Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Pan or cake lubing?

Just curious, does anyone here lube via the pan method where the bullets are stood on their base in a pan into which is poured heated, liquified lube? The bullets are then removed and either used unsized or pushed through the economical Lee sizing die.

I've read about it a few times and it seems like a decent, if potentially messy way for a newbie to lube at minimal investment. I already have a lube-sizer so my question isn't for my benefit, but rather the newbie looking to get started on the cheap.

Any cast bullet at lower end velocity will work fine with the Lee Tumble lube with or w/o sizing. (Often not needed). The special Lee tumble lube bullets can be pushed as fast as any home cast bullet, again, sized or not depending.

I shoot the non tumble bullet Lee 429-200-rf, tumbled lubed in Lee liquid Alox and shot unsized in my S&W 329 44 Magnum with a CowBoy action Trail Boss load. Nice plinking load and in the 26 ounce 329 there is a bit of recoil.

Lyman used to make "Kake-Cutters" in almost every diameter for pan lubing.
Have a .313 one I use in my 8.15x46R with melted SPG.

Some bullets from really good molds shoot better as cast than after being run through a lube-sizer.

Nice when you can shoot almost any centerfire cheaper than today's costly 22 rimfire.

Pan lube?

.25-20 Win & SS - check
7 Mouser - check
.30-30 - check
.38-55 - check
.38/.357 - check
.40 BP slug rifle - check
.44 mag - check
.45-70 BP & smokeless - check

Lee sizers - check
Tumble lube - check
Hammer swage - check

I'm a novice.

With the pan method, you do need to get a cutter. There are places to get them custom-made.
Another thing with the pan method, which you may not have thought about, is that after the intitial pour and cut, you can just place bullets into the holes left in the lube before reheating. From time-to-time you need to drop in a little more lube.

to make a custom kake cutter, get an old brass shell that was fired. Deprime, do not resize the neck, bell the neck just a tad.

get a tooth pick or a piece of wire.

take shell press over bullet in kake of lube, pull out shell, use wire to press out bullet through flash hole.

repeat.

Or, to take that a step further, cut the empty shell off ahead of the base and let the bullets push themselves straight on through.

My home brew cookie cutter for the 45/110.Works great with the plunger and pukes em out ASAP.

spanishhombre = Larry Root. Another persona for the troll that won't go away

I have been pan lubing for my 40-65 for as long as I have been shooting it. I use SPG and melt it in a double boiler. I warm the bullets, standing on their bases in the pan, on a hot plate while the lube is melting. The lube seems to "stick" better if the bullets are warm when you add the lube. To get the bullets out of the lube cake, I just push on the nose of the bullet with my thumb.

What he said. ^

OK, pan lubers. Lets take the next step in this conversation and talk about lubes. Are you guys just melting down commercially available sticks or do you have a favorite recipe for a home brewed lube?

I use SPG lube for BP, Alox for tumble lube, diluted about 10% by volume with mineral spirits.

For the DIY lubemeister....

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?58-Boolit-Lube-!

best cheap quick lube around that works well in a wide range of velocities.

Beeswax, and 2 cycle engine oil, (you know, the chainsaw oil you add to the gas)

1 lb of beeswax and about 3 fluid oz of oil.

if it's too sticky, add more beeswax, if it's too hard add more oil.

it's known as speed green.

I shot lubed bullets for decades, and made my own tricked out formulas that were superior to what was commercially available. I made my own liquid Alox, but none were any better than the Lee Liquid Alox...no leading is no leading regardless of how you do it.

On that note, I haven't used any lube for the last 30 years, I use coated bullets...they're just like jacketed and much cleaner.

I use White Label lube. In a cake pan. On stove. When wife is not home. I have a home made cutter made out of brass. I use Lee push thru dies or home made ones for 44 mag, 475 Linebaugh, 500 Wyomig Express and 500JRH. I also tumble lube plinkers for 44 and 38. I have a Lyman Luber matic but its just about as messy as pan lube.
It's probably not as cost effective as buying them from Montana bullet works or Bitterroot but it is fun and like anything else you have pride in a job you did yourself.