Degreasing boolits

[Dragonheart]

Bangerjim is right. I can't understand why anyone would elect to buy anything smaller than a 4 cavity or larger, it is just not that much cost savings? I have some 2 cavity, but they are 50 years old and not used.

[NavyVet1959]

Bangerjim is right. I can't understand why anyone would elect to buy anything smaller than a 4 cavity or larger, it is just not that much cost savings? I have some 2 cavity, but they are 50 years old and not used.

Over at Midway, the Lee 2-cavity molds are $21 and the 6-cavity ones (if they even *have* that particular mold in 6-cavity) is $40. When you are just starting out, you might think that the 2-cavity ones will be enough, but you soon realize that it would be nice to have the increased production capacity of a 6-cavity model. Lee doesn't produce all their molds in 6-cavity though. Plus, if you only have a single shot rifle in that particular caliber, it's not like you are going to be needing a *lot* of those bullets at any one time. I'll often keep one of the low usage caliber 2-cavity molds handy for when I'm casting with a 6-cavity high usage caliber so that if I find the mold getting a bit too hot, I can let it sit for a bit while alternating with the 2-cavity one.

[Wardo1974]

I tried boiling the letting it cool . Skin off the wax and whatever then a wash in acetone. They looked perfectly clean. PC'd them and it didn't stick. Dumped them in the pot and recast. lol

Gah. I've done thousands of new AND old boolits on the stovetop. Just boil them in the water, watch the lube melt right off, and while it's still hot, you pour the whole thing through a spaghetti strainer and you rinse. I never said anything about letting them cool in the wax. If needs be, you boil it twice just to be sure, and they come out shiny clean and don't even need the acetone. This method costs you nothing - why not give it a try?

I've never, ever had the PC not stick to the boolits I made this way. And I melted off old hard grease too - so what if it's dirty? You have nothing to lose by trying this first. Having said this, there's more than one way to skin a cat, but I'm all about doing it cheap and easy first, if possible.

[thumbs]

Thanks guys. In my particular case I am trying to find bullets and loads that will work in my 1894. I have bullets that I bought for my revolver. I do not have a mold at the time. I would like to buy the correct size but don't know what that is. I am using the toaster oven,dedicated to my loading work. It works pretty well. I am trying to "perfect" it.
Thanks for all the help guys.

[45cal]

Just did half a gallon can of 44 bullets I had made three years back.
Got tired of the blue lube smear on my 629.
Reg gasoline for a day on them in can.
The next day grease all gone,the a bath in hot water and simple green solution.
P C them yesterday in red this time.
The last ones I did I mixed up several colors and that bunch came out school bus yellow.

[Dragonheart]

Just did half a gallon can of 44 bullets I had made three years back.
Got tired of the blue lube smear on my 629.
Reg gasoline for a day on them in can.
The next day grease all gone,the a bath in hot water and simple green solution.
P C them yesterday in red this time.
The last ones I did I mixed up several colors and that bunch came out school bus yellow.

Actually, you don't need to leave them in the gasoline for a day, about 30 minutes did it for me when I had a few thousand to degrease. I also did a quick rinse in acetone, which took off any remaining oil. They all coated with no problems.

[Jesse Heywood]

Some of us are old enough to remember when gasoline was used for cleaning parts in the garage. The older shop manuals even called for gasoline as a degreaser. Stoddard Safety Solvent replaced gasoline. I haven't tried it on bullet lube.

Today I had a batch of bullets that had been tumbled with Rooster Jacket. The stuff wouldn't boil off, so I tossed them in the tumbler with small grind walnut hulls. An hour later and the remaining lube was gone. Now I need to clean in dishwater and rinse.

[Beagle333]

Actually, you don't need to leave them in the gasoline for a day, about 30 minutes did it for me when I had a few thousand to degrease. I also did a quick rinse in acetone, which took off any remaining oil. They all coated with no problems.

That's the way I do it whenever I find any older alox'ed boolits to clean.

[Dragonheart]

Yes, there are still some of us that remember cleaning all the greasy auto parts in gasoline, even when it cost a whopping $0.17 a gallon. I can't understand it, but somehow we survived.

[leadman]

Paint thinner (mineral spirits) will work well for degreasing boolits but does leave a film. For this I use Purple Power alkyd soap I buy at WalMart for about $12 for 2 1/2 gallons. This is a pretty good degreaser for general shop use as it does not attack your skin like Castrol Super Klean does.
Powder coat may work well for coating previously sized and lubed boolits but Hi-Tek coating does not stick well to the burnished surfaces.
Boiling the boolits in PP will lightly etch the boolits burnished surfaces and sometimes the HT sticks, sometimes not. Just for general info.