Lee TL Bullets

[Cherokee]

Has anyone tried sizing and lub'ing Lee TL bullets in the conventional manner, meaning in the Star or Lyman machines with conventional lube ?

[Willbird]

I did, and when I mentioned it on a CB list a few guys thought that made me Stoopid, BUT the darn bullets were too big to fit my gun, I mean literally the loaded ctg. were so far oversized they would not chamber.

Anyway they sized OK but with 50-50 lube the lube jumped back out of the grooves after they came out of the die like little worms :-). maybe with another lube it would work OK.

I am not a fan of TL bullets by far, some love them tho and Lee's job is to make things people want to buy. The lube on the noses caused seating depth to get deeper, and deeper, and deeper for me, even cleaning the die every 25 rounds I was not happy with the result. and it takes too long to clean the noses to be worth it.

Bill

[tomf52]

I just started doing exactly that and have had good success doing it with RCBS lubricant. It stays in the grooves with no problem and leading in the gun has diminished greatly. Also, I have had no problem with buildup on the nose of the bullet. I think this is simply a matter of having the lube die adusted to the right depth in the sizer. Hope this helps, Tom

[Cherokee]

Willbird - I expected to get the "Why do that" response. I wanted to know if it would work since the TL version offers something that can be grimped in an otherwise non-crimp design. I use a hard lube so it should stay in the little grooves.

tomf52 - Thanks for your experience. What bullet are you doing that to ?

[Willbird]

Also lube sizing I had no buildup problems on the nose, That is with the normal liquid earwax.

Bill

[MTWeatherman]

I've lubed both the TL358-158-SWC and the TL401-175-SWC in a Lyman 450.

I had to use higher lube pressure than in the usual cast bullet in order to fill the small grooves...this also required more downward pressure on the bullet itself in order to keep the lube off the bullet bases. However, it worked well and I had no problems in either filling the grooves or keeping the lube in those grooves...I used Lyman Super Moly, Javelina, and a version of Felix's lube.
Accuracy was good with both bullets and had no more leading than with other plain based bullets...or using tumble lube.

I did this for the simple reason that I don't like tumble lube on the bullet noses and it's far more work to clean it off than use the Lyman in the first place. You have to use extra care to keep dirt and grit from accumulating on those tumble lubed bullets...and clean the bullet seater on the reloading die on a regular basis to remove the buildup. However, tumble lube works well for many and allows one to use cast bullets without the initial investment in a lubrisizer. I'm not knocking the TL but since I have the Lyman, my preference was to use it.

I no longer use those bullets for reasons other than the TL design...I've gone to a GC for the ported .357 and a 200gr for the .40 to increase the bearing surface.

[Buckshot]

...........The TL design is supposed to be a time and effort saver. Ideally they cast to a useable size as they drop from the mould. But if they drop too large, as in Willbird's case you'd HAVE to size them or be unable to use'em. If they drop of a useable size that works for the application, then running them through a lube-sizer is unecessary unless you're wanting to lube conventionally and not use the LA.

I think anyone whose used TL for any length of time will see what Willbird mentioned. Deeper seating due to it building up in the seater plug. I've gotten dies down to use where the seater plug might as well have been set in concrete, as the LA had set up. All you can do then is pull the seater stem and clean it up.

..............Buckshot

[tomf52]

I am working with the 148 grain wadcutter, .358 diameter from the mould. Lee part number 90279. really like this bullet. Have just ordered the 105 grain semi-wadcutter to try that one also. Looking for a real soft shooting load out of my S&W Model 60.

[Leftoverdj]

Lee's Liquid Alox ain't the only tumble lube, just the best known one. Rooster Jacket and Johnson's Paste Wax don't give near the trouble with nose plug build up. I'm shooting 314-85-WC and 358-148-WC in the 800 fps range and that does not call for a super lube.

I've tried running microgroove bullets through a lubrisizer with NRA formula lube and it worked fine, but was slow. These days I shuck them through a Lee pushthrough and tumble lube for at least twice the production rate. Only reason I size them at all is that I get a very occasional oversized cast. Rather size than run into a cartridge that won't chamber later.