Wayne Smith
06-12-2005, 02:14 PM
This post takes a little introduction, but I thought it was time Buckshot and I made this public.
For those of you who have remembered my posts, you know that a 41 Long Colt is a current project. This cartridge uses a heeled bullet, like a .22, the outside diameter of the bullet is the outside diameter of the cartridge rather than the bullet fitting all inside the case as we are accustomed. I bought a mold (NEI) thinking from what I had read that it was problematic, and sure enough, the 'heel' was 2/3 of the length of the bullet. Not good, there's not enough bearing surface to shoot correctly.
However, I had just been reading Buckshot's post about re-cutting a mold, so I PM'ed him to see if he could re-cut this one to make an appropriate heel, 1/4 or less of the length of the bullet. He opined that he was willing to give it a try, with no promises. I was fine with that, as the mold was a dead loss as it was. He did it, cut it a little large, so he made me a sizing die to size them appropriately, and sent some he cast with the mold blocks and sizing die.
I noticed some were requiring more sizing than others, and the ones requiring more sizing were too big in the heel to fit in the cases. (.386" inside the case, some of them were coming out .395") I wondered if the two cavities were the same, so I mounted the blocks on my Lyman Large handles and cast some up, separating the two cavities. Sure enough, the outside cavity was making the larger bullet. I PM'ed him about this yesterday, and then took a good look at my handles. I noticed that the blocks were sometimes showing light all the way through when closed, and I knew that wasn't right, and the handles were very loose, allowing each block to tilt.
I just mounted the blocks on my RCBS handles, they close completely. I made up some bullets, and the ones from the outside cavity could fit in my cases, although a couple were slightly large. Not nearly as large as previously, but a tight fit in the expanded cases.
Buckshot, I'm thinking it was my handles that made the difference. There may be a very slight variation between the cavities, but not nearly as much as I said.
Your offer of a pliers type sizer is interesting. If Lee won't make a Factory Crinp die for this that's the only way to crimp the cases once bulleted. Say a .385" hole in something like an electrician's wire striping plier, probably inside the hinge pin. Lee has once rejected a bulleted case to make their Factory Crimp die, saying the case was too short. That's bull, as the case is just over 1" long (1.066" to be exact) and they make a die for the .25ACP. I'm thinking about trying again, with a somewhat stronger letter.
Anyway, the good news is that I've got two good cavities after all, and I need to work on my Lyman handles.
How does one tighten them, anyway?
For those of you who have remembered my posts, you know that a 41 Long Colt is a current project. This cartridge uses a heeled bullet, like a .22, the outside diameter of the bullet is the outside diameter of the cartridge rather than the bullet fitting all inside the case as we are accustomed. I bought a mold (NEI) thinking from what I had read that it was problematic, and sure enough, the 'heel' was 2/3 of the length of the bullet. Not good, there's not enough bearing surface to shoot correctly.
However, I had just been reading Buckshot's post about re-cutting a mold, so I PM'ed him to see if he could re-cut this one to make an appropriate heel, 1/4 or less of the length of the bullet. He opined that he was willing to give it a try, with no promises. I was fine with that, as the mold was a dead loss as it was. He did it, cut it a little large, so he made me a sizing die to size them appropriately, and sent some he cast with the mold blocks and sizing die.
I noticed some were requiring more sizing than others, and the ones requiring more sizing were too big in the heel to fit in the cases. (.386" inside the case, some of them were coming out .395") I wondered if the two cavities were the same, so I mounted the blocks on my Lyman Large handles and cast some up, separating the two cavities. Sure enough, the outside cavity was making the larger bullet. I PM'ed him about this yesterday, and then took a good look at my handles. I noticed that the blocks were sometimes showing light all the way through when closed, and I knew that wasn't right, and the handles were very loose, allowing each block to tilt.
I just mounted the blocks on my RCBS handles, they close completely. I made up some bullets, and the ones from the outside cavity could fit in my cases, although a couple were slightly large. Not nearly as large as previously, but a tight fit in the expanded cases.
Buckshot, I'm thinking it was my handles that made the difference. There may be a very slight variation between the cavities, but not nearly as much as I said.
Your offer of a pliers type sizer is interesting. If Lee won't make a Factory Crinp die for this that's the only way to crimp the cases once bulleted. Say a .385" hole in something like an electrician's wire striping plier, probably inside the hinge pin. Lee has once rejected a bulleted case to make their Factory Crimp die, saying the case was too short. That's bull, as the case is just over 1" long (1.066" to be exact) and they make a die for the .25ACP. I'm thinking about trying again, with a somewhat stronger letter.
Anyway, the good news is that I've got two good cavities after all, and I need to work on my Lyman handles.
How does one tighten them, anyway?