Anybody pan lube their bullets? What method do you use to extract the bullets from the lube without breaking the lube apart and causing the lube in the grooves to fall out? The lube stays in the grooves of the bullets that I am able to push out with my fingers as long as the wax remains in one piece but as soon as the lube breaks or cracks, the lube refuses to stay in the groove of the bullets closest to the edge of the break. After successfully pushing a whole bunch of bullets through the lube, its awfully hard not break the wax which by this time, is  full of holes from the bullets pushed through. I hate to spring for a $25+ kake kutter just to push bullets through the lube but if that's the only way to go, I may have to bite the bullet (pun intended).

TIA

Go to the hardware store and by a piece of copper tubing with the inside diameter as close to your bullet diameter as possible. Bevel one end of the pipe to a sharp edge so it cuts through the wax as cleanly as possible. I have never done this before it is just something I thought of.

Other suggestions include using golf shafts and the bodies of pens used for writing.

Just spit balling here...

Maybe you are letting the lube cool down too much. It may work better when its still a little warm/soft.

I've tried a couple of things since I posted the question.

First, I threw in more wax to make the mix a little harder at room temperature.

Second, I took a 3/8" steel rod and made it into a mandrel by chucking it into a large drill press and by filing it it down to about .358" OD. I then took a spent 7.62X54R steel casing, drilled out the primer and opened up the hole to 3/8".

Next, I stood the case upright on its rim, lubed the mandrel and used the drill press to press it through the case opening, expanding the mouth and neck of the case to .358" in the process. I turned the case over with the stuck mandrel in the case and used a hammer and punch to drive the mandrel back out. I then cleaned up the inside of the case mouth with a reamer and filed the outside of the mouth to sharpen the case mouth to make slicing through the wax easier. Sort of like a cigar punch.

Last, I bought a 3/8" wooden dowel and cut a piece with the same length as the 7.62X54R case and stuck it in the case to be used to push the bullet out of the case.

The homemade kutter works well at removing bullets from the wax but is a bit messy.

I once tried that melted lube in a cake pan method years ago.  All it took was one time and that experience convinced me to buy a Lyman luber.  The volume of bullets I used to shoot made the lube pan method to slow.  The lube machine also kept waste to a minimum which means that sticks of lube went a lot farther which made it more economical.  My bullets were not as messy and thus more enjoyable to reload.

 I gave up on the pan lube process after a short while. Back in the day I had more time than money but the pan method was agony. I use an RCBS sizer/lubricator or the Lee sizer for the odd bullet diameters.  Have you tried the Lee liquid alox?