9MM & 45ACP

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Any decent lube.
I have used home made, LLA, and even some hard lubes.
Neither is real hard on lubes IF the fit and load are right
 
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Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Maybe I'm just not shooting cast bullets fast enough to know about my bad choices in lube.

I have made several different lubes , all shot well for me in CF pistol and CF rifle.
Accurate with little to no leading.

Ben
 
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Ian

Notorious member
Anything that will handle the storage temperatures you require will work fine for either. Something workable and not too smokey would be my preference. I think Winelover even uses White Label Carnauba Red for all his handguns.

Failure to use a hard enough bullet in 9mm to resist being crushed too small when seated seems to be a common pitfall, it isn't quite the same recipe as the old .45.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I use good old 50/50 BW Alox in both calibers. In 9mm, Ian is absolutely correct. Add in "Use the right-sized expander spud" for the diameter being used, too.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I use either NRA 50/50 like Allen is talking about, or one I make from a recipe I was given, that I
call Red Max, or LBT Soft Blue.
 
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KHornet

Well-Known Member
I have used a number of lubes over many years, some I made,
some I bought. All were satisfactory for me at the time. About
15 yrs ago, I started buying White Lable lubes and have stuck
with them since.

Paul
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
White Label Lube fan here as well. 50/50 and Carnauba Red are my two "standards", both by LSS. My older 450 contains the 50/50, my heated 4500 holds the C/R.
 

Charles Graff

Moderator Emeritus
There are only two kinds of bullet lube, those that work and those that do not work. Among the lubes that work, there is very little difference, although some folks like to split theoritical hairs. I started making my own lube 50+ years ago from a recipe in an old Lyman book. It just said beeswax with enough Vasaline to soften it for use in the lube size maching. It works for me in both rifle and pistol. I have never really measured it as exact porportions don't seem to matter much. I would guess it is about 65-70% beeswax with the rest being Vasaline. All or most of the above lubes will work just as good. I am just a fellow who doesn't like to change from what he knows works.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
If it's working for you there's no real reason to change, unless you like to experiment with such things of course.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Love how simple Charles made it. He is right to a large degree. Either a lube works or it doesn’t.
Neither 9mm nor 45 ACP are demanding of a lube if fit is right.
 

Reloader762

Active Member
When I use the RCBS Lube A Matic I run White Label Lube 2500+ with both rifle and handgun loads, those bullets are usually shot fairly quickly. Other than those I pretty much powder coat everything.
 

ChestnutLouie

Active Member
so far I have no problems on Lee tumble lube bullets in 38 and 45 using 45% lee alox + 45% johnsons paste wax + 10% mineral spirits. Easy to apply, a little sticky and leading. 45 at 725fps and 38 at 810fps. Lead alloy is 12BHN =/-

thanks
Francis
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
45 ACP has been user-friendly in the extreme for me since forever with castings. 9mm needs fatter bullets than most catalogs allude to, and tooling that doesn't squeeze bullets down during seating. Hard alloys (92/6/2) and soft lube has done good work for me sized at .357".