A Big Gob o' Goo

H

Hardcase

New member
One of my buddies and I have started casting for .44 and .357. We've finally got to the point where we've hit the sweet spot between frosty and wrinkled, so now we've got a pile of 100 or so nice looking boolits.

The sizing is giving us fits, though. We're using a Lyman 4500 and Alox lube. What we end up with is a properly sized boolit with a big ol' gob o' goo on top of it. The lube is going in the grooves OK, but it's also globbed up on the sides of the nose.

What are we doing wrong?
 
You're pushing the bullet too far into the die. There's an adjustment under the die, a threaded sleeve that screws up to stop the travel of the central punch. Just keep screwing it up until it stops the punch before the bullet goes down too far.
 
Sounds to me like your over lubing the bullets...and the die has gotten somewhat of a buildup of lube on it..thus leaving globs(as you say) on the top of the bullets........I have done it before also.
 
I'll lay odds that both of you have it right. I guess that "more" isn't always "better". :D I'll adjust the sleeve and clean out the die.
 
Simple solutions are always the best (at least for me). Snuffy and Disco were on the money. Now I've got a little pile of the spiffiest looking .44s that you ever did see!
 
pics!!!!

Congratulations on your independece of bullet manufactures & into slavery of the silver stream!!!

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Well, my .357s are causing me grief now. There's not enough adjustment in the sleeve to bottom out the bullet in the press. That causes the lube to ooze in under it and make another mess. It's just your basic 158gr flat nose bullet, but there must be something that I'm not understanding here.
 
Gotta ask !

Hardcase what nose punch are ya using ?

For individual designs there`s a nose punch that goes into the ram held in place with a set screw .

Take it out & on the end of the stem is a number.

The 1 in the ram is a 495 & a 358 H&I die, the 495 works on most swc & rnfp profile bullets.

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Now in this pic I have the nut on the bottom so i can use the gas check seater , & even with it on the bottom I still have a bit of play room , ya can`t seeit but there a couple of treads left .

I start with the bullet HI & adjust down until I get good fill of the grooves, always holdin down pressure on the handle to prevent the lube pressure from gettin under the bullets base.

Always just enuff pressure to fill the groove ,if ya gotta crank some torque on the screw ya need a little heat to loosen up the lube , then ya can back off the torque & when ya got it goin 1 click of the ratchet handle gets me 2 bullets lubed then another click .

If ya get to much heat then ya get lube comin from everywhere , let er kool a bit , it`s like shootin , practice ,practice ,then practice again !!

But when ya learn the needs of the lube to flow the rest is history .

Hope this helps even if a little !!!:D

PS :I just reread ya post , your using ALOX ,I remember it being hard to control, squirtin out everwhere !!!

Go here: http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/ & get ya some carnauba red , if ya don`t like it I`ll buy it from ya !!!!

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GP, those bullets sure look purtty with that bright red lube in 'em. If it wasn't such a hassle to switch lube in a 450 Lyman, I think I would like to try some carnuba red.

Hardcase, I'm using 50-50 alox also. The reason I use it is, it flows well at room temp, and it works! Okay that's two reasons. It's what I've used since I started casting 40+ years ago. Like GP said, you have to keep the pressure down in the lube chamber. Also air pockets will give you fits. Also, keep the pressure on the bullet once it's down in the die. As GP said, if you let off the down pressure, the lube will sneak under the bullet. Fine adjustment of the threaded sleeve will move that junction of the bullet and the top of the punch out of line with the holes in the die There's one spot where all the lube grooves are filled, the lube doesn't go over the top driving band, AND it doesn't sneak under the bullet. Ya just have to experiment till you find it.
 
Glen Larsen makes excellent lube !!! & just try to beat the prices !!!

I went thru a lubathon before I settled on carnauba red , it works for everything I wanna do !

It`s needs a little heat 105*f works for me .

Snuffy to clean out my 450s I take out the pressure nut & the die then point my heat lamp at it & catch the lube in a microwaveable container .

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Thanks for the advice, fellas. I'm going to do a little experimenting this week and see what happens. The nice thing is that even if things do goo up some, it's easy to clean up and try again!
 
Well, my .357s are causing me grief now. There's not enough adjustment in the sleeve to bottom out the bullet in the press. That causes the lube to ooze in under it and make another mess. It's just your basic 158gr flat nose bullet, but there must be something that I'm not understanding here.
Click to expand...
Lube filling under the bullet is usually too much pressure on the lube reservoir. It takes very little pressure to fill the bullet lube grooves on the bullet. Try using less and less pressure on the lube ratchet until the lube grooves do not fill all the way in. Then increase the pressure (another "click" on the ratchet), so you can see how much pressure it takes to fill the grooves without getting under the bullet.
 
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