Lead Bullet Lube

[TDA]

In regard to 200gr LSWC, is there a preference between the blue or the red lube?

If Red, which brand comes with it?

Thanks!

[zzt]

The bullseye shooters I shoot with prefer the red lube because it smokes less. It does, but I'm not that concerned. I shoot the brand of bullet that shoots best in my pistol, regardless of the lube. There are several casters who use red lube. The only one I'd recommend is Delco Shooters Supply. If you prefer the blue lube, the best I've found so far is Dardas Cast Bullets.

[anachronism]

Many different bullet casters use many different bullet lubes. You cannot empirically state that all red lubes perform the same, or that all blue lubes perform the same. There is far more to it than that. There are dozens, if not hundreds of different bullet lubes that can be made or bought, and most of them can be colored in almost any manner.

[Chills1994]

The main thing that commercial casters are worried about is how well the lube holds up and stays in the groove during shipment.

[TDA]

Thanks for the info!

[anachronism]

Most of the commercial hard lubes out there seem to be paraffin and/or microwax based. This isn't all bad, but as mentioned before, the commercial casters lube priority is delivering the bullets to you with the lube as intact in the grooves as possible.

[noylj]

Are you lubing your own or judging a cast bullet company by the color of the lube?

Carnauba Red is reportedly a great lube, but it isn't what I would think of as an ideal .45 Auto lube.

Most blue lubes I see on commercial cast bullets do the job, but they look and feel like someone just melted some Blue Chinese crayons.

I have ordered as-cast and unlubed bullets before, as I prefer to shoot as-cast and tumble lube for all my lead bullets in handguns.

I find that a very useful lube is simply a light tumble lube of LLA. I do this with commercial lead bullets that lead, and it eliminates all or most of the leading.

Heck, I find that you can even use Anchor Seal (a wax emulsion made to seal the ends of lumber during drying) makes a good tumble lube for .45 Auto.

I never notice smoke while shooting, so I can't judge that.

45/45/10 is also a very good tumble lube and available from White Labs, just like Carnauba Red. They also have a bunch of other lubes (including, I think it is, BAC--Alox grease, Beeswax, and Carnauba) and might just send you a small sample of some. Very nice folks.

I suspect that even Crisco would work well for .45 Auto.

[TDA]

Thanks for that noylj.

I have shot some 200gr LSWC's and 230gr RN with the "blue Chinese crayon" lube and had a bit of leading. I tumbled lubed some in Lee Alox to see if that would help and it solved the issue. It is a bit smoky and has a noticeable odor, but it worked well.

I was needing to order some more LSWC's and had seen references to both red and blue lube and many seemed to prefer the red so I was just curious.

I did order some more LSWC's from a different manufacturer than I had been using and have no idea what they will have for lube on them, but I went up to .453" this time rather than the .452" I had been shooting to see how that works out. I shoot them in a couple of different pistols so I'm looking for a happy medium that suits both of them.

While the Alox works fine, I shoot mostly at an indoor range and try to be a good neighbor as far as generating as little smoke as possible. I shoot a lot of Hi-Tech coated bullets for that reason, which hardly smoke at all, but i like to shoot lead as well.

Thanks!

[zzt]

TDA, try slugging your barrels first. Most of my barrels measure .4500". The one that doesn't is .4505". .453" would be too big for them.ⁿ

[bowenbuilt]

I have tried a lot of bullet lubes over the past 45 years. Every kind in every way and the lube that is made by LBT is by far the best I have ever used. It does everything it is supposed to do and nothing it's not supposed to. You won't find a better bullet lube anywhere.

http://www.lbtmoulds.com/lube.shtml

​

[noylj]

>I tumbled lubed some in Lee Alox to see if that would help and it solved the issue. It is a bit smoky and has a noticeable odor, but it worked well.

​You used too much. You shouldn't even be able to see the lube after drying. When tumbling, all you want is the bullets to look shiny/wet all over. That is all the lube needed, with or without the blue crayon lube. This is also why so many go to 45/45/10--they can't break the excess lube habit and the 45/45/10 dries faster/better.

​SAAMI spec for .45 Auto bullets is a 0.453" lead and 0.452" jacketed bullet. I'm not a draftsman, but a spec. of 0.453 +0.000/-0.006 makes me think that 0.453 is the target size (otherwise, why not just 0.450 +/- 0.003"?). All I do know is that I have never fired a bullet at SAAMI minimum OD, in any gun.

​Likewise, if other's guns are like mine, they'll find better accuracy in their 9x19s using 0.356-0.357" jacketed bullets (and 0.357-0.358" lead). Never saw any pressure, but I always start all loading of new bullets at the starting loads. Never had any chambering issues, from 1920 era P-08s to the newest CZs.

Edited October 15, 2015 by noylj

[TDA]

When I stated they were smokey, I should have stated a bit smokier. They were 230gr RN (.452") with 5gr of Unique, which I find to be a bit smokey regardless.

I only tumbled fifty just to try and there was not enough Alox on them to be very apparent as far as color change, but next time I try some I'll lighten way up on it just until they are slightly shiny.

This is on bullets that I normally wouldn't buy or shoot, (230gr RN) but Inherited a couple thousand of them, so I decided I would figure out a way to get them to work and use up some powder that I really didn't care for in the process.

I normally shoot 200gr LSWC's, and the .452" work pretty well with just minor leading, but I believe that the .453" will be just about right!

Thanks for the help!