lube issues

K

kealil

New member
Hello all,

I have been loading lrn 9mm for about six months and have been getting great results with no leading. my issue now though is that my recent loads(which are exactly the same) but this time I threw them through the tumbler to get excess lube and such off them. Now my loads are.leading like there isnt any lube at all.

What am I doing wrong?
 
but this time I threw them through the tumbler to get excess lube and such off them. Now my loads are.leading like there isnt any lube at all.
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With handloads, when you change one thing, you change everything.

Since we're in the cast bullet forum, I assume that your bullets were lubed, then you put them in the tumbler? Or did you put the whole cartridge in the tumbler?

At any rate, it worked fine before you started using the tumbler. That's what you changed and that's what is different.
 
Whole rounds went through the tumbler.

I do understand how one thing can change the entire thing but I was curious about what the tumbling did to the completed rounds that caused so much troublE
 
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I was curious about what the tumbling did to the completed rounds that caused so much troublE
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Sometimes we don't know WHY a change causes trouble. That would be the realm of extensive testing. Often times it's hard to determine WHAT is causing the problem, but in your case, you isolated the variable, unless there is something else that changed. Did you change your alloy, or your lube, or your load? Any of those things could cause leading.
 
In the tumbler, with all the rounds hittintg each other, they didn't get swaged down even as little as .001" by chance? Or that little bit of extra lube was actually preventing leading to begin with? It's hard to say for sure. I would more likely believe that the bullets were cast at a different time and the alloy changes just a little bit and they shrunk more than before(closer to pure lead) or maybe harder/softer bhn ect...

I would load up another 50 the same again but leave out tumbling and see if the leading goes awy again( clean the barrel good first). Go from there.
 
You did not say what lube method you used. If your bullets were tumble lubed with liquid Alox, they were completley covered before they were tumbled. Tumbling removed all the lube from the exposed part of the lead bullets. Is that what you used/what happened?
 
I'm going to have to say that for the most part you should not tumble loaded rounds. I have seen folks post that they did it plenty of times, but the little voice in my head still says not to do so.

I highly doubt that you ruined the lube on your bullets, but I can suggest that you possibly broke down some of the powder or at least possibly some of the coating on it, which allowed you to get a faster burn rate than you had before, resulting in more velocity and leading. This is simply a WAG on my part, but this has been why I have always heard not to tumble loaded rounds.

If you have an Alox based lube and want to pretty up the noses, simply take a rag with a touch of rubbing alcohol or even better denatured alcohol, and it will wipe right off. It will easily cut the Alox and evaporate plenty quick enough so as not to seep into the case.

When you clean your barrel take a dab of Alox smeared into a patch and run it through your bore prior to shooting. This will pre-lube the bore for the first round. That way, if by chance, cleaning the lube off the noses is an issue, you have corrected it ahead of time.

You didn't mention if your leading started at the chamber end or the muzzle end of your barrel. If from the chamber end out, then I would bet on a velocity change, if nearer the muzzle I would go with the lube.
 
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