regular stick lube vs Lee liquid alox question...

mikeystew

mikeystew

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i bought a ranch dog lube groove design mold and im wondering if i would be better served using lee liquid alox as it has many small lube grooves, or if i should use stick lube out of my RCBS lubamatic.

is there any advantage liquid alox has over stick lube? i have to put them through the lubamatic to seat gaschecks anyhow... but as a new caster im not sure if stick lube is just a better way to go or what. can you do both? check/size/lube, then tumble? or would that make very smokey bullets?

and whats the deal with johnsons floor wax?

soooo many questions!
 
Man, im still VERY green at this! lol

I guess a little softer lube would be best. i recently discovered that the RD designed lube grooves were intended to work "well" with the use of LLA, but i suppose that dosent mean i can't use stick eh'?
 
I believe that Ranchdogs molds are similar to the lee "tumblelube" designs, and are really meant not to be resized, just tumble lubed with LLA, this is an educated guess on my part as I don't use such molds or setups. I use molds with conventional grooves that are lubed and sized in a luber like God intended. I've not used Johnson Paste wax, but I believe it is used because it may contain "CARNAUBA" or they believe it contains carnauba. I do use carnauba in my lube(lots of it), I think it just might be the best thing yet. Alot of new lubes contain carnauba including "Felix lube".
 
ben hunchak said:
I use molds with conventional grooves that are lubed and sized in a luber like God intended.
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Gold Ben, pure gold :D

well im into it now. i've gone and bought a lubamatic 2... whether or not i really need it i don't yet know, so im going to try it anyhow. if anything i might need to hone the sizing die out a thou so i dont deform the small bearing surfaces. but i don't regret having the RCBS because i know i'll be buying a lot more molds for which it will be handy. and i guess it can only speed up the process in general.
 
Some bullets that have the so called “micro bands” are intended to be tumble lubbed using liquid alox however it is also possible to apply a hard lube onto those bullets as well; stick lube may not adhere as well since the lube grooves are usually shallow and rounded.
Pros of tumble lubbing is that you can lube many many many bullets relatively quickly just by adding a bit of alox in an empty ice cream container and twirling the bullets around.
The draw back of using liquid lube is that velocities should stay under 1100fps or so, depending on alloy and sizing etc’.
When using liquid alox you will need to let the bullets dry, the most common mistake is that people use to much alox and it creates a thick layer that takes too long to day and even after drying out it is sticky.
Use very small amounts of alox.
There are several demo clips on you tube which show how little of an amount is needed.

As far as using the lube sizer im sure it will come to use.
I like to size all my bullets, even ones that i intend to tumble lube.
The reason i do it is for diameter consistency, that way i know all my bullets are a specific diameter and they will have the same “oversize” to the bore.
This isn’t a mandatory step, just my personal preference.
If you want to use a stick lube go ahead, try it out, nothing wrong about it.
I would suggest trying out both methods and seeing which one you prefer or which one performs better in your gun.

Happy shoote'n
 
i dont yet have the mold in hand, and truthfully don't know very much about molds in general at all yet... obviously, but upon closer inspection of the mold design... it is standard lube grooves, not tumble lube micro bands like most RD designs
.f:P:

This is why im planning a couple months of research before i get into the actual casting part... i still have a LOT to learn lol.. but thankfully i have a couple GREAT resources to draw from here, and at castboolits. and regardless of my moments of severe confusion, i have been guided in the right direction from all sides so far. thanks guys.
 
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I use molds with conventional grooves that are lubed and sized in a luber like God intended.

Ben, does that mean that a heathen like me can use tumble lubed bullets??:p
 
The Ranch Dog molds are similar to the Lee molds,in fact Lee makes the molds for him. The were designed by Ranch Dog to use the Lee TL method and to be shot as cast. http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/

Ranch Dog as he is known on several forums mainly uses the Ranch Dip method to fill the grooves on his bullets but the tumble lube works just as well. I have several of the Lee TL GC molds for pistol and rifle as well as a few traditional grease groove Lyman molds. I generally pan lube those but if I'm lazy I TL them and they work just fine. All my GC's and sizing when it's needed is done with the Lee push through sizer. http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php?action=printpage;topic=27078.0

I use a slightly modified version of Lee Alox on all my bullets I TL http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654 It dries faster and isn't tacky at all and I normally shoot cast bullets in my rifles between 1600 & 2000 fps. with no leading issues using this mix. When heated it liquefies and flows like water but solidifies at normal room temps.

Lee 150 gr. .311 Alox/JPW Ranch dip and sized.
mis002.jpg

Alox/JPW mix
mis005.jpg

My pan lubed 38/357 bullets
PanLube009-1.jpg
 
I don't think that using tumble lube bullets would be held against you, when St. Peter does his final accounting, I think that just using cast bullets should get you in the door.
 
you fellows must have missed post #7.
it's an NOE mold, not lee, ranch dog standard lube groove copy and not tumble lube... my missinformed brain was confused. it is basiaclly an NOE copy of RD's .432-265 RF with standard grease grooves.
 
Diff. story, NOE quality is top notch, one of the new mold makers, that started up to satisfy group purchasers on Cast Boolets, I believe they use a harder(better) aluminum. You'll have to give us a review once you're up and running.
 
I will Ben. i was advised to buy this mold by an experienced caster on marlinowners who swears by the quality of NOE molds. and there were only a couple left over from a group buy so i jumped on it. and although it was a little pricey, from the reviews i've read it drops perfectly round smooth boolits and is well worth the extra money. and you are correct about the aluminum Ben, it is 2024 aircraft grade aluminum they use for the blocks.
 
mikeystew said:
This is why im planning a couple months of research before i get into the actual casting part... i still have a LOT to learn lol.. but thankfully i have a couple GREAT resources to draw from here, and at castboolits. and regardless of my moments of severe confusion, i have been guided in the right direction from all sides so far. thanks guys.
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I say don't delay too much, as you'll miss all the fun you could've had! Personally, I think that the best way to learn is to actually read & fully understand the instructions, try it and then ask questions if anything goes wrong. I did it recently and had some problems on my first wheel weight casting session. I came here, posted a thread and within a day or two had plenty of useful pointers that made casting a breeze on my second attempt. I followed all the pointers about how to correct my initial mistakes and casted pro quality bullets after that.

As far as liquid alox is concerned, I have bought a bulk supply of the stuff through eBay from 'White Label Lube'. It was a 32 oz bottle for something like $22 USD shipped (plus there are shipping discounts available starting at 5 bottles, which brings the price down considerably) and they advertise it to be the same stuff Lee sells in those tiny 4oz bottles. I have yet to find a better deal on alox lube, although it may be out there somewhere and I just haven't looked hard enough. I think it works very well overall, although the drying time can be a b*tch if you put too much of it.

Also, in case it's any help, I've been reading "Modern Reloading Second Edition" lately and the author (Richard Lee) swears by liquid alox. He writes that the stuff is good for pretty much all bullet lubing needs, including black powder & muzzleloader bullets; he even says that the Lee case sizing lubricant can be used as a bullet lube and that a major manufacturer of .22LR ammo actually uses it for their commercial ammo. The faith in liquid alox is repeated so many times in the book that I doubt it'd be a typo, lol. Good book, by the way... especially the chapters dedicated to measuring bullet hardness and matching the correct pressures to those bullets for added accuracy, which is the latest news in casting it would seem... as it literally brings casting alloys vs accuracy for a given charge to a science (now the Lee hardness meter is on my 'to get' list!).

;)
 
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Alox

762mm said:
As far as liquid alox is concerned, I have bought a bulk supply of the stuff through eBay from 'White Label Lube'. It was a 32 oz bottle for something like $22 USD shipped (plus there are shipping discounts available starting at 5 bottles, which brings the price down considerably) and they advertise it to be the same stuff Lee sells in those tiny 4oz bottles. I have yet to find a better deal on alox lube, although it may be out there somewhere and I just haven't looked hard enough. I think it works very well overall, although the drying time can be a b*tch if you put too much of it.

;)
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We offer a 16 oz bottle for 7.4$CAD, A ½ gallon jug of liquid Alox for 23.5 CAD$, and Alox 350 for making NRA formula for 9.82CAD$, shipping can be between 7$ to 18$ depending on destination and Canada post.
 
phishroy said:
We offer a 16 oz bottle for 7.4$CAD, A ½ gallon jug of liquid Alox for 23.5 CAD$, and Alox 350 for making NRA formula for 9.82CAD$, shipping can be between 7$ to 18$ depending on destination and Canada post.
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That's some pretty neat deals right there too... I'm probably going to give you guys a try next time I order. Thanks!

:)
 
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