micro band

[686]

do the lee micro band bullets cast big enugh to size like a reg. bullet? lee quit making there 190 gr swc .452 bullet but still make the same nose in there micro band.

[Nora]

That depends on the size of your barrel and how much you want to size them down. Personally I like the tumble lube grooves as they shoot very well as cast and seldom ever require sizing. Unless of course you are trying to feed them to a hand gun with a much smaller barrel. The TL356-124-2R I've got cast straight ww at .357.

Nora

[Shiloh]

When I tried it the micro grooves swaged closed a good bit. If you lube first you may get better results.

Shiloh

[Recluse]

When I tried it the micro grooves swaged closed a good bit. If you lube first you may get better results.

Shiloh

I've tried it both ways, and just ended up with a mess.

Trying to size down a TL boolit is tough because you lose some lube area when the micro bands get swaged down. For me, that just caused the excess lube to smear. I tried running the micro band boolits through the (lube)sizer one/thousandth bigger just to lube. Worked so-so, but not great. Then, when I tried to size back down, I got the swaging headache plus more lube smear.

That's why I crack up when I hear people complain that Lee push-through sizers are too much work. The only thing easier is a Star. Letting LLA/lube dry? Big deal. On a weekend, I can set my boolits out on a tin/metal cookie sheet in the sunshine and they're dry in less than an hour and ready to go through the (push-through) sizer. Another lube, then another hour in the sun and in the boolit boxes they go.

I like my lubesizers too, but the Lee system is idiot proof, needs no calibration or adjusting, and you can change sizes in thirty seconds.

:coffee:

[Shiloh]

I tried it for the novelty affect. For me, it defeats the whole purpose of the Tumble Lube concept. Tried it, it doesn't work, I don't recommend it. All my TL boolits get run through a LEE sizing for consistency. You're right about the sunshine method. I did find mine got contaminated with cottonwood tree fuzz one time. Pulled it off and shot 'em. Worked fine.

Shiloh