An "oh, damn!" moment...

[ilcop22]

Whilst in my main hallway today, I caught glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. Low and behold, it was a brand new Lee double cavity 358-158-RF mold, and I hadn't a clue I owned it.

Needless to say, I opened it up and started casting with some WW ingots. Without lee-menting the mold, it was dropping perfect boolits from the start. I make a small batch, go down to my bench and take a caliper to them.. 0.360; two thousandths too big for my Rossi M92. I go to grab the sizing die and... Whoops. I don't own one!

Now I get to wait to load em. Nothing like having brand new toys and no way to use 'em! Maybe this will teach me patience... :violin:

[303Guy]

Maybe this will teach me patience...Nay! Who needs patience!:Fire:

Are you sure you can't just size those castings when you fire 'em? Usually works for me (mind you, I do usually wrap mine in paper first but same principle applies).[smilie=1:

[x101airborne]

have you loaded a dummy and tried to chamber? My malin 44 (known for oversized chambers) shoots my saeco 260 rfp and my Ranch Dog 300 without sizing. So, I just let the rifle do the work.

[ilcop22]

I did think about that, but I fear the leading might be more than I want. I suppose I can shoot a few to see how bad it gets.

[noylj]

Too many people "assume" a bullet size is etched in stone and that anything larger will not chamber or will raise pressure to point of blowing up a gun.
When it comes to boolits, one hopes these people have read the stickies and at least one cast bullet manual.
ilcop22:
have you slugged your barrel?
have you read that cast boolits, in general, have to be 0.001" over barrel groove diameter and can be as much as 0.004" over in most cases?
Just a note, but I haven't sized a cast boolit for any of my guns since about 1985 and I have NEVER found a chamber that can't handle a boolit 0.003" over groove diameter.

[Hardcast416taylor]

This sounds like a double dangerous situation! Firstly, you didn`t remember owning the mold. Secondly, the mold is casting bullets WWAAAAAY to large to be used safely. So therefore I feel it my civic duty to take this unknown mold and oversized bullets off your hands. Naturally you will ship them to me on your dime for postage.:kidding:Robert

[geargnasher]

Here's a simple test: Take your boolits, hopefully you let them age a few days or so (they will likely gain a little diameter the first week as they age-harden, maybe .0005" or so in that caliber)
and see if they will easily slip into a case fired in your rifle. You will need to remove the remnants of the crimp first, I'd suggest using your expander die to bellmouth a fired case (it won't change the fired case diameter aside from belling it), then see if your as-cast boolits will go in. If they do, you're set. Lube, load, and shoot.

As has been said, don't "assume" that .001 over groove diameter is any sort of fast rule. It is only a guideline, often slight variations of that guideline produce the best results.

With regard to your other comment, I can't think of a single example of leading in my experience that was caused by an oversized boolit, so don't worry about that.

Gear

[XWrench3]

HEY, THAT ISN'T YOUR MOLD! Don't you remember me loaning that to you! :kidding::kidding: lol. i have been pretty absent minded, but i havent forgotten a brand new mold, yet! I am glad it is working so well for you. i guess that does prove a point however, not EVERY lee mold HAS to be messed with!

[ColColt]

You're lucky it was .360". Had that been a Lyman it would have been .355-.356".

[ilcop22]

Haha. I appreciate all the remarks and advice my topic has received. I re-measured my boolits today after letting them set. They're now .362 in diameter. I think the sizer is a must at this point.

[MtGun44]

As life goes on, the adventure accelerates. Eventually we can hide our own Easter eggs,
unfortunately.

Bill

[nanuk]

As life goes on, the adventure accelerates. Eventually we can hide our own Easter eggs,
unfortunately.

Bill



BUT Each day you can go for a walk into new undiscovered territory!

You will always be the first!