Lube on bottom of boolit.

[Adam10mm]

Sized the dozen or so Lee 459-500-FNGC boolits I cast the other night. First time with GCs. Went in blind. I basically sat them on the base by hand, tapped them with a rubber mallet to square them up, the placed the boolit in the die and lubed them.

I got good coverage but on most of the boolits there was lube on the gas check bottom. What does this indicate? Too deep? Too much pressure? Using an RCBS LAM2 with Lyman .459 die.

Thanks.

[leftiye]

Lyman? Too much pressure/lube too thin or warm. Makes a mess, stops after a while if you don't pump it up. After that pump it up an 1/8 turn (1 click) at a time. You'll learn to judge pressure by resistance on wrench. Enjoy.

[Adam10mm]

RCBS sizer/luber with Lyman die. Oh, yeah Lar's Red lube.

[ktw]

I basically sat them on the base by hand, tapped them with a rubber mallet to square them up, the placed the boolit in the die and lubed them.

If I have a check/bullet combo that is a snug fit I like to place a flat piece of metal (I use the stamped die wrench that came with a Lyman 450) across the top of the die in the lube-sizer, set the bullet on the metal strip and use the lube sizer to gently press the bullet down into the check.

Lube on bottom of the bullet: fiddle with the depth setting and back off on the pressure. Hard to avoid with some bullet designs, particularly bevel bases.

-ktw

[freedom475]

my lube/sizer is an older RCBS Lube-a-matic, it seems if I turn the lube wrench before I size the bullet they come out fine. But if I turn the lube wrench with the bullet in the sizer I get lube on the bottom. Also If I turn the wrench too hard I get lube on the bottom and everywhere else.:Fire:

[454PB]

The slightest concavity (is that a word?) on the boolit base will cause the gas check to conform and allow lube to run under. I just make it a habit to wipe each boolit on a shop towel laid on the bench as I remove them from the sizer. Another solution is to use a Star sizer and push them through nose first.

[44man]

The crazyest thing that happened to me was the lube pushed the check off the boolit but they stuck to the lube and I didn't see it until I started to load them. The check would come off and put a bulge in one side of the brass. Once I figured it out I had to pull 20 rounds and fix the problem.
The checks did not fit tight enough to start with and even holding the sizer handle down hard didn't help. One of those lube holes was lined up right above the check. Can't beat hydraulic pressure. :mrgreen:

[Sundogg1911]

A Star sizer would fix that [smilie=1:

I sometimes have that issue when I use my Lyman 450. Keep pressure forcing the boolit down while you pump some lube. If you're not holding the handle down firm you can have the lube squeeze in and push the boolit upward.

[Leftoverdj]

One of those lube holes was lined up right above the check. Can't beat hydraulic pressure. :mrgreen:

There you go. If a lube hole is lined up at the juncture of the base and the bullet, you are going to have lube squirting into the seam. Adjusting the seating depth should fix it. It also helps to pull the internal rod out of the die and drill the center a little. When you are doing PB bullets, slight sprue irregularities go down in the hole and do not create a space for the lube to fill.

[Adam10mm]

Thanks for the help. I'll try those tips next time I lube some heavies. Pistol boolits never have issues like this, just the 45/70's.

[Ken O]

Take a styrofoam meat tray and run it though the die. Leave the styrofoam disk on the bottom which will seal around the bottom. This works real well with bevel based bullets. It should last for a hundred bullets or so, then punch out another or as needed.

[Nueces]

Ken O, that is one cool idea.

Mark