smooth boolits?????

[Freightman]

Ok I am going to ask! do you really need the groves on a boolit if you use powder coat? curious!

[popper]

Aussies have been shooting pistol with out grooves, haven't gotten my 30 cal almost grooveless mould yet. Probably a month before I get results. My 9mm almost grooveless works fine. IMHO a grooveless 223 would do fine, add some weight & strength.

[Freightman]

got an old lee single I think I will try

[sparky45]

There's a guy on the Hi Tek part of this thread that had a machinist remove the "lube grooves" on his lee mold, I believe it was 9mm and he shoots a ton of em.

[dverna]

There's a guy on the Hi Tek part of this thread that had a machinist remove the "lube grooves" on his lee mold, I believe it was 9mm and he shoots a ton of em.

I think it was Gunoil and it was a .380 bullet.

Paper patch works without grooves. It suggests that grooves may not be needed for coated bullets.

Don Verna

[bangerjim]

If you use a tumble lube LEE mold, by the time you spray once or DT twice, you have pretty much filled in all the microgrooves anyway. Why bother messing around with a special mold?

All my TL molds fill in until they are almost smooth coming out of the sizing die.

banger

[popper]

Banger - true but it doesn't add any real load bearing to the boolit. The TL grooves should come out with some 600 paper easily.

[Hardline]

Attachment 97282

Bullets without the grooves work great! We we're getting the same groupings as the store bought swaged bullets we compared them too.

[Freightman]

we shall see what am I going to lose think the mold cost me $10 15 years ago.

[bangerjim]

Banger - true but it doesn't add any real load bearing to the boolit. The TL grooves should come out with some 600 paper easily.

I am happy with my standard and TL groove slugs with the PC I am now getting. If someday I want to "ruin" one of my TL molds, I will just put in the mill and bore the grooves out. No big whoop.

banger.

[Hardline]

If you modify the mold, do it on nothing less than a mill and make sure it's indicated in perfectly. A few tenths of a thousandth is visible on a cast bullet, but being off a little usually covers with the powder coat and sizes out. My mold was made without lube grooves to start with and it hasn't hurt.

[pal82]

Never seen a lube groove on a jacketed bullet. I would consider powder coating more of a polymer jacket than a bullet lube.

Oh oh oh, I just coined a new term! I did a Google search and got: [No results found for "full polymer jacketed bullets".]
From this day forward they will be called FPJ bullets.

[bangerjim]

If you modify the mold, do it on nothing less than a mill and make sure it's indicated in perfectly. A few tenths of a thousandth is visible on a cast bullet, but being off a little usually covers with the powder coat and sizes out. My mold was made without lube grooves to start with and it hasn't hurt.

I have a full machine shop and the skills to effectively and accurately use the many tools I have. But I have no interest in milling out any of my molds. If I want one with straight sides, I will purchase it.

Thanks.

banger

[Hang Fire]

If the no groove boolits pan out better than grooved ones, I am sure mold group buys can be easily arranged for. Mold makers would likely be most pleased if they did not have to make cheeries.

[HDS]

I might remove all the grooves and GC shank on my surplus 75gr 223 mold... At least on some cavities.

[Maximumbob54]

I thought about this for a while and started to find a group buy on a smooth sided mold only to realize I was just searching for a way to spend money again.

[Hardline]

If someone wants to do a side by side comparison, I have a 230 gr. RN .45 mold and 115 gr. RN 9mm mold I'll borrow.

[sparky45]

I think it was Gunoil and it was a .380 bullet.

Paper patch works without grooves. It suggests that grooves may not be needed for coated bullets.

Don Verna

Thanks for the correction, however, it is a 9mm bullet that he shoots in his .380, at least that's how he explained it to me.

[popper]

HDS - I'd leave the GC shank on em. The lube & crimp groove are the weak spot, will collapse (slump) before the body. Could mean you can push the same alloy a little harder. Don't see any other advantage to us, maybe they drop easier, less CNC programming & QC work.

[HDS]

What about accuracy if you don't use a gas check but keep the shank?