Bullet lube mess - any solutions?

J

junkdude

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I've been casting my own bullets 45-70, 308 & 38spl.

With the 45 and 30 cal bullets I Alox'd them before squiting them through the Lee sizing die and then used a paraffin based lube for the groves.

Problem is the bullet seating die gets terribly gunked up with lube and makes a mess of the case necks which must then be cleaned by hand. With the 38's I just used Alox (extrememly sparingly) before and after bullet sizing, and still get a lube crap buildup inside the seating die after 10 or so bullet seatings. It's a royal pain to have to clean the die all the time or to have to clean the cases after bullet seating.

I like the Alox/wax combination as I've had very little fouling in the bore.

Has anyone got a simple solution for this?
 
First solution usually touted, is that your using too much alox, which may even be true in a .38, but you probably need a fair amount of lube on 45-70 and .308's.

Second solution is to drill a hole through you seating stem. I would think you could drill out at least 50% of the caliber diameter. The causes the seating to happen on the ogive of the bullet, and the lube will work it's way up the hole and out the top, instead of building up. A little polishing and use of lube on whats left of your seater plug can't hurt either.

If you have access or a buddy with a lathe, that's what I did, but I can't see why you couldn't do it with a drill press as well, just make sure you get the hole straight.
 
Change lubes or change lubing method to heated(optional) lubesizer from Lyman, RCBS, or Star. Some lubes used on these are very hard and make no mess but some must be heated to flow. With these you are lubing and sizing and seating the gas check in one operation. The Star is by far the quickest, and I use 2 Lymans, 2 Rcbs, and 2 Stars, all are heated and the Stars are air operated. If you are only doing afew bullets pan lubing or tumble lubing is okay but messy, but if you are doing alot, consider going a dif. route.
 
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