Newbie has a question or two

[Arkansas Paul]

Hey all,

I just got my casting stuff this weekend and am anxious to get started. I've been reading up on things here, and watching Youtube videos demonstrating the technique. I got a Lyman Big Dipper kit and bought 2 buckets of wheel weights from a local tire shop this morning. I now have 32 fresh, clean ingots of lead ready to go when the mold and sizer gets here from Midway.

My question is regarding the lube. I'll be using the Lee liquid lube that comes with their sizing die. I am extremely vain with my handloads and like them to be very clean and new looking. The Lee lube has an almost brown coating from what I can tell from the videos I've seen of it being demonstrated. Is there a way to get that off of the loaded round. I figure it would be fine to remove it from the exposed part of the bullet since the hidden part would still be lubed and that's what will be touching the rifling grooves anyway. Surely I'm not the only anal retentive loader so maybe someone will have a suggestion for me.

Anyway, I'm anxious to get started, so feel free to share any nuggets of wisdom.

[turtlezx]

You can just dip the boolits in the lla lube and only coat them 1/2 way
and set them on wax paper to dry

[fryboy]

nuggets or whole chunks ? :P vain huh ? i prefer the term anal and i have my own lil umm quirks ( like i really like clean clean brass in my dies and if i polish or anything to my brass it always gets a fresh clean corncob rinse in the tumbler )
LLA ( lee liquid alox ) it works , it actually works pretty decent and is fairly easy , while i'd suggest to read this thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654
and use your LLA like that as opposed to how lee sends it , if you want to use it as is thin it a wee bit and when applying either LLA or recluse's excellent recipe less is indeed more , warm boolits and warm lube work best and two or three thin coats is better than one heavy one , since you want clean "new" looking rounds get some mineral spirits , spritz a wee bit on a rag and wipe each one off after loading , easy breezy beautiful
eh all that aside welcome to the forum ! and the very best umm chunk i could give you is do lots and lots of reading and then practical application ( the only way to get experience anyways ! ) g'luck amigo !

[geargnasher]

Paul, you might want to take a look at the sticky in this section called "Tumble lubing, made easy and mess-free", it's a guide to making a better lube with LLA. We call it "45/45/10" or simply "Recluse Lube' since he perfected the formula. Trust me, it's MUCH better, smokes less when shooting, and looks better on the boolits.

As far as appearance, a rag dampened with mineral spirits or Goo-Gone will wipe the lube right off the exposed boolit on loaded rounds.

I think you'll like the way the Recluse lube works and looks just the way it is if you do it right. It takes VERY little lube to do the job, just a light varnish. Most of the people you see on YouTube use about ten times too much, and are using straight LLA for the most part which takes forever to "dry", and leaves a tacky, gooey layer on the boolits that's notorious for goobering-up seating dies and feed ramps.

Gear

[runfiverun]

start saving up for the lee 20 lb pot,
you'll get tired of that little melter thing that comes with the lyman quickly.

[noylj]

A proper application of LLA will leave almost no hint of color on the bullet. If you can see the lube, you've used too much.
Don't be anal about things that don't matter.
First, do you even NEED to size your bullets? I know, everyone does it, but I stopped in the '80s and never looked back.
I also have been using a light tumble lube of LLA since eary '90s, I think.
If you really have to size your bullets (which I still doubt), get a spray case lube like Dillon or Frankford (SP?) or dilute Lee case lube with water (and IPA) and spray your bullets. Let dry. Then size with the Lee set-up.
After sizing, put up to 500 bullets in a casserole pan or chaffing dish, put all bullets on their side, squirt in a little warm LLA, and shuffle the bullets around like dominoes (also, pushing with your hands to rotate the bullets). This takes me maybe a minute. If all bullets are shiny and wet looking (not amber or brown), then there is sufficient lube on the bullets.
Pour them out on wax paper or aluminum foil and let dry.
Don't sweat if they are tacky. Tacky doesn't hurt anything unless you roll the bullets in dirt.
I have loaded over 3k bullets on one of my 1050s and the seating stem was still clean.
Try to forget looks and sweat performance.
Nobody gives a damn how shiny your cases or bullets are, but they sure will be impressed by small groups. Then when you tell them that you cast your own bullets and loaded your own rounds, they will look at you with envy and awe.
Only pretty boys worry about shiny (except maybe red necks and their glitter coated bass boats)...

[Arkansas Paul]

Don't be anal about things that don't matter.

Ha. Too late for that amigo. Seriously though, thanks for the advice.

I have seen the Youtube guys and did suspect that they were using too much. A rag with mineral spirites won't take that much longer than normal. I'll just give them a quick wipe as I'm putting them into boxes.

I also have already, after only making 32 ingots, learned that I'll probably want a larger pot soon, especially for melting down wheel weights and fluxing the first time or two. I still prolly won't mind the small pot when actually making bullets.

Anyway, thanks everyone. UPS says my mold and sizer will be here by end of day tomorrow. Can't wait.

[ubetcha]

Try and get as many ww as you possibly can because once the casting bug bits hard you will never find enough to satisfy the cravings.Even the stick on lead weights will work.I know how it is because the only reason I go to work early before anyone else is so I can go through the ww bucket every morning.We don't start work until 7:30am.I'm there and have the building unlocked at 5:30 am

[canyon-ghost]

Just remember, it doesn't matter if it's pretty when you can't hit the broad side of a barn with it! There's more to ammo than how it looks.

[canebreaker]

I use an 18 oz. peanut butter jar. pour some bullets in, add alox, more bullets, more alox. About 3/4 full. Turn the jar over and over for about 2 minutes. Dump out on a walmart bag and let sit for a couple of days. Size and load.
I load 38 spl. and 9m. I took a 45 plastic tray, cut a paper towel in 1" strips and poked it into the holes on the tray. Add a bit of paint thinner add finished ammo bullets down, let sit for about 10 minutes. Then take a paper towel and wipe alox off. That's if I want my bullets to look prudy.

[randyrat]

READ that thread about 45/45/10 it is the go to lube for non lube sizer bullets. It is fast and easy, boolits dry fast and are ready to load quick. It's the "cat's meow" for saving time on pistol boolits. Some use it on a bunch of rifle boolits also

BOOLITS= Blessed by GALINA the silver stream goddess,,, She's riding the boolit at the top of the page.

[Arkansas Paul]

Just remember, it doesn't matter if it's pretty when you can't hit the broad side of a barn with it!

I'll have you to know, I most certainly can hit the broad side of a barn...................as long as I'm in the barn.

Seriously, I'm aware that the looks aren't the most important factor. I've been shooting since before I could keep both ends off the ground. I am however, cursed with a huge vain streak, and there's no need to try and change now. Old dogs, new tricks and all that jazz.

[fryboy]

actually ... i'm still learning new tricks and hope i never stop doing so !!! i know a feller who actually missed the broad side of a barn from the inside .... however he did manage to make the rook leak .... :P and then there was the boolit i wanted to get bronzed ( wonder how that'd work for a lube ? )

yeah it's actually best to not smelt in a lil casting pot (especially a bottom pour ) it can suffice but ..., a old cut propane/freon tank or a dutch oven etc and a large dipper is how i smelt and alloy , i've ladle cast a few from it but much prefer the smaller pot for that

if you really want pretty , at least for cast pistol velocities, rooster jacket is like a clear varnish , dries hard , helps seal the lead ( it is after all a hard waxy coating ) and let's your boolits shine thru but ...if you go putting clear on a ugly boolit it's still gonna be ugly ( and covered under a thin layer of clear wax ) scroll down to rooster jacket
http://www.roosterlabs.com/products.html