Bent Boolits

[Afro408]

G'day folks.
I'm new to this forum, though not new to casting and shooting lead.
Up until recently, I have always pan lubed after applying the GC. I used a home made sizer, that fits in the top of a normal reloading press and pushed the boolits, nose first, up through the die, with the appropriate sized ram. Same thing as Lee now sell.
I got a nicely sized boolit with a well crimped GC.
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a 2nd hand RCBS LAM II, that came with .357" & .311" sizing dies. No top punches though.
I've since got hold of a .285" die and top punch, to suit the 7mm-168-SP boolit, that I shoot in my Tikka 7-08.

I set the press up, as per the instructions, making sure that the top punch went easily into the die and didn't rub. I then tried to do what it is supposed to do, namely, apply GC, size and lube in one stroke.
There was quite a bit of force required to push the GC down into the die and when I removed the boolit, it was bent and the die had left a shiny mark up one side.
Who else has this problem??

I have since found a solution though. I have to use my Lee sizer to apply the GC ( just like I have been doing ) and then the boolit slides easily into the LAM die to be lubed.

This is adding an extra step, which I thought I was going to be able to eliminate. :(

Cheers,
Tony

[RickinTN]

Tony,
I have gone almost exclusively to sizing and applying gas checks with Lee-style push through dies and lubing in my RCBS tool with a die that is .001" or so oversize for my rifle bullets. I've tried "free floating" the top punch with grease and not using the set screw but the longer/thinner bullets still enter the die "cocked" to one side or the other. This condition seems to be more accentuated on bullets with gas checks because of the resistance of the check. Plain based bullets of the same style/design seem to be much less effected. Short/fat handgun bullets are also less effected. My RCBS tool was purchased new this spring and from what I can tell is bored concentric. I have been sizing first then heat-treating bullets. If I size in the RCBS machine without applying lube, heat treat, then run through the same die to apply lube I still get additional sizing of the bullets and it seems to be at random. I have gone to using a die in the RCBS tool that is .001" larger than the sized bullets for lube application and this seems to have corrected the problem. I can certainly see the benefit of a Star "nose first" method of sizing and applying gas checks, but have not yet purchased a Star for myself.
Good luck to you,
Rick

[HangFireW8]

This can be done with a conventional lube sizer. Just turn off the lube pressure, get a flat top punch, first insert the boolit nose first fully then seat the check.

HF

[RickinTN]

This can be done with a conventional lube sizer. Just turn off the lube pressure, get a flat top punch, first insert the boolit nose first fully then seat the check.

HF

Correct, It can be, but when I've tried this and inverted the bullet and inserted in the die base first for lubing it enters the die crooked. An oversized die for the lube operation is still required to keep the bullet from being "re-sized" off center.

[leadman]

It sounds like you must be using a soft alloy for your boolits. You can easily anneal the gas checks and this will lower the pressure needed to crimp them on.
Or you may want to harden your alloy either by water quenching or heat treating if the alloy is correct for this or adding antimony.
I use the RCBS LAMI for my sizing and lubing and do a large amount of rifle boolits.

[Afro408]

Thanks fellas, for your replies.
I am using WW alloy + a little tin. I don't want to go to the trouble of heat treating the boolits. That would be more work, than applying the GC's, in the Lee sizer. I will probably keep on doing this extra step, as there is no extra stress on the boolit. I will only go to a harder alloy (Lyman # 2 ) if I can't get the performance I want.
These 7mm boolits, will be used for 25 & 50 yd targets, in our Field Rifle comp. The load I am using gives me ten ring accuracy, at those ranges and significantly reduces the cost of competing. They are accurate enough, at 100yds, but the large drop in the trajectory, makes for poor aiming.
I will use jacketed pills for the 100 & 200 yd targets.
Cheers,
Tony

[oldandslow]

afro,

I cast and reload for pistol (9mm, 38sp, 44sp, .45acp) and rifle (30-30, 30-06 and 224/5.56). I don't use the sizer for the pistols and just use the as-cast boolits which drop about 0.0015-0.002" oversized from my AccurateMolds. I pan lube and they shoot fine.

For rifle boolits I encountered the same problem with the boolit's nose being deformed when I sized base-first on a Lyman 4500 Lubesizer. I was using air cooled wheel-weights with 1-2% tin with a BHN of 8.2 and then pan lubing. The boolits would tumble severely and keyhole even at short ranges (25 yards). Since the Lee push through sizers were out of stock everywhere I just opened up the Lyman .309 sizing die with a drill bit on my drill press. I can now insert the boolit nose down and seat the gas check and use the inner metal stem to push the gas checked boolit through the Lyman die and out the bottom. It works great, the sized boolits measure 0.3105" with no leading and my groups have shrunk to 3MOA. I do it the same way with my .225 sizer die except I didn't have to open it up with the drill. I still heat treat after sizing as I was getting wild flyers with the 8BHN loads at velocities over 1700 ft/second. I use 70 degree tap water for my 1700 ft/sec 30-30 loads (BHN 15) and have to use ice water to get a hard enough boolit so it does not strip in the rifling (BHN 21) in my 30-06 (velocity 2200 ft/sec). These are with 180 grain boolits. I still pan lube.

So yes, for me it is a lot of work to get an accurate boolit and if you found a simple way with your present system to get reasonable accuracy I don't see a reason to change.

best wishes- oldandslow

[CAVEMTNMAN]

I use the same method as RickinTN and get good results.