Some newby questions

[JDBraddy]

1) I have just recently started casting my own lead. Mosty round balls and Mini's for the Musket. My last Midway USA order, added some Alox and a stick of Lyman super molly bullet lube in the basket to put me over the limit for free shipping, but am now realizing that I don't have a clue how to apply or use this stuff, and there are no instructions. What do I do with this stuff?

2) Just bought my first flintlock, a .45 T/C Hawken. It's Currently being shipped, not sure how to choose or set up / adjust flints. How long they last, etc... Anything special I should know about cleaning / using the T/C flintlock, vs my T/C percussion?

3) What if anything can I do with the lead saturated slag I've been skimming off the top of my casting pot?

 

[Some_Mook]

https://support.leeprecision.net/en/knowledgebase/article/liquid-alox-application

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?36808-Lyman-Super-Moly-Lube

Not sure that you will see much use for the super moly lubricant with the muzzle velocities you can expect with a muzzle loader. If you are lubing burton bullets / making paper cartridges, SPG or a tallow / bees wax mix might be a better choice, and certainly easier to work with than the super moly.

 

[bpd303]

Also you shouldn't have lead saturated slag (called dross) in the melt. The flux should separate the clean lead from the dross, which is just trash and can be thrown out, when I collect about a gallon can of it I put on the lower drive way, away from any water source.

I suggest going to the Flintlock section and scrolling through threads about flints, lots of good info there.

 

[Iceman]

Liquid Alox you thin with mineral spirits and “tumble lube”. Put 100 or so bullets in a ziplock bag and 3 or 4 drops of the thinned Alox and shake around. You want a varnished look, barely visible. Dump bullets out on wax paper to dry. Do a second coat the next day. If it won’t dry you put to much on, a little goes a long ways. I have never used it for black powder bullets so I can’t say if it will work or not, it does work fine for 45 ACP conventional lube bullets. There might be better lubes for your intended use.
Super Moly is for a lube sizer.

 

[bpd303]

I have tried both lubes with both patched round balls and minie bullets and in my experience they are not good lubes for black powder. I even tried thinned Alox as a patch lube a total failure.

 

[Some_Mook]

I use liquid Alox on my cast round balls simply as a means of preventing oxidation from occurring on them during storage in leather ball bags (or in the plastic cases that the swaged balls come in when I occasionally purchase them), and for that purpose it works quite well.

A little does indeed go a long way.

As an alternative to using a zip lock bag, I use a 1qt plastic tub with lid and simply roll the balls around in the tub to coat them before dumping them out to dry. I use conventional black power lubricants when loading the Alox coated balls.