Lee Alox alternative

[big5ifty]

I was down to my last bottle of Lee Alox this week, and it seemed the price of those litle bottles is quite high which put me off ordering more. I use it for sizing cast bullets. Even though I powder coat, it still needs some lube to go through the sizer.

I was at Relaible Bolt and I saw a can of Tectyl amber spray on the shelf there.Tectyl 506 is supposed to be very similar to Lee Alox. For R190 and a 500ml spray can. I took a chance.

Application is much simpler and so much faster than the alox liquid. I put a couple hundred bullets in a tub with a lid, lift the lid enough for a one or two second spray inside, then close it, and shake for a few seconds.

I dump the bullets onto a tray to dry, and after about 30 minutes come back to touch-dry bullets.

It smells exactly like Lee Alox.

I sized around five hundred .38, 9mm and .44 today using this. No complaints.

[big5ifty]

Takealot has it.

Tectyl Takealot

[oafpatroll]

That's a win. A 500ml can should have a lot of 1 second sprays in it.   

[oafpatroll]

Takealot has it.

Tectyl Takealot

That's why the stuff sounded so familiar. Used it on vehicles I restored. Underbody and high pressure mist sprayed into box sections for rust prevention. Seemed to work well.   

[223]

414gates.  Do you size before or after powder coating?

If after, you can also try Silicone spray.

If before, how on earth do you get that sticky stuff off again?

[oafpatroll]

I don't lube my powder coated bullets for sizing at all. I did use silicone spray when I started with them but after forgetting to lube a batch I found they worked fine without. I guess that may differ depending on the type of PC and how much squeeze you need to put on them.

[big5ifty]

414gates.  Do you size before or after powder coating?

I size after.

For the handgun calibers, there is not much resistance, they could be sized without. My rifle moulds drop oversize, those have to be lubed for sizing.

I tried sizing using case lube / lanolin, what I didn't like is the coating doesn't dry at all. The Lee Alox dried to a soft wax consistency. This tectyl spray seems to dry quicker, and the dried film on the bullets is harder.  I much prefer something that dries, and tectyl spray is dry in 30 minutes - the alox took a few days before it wasn't tacky anymore.

With the alox or lanolin, I was rubbing it with my fingers on every bullet.

The tectyl spray into a container and shake is a paradigm shift for my process.

[Treeman]

I don't lube my powder coated bullets for sizing at all. I did use silicone spray when I started with them but after forgetting to lube a batch I found they worked fine without. I guess that may differ depending on the type of PC and how much squeeze you need to put on them.

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I did the same, also ended up running dry.