Wiping their little noses.

Boolit Bub Join DateMar 2013LocationI challenge your middle of nowhere, and raise you 5.Posts46

As I'm very new to casting, using tl boolits, does everyone wipe the lube off (alox) after their bullets are seated?
If so what's the best household cleaner for this?

Last edited by BBQJOE; 04-07-2013 at 11:25 AM.

I have never wiped off excess lube, just one less step. No need to IMHO.

Slim

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Boolit Bub Join DateMar 2013LocationI challenge your middle of nowhere, and raise you 5.Posts46

My concern is mostly gumming up the ramps and stuff on my semi-autos.

mineral spirits.

try cutting the alox with it before application and heating it and the boolits.
it helps the lube flow across them better and thinner and helps it dry better too.

but mineral spirits on a rag will clean the noses off.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

Makesem feed better. If yer usin a wax mix its a cleaner in unto itself. Just sayin.

I use charcoal starter fluid. I don't use LLA but I do wipe finished rounds. I drop the rounds into their storage boxes.....the standard plastic ones....but I leave the lid open over night. I have no idea if I didn't do that if accumalated fumes would effect the primers in a closed box I just do it that way to be sure.

I use a clean rag, no solvent. I put my Lee case holder in a cordless drill and chuck each round up and give er a spin. They look shiny as a new penny. When loading in large volume this is very laborious but I've gotten on top of my inventory so I load in 100 round lots nowadays.

It IS worth the effort for autoloaders. I hate getting that mess out of my Glock. ...and I use 45/45/10 which is much thinner and MUCH less tacky than straight mule snot.

If you wanna wipe, use a rag slightly dampened with mineral spirits. FWIW; I don't like goop (alox or 45-45-10) on the bullet noses, (jes don' look rite to me!), so I dip lube ala Ranch Dog. http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/Tips/Alox/ Some may complain that this is too labor intensive, but it's fine with me. I did 100+ .45 ACPs yesterday in about 25 minutes. No big deal...

Boolit Bub Join DateMar 2013LocationI challenge your middle of nowhere, and raise you 5.Posts46

I just put together a batch of 9's.
I'm currently wiping their noses using a commercial kitchen degreaser. It's working just fine, but what a PITA!
There's no way I'm going Ranch dog dip either.
This lubing thing needs a serious rethink. I might just be the man to do it too.
I'll put it in the "dreamer" tonight, see what comes out.

45-45-10 and no wiping my boolits

on the other hand, when I lube with tamarack (50/50) in my star, I get some excess lube on the ojive and/or nose. I wipe those right after seating/crimping, while I inspect them.
Jon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will be offering the GC seater plate for the lyman 45.
Also I have replacement springs for the Lyman 45 lubesizer, If your's is weak or missing, let me know

In the past I used Lee Alox on massive quanities of boolits to the point of purchasing it in four gallon cases and after a long break from casting and reloading I now use Delux 45-45-10 from White Label Lubes , the blend Recluse started here. The Lee lube was a bit much smoke wise shooting on an indoor range so I use to Tumble in a tumbler not a viberator with corn cob media and a few tablespoons of mineral spirits added. It only took about 15 minutes to clean them up real nice.

There have been numerious debates as to the safety of using a viberator to clean / polish loaded rounds. I am not about to get into that debate but I will state that I have used a viberator with corn cob and mineral spirits to clean up both straight Xlox and Delux 45-45-10 loaded rounds just out of curiosity, it worked and no problems were encountered. Honestly I shot outdoors only and thus do not bother with the extra lube on the boolits, just not a problem in my mind.

Some may wonder about the effects of the Alox on the powder after long term storage, well 9mm I loaded over 30 years ago with all of the Alox left on the boolits still functions just fine and it was not stored under idea conditions all of the time.

NRA Endowment Member
Vet . 2nd of the 47th 9th.Inf. Viet Nam Mar. 67-68

Oh! Please not the "to tumble or not to tumble live ammo" debate again...

If anybody is curious, google "tumbling live ammo" and you'll get hits for info going back years.

NEVER tumble loaded rounds.
Lube on the nose is OK unless it gobs up a seating stem.
I hate Alox in any case or any form. I refuse to use it.
Most decent lubes with Alox REDUCES the amount and buffers it.
Could 45-45-10 be made with a better oil like Safflower? Peanut oil? Castor oil? How about Ballistol?

Never tumble loaded lead rounds as the boolits will turn black from collecting all the garbage in your media.

If your using 45-45-10 you shouldn't have to worry about your seating steam as it is dry and doesn't seem to come off very easy.

"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...It's more like
a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn
your *** tomorrow."

Tumbling loaded rounds can change the powder burn rate by busting the deterrent coating. It can change the shape of kernels too.

Tumbling loaded rounds can change the powder burn rate by busting the deterrent coating. It can change the shape of kernels too.I've been following the "tumble vs. no tumble" discussion for quite a while and have read this argument several times. But (and no offence intended to 44man, whose opinion I respect) I have never seen/read of any factual proof, either from a powder manufacturer or an empirical study as to the validity of the "powder breakdown" statement.......

Boolit Master Join DateAug 2007LocationSouthWest USPosts816

No, I have never worried about cleaning the bullet meplat or ogive, nor would I consider it.
Likewise, I have never worried about tacky bullets.
I worry about accuracy and barrel leading--and I get good accuracy and no leading with a simply light tumble lube of LLA (bullets still look silver and not brown/amber).
Instead of looking for problems, why not try just shooting them. It really really won't hurt anything, including accuracy or reliability.

I often wipe the lube off of my boolit noses, but I use Johnson's Baby oil instead of mineral spirits on a cloth for clean up all around. Baby oil readily cuts through Alox or 45-45-10. (Baby oil also smells better than mineral spirits indoors)

It's pretty easy to do if you set up all your loaded boolits in a loading block, or in 100 round closeable top case boxes. My last step is to just swipe a wet cloth (wetted with baby oil) over the top of the boolits, and then another pass with a dry cloth.

I figure it's that much less lube residue to clean up from the inside of my pistol when I'm done shooting. Ive skipped doing this, and left both Alox or 45-45-10 on the noses before. Leaving it on has never caused me any problems, but sometimes I get compulsive and like the noses to be "lube free".

- Bullwolf

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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