Saeco lube/sizer problem(well, maybe)

[Jerry Lester]

My casting has come a very long ways in the last year, and I've learned a wealth of stuff from here, and by trial, and error(mostly here[smilie=1: ).

I've been sizing my 32 bullets with a set-up I had a friend of mine make me. It's simply a base that snaps into my Rockchucker, and a die that sizes my bullets down to .313". It was supposed to be .312", but oh well:roll:. The base has a post that pushes the bullet through the die nose first, and works great. I then lubed them with LEE alox, and have had extremely good success with all of this.

Well, I ordered a Saeco lube/sizer to speed up things, and for all the other obvious reasons. It works absolutely fantastic, and although I've not seen any difference in my accuracy, I'm not spending all the efforts cleaning noses, waiting for dry bullets ect. like I was before. Plus, now my bullets are exactly .312" like I wanted in the first place, and as a big plus, using Javalina lube, I can now push them to 1200+ fps with virtually zero leading which is around 400-450 fps faster than with the liquid Alox.

My problem is that I'm getting quite a bit of lube pushed out around my sizing die on both the top, and the bottom. Also, my plunger inside the press is letting lube back up through the center of the seal, and all around the spring. At first, I thought maybe I was using way too much pressure, but I had only adjusted it enough to "just" give me a good fill out in my lube groove. I've very carefully adjusted my bottom punch to stop where it needs to to keep lube out of the crimping groove, and to keep lube on my bases to a minimum. I've even tried tightening the lock ring on the bottom of the die with pliers, but there was no change.

The thing is turning out perfect bullets, but this is while making an agravating mess, and I'm extremely obsessed with keeping my loading benches clean. This sticky stuff ends up everywhere!

Is this normal? If not, anybody got any ideas?

Thanks!

[testhop]

i had the same problum and i kept adjusting till i solved the prolum but i would sujest 3 things
1 try adjusting
2 maybe your lube is too soft
3call saeco and talk to them thay are real good about fixing problums

[Jon K]

Jerry,

Like testhop said, play with the pressure and if you are using a heater, you may be getting the lube too soft. In cooler temps, I turn on the heater to start then turn it off. On warmer days I don't even turn it on. Sounds like a combination of both, experiment till you get it.

Jon

[BABore]

Tighten the die lock nut with pliers or vise grips as much as you can. Run your heat low and pressure high. A dead give-away is if the lube flows well initially as heat is applied, then it goes to pot and leaks as everything get up to temp. I use an iron as a heat source. I turn it on for about 5-10 minutes, then turn it off and wait until the sizer starts to warm up. If I can't run close to full pressure on the die spring and not get lube squirting out, then I know I got it a bit too hot. Don't fight it. Release pressure and wait til the sizer cools down some and try again. It takes a few cycles to learn the lubes wants.

[deltaenterprizes]

Put a chunk of lube outside the resiviour(misspelled) and watch the consinstancy,if it liquifies ,too hot!

[Jerry Lester]

I'm not using a heater:neutral:. Should I be? Maybe that's the problem?

I'm using Javalina lube. This lube is very soft at room temperature. I can easily mash a chunk between my fingers. It's 50% bees wax, and 50% Alox.

[Steelshooter]

Jerry
I had that problem with my saeco when sizing 45-70 bullets with soft black powder lube. I was using to much pressure to try and fill the grooves. I ended up opening up the lube holes two drill sizes up ( don't remember the size) and the problem went away. I figured the lube holes were to small and opening them up worked. Check and see if some of the lube holes are clogged up with old lube or whatever. Hope this helps.
Chuck