Author Topic: changing lubes  (Read 566 times)

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Offline Awf Hand

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changing lubes
« on: August 01, 2004, 05:43:49 AM »
What is the best way to change lubes?  Does a guy just sit with a popsicle stick and scrape all the old lube out of the lubrisizer?  Is there an easy way?
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Offline bpjon

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The few times I've done it...
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2004, 09:43:43 AM »
I did just about what you described.  I took the sizing die out and started cranking down on the lube, scraping out the lube as it comes.  Once I've bottomed out the pressure screw, I take it out, put in the new lube, and crank down on the lube screw again, scraping up the old lube as it comes out, and stopping when the new lube starts coming out.  This works OK, but there will be streaks of the old lube mixed in with the new for quite a while.

If I weren't so lazy, I'd use the screw to remove most of the old lubricant, then disassemble the whole thing and boil out the body of the sizer in an old pot.  But I am lazy, so I don't.
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Offline sgtt

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changing lubes
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2004, 07:52:13 PM »
bpjon.......why did you change lube?  What did you do with the old stuff?
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Offline bpjon

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Why I changed lube
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2004, 02:24:40 PM »
The first time I changed lube was in a Lyman 450 I bought used.  As I had no idea what the heck was in there, and I wished to use a soft home made lube, I switched it.  

I've replaced the lube in every used sizer I've bought for the same reasons.

And no, you cheap SOB, you can't have my leftover lube :P  [/list]
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Offline Gatofeo

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changing lubes
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2004, 01:01:46 PM »
I changed my RCBS lubricator/sizer from petroleum lube to one more conducive to black powder bullets. I had to remove all trace of petroleum lubricant from it.
I got a big ol' oil drain pan, the galvanized steel type. I stripped the outside linkage off the RCBS and put it in the pan. Then I added water and half a cup of dishwashing detergent.
Then I placed the pan on a propane burner, outside. It didn't stink nearly as much as I'd anticipated but it sure boiled that RCBS and lubricating dies free of any lubricant.
I gave it another boil rinse with clean water, followed by a final rinse with hot tap water in the sink (we bachelors can do that sort of thing and not have our obituaries printed the next day).
After the second boiling, to rinse it, there was only a trace of lubricant in the water.
That cast iron heated quickly and held its heat. I gave it a good shake to remove excess water, then broke out cleaning patches, hemostats and other tools to dry the interior.
I suppose a good drying in the oven, at 150 degrees or so, would ensure thorough drying but I didn't find it necessary.
All of the old Alox/Beeswax was gone from the innards and the few sizing dies I chucked in the boiling water. Not a trace in them.
When the sizer was dry and cool, I set it up on the bench and gently poured in my favorite black powder lubricant, which is a 19th century recipe that works very well.
Put a lot of papers around and under the sizer, though, to catch any spills.
That recipe is:
1 part paraffin (I use canning paraffin, for its purity)
1 part mutton tallow (lard or other tallow (deer, elk, bear, etc.) may be used but mutton tallow produces a superior lubricant.
1/2 part beeswax
All measurements are by weight. I make it in a quart Mason jar, placed in three or four inches of boiling water, for a double boiler effect. For a quart jar, I use a kitchen scale to measure 200/200/100 grams of ingredients.
Granted, the above is rather drastic for changing lubricants. I certainly wouldn't do it if I'm changing from one Alox-based lubricant to another.
But for black powder, where petroleum products create a hard, tarry fouling, it was necessary.
I'm about to order a second sizer, loaded with nothing but Alox-based lubricant, for smokeless powder loads in modern rifles and pistols. Can't decide between Lyman or RCBS. With two lubricator/sizers I'll have both types of shooting covered.
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