Lyman 4500, Newby Questions

[vandeusenps]

Guys,

I cast a bunch of 38 RN bullets today using my new Lyman 4500 with heater that I got for xmas. After finishing up, I have the following questions:

1. At one point, I had lube (Lyman Orange) oozing up between the sizing die body and center plunger. Why did this happen? It seemed to stop after a while, after I unplugged the heater.

2. I always had a very small amount of lube on the bottom of the bullets. Do you guys wipe this off, or not worry about it? Obviously if it was caked on, I'd wipe it off, but we're talking about very small amounts.

3. When the heater was on, I had to tighten the lube ratchet about every third bullet. After I turned it off, I had to tighten it about every bullet to get a good fill in grooves. Is this normal?

4. When finished, do you guys typically take the sizing die out and clean it off, or not even bother?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[JeffG]

Orange Magic is a pretty firm lube so I would expect to have top use the heater in a cold garage, at least letting it warm up the lube for 20 minutes or so before running bullets through it. I usually unplug mine after that because the lube is flowing very well at that point. If it is oozing around the die body and plunger, you may have cramked a little too much pressure on the lube.

I only get a build up of lube on the base if I have too much pressure or I don't have the depth set just right. Also, a bevel base bullet can get a little lube in the bevel area. I keep a rag on the bench so I can wipe the base if there is a build up, and some q-tips to wipe any excess off the plunger.

How many bullets you get before you need to crank it a little bit will come to you pretty quick. You will start being able to subtlely feel when the pressure is starting to build on the crank.

I leave the die in and I back off the crank a couple turns to remove the pressure on the lube.

[Sweetpea]

I'd like to know how you cast with your 4500...

Now that that's out of the way,

1. Your lube is too warm/soft.

2. does your boolit have a bevel base? This can cause problems.

3. Yes, you will have to vary how often you crank the handle depending on lube viscosity.

4. I just leave the die in, too tedious to remove it, unless you are changing dies.

Brandon

[vandeusenps]

Thank you Jeff and Brandon for your help. I was casting in my garage, with the door open. Temperature outside was in the low 30's. Here's how I went about sizing:

1. Let the heater warm up for a few minutes
2. Tighten the plunger down when first bullet is in, then adjust the plunger depth until both grooves were filled.
3. Worked ok for a while, then got lube oozing out of the sizing die body...unplugged plunger.
4. Oozing stopped after a while. Heater was never turned on again.
5. Bullet was placed on plunger, rammed home, and ratchet tightened on each bullet, about 5 degrees of rotation.

Bullets are Lee 358-150-1R, they do not have a bevel.

[mpmarty]

You should be able to lube four or five boolets before needing to crank in more pressure. Lube under base can be caused by easing up on the handle before raising it to eject boolet.

[Wayne Smith]

Lube oozing out between the die and the sizer body suggests a combination of lube too thin (warm) and too much pressure. Lube under the boolit suggests pressure on the lube as pressure is taken off the boolit - the transition between the down and the up. Pay attention to this as you lube boolits.

I started cleaning off my dies between uses and gave up on it. I store them in the sizer until I need another size, and when not in the sizer medicine bottles work well to contain them and the attached lube. Now I only clean them when I switch to the other sizer because I have different lubes in them.