I’m new to this forum and have a few questions about lubing. After not casting for 30 years I dusted off the old equipment including the Lyman 450. I’m only working with handgun bullets and presently using Lyman Alox. 1) Will the lube contaminate the powder if some is still on the base when the bullet is seated? 2) Can I use Lee NRA Alox/Beeswax formula lube in place of the Lyman Alox and is that advisable? 3) I had tried some pan lubing using equal parts of paraffin and Vaseline along with two TBS of STP. Can this formula be melted and poured into the lube reservoir on the 450 let harden and use as any other lube? 4) Is there a better lube than all the above which will not require a heater? 5) I’m guessing the number of bullets I can lube from a stick of lube varies greatly with the bullet size and design but can someone give me a general rule-of-thumb on what I can expect?

Thanks much in advance for the input and help.

Welcome to the forum. Rules are to join in, have fun, and play nicely with the rest of us kids. Other rules are in stickies in the General forum and scattered around.

1) Not significantly that I've seen, though I don't know for sure about your STP brew. There are numerous home brew recipes. Personally, I like the Lee liquid Alox. It seems to work on all cast bullets without any need to fill the lube groove.

2) The old formula works fine. The main advantages to many more modern ones is the bullets end up less tacky to handle, but it's not a matter of the lube qualities in most cases.

3) Do a search on bullet lube formulae in the CastBoolits.com forum. You can choose from many, many, many. Search the web on Felix lube and you should wind up with pictures of a simple hollow core lube mold made from plumbing pipe. Pouring it into the 450 may work or may get you some dribbling or other odd issues. I believe a number of people do this. It shouldn't be harder on the machine than using a heater on a hard lube.

4) Again, look at the recipes on line. LBT's blue lube is about the best I've tried and is available in hard and soft, but it has a minimum order. Search the web for White Label lube for better economy. They make good products. Read their descriptions or e-mail them for a recommendation. At pistol velocities you don't need the world's best lube.

5) It will vary with the number of lube grooves and their size. Some of the long rifle bullets go through it pretty fast. The shallow double grooves on some of the RCBS molds I have take an eternity to go through a tube. Weigh a tube of lube. Weigh a bullet before and after lubing and I think you'll be able to get pretty close.

Thanks Unclenick. All points are very helpful.

While using a stick of beeswax/carnauba lube I started counting the bullets. These are .452 diameter with two grooves. About 600 bullets and about 2/3 to 3/4 of a stick of lube. So, very, very roughly--800 to 1000 of these bullets per stick. This is White Label Lube off of eBay, their 'BAC' product.

As for a 'better' lube, I'd have to think that depends a bit on the cartridge and the load, or at least the muzzle velocity. I don't know. I'm just beginning at this and have shot using exactly one lube: the BAC from White Label. It definitely doesn't need a heater, and in fact when it was quite warm in the garage I had to really go easy with the pressure or I'd easily over-service the part, if you get my meaning. Ended up with 300 rds that I had to clean individually to get excess lube off. Went to a tiny tweak of the feed screw for every bullet, and things shaped up nicely after that. I'm loading extreme low velocity .45 ACP (650-670 fps) so I suppose I could use no lube at all and be okay, but I'm getting a nice clean bore for sure with this product.

At about $2.25 per stick including shipping, the added 1/4 cent per bullet is in the noise of overall cost per round. So, don't hesitate to pick up samples and try the many, many lubes available out there! Besides White Label Lube, Jake's Products also offers a number of lubes (at their own site as well as on eBay). Prices are the same as White Label. I'm sure everyone has their favorite(s)...I'm only loading one caliber, one load, so I'm trying to settle on one lube.

Not trying to convince you not to brew your own...but both White Label and Jake's offer free samples...I think White Label want a buck or so for mailing.

--Just a quick update: I've now gotten 1300 bullets lubed from one stick (Jake's Purple Ceresin). I think that's about it.

+1 - On the BAC lube. I use it in everything from 38spl. to 500 S&W. I can drive it from 750fps to over 2000fps with no leading and minimal smoke.

I made some of my own sticks and then tried some White Label Lube's Carnauba Red. I now use my home made stuff for fluxing...