Casting noob needs help

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking for a while but just decided to sign up.

Anyway, here's my problem. I melted down some scrap lead, most of it was isotope lead which was pretty hard. Would ping when struck with a hammer and couldn't be chopped up with an axe. With it I added some pure lead scrap. I then attempted to bump it back up with about 8" of 50/50 wire.

The exact hardness is unknown.

This formula used in my .45 Colt does well. It's a standard two lube ring design, Lee mold. These bullets were a failed attempt at pan lubing but were doused in liquid alox to make up for it.

They shot well with minimal leading. Used Tightgroup and clocked it at 638fps out of my short barrled Vaquero.

The problem is with my 230gr tumble lube bulles in my 1911. I used the liquid alox once before sizing then again after. Once dried there was very little alox to be seen with the naked eye but they were thuroughly grey and oxidized.

I also used Tightgroup and they came out at 850fps. I only shot a few mags before the hook on my extractor broke off (dang taurus!)

Anyway, even with less than 50 shots there were sizable chunks of lead in there.

Did I not use enough alox? Clearly this isn't too fast and the alloy was the same as my Colt so I don't know what to try first to fix this.

Thanks for the replies! :Fire:

[GRUMPA]

I read this from top to bottom and not once did I notice any mention of how your sizing these things and what size your barrel slugs out at. It looks like your putting the cart before the horse on this.

[Wolfer]

Since their chambering their obviously not too big so my guess is their too small. The only way to know is to slug your barrel.

[runfiverun]

try some of the 45 colt boolits.

[stubshaft]

"Once dried there was very little alox to be seen with the naked eye but they were thuroughly grey and oxidized."

I usually lube them and get a very slight golden/brown sheen to the boolit.

Might be a sizing issue too, because I have driven boolits lubed with mule snot alot faster than 850fps.

[Bullet Caster]

Super Sneaky Steve,
Welcome to Cast Boolits. As suggested above, you need to slug your bore. Then you can determine at what size your boolits should be and can size them to at least .001-2 over bore size. This IS the only way to fit boolit to bore and eliminate leading from the equation.

Also try searching the forum for making Recluse's 45/45/10 lube. It's very easy to make and tumble lube and it dries in about 1 hour. I tumble lube all my pistol boolits and only the 9mm has a TL design. Recluse lube is 45% by volume JPW (Johnsons Paste Wax), 45% by volume Lee liquid Alox and 10% by volume Mineral Spirits. I use this lube on my non-tumble lube boolits like my Colt .45 255 grain and my .45ACP 228 grain. I took it one step further and made my rifle boolit lube out of 50% Recluse lube and 50% beeswax (by volume). I don't like pan lubing so I ranch dip all my rifle boolits. BC

[williamwaco]

"Once dried there was very little alox to be seen with the naked eye but they were thuroughly grey and oxidized."

I usually lube them and get a very slight golden/brown sheen to the boolit.

Might be a sizing issue too, because I have driven boolits lubed with mule snot alot faster than 850fps.




Ditto.

You still need to look to the sizing issue, but If you don't see a brown tint all over the bullet, you don't have enough lube.

PS:
Leading is almost always caused by a bullet too small and or too hard.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

From reading your post, my read is with the others. I suspect your bullet is too hard and probably too small. Slug your bore, measure the groove diameter and compare with your boolits outer diameter. Add some soft lead to your mix to get the hardness down a bit.

Should resolve your issues.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Super Sneaky Steve,
size them to at least .001-2 over bore size.
. BC

Not being nit picky, but for clarification especially for a noobie, shouldn't this be Grove size and not bore size? .001-002 over bore is too small

We know what you meant, but new guys get cornfused easily like this :)

[captaint]

Like the other guys said - It's not the velocity, if you got enough LLA on the boolits, it's not that - that pretty much leaves diameter. Almost has to be size. Gotta do as described above to know for sure. It's especially easy for a 1911. Just use the softest boolit you can find and have at it. enjoy Mike

[Moonie]

FYI, TL style boolits are generally not supposed to be sized. I prefer standard pistol boolits and size them to what I need even though I use tumble lube (45/45/10 in my case).

[62chevy]

Like the other guys said - It's not the velocity, if you got enough LLA on the boolits, it's not that - that pretty much leaves diameter. Almost has to be size. Gotta do as described above to know for sure. It's especially easy for a 1911. Just use the softest boolit you can find and have at it. enjoy Mike


As a newbie I could use some clarification on just having at it. From your post I gather you need to push a lead Boolit down the barrel then measure it or do you mean something else.

[62chevy]

Never mind I found the answer here. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?194712-New-Here-but-need-some-help-with-a-marlin-336-in-30-30-for-cast&p=2160943&viewfull=1#post2160943

[awaveritt]

As others more knowledgeable have stated, "size does matter". But I'll tell my story. Got my 1911 in Jan and ran some boolits cast with a Lee 452-228-1R mold. After I figured out that the seating depth on these needed to be very short due to the funky ogive, I tumbled lubed with Recluse lube and loaded up a hundred. Well my bbl slugged at .451 and the lee mold was dropping .450 boolits. Spent two hours scrubbing out the bore.

Then the fine folks at NOE set me up with a 4 banger 230 gr LRN (H&G34 clone). They dropped at .454-.455 with COWW. Pan-lubed with 45/45/10 beeswax/Crisco/lanolin and used Lee .452 sizer which actually measures .451. Loaded 120 rounds over 4.6 grs of Bullseye and got ABSOLUTELY no leading! Swabbed the bore with solvent, ran a bronze brush thru about a dozen strokes, 1 clean patch, oiled and went to bed with a smile on my face.

Anybody interested in a Lee 2 banger that drops boolits at .450? I have no further use for it.

[sthwestvictoria]

As a newbie I could use some clarification on just having at it. From your post I gather you need to push a lead Boolit down the barrel then measure it or do you mean something else.

This is the best barrel slugging tutorial I have seen with a great picture of lands/grooves/bore:
http://62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

[62chevy]

Thanks sthwestvictoria that is kinda how I had it figured, that just confirmed it.