making a substitute lee liquid allox

saskgunowner101

saskgunowner101

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A buddy was nice enough to lend me a mold so I could start casting bullets. They're the tumble lube kind and it went well so far. Just curious if there's a substitute for the liquid allox he sent along, as I'd rather not burn up his supply.

Any simple to brew recipes would be appreciated. It doesn't have to be great, I'll settle for pretty good.TIA
 
I am not a fan of tumble lubing, I tried and quit using it.
If you can afford it, a sizer/lubricator is the answer.
There are any number of different lubes you can use, in place of the tumble method. A really simple one that is pretty good, is a mixture of about 50/50, bees wax and beef tallow. This is what the buffalo hunters is said to have used.
One way to lube by hand is to set the bullets upright in a shallow, flat bottomed pan. Heat your lube (slowly) until it melts, then pour it in the pan beside the bullets, until it just covers the top lube groove in the bullets. You may need to have your pan of bullets on a very low heat range on a stove,so they are a bit warm. Wait until all is solid.
You need what is called a "Cookie cutter." At one time you could buy them cheaply, but you can make one out of an empty cartridge. If it a bottle neck shell, cut the bottom off and enlarge the neck just enough that it will slide over the bullets in your tray. Give similar treatment to a straighter walled case.
The bulllets will come out without too much extra lube, if your case is right size.
 
You will probably be surprised, as will others, to discover that plain old Johnson's Paste wax will do the trick for you. I know, I know, .....but just give it a try, and report back with the results. You will be pleased, as well as surprised.

Ted

PS: I agree with Bruce that a proper lubrisizer is the way to go, but if you need to tumble lube, JPW works great.
 
Just melt a few of your kids crayons into a pan, roll them around and sit the pan-lubed bullets on their bases until cool. Works great in light .44mag plinker loads
 
Look into a Lee push through style sizing die. Used on your reloading press. About $20 per diameter.

Use one along with a pan lube situation (pan lube them, cut them out with a tube or sacrifice a cartridge case, then size them) and yo are in like Flynn, on the cheap.

Checked out the Castboolits forum yet?

Cheers
Trev
 
Well the first question I would ask is what velocity do you intend to shoot your cast bullets at. The faster you push them the more concerned you need to be about lube, there is a big differnce between 45 auto @ 850 fps and a .308 going 2500....

Andy
 
I like the liquid alox. I use it for my 455 and for cast 303 at less than 2000fps. I can lube 100 bullets in a few minutes then let them dry overnight. I used some bullets that a friend of mine lubed using his lubricizer and couldn't tell the difference as far as accuracy went. Granted i am not the world's best shot either :)
A small bottle only costs a few dollars and does a LOT of bullets. It might be simpler to just buy another bottle for yourself or to replace what you use of your friends
Kimzter
 
Well assuming you are not going to use pure lead(to soft), any of the above mentioned products should work. I dont think the liqiud alox is to costly and it can be stretched farther by diluting....
 
The use of a lube sizer gives you more options as to type of lube without the mess you get from pan lubing and is a one step process, unlike the lee system which is tumble lube and a longer process. Lube sizers can be equiped with a heater(electrical) which allows the use of different lubes including very hard or soft ones.
 
I'd just buy my own Lee Alox (or pay for his) - it's a few bucks and is enough for thousands of bullets. This is a good deal as well: www.lsstuff.com/lube/liquid-x.html

If you want to make your own, blend Beeswax with the oil of your choice (e.g. Olive Oil), usually about 50/50. There are many recipes out there.
 
I've never used pittance in a sentence before, but that would be the amount I used.

ANDY: The beeswax and olive oil, this mix would work for tumble lube bullets?? Seems like another simple good enough recipe.
 
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