan lube in 1972 and never looked back ... that unit is still doing work and no major repairs have been done .

You Going to L-O-V-E that danged 450 .

Tip: flat top punch can be used to size any boolit with a flat spot on it ... you can custom fit a nose with Epoxy or Epoxy Putty if you can't find the nose punch you want .
Getting a nose punch that fits is Most Important when sizing boolits .
Gary

[45DUDE]

Investigate your lube-sizer first. If you melt the lube and pour it in, you will never be able to put the lube-sizer back together.

I was thinking about changing lubes so I bought 5 more 450 lube sizers for different lubes. Blue-orange-red- and homemade. No problem.

[lar45]

On my RCBS, there is a threaded rod that has to go all the way to the bottom. I use SPG lube that comes in a brick. I cut off small chunks and drop them in the chamber, allowing enough space so that the rod CAN go to the bottom. Ideally a person should use the hollow lube sticks, but SPG was available only in the brick form when I bought it.

The threaded rod comes up from the bottom on the RCBS and Lyman lubers. So as long as the rod is in place, you can fill the chamber with melted lube without any problems.

[Froogal]

The threaded rod comes up from the bottom on the RCBS and Lyman lubers. So as long as the rod is in place, you can fill the chamber with melted lube without any problems.

I have the RCBS. The rod does not come up from the bottom. It goes down from the top.

[gwpercle]

I have the RCBS. The rod does not come up from the bottom. It goes down from the top.

You may have a Problem .

So how do you put a lube stick into the RCBS ?
I've only experience with Lyman 450 but thought the RCBS operated the same way ...
...I'm confused now
Gary

[Froogal]

You may have a Problem .

So how do you put a lube stick into the RCBS ?
I've only experience with Lyman 450 but thought the RCBS operated the same way ...
...I'm confused now
Gary

You slide the lube stick onto the rod, or just drop the stick into the chamber and slide the rod down through it.

[35 Rem]

You slide the lube stick onto the rod, or just drop the stick into the chamber and slide the rod down through it.

That is odd. The old RCBS had a rod that inserted from the bottom just like the Lyman. I thought the newer RCBS did too but maybe they changed that when they went to the slide bar (or whatever you call the rod you turn to crank the piston down) instead of the old hex rod where you can use a ratchet wrench. I'm sure glad I have the old RCBS because it just makes sense to use a ratchet so the wrench is always in the same position every time you reach for it.

[cpaspr]

The three I bought are all 450s. Two with add-on heaters, one with the heater built in. I think. I only got the quick "here's how these work" explanation before we disassembled them from his bench and put them all in a bucket. I also received a bunch of top punches and 17 dies (several of which are duplicates), some already cast boolits ready for sizing, probably 2800 .30 caliber gas checks, a box of 429 gas checks, and a lead thermometer. Plus some spare parts. I think I'm going to need to get a few more dies, as there aren't dies there for the calibers I cast, or if there are, they aren't in the final diameters I prefer.

[Green Frog]

My go-to pan lube is an adaptation of the well known Emmert’s lube, composed mainly of Beeswax and Crisco. I’ve also tried it in a Dell hand held lube pump and a Lyman 450. It works fine with all applications. When cold it has a hardness similar to NRA 50-50, which has been the standard for Lyman and RCBS lube pumps just about forever.

Froggie

[Soundguy]

If you can push your cake cutter over your bullet in a pan of cold lube, it should easily flow through a lubri-sizer. I would only fill it a third full, until you know how it flows, then you can harden or soften your lube to where you like it.

Agreed. I knew guys that would cast 'sticks' of their pan lube to feed into a lube sizer that took the solid vs hollow sticks... never heard a complaint.

[Soundguy]

The three I bought are all 450s. Two with add-on heaters, one with the heater built in. I think. I only got the quick "here's how these work" explanation before we disassembled them from his bench and put them all in a bucket. I also received a bunch of top punches and 17 dies (several of which are duplicates), some already cast boolits ready for sizing, probably 2800 .30 caliber gas checks, a box of 429 gas checks, and a lead thermometer. Plus some spare parts. I think I'm going to need to get a few more dies, as there aren't dies there for the calibers I cast, or if there are, they aren't in the final diameters I prefer.

Nice passing of the torch!