Lube pressure

[wv109323]

I was lubing some Lee 358-125 RNFN boolits. I lubed about 500 total. On 4 of the bullets, The skirt/base of the bullet was fractured by the force of the lube. The lube was Caranuba Red and I was using a heater but no air pressure.
About 1/3 of the base separated from the single grease groove to the base of the bullet. The alloy is pistol range scrap and COWW.
Anybody else seen this happen.

[ReloaderFred]

I see it when bullets are dropped from the mold too early and the alloy starts to separate because it's not fully cooled enough. The cracks were already in the bullets. It's highly unlikely that the pressure of the lube caused the bullet to come apart, since lead is relatively elastic when cool.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[MT Chambers]

I agree with Fred, lube pressure didn't do that, add tin and your problem should disappear.

[Pee Wee]

^^^^^^^^^what they said^^^^^^^^

[runfiverun]

I hate to do +1 posts.
but the lube pressure just exploited an already bad boolit.

[wv109323]

Let me ask another question. If the bullet is fired (with this defect) will the pressure cause the skirt to be fracture and cause the bullet to be unstable?

[ReloaderFred]

The fracture occurred when the bullet was dropped from the mold before the alloy completely hardened, so the fracture will remain, even after lubed, if the base didn't separate during the sizing/lubing process. If the base is already fractured, then yes, it will most likely come off at the point of weakness when fired, and this would pretty much destabilize the bullet. At the very least, it would change it's center of gravity after leaving the muzzle, which would probably make it hit somewhere other than where it was aimed.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[runfiverun]

+1 again.
if 50 lbs of lube pressure will do it 18-k will for sure do it.
and not just at the muzzle, as soon as it's free of the case it could become a secondary projectile.
it might end up stuck in the cylinder gap or worse coming out of the gap.