My First boolits .356 102gr round nose

[WolfSpring]

So I finally got my bullet molds and a break from the horrid weather, we are up to 48F here in colorado today all week it's been sub zero. So I set out to make some of my wheel weights ingots into bullets and I learned all about mold to hot or two cold only had 10 that I'd consider horrible, had 5 others that had a little trim at the base some lines, some little tings from not opening the mold enough when dropping them some frosty, but for the most part a good turn out.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/xpakratx/Bullets/DSC_7103.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/xpakratx/media/Bullets/DSC_7103.jpg.html)
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/xpakratx/Bullets/DSC_7104.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/xpakratx/media/Bullets/DSC_7104.jpg.html)
Obviously 3 of my worst.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/xpakratx/Bullets/DSC_7105.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/xpakratx/media/Bullets/DSC_7105.jpg.html)
Some of these better than others but this is a group of them and they are just for plinking. Need to weight them and size them probably loose some more in that process.

Got a lot to learn and a long way to go, I've made black powder balls already so this wasn't my first overall experience, but with water dropping it's a big diff. Used a cookie tin with the water HORRID idea it leaked out and soked into a nearby towel and when I went back to making ingots the towel was wet got a nice sizzle and pop it scared me.

Questions:

The little trims at the base can I just take a knife and trim that off? These are just plinking rounds not for precision, going to be a .380 I'm shooting out of.

When I size these I will be using straight Alox, I have read and watched many videos, but I am going to start with it straight as it came with the sizer, will it collect in the ring there and create lube ring like the cast bullets I've bought? Or is there something else that leads up to that? They never seem to show that in the vids.

Besides putting them in a tub with some alox and tumbleing them around is there anything else I need to consider? Right now they are just in a little baggie.

Thanks for all the help leading up to this point and the great information on this site.

[tomme boy]

Just leave them in the bag and add a few drops of alox. Then after sizing, do the same thing again with the bag. If you have a small bowl that works just as good. I do about 150-200 at a time. When I do that many, I do one quick swirl of alox. Tumble them for about a minute then spread them out onto a piece of wax paper.

I would not try anything to remove the sprue on the bottom. Just leave it as is. Have you slugged your bore yet to determine the size you are going to need to size to?

[WolfSpring]

Thank you. I slugged my barrel and I read up about the lands and grooves but I think I messed it up pretty good. the lowest measurement I got was .351 and the highest was .355. I thought I read somewhere that you go .001 above the groove measurement, which is what the .355 would be yes?

[C. Latch]

I wouldn't worry with weighing them. If they look OK on the outside and the bases are filled out properly, they'll plink just fine. As a matter of fact, for short-range plinking I don't even set my bar that high; if the base is flat I'll happily shoot one that's beveled due to incomplete fillout.

[Jazzcat]

For tumble lubing I cut a plastic gallon milk jug in half (in the middle) and use the bottom half for tumble lubing. Works great, is flexible enough to give a good tumble and is reusable.

I use a hair dryer to warm up the alox in the bottle so it flows easier. I then warm up the "bowl" , drop in the alox and hit it with a little heat, warm up the boolits for a few seconds, dump them in and start tumbling. The result is a nice, thin coat.

I get really good results using a few drops of alox, a little bit of Johnson's paste wax and a few drops of mineral spirits. Hit it with the hair dryer and stir, then drop in the boolits. Tumble then pour out on wax paper. That mixture will dry quicker than straight alox and will not be tacky. Size, then relube and you are good to go.

[sandman228]

I shoot this bullet from my lcp380 . I cast then lube with 50/50 alox- mineral spirits, size them to .356 then lube a 2nd time with straight alox then load them over a mild charge of hp 38 . been a while I would have to go double check im thinking 3.4 gr but don't hold me to that if you need an exact charge weight let me know .