The right White Label Lube on .357Mag PlainBase

[Chrome1981]

Hello, i want try to use Lee mould 358-158-RF, unfortunatly my lead aloy is not good quality.

With a Marlin 1894C i want push my boolits around to 1400 fps, no gas-check and i want use progressive powder like Vihtavuori N-110 with CCI small pistol magnum.

I have RCBS Lube-a-matic 2 with Lyman Heater (indor use)

What do u think is better lube for me?

Carnauba Red ?
BAC ?

thank you!

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i like carnauba red i use it in my
38/357 44mag 454 casull 308win 30/06

[btroj]

Either one should be fine.

[fecmech]

I have used the CR with the Lyman 358429 @1600 fps+ and WC820 (very close to H110,296) with excellent results in both a Rossi 92 and Winchester 94.

[Recluse]

Agree with Brad that either should be fine, but I'd give the nod to Carnuaba Red if you have concerns over your alloy.

Fit, size of boolit in the bore is the most important thing--even more important than quality of composition of your alloy.

I haven't tried that particular Lee mold out, but I read your previous post about the six-cavity mold you had some questions about.

Here are some very good links about preparing Lee molds before you cast with them.

Lee-menting

The Lee six-cavity mold and installing a screw as a "pressure plate" for the sprue plate handle

Modifying Molds

Enjoy and good luck.

[white eagle]

i never had much luck with c/r
i do use W/L 50/50 works like a charm

[Chrome1981]

Agree with Brad that either should be fine, but I'd give the nod to Carnuaba Red if you have concerns over your alloy.

Fit, size of boolit in the bore is the most important thing--even more important than quality of composition of your alloy.

I haven't tried that particular Lee mold out, but I read your previous post about the six-cavity mold you had some questions about.

Here are some very good links about preparing Lee molds before you cast with them.

Lee-menting

The Lee six-cavity mold and installing a screw as a "pressure plate" for the sprue plate handle

Modifying Molds

Enjoy and good luck.

Thank you very much, I'm exploring the links. I'm working now, but I print everything and i read all quietly

Unfortunately here I don't think that there are many knowledgeable people. In fact someone on the range thinks that i'm wasting my time.

but lol

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

unfortunatly my lead aloy is not good quality.

I'm not sure what you mean by "not good quality" ?
Has it been fluxed well to remove impurities ?
Do you know what the composition of the alloy is ?
do you have a hardness tester to test it if you have a mystery alloy,
so you can get a fairly accurate idea of what it actually is ?

when you know what the alloy is, you can see on this link
(for future use, it's at the bottom of the page)
what Pressure that alloy (as a plain base boolit) will handle.
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

With a Marlin 1894C i want push my boolits around to 1400 fps,
no gas-check and i want use progressive powder like Vihtavuori N-110 with CCI small pistol magnum.

most reloading manuals will give you a PSI pressure rating of a Max load,
you can then guesstimate what your desired load will generate,
ideally less than you alloy will handle.

With all this said, BAC lube will probably work,
but once I get above 1200 FPS,
I generally move to a higher speed Lube like Carnuba Red.

in conclusion, I understand that a lube will not overcome the
problems that an alloy that is "not good quality" will create.

Jon

[Chrome1981]

I'm not sure what you mean by "not good quality" ?
Has it been fluxed well to remove impurities ?
Do you know what the composition of the alloy is ?
do you have a hardness tester to test it if you have a mystery alloy,
so you can get a fairly accurate idea of what it actually is ?

when you know what the alloy is, you can see on this link
(for future use, it's at the bottom of the page)
what Pressure that alloy (as a plain base boolit) will handle.
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm


most reloading manuals will give you a PSI pressure rating of a Max load,
you can then guesstimate what your desired load will generate,
ideally less than you alloy will handle.

With all this said, BAC lube will probably work,
but once I get above 1200 FPS,
I generally move to a higher speed Lube like Carnuba Red.

in conclusion, I understand that a lube will not overcome the
problems that an alloy that is "not good quality" will create.

Jon

I'm sorry Jon, I was not precise.
Actually together with a friend of mine I use the Lee Pro 4 (but now I want to buy one of my own).

My lead alloy is composed old house plumbing , some bullet recovered at the shooting range, and what I find.

1) Lead is very dirty, so i melt lead in a pot, and i clean from impurities and we do so many ingots (not Fluxing).

2) then i put ingots in lee pro 4 and i start to cast my bullets.

I don't have hardness tester, do you advise me to buy one?

I have bought "8stk sample pack Cast Bullet Lube from White Label Lube" on Ebay
so I have both.

I do not have a precise accurate idea, i am a beginner so for now I want to experience, than i can always improve myself.

The important thing for now it's not having too many residues of lead in the barrel

thank you very much for CastBulletNotes!!!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Chrome,
btroj (in the 3rd post) gave you the simple answer and I agree with him.

I gave you this long answer, because I fear your alloy wouldn't be up to the pressure it takes to get a 357 Mag up to that speed. I didn't look up the details, it's just my gut feeling.

If you do get some Lead fouling in the barrel, first thing you should do is slug the barrel
to find out what size it is and make sure your boolit is about .001" oversize.

If that isn't your problem and you're using BAC or C.red and your Barrel
doesn't have any pitting or rough rifling,
then it's probably the alloy not handling the pressure...

I normally wouldn't suggest that a beginner get a Lead hardness tester,
but with the circumstances you mention about the Lead you get,
I sure would want one. I use the Lee, I not sure what is readily available
in the EU, But the cheapest one should do a good enough job for a amateur boolit caster using mystery metal.

Good Luck,
Jon

[fecmech]

Jon--You might be able to harden your mix by water dropping as you cast. If you have any friends who are shotgun shooters you could borrow a few target loads and dump the shot into your casting pot. This could give you a little antimony and more importantly some arsenic for the heat treating process. I think you could easily achieve your desired 1400 fps this way. Good luck.

[EDK]

First, go read Glenn Fryxell's article on 1894 Marlins over at lasc.us and get the benefit of all his testing. The other articles are also worth reading, but this one first!

Measure your boolits with a micrometer. Get a sizer die or LEE PUSH THRU of slightly smaller diameter than the larger boolits. RANCH DOG should have .360 IIRC. Lathesmith or Buckshot can make you a custom die for the RCBS. Bigger is better in a MARLIN, especially if it's micro-groove.

B-A-C or Carnauba Red...either one will work. Having to heat is a PITA and getting it set correctly can be messy at first.

SAECO and CABINE TREE make nice lead testers....the LEAD BULLET TECHNOLOGY tester is a classic. Getting the alloys to repeat is one of the keys to accuracy.

A LEE pot is great...I love my MAGNUM MELTER and I'll get another when I need another pot. Ladle versus bottom pour pots is good for a lot of discussion.

Flux your raw metal with sawdust...free is good...or whatever and get it as clean as possible for your casting pot.

[mstarling]

Changing the lube in a bullet sizer (Saeco or Lyman) simply isn't fun ... so I use Carnauba Red for everything. Works well for me.

I probably ought to sell off the old Javelina 50/50 and the RCBS lube I have in the backstore as I just don't use it any more.

Really good to flux the alloy ... any source of carbon will work nicely. A box of paraffin for canning will last a VERY long time. The idea is to exclude oxygen ... create a reducing atmosphere over the alloy.