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Lubing Cast bullets
- Thread starter shuppr
- Start date
trip_sticker
New member
Anyone ever tried pure crayon as a lube? Seems like it would be waxy enough, shouldn't be too hard to melt it down and pan lube with it.
IllinoisCoyoteHunter
New member
Probably won't have great luck using crayons alone. I would add some kind of lubricant, whether it is lanolin, JPW, or alox. Good for adding a little color, but not really as a lube alone. I have never tried it, though....so give it a whirl.
freakshow10mm
Moderator
Rangefinder
New member
Well, technically for a "lube", all you're doing is creating a barrier between to objects that will reduce friction. So, there is nothing I can think of with regard to a crayon that says it won't work. But I'm equally not going to say that it will work good. Something known for being able to sustain higher temperatures and pressured without breaking down and rendering itself ineffective would be a better choice over something known to produce pretty pictures among 5-year-olds---sarcasim not intended. Never know till you give it a shot---pun FULLY intended.
AFAIK, the crayon is just paraffin wax and coloring with some solids added for opacity. Should be somewhat less effective than plain paraffin, which vaporizes too easily, and a lot more expensive. I have heard of people melting a crayon in with their regular lube mix to give it some color for identification purposes, but not as a major component.
As mentioned above you should really spend some time over at Castboolits.com, a couple of hours reading over there will save you dozens of hours in your casting and reloading. I cast for mainly pistol, .38, 9mm, 45, 9mm MAK, and 40S&W. I've become more efficient as I've learned and picked up tips from the castboolit forums.
For pistol bullets I use only WW, they're hard enough. I use Lee 6 banger moulds and usually cast using two so that I keep production high....no wasted time waiting for your pour to cool....and I always "leement" my moulds (just some small modifications that make them work better....details at castboolits.com).
Some I can use as cast, some I have to size, you have to measure and test.....depends on the mould, alloy, and gun.
If I need to size, I dump a load into one of those large disposable tuberware containers and spay them with PAM, swirl around for a bit, wait a few minutes and size....this eliminates the need to tumble lube twice.
After sizing I dump in a colander and dunk in a sink full of soapy water to wash off the PAM.
I tumble lube with straight Johnson's Past Wax (JPW). I heat the boolits in a toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes set at about 180, dump them in a microwave safe bowl with a dollop of JPW and swirl around, then dump them on wax paper on a paper bag or news paper, let dry 24 hours and they're ready to use.
I usually do 500 or 1000 at a time. I've used LLA but it's kinda messy, takes longer to dry than JPW, and is way way more expensive. I've used this on micro groove tumble lube designs as well as traditional boolit designs that are meant for a lubrisizer....works fine on both.
I had gotten a used Lyman lubrisizer but don't even use it since tumble lubing with JPW is so efficient.....my understanding is a lot of the guys over castboolits don't even use their lubrizisers anymore or only use them for rifle boolits.
All my hand loads are more accurate than factory except for the 9mm and using surplus Russian salut ($11 a lb) are running me around .02 to .03 each...not counting labor of course.
For pistol bullets I use only WW, they're hard enough. I use Lee 6 banger moulds and usually cast using two so that I keep production high....no wasted time waiting for your pour to cool....and I always "leement" my moulds (just some small modifications that make them work better....details at castboolits.com).
Some I can use as cast, some I have to size, you have to measure and test.....depends on the mould, alloy, and gun.
If I need to size, I dump a load into one of those large disposable tuberware containers and spay them with PAM, swirl around for a bit, wait a few minutes and size....this eliminates the need to tumble lube twice.
After sizing I dump in a colander and dunk in a sink full of soapy water to wash off the PAM.
I tumble lube with straight Johnson's Past Wax (JPW). I heat the boolits in a toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes set at about 180, dump them in a microwave safe bowl with a dollop of JPW and swirl around, then dump them on wax paper on a paper bag or news paper, let dry 24 hours and they're ready to use.
I usually do 500 or 1000 at a time. I've used LLA but it's kinda messy, takes longer to dry than JPW, and is way way more expensive. I've used this on micro groove tumble lube designs as well as traditional boolit designs that are meant for a lubrisizer....works fine on both.
I had gotten a used Lyman lubrisizer but don't even use it since tumble lubing with JPW is so efficient.....my understanding is a lot of the guys over castboolits don't even use their lubrizisers anymore or only use them for rifle boolits.
All my hand loads are more accurate than factory except for the 9mm and using surplus Russian salut ($11 a lb) are running me around .02 to .03 each...not counting labor of course.