how does tumble lube work on a regular cast bullet with conv. grooves. thanks

I've found Lee's Liquid Alox to work quite well on conventional grooved bullets, pretty much all I use any more.

The lube works just fine. The only issue I have ever had with using TL bullets from Lee is that some of them are too large as-cast. I have actually had to take fully loaded 38 wadcutter rounds and run them through a full length sizer so they would chamber. It worked just fine, was just an extra step I didn't expect to have to take...

I use a mix of Alox that is referred to as Recluse Lube. It is a blend of Johnson's Paste Wax, Alox, and a touch of odorless Mineral Spirits. (The directions can be found pretty easily.)

Anywho, I shoot mostly standard lube grooved boolits and have had no issues with leading or accuracy. The only minor issue I might could call would be the initial five rounds I put through my Raging Bull in 454. Using the Lee .452-300 RF, I had lubed with straight Alox, I had a small smear in my barrel after the very first five rounds I shot through a VERY clean barrel.

I was advised to clean it thoroughly and after run a patch with Alox smeared on it through the bore to sort of pre-lube it. I did so and have not seen any signs of lead since.

Granted I am running this boolit at velocities between 1400 and 1650fps, and the alloy is aic cooled wheel weights. They are GC'ed which might help out with the leading, but in my 41, and 44 pushing a plain based softer alloy boolit upwards of 1300fps I see no issues either.

I'll bet as many standard bullets have been shot with tumble lube as have Lee's microband ones, it works fine, sometimes better due to the stronger driving bands on conventional bullets. I wouldn't even consider going back to straight liquid Alox since I started using Recluse's 44/45/10 lube. It doesn't work on everything, but for pistol and mild rifle stuff it works ok. The formula and instructions on how to make and use it are on the Cast Boolits site.

Gear