Sized my first boolits

[ghh3rd]

Nothing too important to say, but though I'd say it anyway.

I have cast and fired a few batches of Lee Alox tumble lubed .38 cal boolits, starting with 50/50 clipon/stickon WW, then changing to 100% clip on, and have had some leading from both types.

Although I haven't sucessfully slugged my chambers or barrel yet, last night I pushed a batch of boolits through the Lee 358 sizer that I purchased at the same time as my reloading equipment.

The tumble lube seems to be rubbed off evenly over the the entire surface of each boolit, and they have a nice even appearance. Maybe it's an optical illusion, but they do seem to look more symetrical now. The grooves are still pretty much intact.

I'll tumble lube them again, and am anxious to see if the sizing helps with the leading.

Randy

[jdgabbard]

Sounds like your not getting good fillout. Or you getting what I call "Draw Back". Which is nothing more then when the alloy cools it pulls away from the mold walls. Try turning the heat up a little.

As for the lube, your leading could be coming from not applying a second coat after you size them. Thats the way your supposed to do it, a coat before sizing, another afterwards.

As for the boolits not being visibly sized, don't worry too much. When I first started casting all my boolits looked like that. They all shot just fine in my pistols. I will tell you though, I think if you turn the heat up a little you'll be fine.

[Down South]

Yup, you need to put another coat of mule snot on the boolits after sizing. If you still have a leading problem which I think you will, then you need to slug the barrel and cylinder throats. I’ve not heard much about leading problems shooting a boolit a little oversized but a boolit that is a little undersized can be a real pain. You can slug the barrel and then see how the slugged boolit fits your chambers. Make a slug out of some of your stick on WW since it is softer than clip on WW.
The slugged boolit should slip through the cylinder throats with just a little or no pressure. If it doesn’t then you need to open up the cylinder throats. If the boolit does fit the cylinder throats then I’d start looking for a different charge weight of powder or different powder. Changing lubes may solve the problem too.