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4296
05-25-2005, 09:35 PM
Overall I Am Pleased With The Results Of My First Casting Session- 176 Shiny 44 Keiths.however Their As Cast Diameter Is .430. These Iwould Like To Hand Lube. So What Is The Best Way To Lube These? And How Can I Get My Bullets To Cast Larger In Diameter( The Bullets Average 261 Grains).

Buckshot
05-26-2005, 02:48 AM
.............I don't believe I said so, so welcome to the board! If the 176 that you cast are sharp and well defined then your mould (and you) is doing it's job. The only way you're likely to increase the boolit diameter is to go to a more 'Noble' alloy :-). Ie: more highly alloyed, like closer to lino.

Via mechanical means you MIGHT be able to bump them a bit in a larger size die, say a .432". But since it's a Keith type SWC the first to widen will be the nose via flattening somewhat, as it takes the strain. You may experience more or less success and it IS a strain on the lube-sizer's linkage.

For hand lubing you can use Lee Tumble Lube. It's fast and easy.

Or you can just get down and glom on a stick type lube by hand. Wear a bib. And you WILL get it in your ears. Maybe up your nose. It's way messy, but there is some satisfaction to that in a perverse kind of way.

Or you can pan lube which is a kind of enhanced hand lubing, I guess. Get a shallow pie pan from the war dept (she probably won't want it back) and melt some lube in it to a suitable depth. Remember as you add boolits the level will rise. Take one of your 44 cal cases (fired) and cut the head off it. Really nifty if you could solder some copper or brass handles on. Strip out some ground wire from a bit of romex for it.

Once the lube has set up, slide your modified case over each in turn, taking the one coming out the top and setting it aside. This is kind of a mess when seating as the cutter outter case doesn't fit the freshly lubed slug too well, and your prepped cases will squeegey off the bulk as they're seated.

All the above, excpet for the Tumble Lubing will have you lusting after a lube -sizer in no time.

.............Buckshot

Linstrum
05-26-2005, 04:09 AM
The mould can be "Beagled" to make them fatter. Where's the Beagling article? Hey Beagle! Yer 'pooter's ringin!

Willbird
05-26-2005, 06:43 AM
Also on the pan lube, with some lube when it softens to just the right consistancy you can run it under cold water and simply push the boolits out(shearing the lube and leaving it in the grooves), then place it back in the pan and put more boolits in the holes, remelt

You CAN shoot your boolits at .430, folks did it on purpose for well over 100 years and while I too would prefer to make them to fit the throat, I wouldnt let a few thousances stop me from working on a developing a shooter while I was working on developing loads ;-)

Bill

Buckshot
05-26-2005, 03:48 PM
............Oops! Yeah I forgot Beagleing.

...........Buckshot

44man
05-27-2005, 02:35 PM
I do it by using soft Felix lube and pushing it into the grooves by hand, Then I run them through a .430 Lee die to remove excess lube without sizing. Takes about the same time as pan lubing, maybe a lot less. Some smokeless lubes do not melt good for pan lubing if they contain any kind of soaps. They burn before melting.