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Thread: SPG or Lee alox? Which is better for long range shooting using smokeless powder?

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    May 2025
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    SPG or Lee alox? Which is better for long range shooting using smokeless powder?

    I loading ammo for the quigley shoot next month

    I have regular SPG bullet lube and Lee alox bullet lube (powder coated bullets are not allowed at the quigley)

    The bullets are 535 grain postell bullets from a lyman mold and the lead alloy that I am using is 16:1

    My rifle is a pedersoli rolling block rifle chambered in 45-70 with a 30 inch barrel with a 1:18 twist rate

    The powder that I am using is Accurate lt-30

    The ranges at the quigley go from 350 yards all the way out to 805 yards

    Which bullets lube would be better?

  2. #2
    Boolit Mold 19Rams's Avatar
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    You can’t go wrong with spg in 45-70. I use it with smokeless loads. See you at the Quigley

  3. #3
    Boolit Mold
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    Oh cool! You are going? What gun and setup will you be using?

  4. #4
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    lar45's Avatar
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    Venturino wrote about using SPG in both Smokeless and Black loads. But it turns out he had a financial interest in SPG. I'm not saying SPG isn't a good lube.
    I have a Taylor's and Co. 1874 Sharps in 45-70 with the 34" barrel and all the goodies. Looks like the Quigley model, high grade wood, patch box, silver for end and all...
    For Black Powder, I use Swiss BPCR.
    For smokeless, I use either 50-50 or BAC.
    With the relatively low pressure and velocities of standard 45-70, it would seem to want a softer lube.
    I have not tried a tumble lube with smokeless in the 45-70. The Lee Liquid Alox seems like it never dries, so if you do use it, I'd keep the loaded ammo in zip lock bags to keep dust off of them until you load and shoot.
    The 45-45-10 recipie from Recluse does dry after a day. If I was going to tumble lube, I think I'd try that one.
    Are you pan lubing or using a lubersizer?
    50-50 is easy enough to pan lube using traditional methods.
    Have fun at Quigley.

  5. #5
    Boolit Mold
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    Jul 2025
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    Cheap and Effective Lube

    I used to be a manufacturer and a purveyor of natural wax candles; beeswax, soy wax, and palm wax. One tragic day, I stopped by my supplier of beeswax in Moses Lake, Washington en route to somewhere else only to find it in Chapter Seven and completely out of business forever. Woe. When I ran so low of the beeswax from my current supply that I could not longer use my dipping vat, I mixed what I had left half and half with soy jar candle wax. It is like vegetable shortening except that it is mixed with a vegetable substiture for stearin. I manufactured a batch of dips with that, and then stored the rest for years as surplus. It seemed to me that it would make an excellent bullet lube. Nearly as I can tell, it did. I make 445 grain flatpoints and 500 grain conicals. I use the pan method to lubricate them. Timing is important when breaking the bullets out of the lubricant. Done when the wax is semi-hard gets them cleanly out but with the wax still adhering in the grooves. This last batch had perfect results without having to do any hand work in filling the grooves.

  6. #6
    Boolit Bub
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    I would stick with the spg. It’s been proven in long range shooting.

  7. #7
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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrewvet40@outlook.com View Post
    I used to be a manufacturer and a purveyor of natural wax candles; beeswax, soy wax, and palm wax. One tragic day, I stopped by my supplier of beeswax in Moses Lake, Washington en route to somewhere else only to find it in Chapter Seven and completely out of business forever. Woe. When I ran so low of the beeswax from my current supply that I could not longer use my dipping vat, I mixed what I had left half and half with soy jar candle wax. It is like vegetable shortening except that it is mixed with a vegetable substiture for stearin. I manufactured a batch of dips with that, and then stored the rest for years as surplus. It seemed to me that it would make an excellent bullet lube. Nearly as I can tell, it did. I make 445 grain flatpoints and 500 grain conicals. I use the pan method to lubricate them. Timing is important when breaking the bullets out of the lubricant. Done when the wax is semi-hard gets them cleanly out but with the wax still adhering in the grooves. This last batch had perfect results without having to do any hand work in filling the grooves.
    Andrewvet40@outlook,
    Welcome to the forum.
    .
    If you've read some of the lube posts here, you see hundreds of different recipes. Honestly, people have used 100% crayons (basically Paraffin) for a Lube and it works, until it doesn't.
    That's why there is so many lube recipes here, everyone has there own applications and shooting conditions where one recipe shines and another fails.
    .
    Now, I don't know what "soy jar candle wax" is? but a good bullet lube should have some oil in it, even though a wax only lube might work in some circumstances, having some oil in it, will surely widen the successful applications.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master

    gwpercle's Avatar
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    I would lube them with SPG ... long proven track record and ...
    If you want to change / try different powders SPG will work well with
    smokeless , black and BP Substitutes .
    You wont have a bunch of lubed bullets you can't use in case of a powder change ...

    Good Luck at the match !
    Gary
    Certified Cajun
    Proud Member of The Basket of Deplorables
    " Let's Go Brandon !"

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I must have material and recipes for 50 different lubes in the garage ranging - steam cylinder oil, colloidial graphite, tallow, bee's wax, taurak well lubricant, and even a tiny bottle of whale oil among others. If's there's a recipe out there I've made it. I've come to the conclusion that Harry Pope and his brothers would probably use a modern lube and spend more time shooting than cooking. I'm using SPG tropical now. Experimenting was fun but shooting is funner.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

    Kraschenbirn's Avatar
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    I'd go with the SPG. That's what I used in my Pedersoli Roller until I began cookin' up my own Emmert's and, IMHO, there ain't a nickle's worth of difference between the two so far as fouling or accuracy. I just lean toward the DIY thing.

    Bill
    "I'm not often right but I've never been wrong."

    Jimmy Buffett
    "Scarlet Begonias"

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check