lubing but not loading

[canuck4570]

Can I lube all my bullets during the long winter months and load them just prior going to the shooting range?
will the lube go dry and loose its efficiency?
At the present I am using alox bewax 50/50
and if so would I be better serve with a hard lube...
thank Canuck

[454PB]

Alox/beeswax will hold up fine for many years. I've load boolits I sized and lubed 10 years ago and they are fine.

[atr]

In general yes ....BUT...if you leave them exposed (uncovered) in an open tray etc. you will pick up alot of dust/grit

[canuck4570]

Alox/beeswax will hold up fine for many years. I've load boolits I sized and lubed 10 years ago and they are fine.

great, shooting season is short around here
will save me time to do everything else that is to be done without rushing.

[canuck4570]

In general yes ....BUT...if you leave them exposed (uncovered) in an open tray etc. you will pick up alot of dust/grit

they will be in a cookies metal box side by side and the box sealed up with masking tapes.....
thanks....

[Phil]

I lubed/sized my rifle boolits and then stored them in the plastic flip top pistol cartridge boxes. The 9mm and 38/357 size worked great for everything in the 6.5mm to 35 cal range. The 44 mag size boxes worked well for 45-70 boolits. Kept the dust off, kept the boolits undamaged, and they stacked well.

Cheers,

Phil

[GabbyM]

I put mine in plastic bags inside of cardboard boxes.
Unlubed and unsized bullets I store in one gallon plastic food jars. Like pickles and peepers come in. I"ll stuff a couple of coffee filters in as a descant.

[HeavyMetal]

When I lube and size I store in a covered container. What you really need to be aware of is the temp in the area you plan to store your boolits at.

Alox is very soft and will run at temps over 80 degrees. I have bought old cast boolits that were left in a garage and after the lube melted it was just a chunk of lead that I had break the boolits out of and re lube before I could use them.

So be careful of your storage area and don't do the work twice. Harder lubes do handle the heat better but not that much better.

[sleeper1428]

At the present time I'm using boolits that I cast, sized and lubed with 50/50 'way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After sizing and lubing, I tumbled them briefly with just a half teaspoon of Midway's Microfine White Mica dry lube and then stored them in 4X4X4 cardboard boxes. The mica dry lube kept them from sticking together and even after having been transported from Ohio to Oregon in the mid-1990s and then stored in my insulated garage for the last ten years, they still retain all the original lube. I think that if you just make sure that it doesn't get too hot in the area where you're storing them, you can rest assured that boolits sized and lubed during the winter will be fine for the next summer's shooting and for many years to come.

sleeper1428

[jonk]

I do it regularly. Never gets over 75 in the basement so running lube isn't an issue.

On a related note, if the bullets do get rather warm the lube can melt in the loaded cartridge- not pretty. If it is a really hot day and I'm using a moderate or soft lube I toss them in a cooler.

Man did the people at Camp Perry last year give me some looks when they saw me take my ammo out of a cooler on the line......

[canuck4570]

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/
Sleeper1248 here is a link to buy mica specially made to be use with powder it is used to lubricate shotgun wad for trap shooter
1/2 pound at about 7 dollars.....
take care Canuck

[dale2242]

I have stored boolits lubed with 50/50 for MANY years with no problems. I stand them base down in a covered container with heavy paper between the layers. No problems.---dale

[webby4x4]

I'm certainly no reloading expert (I'm still very new at this), but here's something you might find interesting...

My father recently gave me all of his reloading equipment (what a great guy) and I was digging through dozens of boxes and came across 3 sticks of alox bewax 50/50. I actually found the receipt for his purchase (he never threw ANYTHING away) and the date on the receipt said that it was purchased in 1968. The alox bewax 50/50 lube sticks were still just as plyable / soft as the new ones I purchased a few months back. They had shrunk slightly (the outside diameter) but not by very much.

I found that pretty interesting, and thought I would share.

Rick

[JIMinPHX]

Lyman Moly lube will dry out & shrink unless you put it in an air tight container like Tupperware or a zip lock bag.

[sleeper1428]

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/
Sleeper1248 here is a link to buy mica specially made to be use with powder it is used to lubricate shotgun wad for trap shooter
1/2 pound at about 7 dollars.....
take care Canuck

Thanks for the info. Midway's Mica actually has written on the label that one of its uses is to powder cast boolits (they spell it bullets but what do they know) to keep them from sticking together. I liked it so much that I bought a couple of cans of it so I'm pretty well set for the next few years. But thanks anyway - I'll keep the info in mind.

sleeper1428