Sizer question--"grease" ring on bullet

Just recently bought a Star Sizer, getting better at it. I have a PID to control temp, and I'll have one of Kyle's air kits on it. I suspect that will let me dial in pressure and temp to the right place.

I got a new die from Lathesmith with only one set of holes in it. It's improved things, but there still is an inexplicable symptom I cannot figure out.

The picture:

Attachment 135327

From left:

1. How the bullet should look. It has a slight relief, almost a mini semi-wadcutter. It's for guns with tight throats.

2. A sort of grease ring at the transition from driving band to cone.

3. A more extreme version, but as you can see the bullet wasn't completely lubed.

4. You can see a slight lube dot on the right side of the bullet. It's red lube (Canauba Red, in fact), and shows up as red, not black as the ring is.

5. Similar to #4, you can see a lube dot, but the black grease ring is very prominent.

When I wipe off the grease ring on a paper towel, it's black. The lube dot is red, and when I wipe that off on the paper towel it's red, not black. So whatever the black ring is, it's not the same as the lube--or it's something that has changed the lube.


So any ideas what's going on here? It varies from bullet to bullet, I've had some that are almost perfect, but most have at least something like this.

It looks like some lead from the inside of the sizing die that has mixed with a slight film of lube and made it black and the next boolit through wipes it out and also deposits another film of lead residue.
Are you putting a lubed boolit though the die between every dozen-or-so raw ones, so the boolits don't "drag" on the die as they go in, all the way to the point where they are paused and lubed? This might be grabbing and pulling just enough lead off to mix up a very fine film of black on the inside of the die.

Is it a new or used sizer?
If used it could be leftover lube that is in the sizer.
If new it could be machining oil/trash that is in the sizer

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beagle333

It looks like some lead from the inside of the sizing die that has mixed with a slight film of lube and made it black and the next boolit through wipes it out and also deposits another film of lead residue.
Are you putting a lubed boolit though the die between every dozen-or-so raw ones, so the boolits don't "drag" on the die as they go in, all the way to the point where they are paused and lubed? This might be grabbing and pulling just enough lead off to mix up a very fine film of black on the inside of the die.

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I'll probably post a pic later, but I thought about what you said and it made sense.

So I sprayed Hornady One-Shot on 20 boolits, let 'em dry, and ran them through. Big, big difference. There's still a little residual stuff on some of them, but it's cut the problem down by 90 percent. Might just have to run enough through to "clean" the die.

I think you are right, what I'm seeing is lead smears mixed w/ lube. I'm going to run some more later today and see how it works out. BTW, the lube dots seem to have disappeared as well. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HATCH

Is it a new or used sizer?
If used it could be leftover lube that is in the sizer.
If new it could be machining oil/trash that is in the sizer

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I'd thought about that--I've only used one kind of lube (Carnauba Red), and I think I've run enough boolits through to have cleared that out. It's a hefty residue. I think Beagle333 hit the nail on the head.

To ease the effort required when sizing through my Stars I lube boolits by spraying a light coat of lanolin/alcohol mix prior to sizing. Takes a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate and the boolits go through the die much easier.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blikseme300

To ease the effort required when sizing through my Stars I lube boolits by spraying a light coat of lanolin/alcohol mix prior to sizing. Takes a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate and the boolits go through the die much easier.

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Is there a specific forumula you use? I'd like to try this.

The Hornady One-shot was better, but I suspect something would be better still. Here's how the boolits looked after using the One-Shot:

Attachment 135389

I think what you are seeing is a very little bit of lube that comes off the base of the Boolit prior to it. Little imperfections at the base pick up little bits of lube and drag it through the die. Just for giggles use a smaller diameter bullet (22 cal) and push the last bullet out of the die without activating the pump. Then clean the inside of the die with a swab of some sort. Then size two Boolits as normal, see if the first one has the lube on the shoulder. I think Beagle has nailed it. Try meathod above and look at the first boolit through. If there is nothing on it and some on the next ones that is what it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mongoose33

Is there a specific forumula you use? I'd like to try this.

The Hornady One-shot was better, but I suspect something would be better still. Here's how the boolits looked after using the One-Shot:

Attachment 135389

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99% isopropyl alcohol and pure lanolin. 8:1 ratio. Shake well.

Easier to just put a lubed bullet back through every 10-20 bullets, depending on how much you are sizing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Springfield

Easier to just put a lubed bullet back through every 10-20 bullets, depending on how much you are sizing.

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True, but I use a collator and feeder so not practical when doing large numbers of pistol bullets. When doing rifle bullets with GC just passing a lubed bullet through every so often works well.