Tumble lube VS lubesizer

[harpman]

Any one use both ?.wondering if there is a accuracy difference with one or the other. I been using Lee tumble so far.

[ron haralson]

I doubt that most lubrisizers would show you much improvement, and most of that would be related to an overdose of lube unevenly lumped around the bullet. Before you spend big dollars on a lubrisizer, try seating your bullets on the bottom driving band, applying any decent quality machine grease via index finger, seating to proper depth and wiping off the excess.
     This isn't as time consuming as it sounds, keeps the lubricant out of the powder, and you can use a Lee sizer you've probably already got which will size more concentrically than most base first machines.
     Most decent machine grease thus applied will compare favorably to most commercial bullet lube. I've just always needed something else worse than a lubrisizer.
 
                                                                        Ron

[Leftoverdj]

Harp, generally speaking, Liquid Alox gives as good accuracy as anything else. The Lee sizers do a better job than most lubrisizers because the bullets go through straighter and the GC is seated better. You can find times when one lube does a little better than another but there are no firm rules about when that will happen. It's difficult to check because some lubes are incompatable and you need to get the old lube out of the bore and the bore seasoned with the new lube to really know what is going on.

Just what you are doing with the bullets matters, too. The Lee pushthrough is enormously faster than most lubrisizers when you can tumblelube plain base bullets and don't need to wipe the excess off the nose.

[sc03a3]

harpman, leftoverdj is correct. i started using lee tumble lube and their push-through sizing dies several years ago, and since using the lee sizer/lube system i have retired my lyman lube/sizer. i shoot cast bullets in all my milsurp rifles and all my handguns, and i am 100% pleased with lee setup.....sc03a3

[Tom W.]

I have both, and use the tumble lube for my .30 cal cast bullets, as well as for my .45acp bullets. I use the LAM II for the .45 colt, .44 mag and .480.

 I saw one place where someone advocated Johnson's paste wax  as a bullet lube. I took some, along with about 20 cast and sized g/c .30 cal bullets, set them in the warm Alabama sun to melt the wax, tumble lubed them, and loaded them in my 30/06. Worked great!

[Leftoverdj]

I'm using the Johnson's Wax, but only up to about 1400 fps. Dunno how it would do with full house loads, but I'm dubious. I ain't got no Alabama sun, but I do have a wood stove that does about the same thing.

I've also used Rooster Jacket. It's a liquid that leaves a waxy or soapy coat.

Either one works perfectly for mid-range pistol bullets, and both are a lot less messy and tacky than Liquid Alox. The Johnson's Wax is just cheap as dirt. A pound can is $5-$6 and will do tens of thousands of bullets. A rounded tablespoon is about right for 10-15 pounds of .38 DEWC.

[Kingfish]

Leftoverdj,

About the Lee's alox tumble lube and being tacky, I have taken already lubed bullets and tumbled them again with a tiny bit of powdered mica. It makes them less tacky and even look better but was wondering if there is any downside to this?

Bill

[Tom W.]

Kingfish, If I recall correctly, it's recommended that that proceedure be followed. I did it once, but was a tad bit excessive with the mica. Still worked, though, and still haven't used all of those bullets yet.