Good Morning Everyone. I hope everybody had a great Independence Day. Among other activities my sons and I celebrated by casting up a bunch of Lee 8mm 170 RN’s for the Mausers and some Lee .45 RN’s for the 45’s.
The metal was just mixed plumbous (sp?) mystery lead. Different stuff mixed in from the bottom of a seaport, pure lead from eBay, some wheel weights, and recycling-center mystery lead.
All bullets were water quenched (dropped in a pan of cool water), as has every bullet I’ve ever cast.
My question is this: the Mauser bullets all measured .322” after they were run through the LEE sizer, which is supposed to be .323. The aluminum gas checks weren’t even a full .323”, they were JUST barely over .322”. So am I measuring this all wrong? It probably doesn’t make a difference: I’VE NEVER PUT THE CALIPERS ON ANY OF MY BULLETS BEFORE, and my cast experience has been “fine.” Generally never shot 5-shot bug-hole groups with most loads but certainly acceptable accuracy.
Now, admittedly, my calipers are not the ultimate in caliper technology - just a nice plastic caliper that I bought at Menards maybe 20 years ago. But it seems to have stood the test of time and not broken. It wasn’t a $2 caliper.
But am I looking at the wrong thing to measure? Shouldn’t these bullets come out at least at .323”. Isn’t that the point of a cast bullet?
Just checking for my general knowledge.
Thanks,
8mmFan
P.S. When I sized the .45 RN’s, a LOT of them just slid up into and through the LEE sizer with almost no resistance whatsoever. Some had some of the tumble-lube groooves affected (sheared a tiny smidge) but some didn’t.