I've been casting for a while and pan lube then use a Lee push through sizing set, works quite well for the 12 bullets I cast. I also dip lube with 45-45-10 which also works great (it's a tumble lube but I don't like brown nose bullets). For answers to just about any question on lead bullets go here; https://castboolits.gunloads.com/. I've been a mamber since 2007 and found real life info for all aspects of bullet casting and shooting...
I have posted on there a few times. I was gifted the mold that I am using from a user there. The biggest problem I have with Castboolits is I don't have the correct terminology and knowledge basis for a lot of the answers. I just don't have the language or skills to comprehend most of the posts yet.Originally Posted by mikld
It is very easy to for folks to forget that new learners don't have the knowledge base that experienced people have. I have seen this issue with myself when teaching new folks to shoot.
That’s a great point.
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Hardening alloy for wadcutters is useless at best and probably counter-productive.
Tin contributes very little to hardness. It’s job is to improve alloy flow. Unless you want to use one of the old-school alloys like 1 to 16 (which is brutally expensive), an alloy composed of more than 2% tin is a waste of money. Tin is by far the most expensive part of the alloy.
Bullet fit is the key to accuracy and avoiding leading. Bullets need to be sized less than a hair smaller than throat diameter.
At target wadcutter pressures, the OP is probably OK shooting slightly oversized bullets.
I view wadcutters as a bulk item and shoot them as-cast, tumble-lubed lubed with Rooster Jacket, which can be used straight.
My modern S&W revolvers have their throats opened up to .358, so as-cast bullets fit or need minimal sizing.
Understandable. I'd suggest a copy of Lymans 4th Edition Cast Bullet Handbook, and/or Lyman's 50th Edition Relosding Handbook. These will help with nomenclature and terminology. Just like most things different terms may be found for the same thing and of course the "Vocabulary Nazis" will correct any posted mistakes with the "expert terminology". I've read posts using "heads", "pills", "slugs", "boolits" and maybe a dozen others, but bottom line I knew what the poster meant...
Be sure to cut the liquid alox with mineral sprits. It’s thicker than mule snot on a frosty morning.
A little goes a LONG way. Just put a dab on in margarine container full of bullets. Put the lid back on and shake until all surfaces are lightly coated. Beginners (including me) always use too much.
Too much doesn’t hurt anything, but gums up your dies faster.
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I just finished melting down around 25 pounds of lead flashing into ingots. I am about 1/3 of the way through my pile but it just got to dark outside to do it safely... I hate that it gets dark at 1630 here.
Finished the lead flashing melt adventure. Wound up with 43 Lyman bar of pure lead. From what I read I will want to mix this 50/50 with the wheel weight ingots I have.
I read about really small amounts of Kroll on mold cavities here:
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ighlight=Kroil
In order to shoot well, bullets are supposed to fit the revolver cylinder throats. The best way I have found to measure them is using pin gauges. Doing that with my revolvers, I got lots of surprises. One of my S&W 29-2 had .428" throats. My 25-2 had three throats that were .455", and three that were .456". My .38 Special & .357 revolvers were all .357" or .358". You can have cylinder throats reamed to a uniform diameter.
If your mold is aluminum, You will need to lubricate the locating pins, and the top plate. One of the members of the Cast Boolit board started selling a secret formula to lubricate aluminum molds, which did a much better job than the bullet lubricant that Lee recommends. I believe it was just synthetic 2-cycle oil. If you are using aluminum molds, get some.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ight=Bullplate
If you chose to use a lumber/sizer, you don't need to fill all those grooves. Many times best results are gotten from just using the bottom groove. I have dip lubed a lot of bullets, and very little is needed, and the less you use, the less often you'll have to disassemble your seater to clean it. Speaking of such, The Dillon Seater is unique in that you can disassemble it for cleaning without losing adjustment.
Until recently, I tried to make my cast bullets as hard as possible, through using Lead scrap with antimony and/or Arsenic in it. I added a little Tin to increase fluidity, which also set up a wonderful Ternary alloy, with lots of potential for Precipitation Hardening. I also dropped the bullets from the mold into a 5-gallon bucket of water, preventing the bullets from denting themselves, and hardening them more. This hardness prevented bullets being swaged smaller by a tight case neck. I have been shooting Bullseye more lately, and they like their bullets soft. In order to prevent bullets being swaged smaller, I have to use either larger ID full length dies, or larger case expanders, or both, such that the bullet can be pushed into the case with finger pressure. The expander expands the case down to where the base ends up, but no further. Everything gets a strong crimp, even .45 acp.
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