Sizing / lubing question.

[tomf52]

The thought occurred to me that what if you use your cast bullets as they drop from the mold (mine at .358) and you use a 450 sizer/luber with a die one size above bullet size (in this case .359) just to lube them, wouldn't more lube be left on the sides of the bullet and do a better job of preventing leading? Does anybody think this would work? Thanks - Tom

[44man]

I always use a larger die so I don't size my boolits but have not noticed much lube on the sides of boolits. Nothing to worry about anyway and it doesn't have much effect on leading. Most excess will come off when you seat the boolit with the proper neck tension anyway. It makes a mess in the seating die but I accept some work for better shooting. Boolit fit is more important plus the right alloy for the velocity. Then some lubes are better then others and can make or break accuracy no matter what size the boolit is. I have gone from 3" groups at 50 yd's in my revolvers to way less then 1" just by changing the lube. (Also my lever gun.)
A lot of guys gauge lube by how much lead is left in the bore and I say it is not good enough. The importance of the lube for accuracy, depending on what you are shooting is way under rated. This is something you have to experiment with along with boolit size, powder charge, primer, caliber, etc.
There is hidden magic in those greaseballs!

[357maximum]

I always use a larger die so I don't size my boolits but have not noticed much lube on the sides of boolits. Nothing to worry about anyway and it doesn't have much effect on leading. Most excess will come off when you seat the boolit with the proper neck tension anyway. It makes a mess in the seating die but I accept some work for better shooting. Boolit fit is more important plus the right alloy for the velocity. Then some lubes are better then others and can make or break accuracy no matter what size the boolit is. I have gone from 3" groups at 50 yd's in my revolvers to way less then 1" just by changing the lube. (Also my lever gun.)
A lot of guys gauge lube by how much lead is left in the bore and I say it is not good enough. The importance of the lube for accuracy, depending on what you are shooting is way under rated. This is something you have to experiment with along with boolit size, powder charge, primer, caliber, etc.
There is hidden magic in those greaseballs!

:drinks: ahmen'

[454PB]

Good advice.

If these are for a revolver, be sure your loaded rounds will fit the cylinder before putting up a few hundred. Have you slugged the barrel and cylinder throats? I've seen and owned some revolvers that would not accept boolits too much over "SAAMI standard" diameter.

[Dale53]

44man;
"A lot of guys gauge lube by how much lead is left in the bore and I say it is not good enough. The importance of the lube for accuracy, depending on what you are shooting is way under rated. This is something you have to experiment with along with boolit size, powder charge, primer, caliber, etc.
There is hidden magic in those greaseballs!"

Boy, if ever there was a good piece of information, this is it! Amen, Amen, and Amen!!

But, as has been stated, "Tell us the REST OF THE STORY"! What lube do you use?

Dale53

[SharpsShooter]

I lube all my 45lc boolits (.454) with a .458 die to be able to shoot em as cast, but neatly lubed. It works like a charm and there is no excess if you watch the lube pressure

SS