Do I have the right die for my boolits?

[Mwsenoj]

I've been having trouble getting my boolits swaged and lubed without getting extra lube between the punch and the base of the boolit. I haven't been able to load any of my several hundred silver pills because they are not sized and slipperied. Do the lube outlet holes look like they line up well with the boolit groves I have?

[blaser.306]

H&I dies do not have to "line up" , the depth is controled by the press itself and the amount of lube pressure that you have in the resevoir and whether it is a plain base with a "square base" or a bevel base boolit will determin how much or any lube gets onto it.
PS might be better posted in the casting equipment forum , as what you are doing is sizing and not swaging!

[DukeInFlorida]

Would this thread be better placed in the LUBE area???

[Wayne Smith]

As stated the adjustment is in the lube/sizer, not in the die. The lube sizer adjusts how deep the boolit goes into the die. A second issue may be a bevel based boolit. These tend to collect lube in the bevel. There are several solutions to this but to me, the easiest is a small piece of a styrofoam cup under the boolit and this solves that problem. Needless to say I have a well torn up cup on my bench.

[Echo]

And it looks like your boolit is a bevel-based boolit, and those are pains in regular (Lyman, RCBS, SAECO) loob-sizers. I've heard that putting a round patch of Styrofoam from a take-out box on top of the center part (I-die, IIRC) helps - it will compress and at least reduce the amount of loob getting on the base of the boolit.
Or you might try tumble-loobing - may not be satisfactory for your 40, but works like a champ for lower-intensity cartridges.
Also, it generally isn't necessary to put a ton of pressure on the loob screw. You will learn to put just the right amount of pressure on to loob the boolit without putting so much pressure on that it forces the boolit up out of the die. I generally find I can loob maybe 2 boolits before cranking again - maybe only 1...

[Mal Paso]

Besides mechanical stuff like depth adjustment and bevel bases.

Use just enough lube pressure to fill the groove and hold the handle firmly down at the bottom of the stroke before lifting quickly.

[Char-Gar]

Every bullet sized and lubricated in Lyman, RCBS or SAECO machine will come out with some lubricant on it's base. How much depends on several factors.

1. How much pressure you put on the bullet to hold it down against the ejector pin.
2. How much pressure you put on the lube screw which in turns extrudes the lube into the die.
3. Whether or not the bullet as a flat base. A BB bullet is a real pain in this regard. There are ways around it, but that is another story.

I have wiped the base of every bullet I have lubed for the past 50 years and that is allot of bullets. I use a cloth on which I had sprinkled a little rubbing alcohol, lay it flat and wipe the bullet base over the cloth.

In my little mind, this is just part of shooting cast bullet, at least it has been for me.

[Mwsenoj]

Sorry for the misclassified posting. I thought sizing and swaging were the same. New guy mistake. Thank you for the replies

[Char-Gar]

Not a major cast bullet sin. I knew what your questions was.

[tomf52]

I take a iece of those blue paper shop towels on a roll (Wal-Mart) and some spray adhesive and glue the shop towel to a piece of corrugated cardboard and lay in on the bench by the sizer. When removing the bullet swipe it on the "cleaner pad" . Doesn't move around on me like a rag.

[MtGun44]

Too much pressure will push lube under the base, clean out with a small screwdriver
and go again. It will get better with lower pressure after a few boolits.

In addition, you have a bevel based boolit, and this will always have a ring of lube with
a Lyman/RCBS type of lubrisizer unless you make a special bottom punch that exactly
matches the base. This is difficult and almost never done. A solution that I have heard
about but never tried, is to get a disk from a foam meat tray that just fits and put it on
the bottom of the boolit. It will smash under the boolit and fill in the bevel, excluding
most of the lube. Seems like it may work, cheap and worth a try.

Bill

[Mwsenoj]

Thanks for your patience guys. The foam from an egg carton has worked wonders! I cleaned all of the press up with mineral spirits and adjusted until I had just a little bit of lube creep thru. Sized and lubed about 100 with no issue after the first 10. 👍

[h8dirt]

I would only add two things to try -- (1) adjust your press to only push the bullet into to sizing die to the minimum depth necessary and, (2) if you are using a lube heater, be careful not to over heat the lube. In my 40 year old press, at least, things work best when I keep lube at the lowest temperature that works.