Lee Liquid Alox
Feb 6, 2018
Q- How many rounds are you guys able to shoot with Alox based lubes before accuracy falls off? I have read that some guys just leave their bores alone and they have no change in accuracy. I have checked my crimp adjustment, OAL, just about everything that I can think of. I don't have a problem going back to cleaning after every 100 rounds. Is that the source of my problems?
My observation is that most people use far too much of the Lee Liquid Alox. Doing so isn't necessary for .38 Special or .45 ACP wadcutters or for plainbased rifle gallery loads under 1300 fps in calibers like the .30-06.
Nor is it necessary to have special "tumble-lube" bullets with the tiny grooves. Standard cast bullets work fine. There is NO NEED to "fill" conventional lubricating grooves with LLA. The lube works best by using a THIN coating over THE ENTIRE bullet.
This is how I do it. As they say, YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.
I your LLA equal parts by liquid volume with aliphatic mineral spirits and use 1 fluid ounce of the diluted solution to every 25 POUNDS of bullets, agitating in a .50 cal. ammo can.
Four fluid ounces of dilute solution to do ONE HUNDRED POUNDS of plainbased .30 cal. gallery rifle, .38 or .45 wadcutters in a 5 gallon bucket rotated in a cement mixer.
After every 5th cycle you can do a run with mineral spirits only to dissolve and redistribute the dried LLA coating the inside of the bucket or ammo can.
Too much lube enlarges groups. When I was at Ruger we shot thousands of rounds of reloads in testing. Our objective was 25-yard X-ring circular-normal groups from a heavy-barrel PPC gun or 2" or less at 50 yards firing a BSA-Martini action with heavy Green Mountain barrel, .38 AMU chamber and 10X Unertl scope.
Today we use the same idea with .30 cal. gallery loads in the .30-’06 boltguns, 10 BHN alloy, 6-7 grains of Bullseye or 8-9 grains of WST.
Never had any leading issues. Start with a clean bore, which has been LIGHTLY lubricated with mineral oil USP or the diluted lubricant so that for the first string you aren't sending bullets down a squeaky clean dry bore. Once the bore has been conditioned treat it like a seasoned .22 match rifle or pistol. After firing wet the bore with cotton mop only using Ed's Red or Kroil and leave it wet. DO NOT BRUSH!
Store muzzle down. Before shooting again run one wet patch to push out softened crud, then two dry patches through bore, dry the chamber to prevent backthrust of case against bolt face and shoot. Bore remains conditioned with slight remaining oily-lube residue in bore. First shot from wiped, cold barrel at 25 yards pistol or 100 yards rifle should shoot right to sights and into group of subsequent shots without any foulers or sighters needed.
For commercial quantity production this is how I did it at Ruger:
Fill a USGI .30 cal. ammo can flush to the top with your .30 cal. gallery bullets, .38 or .45 wadcutter bullets, using the .30 cal. can as a "bulk bullet measure"
Pour the .30 cal. ammo can of bulk bullets into a .50 cal. can, so that there is "tumbling room" to agitate the can.
Pour 2 fluid ounces of DILUTED 50-50 LLA-Mineral spirits into the .50 cal. can, then snap down the lid.
Gently agitate the ammo can. Grasp it by the handle and turn the can first end to end ten times, then side to side ten times, then repeat end to end ten times.
Unsnap the lid, leaving the can open, supporting a ten-inch box fan over the top of the open can. Let the fan blow on its highest setting to evaporate off excess solvent for 8 hours while you so something else in the shop.
After 8 hours, repeat the agitation sequence and again leave can open with the fan over top blowing overnight.
The next morning snap the lid closed, agitate again, then the pour lubed bullets out onto plastic film and spread them out to finish drying, if needed. When dry to the touch bullets can be stored bulk in ammo cans until needed.
After you have repeatedly used your lube can, such that its insides are now thoroughly coated with dried lube, you can skip the LLA for every 5th bullet load, using clear mineral spirits only to dissolve and redistribute the accumulated lube inside the can.
If not lubricated excessively your seating dies should not accumulate bullet lube, but on progressive machines for large quantities I had a 1/16" bleed hole EDM'ed into the seater die so that lube deposits will not affect seating depth. I save the extruded "lube worms" coming out the bleed hold to flux my casting pot or to lubricate the sprue plate hinges on my gang molds.
If you have a small cement mixer or LARGE rotating tumbler which will hold a HEAVY 5-gallon bucket you can use 4 fluid ounces of diluted 50-50 to 100 pounds of bullets. This process works great with 45-45-10 as well.