Liquid Alox Bullet lube

[wtr100]

I've come into a nice size 'pile' of cast bullets ~170 gr flat points with gas checks - they must have been left someplace warm as the bottom of the box is a solid 'slab' of bullet lube and the bullets themselves have little to no lube left on them - well other than the ones in the bottom of the box they're swimming in it.

could I use Lee Liquid Alox maybe with a dusting of mica to reduce the stickiness - these will be used in reduced .308 practice loads   

[ken grant]

 I have used the Alox for many years with all kind of loads from .22's to .458 Lott and everything in between. I have always used it alone with nothing else.
The most likely problem you will have with it is USING TOO MUCH
It doesn't take much at all.
Righ now I am mostly using it with .30 cal. 170 gr. flat points with no gas check in a 30/30 Marlin with a Micro-Groove barrel and getting no leading with light loads(Unique)
  Most say don't do this in a Micro-Groove barrel but it works great for me and shoots well.
The kids love shooting it.

[Nickle]

I got my lube through eBay, IIRC.

http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/ I use the Red Carnuba. He sells it on eBay as well as on his website. $1.35 to $1.80 per stick is hard to beat.

[wtr100]

ok follow up question - a fair number of the bullets are sorta half lubed and half unlubed.

would it be worth the effort to heat them up a bit maybe in an old oven and remove all the lube - seems to me I could just use Alox over the top  -

[ken grant]

 I would just try a Light coat of Alox over the old lub

[Nickle]

Put the new lube over the old lube. BTDT, it worked.

[didactic]

    Some years back I was given several thousand quite old .38 HBWC bullets that were either unlubed, or it had all evaporated off.  (Don't laugh.  Several summers in a Texas garage or attic will evaporate most anything off anything.)  To get them lightly re-lubed, and secondarily to make the Alox go further, I thinned it with toluene (available at good paint stores or the big orange box place.  Xylene will work the same but it dries a little slower, an aliphatic solvent like old-fashioned cigarette lighter fluid might work but I had the toluene already and it's the classic wax solvent.  A quart will last about a lifetime, that's often the smallest you can buy.), about 2:1 with the Alox.  Tumble the bullets (in a covered plastic container) in that glop until they're lightly coated.  The Lee instructions say to spread them out on waxed paper to let them dry.  I used old aluminum foil pie plates, that worked fine.  Do this outdoors and away from ignition, these solvents are flammable, and toluene and xylene are called AROMATIC solvents for a good reason.  They stink powerfully.

Thinned this way, a 4-ounce bottle of Alox will last about a quarter of forever, unless you do a WHOLE BUNCH of cast-bullet shooting.  No leading probs at all at reasonable velocities IME.

[wcmartin1]

When working with Xylene or Toluene - don't get it on ya.  It'll make your babies be born naked.

In the oilfield we call 'em MEDBS (Methyl Ethyl Death Bad $h*t).

[wtr100]

Put the new lube over the old lube. BTDT, it worked.

that's the answer I was looking for - better than explaining to the wife why there are 500 + bullets in the oven at 350 deg for 20 minutes