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:
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.