Well, I'm slowly getting this pan lubing down pat.
I thought I share what I learnd.
I tried pan lubing those 195 grain RN's I cast from my new Lyman mold. I got dismal result because the lube was too shallow to fill all three grooves. So to get the top groove filled I swirled the liquid lube around the pan til the top grooves were filled, then I let the whole pan solidify.
When I popped 'em out the parts of the lube that stuck to the bullet above the normal level of the lube stayed around the bullet making for a thick ring around the mid-section of the bullet. When pushed through that band would break a larger-than-caliber hole through the lube cake. I had to run each bullet through the cookie cutter to scrape off the excess.
The next time I added a bunch of deer tallow to the lube melt. This made the level deep enough to saturate the top lube grooves. Now the lube cake was nice and thick. It didn't crack, and the bullets popped out clean and perfect!!
So, I think the thickness of the lube cake makes a big difference. I will have to try this on other bullets that don't have the three lube grooves.