Wax buildup on bullets causing a problem.

[Raoul]

I'm working on reloading .45acp. Everything is good except the lead 200gr SWC bullets have so much wax lube that after seating I'm having a problem with the bullet chambering.

I can manually clean the loaded round and no problems.

Anybody have a trick to work around this problem?

[Caster]

You're tumble lubing, I assume? Well, try a little less lube. You can also think the lube down with a little mineral spirits. For autoloaders, I actually wipe off the lube from the nose of the bullet. It builds up on the feed ramp and makes a mess. It's less of an issue in my rifles and no issue at all in a revolver.

There's a great thread over at cast boolits. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

[Raoul]

No actually these bullets are wax lubed in the box and from 2 different sources. I'm not ready to get into casting just yet. The problem is that the amount of wax is excessive. I was just wondering if there's an easier way to clean them up other than one bullet at a time. 2500 will take a while.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Raoul

[Guest canebreaker]

If you try to do them all at one time, you'll take all the lube off. You want to keep the lube in the grooves.

Here's what I do for my 9m and 38 bullets. I cut a 45 plastic tray down to about half as thick. I cut paper towel in 1 inch strips and poke into the tray. I keep mineral spirits in a squeeze bottle and wet the towel down then place bullet in holes. Let the sit for 10 minutes and wipe down one at a time. Take seating die apart and put in a jar of spirits over night. If it has orings, remove them.

[Caster]

Well, I have put a car buffer in a bench vise and locked it power on. Then buffed the noses clean. The pad is ruined as far as waxing cars, but it can washed and reused for the same purpose.

[Jonnin]

it seems to be a form of wax. I would think that if you put the ammo in a sieve over a heat source, somewhere below the melting point of lead and above the melting point of wax, it would melt and run off, leaving a very thin coat on each bullet (???).

I could be wrong, but a match and an over-waxed bullet will tell you if that will work in about 30 seconds.