new mould lube

[1 ozzy]

Hi all this is my first post. First i would like to say there is a huge wealth of knowledge and ideas here. This site is truly an awsome tool for the caster. I have been lurking and reading posts(mostly at work lol). Any how i have cast some ingots from wheel weights. Today my bottom pour smelter and 6 cavity lee 452 230 mould came in. I read their attached paperwork. However it says to lube the cavitiys with lee alox beeswax mix bullet lube. Unfortunately i don't have any of that here and it will take quite some time to get any. I live in a reatively small town 12hrs south of the NWT border in BC Canada. Obviously i am anxoius as hell to pour some pills. SOOOOOOO what if anything, can i use ( that would be readily availabe at say hardware store, Canadian tire etc ) to lube the mould cavities. I don't want to do anything that will hurt the mould or ultimately cast crappy bullets etc. I have read on here that bullplate is a good lube. Again i can look into getting some but it will take a couple week most likely. Help get me pouring asap!! Thanks guys

[dragonrider]

Hi ozzy and welcome.
Your bottom pour "pot" will be a great addition but do not put anything in it except clean ingots. Do your smelting of wheel weights and other lead in a separate pot. Do not lube the cavities of your mold with anything. They should be absolutely clean and dry of any oils or other material. Clean your mold in hot soapy water and rinse with hot water and let dry. You should lube the pivot of the sprue plate and you can use a lot of things for that but use very little whatever you use and be sure that none gets into the cavities. If you have some two cycle engine oil use a half of a drop or less on the pivot. Add just a smear of oil to the locating pins in the mold.

You will have more questions soon, and there ain't no stupid questions so ask away and you will get an answer.

[mooman76]

Someone here recently talked about using 2 cycle oil. It would have to withstand high temps and should work. I have used WD-40.

[JIMinPHX]

As has been said, Don't Lube The Cavities.

For the points where you do need to lube, Bullplate lube from Bullshop is probably the best thing that you can use, but high temperature grease from the auto parts store will get you by in a pinch. some old timers have recommend using either soapstone or pencil lead as a mold lube. I've had very limited success with that. Hi temp grease worked much better for me.

[runfiverun]

anti sieze works fine.

[1 ozzy]

thanks for the info guys. I have a larger pot that i had melted the ww in. The ingots i made were 3" angle iron about 12" long. They weigh 13.8 lbs average. I am going to add some diveders to make 1 ingot into 3 smaller ones. They will fit the pot better. I just did my first batch of bullets. Poured about 1000 230 grn 45 cals. They are slightly frost, but from what i have read here that is ok. I am planning to resize them. They seem to be about 454. They are for a 45 acp so i will need them to be 452. Can any one recomend a good resizer. I haven't really spent any time looking for one yet. Origionally i was hoping not to have to resize but, i will need to. Once again great site, thanks for the quick posts. I need to do some research on bullet lube(s). Looks like lots of good info here on that as well. I haven't read much on swaging ( but i will). Looks like a very time consuming little task??? Way cool though. Thanks again guys

[JIMinPHX]

You basically have two common choices to choose from. The least expensive is the Lee push through sizer. They are on sale at Midway right now for about $14. http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/Brow...=685***9172***

That is a complete kit with everything that you need to size & lube your boolits, except for a single stage reloading press. With this system, you coat the boolits with a liquid lube, push them through the sizing die that screws into your reloading press, then coat them with liquid lube again, then wait for them to dry.

The other choice is the Lyman Lubrisizer. I just got a sale flier from Midway the other day &
they have Lyman 4500 Lube Sizers on sale for $141.99, down from $157.99. Midway part #655-459. With this system, you would also need to buy a die for another $20. You also need a top punch that matches the nose of the boolit. I make my own, so I haven't bought them in a long time. I think that they are like $5-$10. Assuming that you are going to use a soft lube like Lyman Super Moly, you don't need the heater kit.

With this system, you pull a handle down to force the boolit into the sizing die, then pull another handle to squirt lube into the groove, then pull the first handle back up to eject a boolit that is lubed & ready to load. It's more money up front, but you don't need to wait for the lube to dry & it is generally less messy.

There are also faster lube/sizer machines from people like Star, but they are more expensive.

Are you sure that you need .452" boolits? Have you slugged your barrel to measure what size your groove diameter ACTUALLY is? Or are you just going by the standard size that .45 boolits are normally supposed to be?

[1 ozzy]

thanks jiminphx for the insite. I haven't slugged the barrel. Just going by what i was told i needed. Today just for kicks i tried loading one into a sized brass and it peeled lead. With the plated bullets i was prevoiusly using which are 451, i had no issues. I have read that if you are using lead they should be 1tho larger. 452?? I think the lee is the way to go for me. Price is cheap and i won't be in a huge rush to shoot the bullets. Overnight will be fast enough for me. I generally keep 300 - 500 loaded rounds ahead, in case i get to the range. Now i will have the source one up here. Last time i tried to order lee bullet lube the lube was $5 and the shipping was $29. go figure eh? Thanks again

[Master Mariner]

I use my 10 pound Lee for smelting and casting. I am careful to keep the temp. below 775. That way I keep the Zn out of the mix and Zinc was the cause of my clogging and dripping problems. I use range lead and/or WW. I smelt in one session to cast the ingots and never try to do both at once. Remember flux, flux, flux

[1 ozzy]

I am happy with the boolits that i have casted thus far. I am looking now into ordering a boolit sizer. I am loading for the 45acp. Do i need to order a .451 sizer or a .452 sizer. The bullets i have loaded so far have been plated .451 from AIM. They work quite well. I thought that i had read you were supposed to go up one th. when loading lead??? Should i buy a 451 or 452 sizer???

[Dale53]

Use .452" sizer for your .45 bullets (both .45 Colt and .45 ACP unless you have a pre-war Colt which calls for a .454" bullet).

You WILL need to flare the case mouth so you can seat a cast bullet without damage. Flare it just enough to clear the bullet base so you can seat without shaving lead.

Sounds to me like you could use a Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It fully explains all of the "dos and don'ts" and has many, many loads for cast bullets in both rifles and pistols.

Sounds to me like you are well on your way to being a REAL cast bullet shooter.

Good luck!
Dale53

[1 ozzy]

thanks i will have a look for the lyman book.

[leadman]

You also can use a soft lube stick lube like Lar's BAC or Alox and rub the lube on the bullets then run them thru the Lee push thru sizer. A little slow but works well and not too expensive.

Lar's lube is available on a link at the bottom of this page, Lar45 LsStuff. Bullshop also sells a Speed Green that can be used this way.

you probably paid HazMat fees for shipping the Lee Liquid Alox.

[jrsaw27]

I have used the Lee Sizers for all my cast bullets, and they work great, highly recomended. They also will compress the lube in the grease rings if you pan lube, i think that was nice. You can even use the sizer for bullet swaging, it can be usefull in many differnt ideas, just think!
Also when flaring the mouth on a 45, as with everything else, trial and error. you will recognize the sounds of lead being scaped and cut by the brass.

[Pistol Champ]

2 cycle oil = Bullplate

[mold maker]

LEE sizing dies come with a bottle of alox for the price of the die. It works best if you cut it with an equal amount of mineral spirits. Dries faster and isn't as sticky.

[plaz]

As has been said, Don't Lube The Cavities.

For the points where you do need to lube, Bullplate lube from Bullshop is probably the best thing that you can use, but high temperature grease from the auto parts store will get you by in a pinch. some old timers have recommend using either soapstone or pencil lead as a mold lube. I've had very limited success with that. Hi temp grease worked much better for me.

I see we are not supposed to lube the cavities. Are we still supposed to blacken the cavities the first time? If I have no wooden matches can I blacken the cavities with a candle or something else?

[Bill*]

Some folks do, some don't. If you decide to, dont use a candle because the soot will have wax in it. If no matches, a butane lighter (grill starter) will work fine!
Oh yeah....Welcome aboard

[runfiverun]

polishing the cavities will eliminate most of the worries and need for smoking.
but a bic will suffice.

[blackthorn]

You might want to open the "Cast Boolits" section of this forum and read the fourth "Stickey" from the top, on using "Kroil" in a mould.