Lee liquid alox question

[336A]

Today I got a chance to hit the range with my Ruger BH in .41 mag. I shot some handloads that I made up several years ago for my S&W M58. When I inherited that revolver I loaded up some of Lead Heads 215gr SWC over 8.0gr of Unique. The ammo was very accurate from the M58 but it leaded somewhat at the the throat.

So the next batch of ammo I made up I lubed the bullets with Lee liquid alox. These rounds sat around for quite awhile so I decided to give em' a whirl today and see what happened. The ammo shot great and the empty cases would fall out of the chambers for the most part when the revolver was held vertical. Low and behold 44 rounds later there was nothing left behind, except maybe 3 little flecks and the rest was powder residue.

Know I'm trying to figure out whether or not I want to mess around and lube all my bullets with this stuff or not. I certainly like not having to scrub lead build up from yhe throat of my revolver that is for sure. But at the same time I hate messing with the sticky stuff. What is your folks opinion on this topic?

Oh BTW it must be qualification time or close to it for the local PD here. There were two LEO on the range with me shooting too. I kept getting what I believe were looks of amazement as at 10yd I had a one big hole for a group The female LEO would eye my target know and then as I brought it back for inspection I wasn't very impressed with their marksmanship at all however.

 

[jcwit]

Some folks swear by Lee Alox, Personally I gave up on it. I managed to get 2 Lyman old #45 sizer/lubers and lube mine with my own lube of various ingredients, now have no leading at all, even in rifle calibers.

 

[rcmodel]

I like Lee Alox too.
I bought a case of it at a garage sale several years ago for $5.00 bucks!

But it's the stick kind I use in my Lubrasizer.

rc

 

[336A]

I don't cast my own bullets, I applied the liquid alox to already lubed commercial cast bullets. With the results I got today with this stuff I'm now trying to decide if the pros out weight the cons. If I don't use it I have to use a bore brush for a little bit due to some leading at the throat but nothing serious. On the flip side of the coin it sure is nice not having to use the bore brush at all.

 

[armoredman]

LLA is the easiest lube, that's for certain, I use mine straight and overnight dried. I don't bother standing bullets on end any more, as it seems to really not matter. I do hard lube some, but LLA is still a favorite of mine with my home cast bullets.

 

[Ky Larry]

I like Alox. I use it on all my lead bullets.

Just because a person carries a gun every day doesn't make them a shooter.

 

[flashhole]

I use it on my home-cast lead bullets for my 40 S&W. The bullet mold is the Lee 6-cavity device with the micro grooves for lubing. Supposedly that micro groove pattern favors using LLA. It works really well and I cut mine with about 25% mineral spirits and 10% Johnson Paste Wax. The mineral spirits helps it to dry quickly. I apply it with a Q-Tip around the bullet shaft.

 

[rsrocket1]

If you are getting lead at the beginning of the bullet ride down the barrel, you are likely experiencing gas cutting of the lead bullet because the bullet is just a little too small for the barrel. By the time it gets pressed into the rifling, there is enough pressure to seal the gasses off. The LLA may be just enough to seal the first part properly.

If you find success with the LLA, stick to it (pun intended). If you don't like the gooey-ness off LLA, try a mixture of 45/45/10 LLA/Johnson's Paste Wax/Oderless mineral spirits. Here is the link to show you how to cook the stuff up. It doesn't take long and after tumble lubing with the stuff, it dries like a thin wax coating that doesn't feel sticky. I've even pulled bullets coated with 45/45/10 and after taking them out of the bullet puller, simply brushed off the powder and they came out clean. For fast drying, a fan will dry the lube in less than an hour.

 

[336A]

Thanks for the link rsrocket. I think that the main culprit for the leading is that the bullets are bevel base. The bullets aren't to small for the barrel the are sized to .411"

 

[Certaindeaf]

.I apply it with a Q-Tip around the bullet shaft.

No! I never heard of that one.. I cut mine a bit with mineral spirits and "tumble" them a bit in old bread sacks.
That and a Lubrisizer with stick lube gets me down the road.

 

[flashhole]

I don't like having lube on the exposed end of the bullet. I don't shoot that gun often so it's no big deal to me to spend a little extra time. It actually goes very quickly.

 

[jcwit]

I don't like having lube on the exposed end of the bullet.

This was my bigest complant about Liquid Alox or any tumble lube for that matter. After seating 30/40/50 rounds there is a build up of lube on the end of the seating die causing the bullet to be seated deeper and deeper. Then you have to fiddle around cleaning the seating stem and the inside of the die, then have at it again. In the end I found no time saved and just switched to a lube press. End of problems, and no need for special moulds.

 

[Certaindeaf]

.no need for special moulds.

You can successfully/easily lube traditional grooved bullets with LLA. Also, most people put it on way too thick.. you shouldn't hardly be able to tell it's lubed at all (label your batches accordingly).

 

[rjrivero]

If you are getting lead at the beginning of the bullet ride down the barrel, you are likely experiencing gas cutting of the lead bullet because the bullet is just a little too small for the barrel. By the time it gets pressed into the rifling, there is enough pressure to seal the gasses off. The LLA may be just enough to seal the first part properly.

If you find success with the LLA, stick to it (pun intended). If you don't like the gooey-ness off LLA, try a mixture of 45/45/10 LLA/Johnson's Paste Wax/Oderless mineral spirits. Here is the link to show you how to cook the stuff up. It doesn't take long and after tumble lubing with the stuff, it dries like a thin wax coating that doesn't feel sticky. I've even pulled bullets coated with 45/45/10 and after taking them out of the bullet puller, simply brushed off the powder and they came out clean. For fast drying, a fan will dry the lube in less than an hour.

I also use 45/45/10 for tumble lubing bullets. I'm happy with the results. Easy to use and a little goes a long way!

 

[336A]

Well the heck with it, I went ahead and lubed 44 more bullets to load in the 44 empty cases I shot today. I'll just have to live with cleaning the lube from the seating stem, at least I know I'll have no leading

 

[jcwit]

You can successfully/easily lube traditional grooved bullets with LLA. Also, most people put it on way too thick.. you shouldn't hardly be able to tell it's lubed at all (label your batches accordingly).

Maybe, but

Some folks swear by Lee Alox, Personally I gave up on it.

My post here #2

Well the heck with it, I went ahead and lubed 44 more bullets to load in the 44 empty cases I shot today. I'll just have to live with cleaning the lube from the seating stem, at least I know I'll have no leading

But you claim you do get leading, which is it.
As I said, neither do I, and I have no concerns at all about the seating stem. Be sure you keep track of the bullet depth. 44 rounds?
I normally go thru 300 to 500 at a time and lube way more than that.

 

[Elkins45]

I have had really good results with some guns/ and have had somewhat poor results with others. I think it's better for bullets that aren't too small, but then again regular stick lube works better with them too.

You do have to clean an alox snot booger out of your seating dies when you use it, unless you dust the boolets with mica or corn starch before storing them. That seems to help a lot.

When it works I like it because it's speedy to apply and you don't have to handle each bullet a second time, but there are times when there's just no substitute for a lubrisizer

 

[Certaindeaf]

^
I eyeball mine closely and have no issues with buildup. I probably clean the seating stud with a solvent soaked Q-Tip every 2000 rounds.

 

[35 Whelen]

I tried LLA and hated it. Seems silly to me to lube an entire bullet and it makes a mess. I also hate the thought of any lube, dry or otherwise, coming in contact with my powder.

There's no voodoo about LLA, if it prevented your bullets from leading, then so will any "normal" lube. I now make my own lube and use it for everything from 750 fps 38 Special loads all the way up to 1900+ fps hunting loads in my rifles.

35W

 

[336A]

jcwit if you will re-read my post you will see that I said that I got leading with the untreated bullets. The bullets I shot today were treated with LLA and did not lead at all.

 

[jcwit]

I eyeball mine closely and have no issues with buildup. I probably clean the seating stud with a solvent soaked Q-Tip every 2000 rounds.

Well I guess for someone only doing a few at a time it doesn't make much difference.
Can only imagine the mess with 500 to 2000 bullets.

 

[41 Mag]

I have used LLA,"Mule Snot", on hundreds of rounds so far, either straight or the 45/45/10 formula. My reasoning is (1) I don't have the room to set up any other type of press on my bench, (2) I didn't want to have to purchase the nose punches and such for different bullet types. Mainly I didn't want to have to spend the extra money to accomplish the same thing. I figured I would give the LLA a good overal test with all my revolvers and if it failed to accomplish what I needed then I would look elsewhere. So far, no need.

I have shot bullets lubed this way from 650fps up to 1700fps with GC and PB bullets, and not had any issues what so ever with leading or accuracy. The only time I DID get leading was the initial 5 rounds I shot from my 454, (which ran just over 1550fps), and this was quickly remedied by using a tip I got from another member of the CB's site, to simply swab the clean barrel, and cylinder chambers, with a patch coated with straight LLA. This gives a bit of conditioning if you will, to the barrel so the first round has a bit of lube to ride on. So far after hundreds of rounds fired in this manner I have not had any leading return.

Back to the LLA, I use the White Label brand, as it was cheaper, and identical. I have also pan lubed several different bullets as well and still find the LLA to be the easiest thing going. If you don't want to have it on the nose of your bullets simply set up a small bottle cap, or similar container, and dip the bases up to the crimp groove. It only takes a second and they will have plenty of lube as well. As mentioned you only want or need a light coating on your bullets. If you can easily see it globbed up then your using too much. Experiment with it, and you will find that it only takes about 1/4 tsp to lube a hundred or so bullets depending on the type and size.

I generally use a zip lock type quart freezer bag to tumble in. They hold plenty of bullets and are good for several applications. My 45/45/10 is somewhat like thick cake icing, and I use a wooden Popsicle stick with about a 1/4 - 3/8" glob on the end. I put in a hundred or so bullets, add the glob of lube, squeeze most of the air out, then set the bag in an old pan of warm tap water. After about 4-5 minutes, they are all nice and warm, lube is melted down, and I then roll them around in my hands. Set them on a small pan for about 20-30 minutes and they are ready to load or size depending on which ones I am working with. The GC'ed versions always get two coats whether they need it or not, once before sizing and seating the gas check and once after. Most of my cast are of the WFN GC design, and run anywhere from 240 - 325grs, so you might have to adjust your amounts as mentioned above. Too much doesn't hurt, and what I found initially was, when I thought I had used enough, to cut that in half and that was actually plenty.

As for anything on the noses, if I don't want it there, I simply wipe it off with a shop towel after loading. Just a tiny amount of mineral spirits or denatured alcohol will take it right off, no fuss. I have talked with plenty of folks who use LLA in one or more variant, and none have ever mentioned having issues with it and powder even in the hotter climates. Not saying it cannot or has not ever happened, just haven't run across anyone who talked about it.

I won't argue the point that there are other methods which are just as good, possibly even better. I will just say this is another alternative, which if applied properly, can and does work equally as well as some of the other top methods. For someone on a limited budget, or with a minimum of room, or simply working with one or two bullets and diameters, the Lee sizing kits are a real bonus. Minimal expense, use the same press to load, lube and size, and get a full bottle of lube good for a couple thousand bullets with each kit.