Removing dried lube from conicals.

[odean]

I bought some (a lot) of T/C maxi ball and maxi hunter bullets. The store almost paid me to take them because the lube had dried out. How would be the best way to get this old lube off short of picking it out of the groves one at the time? I tried boiling some of them in hot water hoping the lube would soften and float to the top but only a little turned loose. :curse:

Oscar/NC

 

[Stumpkiller]

Try soaking them in isopropyl alcohol.

Water won't dissolve the lube.

 

[shmrck1]

Oscar/NC,
i am by no means an expert in such things but why could'nt you just go ahaed and put some fresh lube on them and go ahead and use them after getting off as much of the old as you can?????? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:stumpy any thoughts:m2c:
snake-eyes

 

[jrdavis]

I would think that you could put them in a small toaster oven and just heat them up a bit...I bet that the wax is just dry on the outside a little heat ought to freshem them up! a little more heat and it should run out.

 

[Stumpkiller]

. . . Stumpy any thoughts . . .

Always, but mostly twisted.

Don't see why not. Only the lead touching the barrel needs lube, and firing it ought to "wake up" the old lube. The oils will be trapped in the mixture even though the outside is dry. I have very old shot wads I treated that appear dry, but squeezing them produces oil droplets.

Only way to know is try.

 

[musketman]

Oscar/NC,
i am by no means an expert in such things but why could'nt you just go ahaed and put some fresh lube on them and go ahead and use them after getting off as much of the old as you can??????

You can "freshen up" old lube, it doesn't even have to be the same lube as the old dried out stuff...

The "newer" lube will hold it all in place...

 

[jtmattison]

I got some Hornady Great Plains Bullets on Ebay and the lube on them was all dried up like powder. I took a brass bristle brush and brushed the lube off.

Huntin

 

[Stumpkiller]

I had another thought (Two in one day!)

You could run them through a deer and see if they came out nice. ::

 

[odean]

I tried the alcohol route (91%) and that seemed to work reasonably well on the 4 that I had in the bowl. There are 4 bullets in each plastic tube and until I soaked them in the alcohol I couldn't even get them out of the tube. Thanks,

Oscar/NC

 

[roundball]

FYI, I had a couple boxes of old maxi-hunters like that and just pushed them through a maxi-luber to get fresh NL1000 gobbed all over them and they did fine...so I wouldn't think there'd be any advantage to removing the old lube

 

set them in a skillet that you don't want anymore--and your wife won't kill you for cooking lead in--and turn it on medium or so. That should warm up the goop enough to soften it. Just turn it off as soon as the stuff starts to slide off. This will contain the lube and won't melt or even deform the bullets--provided that you don't go nuts

Just remember, don't cook food where you cook your galena pellets.

:results:

 

[roundball]

Actually, if you're dead set on removing the old lube, I bet if you put the bullets in the freezer overnight, the lube would probably get brittle and flake off easily

 

Actually, if you're dead set on removing the old lube, I bet if you put the bullets in the freezer overnight, the lube would probably get brittle and flake off easily

ahhhhhhh....you're probably right. hadn't thought of that.

:master:

 

[odean]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll give them a try in turn and see which works the best.

Oscar/NC

 

[bob1961]

you can try boiling them in water with alchol....................bob