prs
09-03-2012, 11:24 AM
I recently obtained a new Lee 6 cavity mould for their TL452-230-2R to use in 45ACP. First, it was a really oily mould out of the box and even with two scrubbings with Dawn, Brake Clean, and then 90% isoprople it tends to have a 10% or greater reject rate due to wrinkles and under fill in those tiny details of the TL lube bands. Using my typical alloy of 95/3/2 and really don't want to add another pound of tin ($n) to the next 100# batch of alloy since I am a cheap bastage. Taking great care to keep mould hot and alloy not too hot and accepting the rejection of the less than perfect boolits has me fairly well supplied. I used Recluse lube very thinnly before sizing to .452 (actually, they dropped so close to 452 that such "sizing" was a waste of time, but on this first run I wanted consistent booltis to reduce variables). Then I gave the sized product another thin tumble in Recluse lube.
At the loading bench, with new Starline brass, I made my dumby round using the actual barrel of my Ruger SR1911 as the gague. 5 stage press with Lee 45ACP deprime/sive die, RCBS Cowboy 452 internal size die, Lee powder through, Lee seat/crimp set to just barely iron out the "bell" or even a tiny bit of bell left, and then a taper crimp die to apply very modest crimp. The fit of boolits to the cases at seating is less tight than typical, but when I pull a boolit and measure the TL grooves are still mashed and mic-out under .451. If I use the Cowboy .454 internal expander the boolits will fall in, so that is not good. If I skip the Cowboy die and rely only on the Lee powder through to expand the fit is even tighter and boolit down sized even more.
So, any bright ideas on how to load these delicate boolits, or do I need to sell/trade this mould for a traditional hard ball clone design? Or make my next 100# batch of alloy harder and stronger (spend more on sb and sn).
Oh important ommision! The loaded rounds (5.4gr Unique) do shoot very well and no leading noted after 200 rounds so far (more to shoot today, if I reload more of the same). So the "flaw" is maybe just a technical thing and not a functional thing so far as shooting iron targets on the back lot. I am not a great shot my any standard, but consistently hit the little 6" plates on the dueling tree and hostage targets. Maybe that gives me another option; forget about perfection of the cartridge and just shoot 'm since it works?
prs
At the loading bench, with new Starline brass, I made my dumby round using the actual barrel of my Ruger SR1911 as the gague. 5 stage press with Lee 45ACP deprime/sive die, RCBS Cowboy 452 internal size die, Lee powder through, Lee seat/crimp set to just barely iron out the "bell" or even a tiny bit of bell left, and then a taper crimp die to apply very modest crimp. The fit of boolits to the cases at seating is less tight than typical, but when I pull a boolit and measure the TL grooves are still mashed and mic-out under .451. If I use the Cowboy .454 internal expander the boolits will fall in, so that is not good. If I skip the Cowboy die and rely only on the Lee powder through to expand the fit is even tighter and boolit down sized even more.
So, any bright ideas on how to load these delicate boolits, or do I need to sell/trade this mould for a traditional hard ball clone design? Or make my next 100# batch of alloy harder and stronger (spend more on sb and sn).
Oh important ommision! The loaded rounds (5.4gr Unique) do shoot very well and no leading noted after 200 rounds so far (more to shoot today, if I reload more of the same). So the "flaw" is maybe just a technical thing and not a functional thing so far as shooting iron targets on the back lot. I am not a great shot my any standard, but consistently hit the little 6" plates on the dueling tree and hostage targets. Maybe that gives me another option; forget about perfection of the cartridge and just shoot 'm since it works?
prs