Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

[sd61]

Will this lube work on rifle velocities 1800 to 2000 fps? Does it require tumble lube boolit design?

[BD2]

i second the sticky idea.

I would like to say + another one because that has to be the best layout I have seen on tumble lube. I have been using way to much and my seating dies gum up quick. Thank You agin

[Hamish]

Will this lube work on rifle velocities 1800 to 2000 fps? Does it require tumble lube boolit design?

Yup. Nope.

[jwber]

Anyone mind posting a close up of some bullets lubed this way? I just did my first batch yesterday with the 45/45/10 lube I got from White Label. I can barely see some brown on the lube grooves / other parts of the bullet.

There are some slight hard pieces from re-using the tub from tumbling with home made 45/45/10 that I tried and failed miserably lol

[Lever-man]

All very good information! I will be trying this lube formula in the future. How does it do in hot weather? I will also be looking up Buckshot as I've bee wondering if there was a source for push through dies in a wider range of sizes than Lee offers.

[noylj]

Have Lee MAKE them for you. They are reasonably priced.

[jwber]

Okay...I tested out the Whitelabel 45/45/10 lube yesterday.

Accuracy was great 3" 25rd groups at 10yards out of my 4" XD (I'm not a super great shot, same as Jwords for me as a reference)

Bullet TL-356-124-2R as cast .3575-.358 - 4.4 (better of 2 loads) and 4.7gr Unique at 1.125 OAL

I had a fair bit of leading the last half inch of the barrel after 50 shots, after 20-25 you started to notice the build up. Since the barrel was still warm a quick hit of wire brush and then 2 patches and it was clean again.

Wish I could get these to shoot without leading (even if I had to do a quick clean every 100) I could do it every couple of stages at USPSA matches. Was hoping to cast and load up several thousand before spring...hopefully it's still doable.

[runfiverun]

change your boolit.
the lee 9m 124 t/l boolit was the number one thread starter in 2012 by a wide margin.
you could also try another thin coat of lube.
a harder alloy, water dropping your alloy, changing powder.

[noylj]

leading in the last half of barrel means the lube is used up. Need a little more--maybe two light coats

[jwber]

Thanks runfiverun & noylj

I'm going to to another light coat on the left overs from that batch, might try water quenching too. I'm running a 5 to 1 ratio of range scrap and coww air cooled at the moment.

If that doesn't work, I'll try and get some samples on here of some of the other Lee bullets before running out and spending money on a mold that might not work.

[catman81056]

Made my first batch, 1cup LLA, 1 cup Johnsons PW, 3 tbls Mineral Spirits. Have'nt shot any yet but lubed up some 124gr TPTL 9mm's, and some 200gr Lee SWC TL. I'll have to take some pics of my tumbling process and post them, sort of unconventional but it gets an even coat.

[Socal147]

Let's say you use a Saeco lubrisizer and lube your bullets with 50/50 = BW/Crisco. Could you then go back and tumble lube for coverage of the bullet bearing surface.
Has anyone tried thinning the White Label TL with denatured alcohol. This may help with application and drying. Perhaps use this for the first coat, size, and then use the normal consistency TL for the second coat. Just a thought.
I have some store bought lead bullets that seem to use a very hard lube. I can definitely see how these would perform better with a coat of TL.
I personally like a little smoke from the lube. Especially when it smells like freedom fries.

[noylj]

>Let's say you use a Saeco lubrisizer and lube your bullets with 50/50 = BW/Crisco. Could you then go back and tumble lube for coverage of the bullet bearing surface.
Has anyone tried thinning the White Label TL with denatured alcohol. This may help with application and drying. Perhaps use this for the first coat, size, and then use the normal consistency TL for the second coat. Just a thought.
I have some store bought lead bullets that seem to use a very hard lube. I can definitely see how these would perform better with a coat of TL.
I personally like a little smoke from the lube. Especially when it smells like freedom fries.

In my Bah Humbug opinion:
Let's say you don't use the Lubri-sizer and see how as-cast bullets perform, since sizing is not really needed and hurts accuracy, in my tests...
Yes, you can TL after "ruining" the bullets by sizing them and lubing them--if you HAVE to lube, use the Lee or Star lubricators. LLA and Xylox work great, and I imagine that Lar's 45/45/10 is GREAT. Not too sure how good BW/Crisco is, but pure BW is pretty damn good and I've heard the BW/petrolatum is quite adequate.
The important thing is to use a THIN TL coat. If you can see the TL, you've used TOO much. Drying and worrying about tackiness is a waste, since neither hurts a thing and the gun doesn't care. Rather than alcohol, which will have water in it in most cases (so I'm not sure how miscible it is), you can try acetone; however, you still have mineral spirits to dry after the volatile solvent has evaporated.
My personal experience in 40 years is if you see the smoke, you aren't concentrating on the target enough. Smelling, though, is perfectly normal.
Adding LLA/Xylox to commercial cast bullets will minimize/eliminate leading, but will not increase accuracy (other than loss of accuracy due to severe leading). I do it all the time--that blue Crayon "lube" that most use is almost as bad as not lubing at all.

[Socal147]

>Let's say you use a Saeco lubrisizer and lube your bullets with 50/50 = BW/Crisco.

In my Bah Humbug opinion:
Let's say you don't use the Lubri-sizer and see how as-cast bullets perform, since sizing is not really needed and hurts accuracy, in my tests...
Yes, you can TL after "ruining" the bullets by sizing them and lubing them--if you HAVE to lube, use the Lee or Star lubricators. LLA and Xylox work great, and I imagine that Lar's 45/45/10 is GREAT. Not too sure how good BW/Crisco is, but pure BW is pretty damn good and I've heard the BW/petrolatum is quite adequate.

I take it you don't approve of sizing or lubing?
Denatured alcohol contains no water.

[noylj]

READ.
Strong fan of lube. No strong fan of sizing cast bullets. Back in my youth I ran lots of tests and found that sizing did not make a more accurate bullet, so I got sizing dies that were 0.001" larger than my nominal as-cast bullet size. Then I started pan lubing and retired the lubri-sizer except for rifle bullets. Now I tumble lube. I also found that more than 0.002" of sizing really hurt accuracy.
Your testing may be different for some reason, but most don't do any tests at all.
Yes, almost all ethyl alcohol has some water in it--it is called an azeotrope. However, I was not thinking the poster meant denatured alcohol, so you are right.

[noylj]

READ.
Strong fan of lube. No strong fan of sizing cast bullets. Back in my youth I ran lots of tests and found that sizing did not make a more accurate bullet, so I got sizing dies that were 0.001" larger than my nominal as-cast bullet size. Then I started pan lubing and retired the lubri-sizer except for rifle bullets. Now I tumble lube. I also found that more than 0.002" of sizing really hurt accuracy.
Your testing may be different for some reason, but most don't do any tests at all.
Yes, almost all ethyl alcohol has some water in it--it is called an azeotrope. However, I was not thinking the poster meant denatured alcohol, so you are right.

[Socal147]

Noylg, when you write " if you HAVE to lube", one could believe you are not in favor.
I did read and reread you post many times. I am not an expert caster and I am still learning the many aspects of this hobby. I have been thinking of retiring the sizer. TL seems to be less stressful on the bullet and in general, easier to accomplish.

[noylj]

You read what I posted several times and you couldn't see a mis-typed word? Sorry, but obviously from everything I wrote before and after, I meant "if you have to size," and not "have to lube" since I covered, before and after, lubing.

[Socal147]

Noylj - ok, so I misread what you miswrote. My bad. Please don't go away mad.

[jaysouth]

Yup. Nope.

I hate long-winded posters!