soft vs. hard lube

[HABU]

I received my new RCBS Lube-A-Matic today, $84 delivered. With it was a stick of RCBS green lube. The destructions say it is temprature resistant. I guess that means that I dont need a heater to soften it up like other lubes.

If it is a soft lube that doesn't require heat, is it stickier than the hard lubes that require heat? I am about to place an order with Midway and would like your input on lubes that are easy to work with and not a mess to handle.

 

[EchoSixMike]

I use Javelina Alox with a heater. Probably doesn't need it, but makes it flow much better. This lube is sorta soft, but not that messy. I like any of the Alox lubes. I believe different manufacturers have sightly different melting points, and that effects how well the finished bullets handle being touched and stored. S/F...Ken M

 

[Fatelvis]

Fabu, I have the same Lubisizer, and I use the green RCBS rifle lube for everything, and it works great. I dont need to use a heater, (another thing to buy), and so what if the bullets are a little sticky before you load `em? If you`re planning on casting/prepping a whole bunch of bullets, that wont be loaded for awhile, by all means, get the heater and use hard lube, itll be cleaner to store them that way. Otherwise, the stuff you have works great with 303 Brit, 30-06, etc., loads. Have fun!

 

[benewton]

I'm running the same sizer/lub tool, but went to the heated lubricants (Red Angel, in my case).

While the non heated types are OK if you're going to load them fairly quickly, I've several thousand rounds, all carefully packed in coffee cans, and I find that the non sticky lube is a real plus when you start loading bullets cast a few years ago.

Besides, with all the money you end up investing in weapons, tools, brass, molds etc, the extra $50 or so for the heater is unimportant.

 

[Fatelvis]

Now you`ve got me thinking. If I wanted to go to a heater and hard lube, but I have soft stuff in my sizer now, how do I get all the soft stuff out, and use the hard with the heater?

 

[benewton]

What I did was to use up the soft lube in the machine, reload with the hard stuff, then turn on the heater.

As memory serves, since it's been a few years since I did the change over, the soft stuff quickly runs out all over the place. Figure a few messy passes, at least.