Pan Lube advise ?

[scottjge]

I have made some bullet lube that will not stick to the bullets. It consist of tallow and beeswax, 50/50.  I put the bullets in a pan with the lube and slowly melt the lube till it runs around the bullets and then let it cool over night. The next day I take the cake out of the pan and have tried pushing the bullets out and I have tried cutting the bullets out with a cutter. Either way the bullet llube pulls off the bullet. The lube will stick to everything but the bullets. I have tried several batches trying different combinations of the tallow and beeswax mix but nothing seem to work. I am trying to lube the Lee R.E.A.L 320 gr. bullet for a muzzleloader. I thought once that it may be the bullets because the lube grooves are fairly shallow, but then thought there must be something that will stick to lead regardless of the depth.

What am I doing wrong? Do I have the lube too soft? Does it need to be harder? I am trying to get away from the mess of Wonder lube when I am out in the woods hunting and nothing seems to work right.

Can someone please give me some pointers on what I might try next to solve the problem.

scottjge

[Anduril]

maybe don't wait so long to remove the bullet?
..

[scottjge]

Thanks for the reply. I think I figured it out after a eight hour run at lubing these bullets. The lube grooves are tapered ! No matter what I did it would pull the lube out of the groove.  If I dip the bullets in the warm lube and put on a tray to cool, the lube stays on them but doesn't fill the grooves full, just a coating . What a pain that is! Not to mention time consuming, Nothing is ever simple is it?

So I guess we will have to stay with the mess of soft lube on the fingers while hunting or plinking. there isn't much you can do with the bullet as it is shaped unless one uses liquid Alox and that isn't really good with black powder. It gums the barrel up and make a mess to clean.

So for now I am going to stay with Wonder lube and forget the pan lubing for a while, until I can get another bullet with a different groove design.

Thanks,
scottjge

[bubba.50]

r.e.a.l. bullets aren't good candidates for pan-lubing for the very reason you stated-shallow grooves. you may have a little better luck if you add some lanolin to your mix. it will be stickier and not set quite as hard. for what it's worth, bubba. crisco works pretty good also.

[scottjge]

Thanks bubba, I will definitely give it a try. Where can I buy lanolin ? I am kinda in the backwoods and things that everybody else can get, I have a heck of a time trying to find any.

scottjge

[Dezynco]

No kidding....go to the baby supply items at the local WalMart, it's used for breastfeeding mothers.  Comes in a squeeze tube.  I won't say what my wife called it, but I'll give you a hint - t!!!!ty grease!

 

[scottjge]

He he he he, now that sound like what I need. But what do I need for the bullets?

Thanks a million,
scottjge

[jk3006]

In all seriousness, I got so sick of pan lubing (because I couldn't get things just right) that I just wiped some on the bullet with my finger before running it through the Lee sizer.  It didn't take long before I dumped that for a Star sizer.  At first I tried to convince myself that I couldn't afford the nicer sizer, but then the decision became very clear. 

[Dezynco]

Yea, that's what I want!  It's a pretty healthy investment though.  I poked around the Magma Engineering web site, looks like about a $250 investment for a Star sizer.  It's on my wish list.

I used to pan lube my big 45 caliber rifle bullets, probably one of the most obnoxious tasks in the whole hobby!

[Lloyd Smale]

try putting the tray in the freezer for a couple hours. Just long enough to really firm up the lube but not rock hard frozen. then turn the lube cake upside down and push the bullets through

[bubba.50]

lube-sizers are not a good option for r.e.a.l. bullets as it will mash down the over size band that engraves at loading and holds/seals the bullet. for what it's worth, bubba.