Lee Liquid Alox

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  • Last Post 14 November 2011
6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2011

Couple questions !

How does Lee Liquid Alox handle temps of say 90-110 degree's ?

 

I have seen some folks mention cutting it with mineral spirits . What is the typical ratio of LLA to mineral spirits if one cuts it for levergun bullets ?

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Wayne S posted this 24 October 2011

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

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6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2011

Thanks Wayne !

The method you showed looks pretty good and especially the part about mineral spirits !

I kinda like this method a little more and it'll keep the lube off the bullet nose !

 

http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/Tips/Alox/>http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/Tips/Alox/

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6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2011

My whole reason behind the LLA is to use it in the Philippines once I'm set and able to cast , load and shoot there . I would of course prefer to use a Lyman 4500 there and lube with Thompson's Blue Angel . But the LLA method and one of Ranch Dog's .432” Lee sizing kits and the Wax Meister tool look like the perfect way to go if the LLA will do okay in the hotter and humid temps in the Philippines !

Attached Files

6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2011

My whole reason behind the LLA is to use it in the Philippines once I'm set and able to cast , load and shoot there . I would of course prefer to use a Lyman 4500 there and lube with Thompson's Blue Angel . But the LLA method and one of Ranch Dog's .432” Lee sizing kits and the Wax Meister tool look like the perfect way to go if the LLA will do okay in the hotter and humid temps in the Philippines !

Attached Files

sart256 posted this 25 October 2011

I live in Central Florida and use LLA and have no trouble in summer tempratures here. I don't like the sticky feel of it after it dries.

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Wayne S posted this 25 October 2011

sart256 wrote: I live in Central Florida and use LLA and have no trouble in summer tempratures here. I don't like the sticky feel of it after it dries.  My TL's are still a bit tacky even with the 45/45/10 mix, to cure that I take the bullets of the wax paper,drop them in a container with some motor mica give the container a few shakes, and no more tacky bullets, works well on normal lube that requires a heater and is tacky till it cools or lube that is a little tacky by it's self.

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6pt-sika posted this 25 October 2011

sart256 wrote: I live in Central Florida and use LLA and have no trouble in summer tempratures here. I don't like the sticky feel of it after it dries.

I used it when I first started casting over 10 years ago and like you I didn't like the feel of it on the bullet noses of loaded rounds .

However if I use Ranch Dog's newer refined method that should eliminate that part . Again I would rather use a Lyman 4500 and a hard lube , but doing this stuff in a foriegn country I'm trying to do it as economically as possible since it's kinda hard to get any of this stuff in the Philippines .

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noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Attached Files

noylj posted this 13 November 2011

LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

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6pt-sika posted this 13 November 2011

noylj wrote: LLA is a mix of oxidized Calcium soaps, designed to resist heat and moisture. It is not a grease (like the Alox used in the NRA 50:50 bullet lube) and is quite like cosmoline and automotive undercoating. I DO NOT size any of my lead bullets. I stopped back in the early '80s. Ran some tests with sized and unsized, lubri-sizer and pan-lube and found that the unsized bullets were always as accurate or more accurate than the sized bullets. I packed up my Lubri-sizer and haven't used it since. I haven't needed to alter the as-cast diameter of any of my bullets, but if I did, I would shift the alloy--more lead gives a heavier and smaller bullet, harder alloy give a lighter and larger bullet. Too many use too hard an alloy. Proper size and lube can handle up to 1500fps (and sometimes even higher).

How to use LLA:

Order Xlox from White Label. Same stuff. Place some LLA/Xlox in a bowl of HOT water. Get a glass casserole pan. Put 100-500 bullets in the pan. Turn all bullets on their side. Add a “Z” of LLA to the casserole dish. Use LESS than you think you need. Shuffle the bullets like dominoes, except you also want to get them to roll around so the bullets are coated all the way around. You should very quickly have a thin layer of LLA all over the casserole pan. Shuffling usually takes maybe 30 seconds. When all the bullets have a wet/shiny look, you are done. Pour them out onto a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. There should be so little LLA that none runs off any bullet and you don't need to stand the bullets up. If they are amber/brown, you used WAY TOO much LLA--see Ranchdog for a true excess of LLA. After 24 hours, they are ready to be loaded. As long as you don't roll them in dirt, dust, or lint, the tackiness will have NO negative effect. There should be so little LLA on them that there will be very little build up on the seating stem. On my seating stems, any excess LLA or other bullet lube simply gets pushed up the seating stem and there is only about a 0.001” or less film on the seater where it contacts the bullet. When I have cast bullets that are a little smaller than optimum, I find that a second coat of LLA works wonders. If you have an excess, the LLA coats the barrel. At that point, the LLA will form a gas-tight seal to prevent almost all gas cutting. If you simply can not stand the tackiness, you can prepare Recluse's 45/45/10 lube or apply a second coat of JPW or Rooster Jacket to the LLA-lube bullets to form a nice non-tacky wax layer.

Thanks for making the post 11 times !

 

You seem to have put a great deal of thought into what you say !

 

However ................................................

I tend to take the advice of the Ranch Dog over most others . He casts and shoots around 20,000 bullets a year so I take notice when he tells me something . Not to say your method doesn't work .

Here in the USA I will use a Lyman 4500 and Thompson's Blue Angel or RCBS rifle lube .

 

LLA is for use in the Philippines only . I kinda like the baby crock pot deal RD has going there . Also since I shoot 99% GC bullets they need to run thru somethign to crimpo the checks on so sizing is a given regardless .

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whelenshooter posted this 13 November 2011

noylj's way is similar to what I do.  It works and the bit on the nose doesn't seem to be a big deal.  I generally keep my loaded rounds in some sort of container and haven't had a problem with the tackiness even when I place them in my pocket for hunting.  The method works, it's simple and it's economical.  Good combinations.

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jimkim posted this 14 November 2011

I diluted my LLA with mineral spirits then melted a stick of “Best Lube"(thanks Roy) and added it to it. It is semi-solid until I heat it in a pan of hot water. It does smoke a little, but the bore of my 40 S&W looks like it's been polished after I shoot it. I lube my bullets by putting them in a one gallon freezer bag and adding a little bit of this lube. I roll everything around until I'm sure it's all coated, and dump the bullets out on some paper to dry. I also lube with my Lyman 450.

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R D posted this 14 November 2011

I am going to add in my tip for tumble lube or I suppose it could be used for dip lubing as well. Instead of using foil, wax paper and such I got a small, about 12X14 piece of safety glass from a sliding rear window of a pickup and use that to dry my bullets on. it is easy to pick up the bullets as they never pull up the paper and dump other bullets all over the place. I clean it with a razor blade scraper like used to remove inspection stickers with and if there happens to be a lot of lube scraped up I can add it back to the warming pan or the bottle. It may not help you but it made my life easier and I don't notice that blue haze in the reloading room as much any more.

RD

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