Shaving lead from boolits during seating

[John in WI]

I have a Lee SWC 158gr mold that I am using to cast for my .38. I'm using a Lee Loader (the one where you use a plastic or rubber mallet for the steps) and it has been making some decent rounds.

But sometimes I'm finding that I seat the boolit about halfway (past the first lube groove) and there is a little shaving of lead. I'm sure this is because the boolits aren't being started perfectly straight--so you tap on the nose until it goes deep enough that it straightens itself out.

I grabbed a few boolits (from my 2 different alloys) and will mic them tomorrow to see exactly what diameter they are and if they are round. The Lee manual claims that they should not "require" sizing after casting. But I can't imagine they mean that it's ok to shave the lead down until it fits right.

Anyway, one of the alloys is very soft. 1:1 dead soft lead:range scrap. The other is a good bit harder--mostly wheel weight. But I don't see a difference when loading them. They both seem to get shaved to fit.

Are there any tricks to not shaving lead during seating a boolit in one of these rigs? I don't think it is a safety issue--but I can't imagine having a boolit with a shaving of lead missing is going to improve my accuracy!

[runfiverun]

you need a little flair on the case mouth.

[Lefty SRH]

you need a little flair on the case mouth.

Yep, more bell....

[John in WI]

I did use the Lee tool for that job. It's a kind of bullet shaped thing you put in the mouth, and tap on until the mouth flares open a bit.

The book says that sometimes "hand starting" the boolits is easier than dropping them down the pipe.But when I hand seat them, I can only them on as far as the lube groove. I'll have to play with it some more. I think the Lee Loader works--but I think there is a "touch" required to making quality ammo with it. So far I've made about 40, and the 25 or so I fired all worked. Now it's just a matter of refining the technique!

I'll try tapping them with a little bit more authority and see what happens. Maybe I'm just being a little bit too gentle with it. I'm not saying I should haul off and whack it--but a couple solid blows with a light plastic hammer should expand it a hair more.

thanks for the tip.

[ShooterAZ]

Flare it enough so the base of the boolit will slide inside the case a 16th, then seat.

[Gtek]

How about a very light twist with chamfer tool just to break edge. Time consuming yes, but it sure helps a whole lot on this bench. And then a very, very light flare. Do not want to over work brass. 38 will last a long time. Gtek

[MikeS]

I don't think the original Lee Loader is really cast-friendly. You might be better off buying a set of real reloading dies, and the Lee hand held reloading press (assuming you don't want a dedicated bench mounted setup). If you go this route you would probably be better off buying Lyman reloading dies, rather than the Lee dies, as the Lyman expander die works better for cast boolits than most others.

[Larry Gibson]

Between the .30 Carbine and the .44 magnum I loaded over 10,000 rounds with Lee Loaders. No idea how many 30-30 I loaded .........all with cast bullets and no probalems. I've also loaded thousands of .223 and .308Ws plus several other cartridges with Lee Loaders over the years.

By "hand seating" it is meant to start the base of the bullet into the belled case mouth and then slip the size die over the bullet and the case with the case sitting in the decapping chamber. I leave the bullet seater in the stop collar that is already adjusted for seating depth and with the Lock Nut tightened.

If you are using a loading block (very handy thing to do) then with all the cases sized, primed, belled and powder charged set a bullet into the belled case mouth. Then set a case with bullet started in the Decapping chamber, slip the die body with bullet seater in it over the cartridge and set ti down on the Decapping chamber. The unseated bullet will push the Bullet Seater up. Tap it down or push it down until it stops. lift the die body off and put that cartridge in a box/container. I seat all the bullets in one step before crimping.

After all the bullets are seated I then remove the Bullet Seater, set a cartridge in the Decapping Chamber, reverse the die body sliping the stop collar over the bullet and a tap with the mallet and the case mouth is crimped in the bullets crimped groove.

Not hard to do and it goes much quicker and easier with the Lee Loader if you do just one step at a time. Even with Jacketed bullets I did not drop the bullet through the stop collar but, instead, always inserted it into the case mouth and then slipped the die body over the bullet and case to seat the bullet.

A couple tips;

Get;
One of the larger MTM storage boxes, one with an internal tray, as it will hold all your reloading stuff.

A plastic headed mallet. These are available at most hardware/lumber yards.

Some 0000 steel wool to clean the outside of the neck. A small tuft wrapped around the neck and twisted does a quick job. May also be used with discretion to clean the outside of the cases.

A clean bore brush one size larger than the caliber you are loading for on a small pistol rod to clean the inside of the necks. Push it straight in and slightly twist pulling it out. Usually one pass cleans the carbon and debris out pretty well.

A small screw driver to clean the primer pocket but the Lee primer pocket cleaner is inexpensive and works well.

The Lee chamfer tool to chamfering the inside of the case mouth and the outside if necessary. A small knife blade will do also for the inside.

The Lee hand priming tool is almost a must unless you want the be-jesus scared out of you when a primer pops tapping them in.

A Lee powder funnel, works much better than pouring through the sizer.

A tapered punch or needle nosed pliers can be used to flair the case mouth if you are loading cast bullets.

A loading block to hold the cases that you’ve put powder into.

Nice, or next to have;

Lee’s powder dippers.
A good powder scale.
A powder trickler.
At least one good reloading manual, Lyman’s is recommended.
A dial caliper.

All the above will fit into the MTM box.

Most of the above will also be required or useful when you advance to a single or progressive press.

Larry Gibson

[gwpercle]

Flare the case mouth enough to get boolit started into case with no shaving.
Make sure the boolit is entering straight into the case. Doing all of this by hand.
Seat, press the straight boolit into the case as far as you can with fingers.
When the boolit is as straight and as deep as you can get it into case with no shaving then use tool to do final seat / crimp operation.
What usually causes shaving is not enough flare on case or boolit is going in crooked. So use your fingers to get it going as straight as possible.
The larger diameter a boolit is the more flare has to be put onto case.
I size mine .357 , some size .358 but I find .357 easier to load . Less flaring and less shaving. Just keep trying different things untill you get a method that works for you.

Save up and get a Lee hand press and regular dies....so much easier than a rubber mallet tool... I've got two of them and two bench mounted presses.
Use the hand presses a lot, can even take it to the range or reload inside the house when bad weather keeps me out of garage where bench is.