Dale53
07-24-2012, 12:03 PM
The Green Frog was visiting here from Virginia for a few days. Of course, we were casting bullets (yeah, even tho' we had some 100 degree days) and working with our beloved .32's.
I have a Lee Six Cavity mold for the .32-90gr-WC TL bullet (no longer offered by Lee, dern it) that I bought from a gentleman on this forum. I had it for some time but had not used it. I had been using my Group Buy 100 gr Keith for my .32's with excellent results but with Froggie here, we decided to try it out.
I have both Lyman and RCBS sizers but most all of my pistol and revolver bullets are sized and lubed on a Star lube/sizer that I have had for about forty years. Hundreds of thousands of bullets have gone through the Star. I had never tumble lubed as I really had no reason to try it (until now).
I went to the sticky with Recluse's excellent instructions (complete with good photos) on just how he uses his formula for tumble lube.
We followed his directions to the letter. Everything went as planned. The only change we made was we did NOT size these bullets. They cast quite large for my revolvers but that is the intended way with TL bullets. You can choose to size or leave them as is (if you can chamber them that large). I only lubed them once. I used a light coating as Recluse recommends.
I decided to use the C.E. (Ed) Harris method of loading. His method does not size the cases but merely decaps them. I have a couple of Dillon 550B's (one for large and one for small primers). The first die on my Dillon with these bullets merely decaps the cases (you can use a Lee Universal decapping die or any pistol die larger than .32 - say a .38 Special). The second stage only bells the case when it drops the powder (since the case is not sized it is too large internally for the expander to touch the case sides). These rather large, as cast, bullets are big enough that there is enough friction when seated for them to stay in place when seated in the third die station in an unsized case. This die merely seats the bullet to the proper over all length. Then, into the Lee Factory Crimp die that crimps the bullet and sizes the bullet (almost without effort) with the carbide ring at the mouth of the die.
After running through the press, the cases are noticeably bigger when entering the chambers of my revolvers. They do NOT require effort to load but they don't rattle around in the chambers, either. I believe that is a plus.
Of course, the real test is when we went to the range. After shooting a cylinder full to condition the bore, it seems that the TL wadcutters are going to shoot really well. My preliminary tests with 2.8 grs of Bullseye in the .32 H&R Magnum cases shot under 1½" at 25 yards.. Frankly, I believe with a bit of adjusting powder charges these will shoot even better.
I couldn't believe how easy it is to lube the bullets. I left them lie for a day or so to dry. They worked well in Froggie's .32's also. He had an out of production Lyman wadcutter with conventional lube grooves he tried and they seemed to do fine in his antique Smith's (I-frames) also. We got absolutely no leading but the important thing is that they shot well.
I have now added a new lubing method to my barrel of tricks as has the Green Frog.
I would like to thank Recluse for his excellent tutorial (who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?) and also those others who have reported favorably on this fine lube in this Forum.
It might be an idea for someone who wants one of these Lee moulds to consider a Group Buy. My mould is a dandy (original Lee) and you can cast bullets just like shelling corn. Ed Harris' method of dealing with the Lee TL bullets has MUCH merit. Thank you, too, Ed.
Dale53
I have a Lee Six Cavity mold for the .32-90gr-WC TL bullet (no longer offered by Lee, dern it) that I bought from a gentleman on this forum. I had it for some time but had not used it. I had been using my Group Buy 100 gr Keith for my .32's with excellent results but with Froggie here, we decided to try it out.
I have both Lyman and RCBS sizers but most all of my pistol and revolver bullets are sized and lubed on a Star lube/sizer that I have had for about forty years. Hundreds of thousands of bullets have gone through the Star. I had never tumble lubed as I really had no reason to try it (until now).
I went to the sticky with Recluse's excellent instructions (complete with good photos) on just how he uses his formula for tumble lube.
We followed his directions to the letter. Everything went as planned. The only change we made was we did NOT size these bullets. They cast quite large for my revolvers but that is the intended way with TL bullets. You can choose to size or leave them as is (if you can chamber them that large). I only lubed them once. I used a light coating as Recluse recommends.
I decided to use the C.E. (Ed) Harris method of loading. His method does not size the cases but merely decaps them. I have a couple of Dillon 550B's (one for large and one for small primers). The first die on my Dillon with these bullets merely decaps the cases (you can use a Lee Universal decapping die or any pistol die larger than .32 - say a .38 Special). The second stage only bells the case when it drops the powder (since the case is not sized it is too large internally for the expander to touch the case sides). These rather large, as cast, bullets are big enough that there is enough friction when seated for them to stay in place when seated in the third die station in an unsized case. This die merely seats the bullet to the proper over all length. Then, into the Lee Factory Crimp die that crimps the bullet and sizes the bullet (almost without effort) with the carbide ring at the mouth of the die.
After running through the press, the cases are noticeably bigger when entering the chambers of my revolvers. They do NOT require effort to load but they don't rattle around in the chambers, either. I believe that is a plus.
Of course, the real test is when we went to the range. After shooting a cylinder full to condition the bore, it seems that the TL wadcutters are going to shoot really well. My preliminary tests with 2.8 grs of Bullseye in the .32 H&R Magnum cases shot under 1½" at 25 yards.. Frankly, I believe with a bit of adjusting powder charges these will shoot even better.
I couldn't believe how easy it is to lube the bullets. I left them lie for a day or so to dry. They worked well in Froggie's .32's also. He had an out of production Lyman wadcutter with conventional lube grooves he tried and they seemed to do fine in his antique Smith's (I-frames) also. We got absolutely no leading but the important thing is that they shot well.
I have now added a new lubing method to my barrel of tricks as has the Green Frog.
I would like to thank Recluse for his excellent tutorial (who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?) and also those others who have reported favorably on this fine lube in this Forum.
It might be an idea for someone who wants one of these Lee moulds to consider a Group Buy. My mould is a dandy (original Lee) and you can cast bullets just like shelling corn. Ed Harris' method of dealing with the Lee TL bullets has MUCH merit. Thank you, too, Ed.
Dale53