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Tumble lubing?


Paden

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I saw a reference to "tumble lubing" in a post but I am not acquainted with this process. I have been using a Lyman lubber to lube and size. Please enlighten me. Thanks

 

Paden

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Tumble Lubing is done by putting the cast bullets in a container with some type of liquid lube (I use Alox) then rotating the container around until the bullets are coated. For our type of shooting and loads it takes very little coating. I then spread them out to dry completely and you are done. I cast my own bullets and seldom need to size them so this is much faster than using a sizer and luber.

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Tumble Lubing is normally done using Lee Liquid Alox...

* Needs: A flat sheet baking pan and wax paper

* A disposable container sufficient to hold all the bullets - ie as many a 500

* A bottle of Lee Liquid Alox

* Some folks dilute the Alox slightly with pure Mineral Spirits - I do

* Put the bullets in the container

* Squeeze the diluted or straight Alox onto the bullets and shake the can so each bullet is covered with a THIN coating of Alox

* Shake the container with the bullets to insure all bullets are coated

* Pour the bullets onto the wax paper in the flat sheet ... they can lay on the paper in any manner

* Leave dry overnight

* I use a hair dry to warm the lubed to speed up the drying process

When dry, put the bullets in your trays or container

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6Oo94tT8_-k&ei=NMj6UZq0IaHi4AOe9YC4Ag&usg=AFQjCNGIpoPoNgqVbv61jZOVHVe_2Y36fA&sig2=xadDvyG22cSZJ5igLrvnVw&bvm=bv.50165853,d.dmg&cad=rja

Done

 

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When I was shooting smokeless I used this system.

Me being who I am, I decided that if a thin coating was good, a thick coating would be better.

The bullets worked fine but it took me days of scrubbing to get the excess lube out of the loading dies.

Trust me, light coat is better.

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Thanks. Can I get Alox at a gun store? If I order anything else on line the lady will kill me. Thanks again.

Paden.

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Paden, send me by PM your address. I'll send you a couple of plastic containers of Alox. That should last you a life time and keep your Mrs happy too. :D

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One $4.99 container does thousands of bullets. When I'm casting and lubing I can have a 1000 or two drying overnight, ready to shoot the next day. Only takes about two minutes to lube 1000. Stated above was using a baking pan. I'll tell ya right now -DO NOT use your wife's NEW one...... Oops. She now has a NEW new one.

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I tumble lube with a 50/50 mix of Johnson's Paste Wax and Bee's Wax. My process is to heat the bullets in a metal coffee can using a hot plate. Heat them til they are hot enough that you can't hold them without tossing in the air. You want to shake the can a few times while heating to insure that they all heat at about the same rate. Once they are warm, melt a very small dollop of your lube mix and when melted, add to the bullets and then shake the can again so they all get completely covered. Every 5 minutes or so, give the coffee can another shake until they cool to the point of the lube drying enough that the bullets don't stick. I generally wait til the next morning before loading the bullets following the lubing process.

 

Tumble lubing is the best way to go. Coating the whole bullet drastically reduces leading and powder fouling in the barrel. And, it also forms a protective barrier from the lead dust that can be transmitted into your body by encapsulating it in the lube.

 

Buzzard

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I use Lee Alox in a generic zip top baggie. (Ya get a whole pile of baggies for not a bunch of $) Works great. Let dry on some wax paper, which is re-usable on an old cookie sheet. The ones that need to be sized get it, then I dust wit a little "Motor Mica" ( A dry shot cup lube) to help with the "stickies"

And away we go!!!!!!!!!

Knarley

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I have been using a product called 44 Orange. Am I the only one?

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I have been casting my bullets using a hollow base mold from NEI. I cast both 44-40 and 45. Hopefully the Alox will drain from the base.

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I use 45/45/10 mixture of Johnson's Paste Wax (JPW), Lee Liquid Alox (LLA) and odorless mineral spirits (MS). Makes the Alox way less sticky and easier to work with.

 

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?67654-Tumble-Lubing-Made-Easy-amp-Mess-Free

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My variation...

 

Dilute the Liquid Alox with mineral spirits. I like my solution to be very thin - about two or three times as much mineral spirits as Alox. I want just enough on the bullets to see a slight color change or dullness on the bullet surface. Alox is really easy to overuse.

 

After spreading the tumbled bullets on waxed paper, I continue to tumble them around by lifting up each of the edges of the paper in rotation, while blowing the bullets with a hair dryer. It ensures that all of them are coated equally by the thin liquid, otherwise it would run off the bullets and pool on the paper. Couple of minutes does it. When the liquid is all gone, sprinkle some corn starch on them and roll them around on the paper some more to get them all coated. The corn starch eliminates stickiness and I can load them immediately; no need to wait a day.

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How about putting the bullets in a plastic bag and giving them a shot of RemOil and then shaking them around? I know oil can queer the powder, but given the really tiny amount that would be on the base of the bullet, why wouldn't that work? Especially if you shoot up your reloads and not store them for a long time.

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Steve, "regular" oil, that is, oil that is used for actual machine lubrication, usually is a carbon-based compoint. When burned, it will leave a carbon residue, which you don't want in your guns in you can help it. Bullet "lube" does not act like regular lubricants, it actually burns to some extent, and the residue mingles with the flame/smoke of the bullet charge to prevent leading by operating in the reverse fashion of tin flux...well, let me restate that. Tin flux aids tin in sticking to other metals, hence is used in soldering. In the case of bullets, you don't want the lead that is burned off of the base of the bullet by the fire of the charge to stick to anything. Bullet "lube" mingles with the firing residue to keep the lead vapor from sticking to the cylinder, throat, forcinging cone or bore of the gun. If your lube is working properly, you will have little or no leading of these surfaces with cowboy loads. Speed of the bullet has much less to do with it than the heat of the powder charge when it goes off.

So, regular lubricating oils are not what we are looking for here. They will simply burn, leave cargon residue, and do little to "un-flux" the firing residue. The Lee Alox liquid lube is about as simple as it gets, and even if you get some in the cavities of your bullets, it will do no harm, and in fact add to the "un-flux" action of the lube. The use of it does generate a little more smoke than pure smokeless/hard lubed bullets, though. Ducky

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is some advise for all the tumble lubers out there: Tell your wife not to brush the dog and sweep the garage. I now have 1000 Chia bullets!

 

PS. If you smell burning hair at the next match -it's OK. It aint you!

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