Four questions I need help with concerning smelting and reloading

[Big_Blue]

I've done quite a lot of reading about casting bullets and reloading, but I haven't been able to really understand these four questions and I'm hoping some of you might take the time to help me out.

1. Do you stir flux into your solution before it burns, after it burns, or do you not stir it in at all?

2. Do you clean your casings before depriming, and then clean them again to clear the primer pocket? If so, how often to you do the second step? Every time? My concern is that if I deprime without cleaning the cases aren't I damaging my depriming/sizing die?

3. Do you slug your barrel to determine the proper bullet die, or do you simply use a commercial die for your barrel and trust it fits correctly?

4. Do you use a lube press or do you roll your bullets in a moly paste? I've watched SFLiberal's YouTube videos on moly paste rolling and it looks good. Now I'm reading the online casting book "From Ingot to Target" and it appears I'll need to get a Lyman Lubrisizer and properly fill the lube grooves. What's true for someone casting and loading for handguns?

Thanks,

[Lizard333]

I've done quite a lot of reading about casting bullets and reloading, but I haven't been able to really understand these four questions and I'm hoping some of you might take the time to help me out.

1. Do you stir flux into your solution before it burns, after it burns, or do you not stir it in at all?

In my smelting pot I add candle wax, and light it.

In my casting pot I use sawdust after the lead is up to temp. Stir well.



2. Do you clean your casings before depriming, and then clean them again to clear the primer pocket? If so, how often to you do the second step? Every time? My concern is that if I deprime without cleaning the cases aren't I damaging my depriming/sizing die?

Pistol brass I don't bother. Rifle brass get deprimed, resized, and trimmed, then tumbled in SS media which cleans the primer pockets.

3. Do you slug your barrel to determine the proper bullet die, or do you simply use a commercial die for your barrel and trust it fits correctly?

Slug every barrel. It's the only way to know what size your boolits have to be.

4. Do you use a lube press or do you roll your bullets in a moly paste? I've watched SFLiberal's YouTube videos on moly paste rolling and it looks good. Now I'm reading the online casting book "From Ingot to Target" and it appears I'll need to get a Lyman Lubrisizer and properly fill the lube grooves. What's true for someone casting and loading for handguns?

I use a 4500 to lube and size my boolits. I'm too much of a control freak to get lube everywhere. Both done in one operation. Worth every penny.


Thanks,

Just they way I do it. Your mileage may vary.

Doig

[RobS]

.....
I've done quite a lot of reading about casting bullets and reloading, but I haven't been able to really understand these four questions and I'm hoping some of you might take the time to help me out.

1. Do you stir flux into your solution before it burns, after it burns, or do you not stir it in at all?

Stir it in, then skim followed by another layer over the top to help cut oxidation

2. Do you clean your casings before depriming, and then clean them again to clear the primer pocket? If so, how often to you do the second step? Every time? My concern is that if I deprime without cleaning the cases aren't I damaging my depriming/sizing die?

I tumble my cases with the primers in the brass. You will not ruin your depriming die if you tumble the brass with the primers in and then deprime.

3. Do you slug your barrel to determine the proper bullet die Yes , or do you simply use a commercial die for your barrel and trust it fits correctly?

4. Do you use a lube pressyes or do you roll your bullets in a moly paste? I've watched SFLiberal's YouTube videos on moly paste rolling and it looks good. Now I'm reading the online casting book "From Ingot to Target" and it appears I'll need to get a Lyman Lubrisizer and properly fill the lube grooves. What's true for someone casting and loading for handguns?

I have tumble lubed in the past with Lee Alox and the 45/45/10 Recluse mix, then moved on to a lubricator (RCBS) with commercial lube followed by White Label Lube BAC as a preference. Now I still use the lubricator but make my own lithibee/stp lube

Thanks,

[9-toes]

1. I use sawdust from pine for my flux. Just drop it in and stir it. Gently though just in case there is some moisture in the shavings. Repeat until the melt is coming out clean then leave some ash on top to act as a barrier.

2. Get a universal decapping die - it deprimes without sizing. Then I clean em up.

3. Slug your barrel with soft lead and use a micrometer to find your groove diameter. A caliper is just not accurate enough.

4. I give the boolits a quick, light hit of One-Shot then size. After that I pan lube in a silicon pan then pop them out and give a quick inspection.

[captaint]

When I am using my bottom pour pot, I use sawdust for flux. I will cover the top of the alloy and let it burn up. Then I stir it up good and remove the junk off the top. Then, I re cover the alloy with sawdust and make boolits. When it burns up good, repeat.

I always take my brass from the range and drop it in the vibrator. Get it clean, then size & deprime, clean the primer pockets and load.

It's always best to slug your barrels so that you KNOW what size sizers you'll need. Really not that difficult to do. Just find some soft lead sinkers, or even a soft boolit. You may have to tap it with a hammer to get it big enough for a true reading prior to slugging.

I started by tumble lubing at first, got tired of that and got a luber/sizer. They work great.
A few opinions always helps. Keep reading that "from ingot to target".. Great stuff right there.
enjoy Mike

[44man]

Clean brass before sizing and de-priming so you don't scratch the size die. You can clean the pockets with a little brush or not, doesn't seem to matter, just make sure flash holes are clear of tumbling media.

[mdi]

I flux with sawdust, and stir vigorously with a wooden stick, scraping the sides and bottom of the pot then skim what floats up. During casting (after smelting and in my pour pot) I stir with a wooden stick occasionally to keep the "scum" mixed in.

I like to toss the brass in the tumbler first, 'cause I don't like soot/carbon/dirt on my press' ram. Then inspect. FWIW I reloaded about 12 years before I got a tumbler. I wiped each case with a mineral spirits dampened rag as I inspected it. Nope, my dies didn't wear out, and yes, I could spot any defects in the case.

I slug every barrel that I shoot lead in and also cylinder throats of all my revolvers. Gotta know what I'm working with. Without hard facts ie.; measurements, it's all a WAG...

I have used alox tumble lube, 45-45-10 and pan lube, and use Lee size dies.. I have no need to process 1,000 bullets at a time and cannot justify the added cast of a lubersizer, dies, and nose punches. Mebbe some day.

Most of the above answers, mine included, are what works for the individual that answered, and may not be suitable for you. I don't think any are wrong, they'll just differ by personal likes...

[Kull]

When I am using my bottom pour pot, I use sawdust for flux. I will cover the top of the alloy and let it burn up. Then I stir it up good and remove the junk off the top. Then, I re cover the alloy with sawdust and make boolits. When it burns up good, repeat.

Follow up question....if your ladle casting would you just omit the second covering?

[44man]

Follow up question....if your ladle casting would you just omit the second covering?
Yes, keep stuff out of the ladle.

[45-70 Chevroner]

For me personally, I clean the cases with the vibrator tumbler with the primers in. I then use a terry towel folded and sewn up both side, then put the shells in the towell and hold the end closed and just roll them around to get any media dust off the shells. I then size, reprime, and reload. I haven't cleaned a primer pocket in a long time. I do check them about every tenth reload to make sure that the buildup is not to bad, if so I use a pocket cleaning tool (brush). As for lubing I use a lubresizer for all my rifle boolits. I also use tumble lube on all of my tumble lube design pistol or rifle boolits. If my pistol boolits are standard lube grove I run them through the lubresizer.

[Big_Blue]

Excellent responses. Helps a lot.

A follow-up question to those of you who do slug your barrels. Once you've slugged your barrel and you've got the measurement of the grooves, how do you get the right sizing die for that diameter? Do vendors sell sizing dies with .001 increments so we can get just the right die for our individual requirement?

[Lizard333]

Say you slug your 1911 and it comes out at .451. Order a .452 sizing die. Go at least one thousandth over your bore diameter. Some rifles need more than that. Sizing dies come in a wide variety of sizes.

[nwellons]

Another vote for using the universal decapping die. Lee makes an inexpensive one that does the trick. I decap while still cases are dirty and then clean them. Don't forget to clean the decapping die when you are finished; I use Hoppes #9 for cleaning.

[captaint]

Blue -- Apologies for not getting back sooner. As 44man said - we need to keep the top of the pot clean when ladle pouring. Gotta keep the junk out of the ladle. I just have to stop and flux, then just skim in between. Nothing floating on top. Mike

[Texantothecore]

I've done quite a lot of reading about casting bullets and reloading, but I haven't been able to really understand these four questions and I'm hoping some of you might take the time to help me out.

1. Do you stir flux into your solution before it burns, after it burns, or do you not stir it in at all?

I stir it in when I put it in. I use a pea sized bit of 50/50 NRA lube and it works fine. There are lots of different fluxes that can be used. Wax, sawdust, the list is endless and most of them are not ordered from a supplier. Which is good.

2. Do you clean your casings before depriming, and then clean them again to clear the primer pocket? If so, how often to you do the second step? Every time? My concern is that if I deprime without cleaning the cases aren't I damaging my depriming/sizing die?

I don't clean my casings other than I carefully pop out the primer and save it in a baggy, clean the primer hole and inspect the hole for burrs and shrinkage and then brush it out with a case brush. I had one the other week that was a mystery as it was almost completely closed and I enlarged the hole so that it would fire exactly like the others. The dark cases mark me as a reloader at the range and they are real conversation starters.

By the way, if you are tumbling your brass change the media on a regular basis as lead will build up in it and it appears to be the major way that reloaders end up with high lead levels. Cheap media can be had at one of the big box stores as bedding for small animal cages.

3. Do you slug your barrel to determine the proper bullet die, or do you simply use a commercial die for your barrel and trust it fits correctly?

Yep. Always slug your guns and add 1 to 3 thousandths to the cast bullet size in order to get the most accurate shot. Use a micrometer to measure the slug and use the same micrometer to measure the bullet.

4. Do you use a lube press or do you roll your bullets in a moly paste? I've watched SFLiberal's YouTube videos on moly paste rolling and it looks good. Now I'm reading the online casting book "From Ingot to Target" and it appears I'll need to get a Lyman Lubrisizer and properly fill the lube grooves. What's true for someone casting and loading for handguns?

Most reloaders pan lube and it has worked well for 150 years. There are lots of homemade lubes on this forum and each of them work well. Use a simple cheap homemade to lube to start with: Most of them can be made in your microwave using a two cup measuring cup and the time is about three minutes to melt. Emmerts works well, 45% Crisco, 45% beeswax (or paraffin) and 10% whatever liquid vegetable oil is on sale at the local grocery store. Many just use the 65% liquid vegetable oil as that is what Crisco actually turns into when you heat it and it doesn't seem to matter. I like olive oil as I buy it buy the gallon for pasta.

Things that should wait until later: Moly lube, super expensive lubes with high tech components that do nothing more than cheap veggie oil etc. Graphite doesn't matter because your powder already has a good bit of graphite in it. Keep it as simple as possible in the beginning as you have a lot of things to deal with.

Heat the measuring cup of lube in the microwave and pour the liquid lube into a small pan that has a number of bullets sitting upright in it and pour until you cover the lube grooves. Let them cool and pop them out. That's it.


Thanks,

Good luck and keep asking questions. We are here to give you our best operating techniques.