How much is too much to size a TL boolit?

[fatelk]

I finally got my .401 Lee sizer die to size the bullets from my .405 Lee 6-cavity mold.

The sizer nearly wipes out the mini lube grooves. I'll lube them up again, and see how they do when I get time in a few days, but it sure looks to me that there is not much room for enough lube.

Has anyone sized and used bullets like this, and how has it worked?

[captaint]

fatelk - You're right, looks like you don't have a lot left. Doesn't mean it won't be ok though. I've shot plenty of standard loob groove boolits that were TL'd. They work just fine. Only way to tell is juice them up and go shooting. I'll bet it works good. enjoy Mike

[Rem700]

Did you measure the boolit after sizeing to see if they are sized to .401?

[fatelk]

Yep, actually about .4013 or so. I'll load some up and see how they do.

[Recluse]

Fatelk,

Several thoughts:

1. Why is your Lee six-banger dropping .405 boolits? I'd send it back to Lee. I like dropping oversized boolits as I can always size them down (but not up), but with micro-band boolits, you don't have much negotiating room.

2. It doesn't take much tumble lube to get the job done well.

I experimented one time with my Lee TL158SWC boolits and dipped only the last groove in some LLA, let dry, loaded and shot. Boolits were from normal WW alloy, air-cooled and sized .358 which is perfect for my S&W barrels.

No leading, very good accuracy.

Go ahead and tumble lube those boolits, load them up and see what happens in the meantime.

:coffee:

[JSimpson65]

Good timing!

I also received a Lee 6cavity TL401-175SWC a few days ago, and cast my first boolits last night. Mine dropped around .403 to .404, which is a little fatter than what I was wanting. I was hoping to tumble in LLA as-cast without sizing, but now I'm wondering if I'm going to need to size to .401. I'll be using in a Beretta 96, which I haven't tried to measure the bore.

[Wally]

I don't like Lee TL mold that are .003"+oversize--as you are forced to resize them and the lube grooves shrink by a great deal---

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo Fatelk, as stated above use the alox lube and shoot them, this lube doesn't necessarily need deep lube groves because it coats the whole bearing surface, so lube them again after sizing & try them.

[fatelk]

I lubed some up using another coat of alox/jpw, loaded up a box and shot them through my Glock (I know, Glocks will explode if you even touch them with a cast bullet:)). They worked just fine, without a trace of leading.

As to the large diameter, I wasn't happy with it and I emailed and asked Lee about them. The reply was basically "just size them and they'll be fine". They are definitely out of spec and I really should send them back, but if they work OK like this, it doesn't seem worth the bother and expense of returning them. I went that route with an undersized .45 mold I bought at the same time.


2. It doesn't take much tumble lube to get the job done well.

I've been curious about this. I assume this must depend on velocity and caliber to some degree. I tried a fairly thin coating (thick enough to see) on my TL .45 boolits and got some leading. I'll try a second coating next and see how it works.

The .45 boolits measured .452, my .45 barrel slugged .4525". I thought that might be the problem, but then I tried them in my other .45 that slugged slightly under .451, and got the same leading. For some reason they wanted to jam occasionally in both guns (boolit design?).