Beveled base mold and lube frustration

[LittleBill]

I did a number of searches, but did not find what I want to know. I have a Lee 200 gr SWC mold for .45 ACP, and a Lyman 4500 lube sizer. They don't seem to be getting along well with one another. The bottom of the boolit is beveled, and lube is getting on that bevel when I size the boolits. I found a video on youtube where a guy made a paper washer out of cardboard, and I tried that, but then the bases started looking funny, like the washer might be canting the boolit just a little. :mad:

He also mentioned that some folks were removing the bevel from the mold. Has anyone here done that? Is it worth the time and effort to try and accomplish that on a Lee mold, or should I just fork out for something a little different?

[btroj]

I ignore that little ring of lube. Never had it cause me any grief.

[garym1a2]

me too.

I ignore that little ring of lube. Never had it cause me any grief.

[fcvan]

I adjusted my Lyman 450 so the boolit base is not lining up with a lube port. I tend to down stroke, slightly tighten the pressure nut, and then raise the ram. By keeping lube pressure low I don't get lube in the beveled portion. I hated that with BB boolits.

Recently, I started powder coating boolits. I set the boolits on a piece of aluminum when coating. After baking the cooled boolits snap off with minimal pressure. Some folks PC on tin foil and I tried that. Once. Pain in the butt. Anyway, PC coated BB boolits look and work better than plain based boolits.

[MT Chambers]

I think the only way to size and lube those bullets in one step is to use a STAR, where you can target where you want the lube to go.

[dakotashooter2]

Adjust the depth the bullet goes into the sizer and/or plug the bottom hole (or as many as needed) of the die with lead shot.....

[montana_charlie]

... oops!, double post ...

[montana_charlie]

Thoroughly degrease the top end of the ejection pin in that H&I set. (do not degrease the sizing die)
Lower the pin until a bullet will sit in the sizing die deeply enough to fully cover the bevel base and support it from below so that it can't move downward.
Shoot a dollop of hot glue in the top of the ejector pin, place the bullet (with oiled base) in the glue, and put pressure on it with the nose punch.

Do all of this quickly.

Clean away any excess glue, and you have an ejector pin which is fitted to your bevel base. No lube can intrude.

CM

[LittleBill]

I appreciate all the suggestions. This is an $18.00 mold, and while I am relatively new to casting, I have already broken even on its cost vs having to buy boolits, or even jacketed ones.


Thoroughly degrease the top end of the ejection pin in that H&I set. (do not degrease the sizing die)
Lower the pin until a bullet will sit in the sizing die deeply enough to fully cover the bevel base and support it from below so that it can't move downward.
Shoot a dollop of hot glue in the top of the ejector pin, place the bullet (with oiled base) in the glue, and put pressure on it with the nose punch.

Do all of this quickly.

Clean away any excess glue, and you have an ejector pin which is fitted to your bevel base. No lube can intrude.

CM

Of all the suggestions, this one sounds like one that might work without lots of extra work or lots of extra money. I have hot melt glue, a glue gun, and it would not hurt to try (as long as I don't get hot glue on me!). :shock:

[leadman]

If you are heating your lube lower the temperature. I use a DVOM with a temp probe and keep the heat on the Carnuba Red at about 90 degrees. Also don't put too much pressure on the lube.
A piece of foam egg carton on top of the ejector pin will minimize this. It will have to be replaced periodicaly.

[GP100man]

Goodsteel will cut the bevel out for ya , I have a 6 banger waiting for a dehornin , it`s 1 of those roundtuit things.

[captaint]

Send your mold to Goodsteel. I don't like bevel bases anyway. Mike

[Dan Cash]

Good Steel milled the bevel base off a Lyman mould for me. Though I quit using a lube/sizer and exclusively pan lube, Good Steel made me a very happy man.

[randyrat]

Remove the bevel base or make disks out of meat trays using 45 brass as a punch.Place them under the bullet one or two and they will stay there for about 50 bullets, replace and do 50 more..It works like magic.

[RDub]

Just a thought here..
The Lee molds are intended to be used in conjunction with the Lee Alox lube. If you are not familiar with this, the method is to apply some liquid lube on the bullets in a bowl and shake the bowl until all the boolits have an even film of lube, then pour out the boolits on some wax paper and let dry overnight. After that they are ready to shoot, provided the boolits come out the diameter intended... If not, then the boolits are to be sent through a Lee Sizer which pushes the boolits through a specific sizing die from the base, so no top punch is required. Then after that, you perform step one.. In a nutshell, that's the method.

I have experimented with shooting 'as cast' vs. sizing with a Lyman 450, (Lyman top punches don't always fit the ojive of Lee boolits perfectly..) and MOST of the time, shooting 'as cast' with the Alox treatment was more accurate..

Some don't like the idea of having lube 'all over' the boolits, but after loading a quick wipe with a rag, I can't tell the difference.

Anyway, something to consider.

There are numerous U-Tube videos on this subject if you want to check it out..

[longbow]

I was going to suggest getting a custom ejection pin made to fit the bevel (or make it yourself) but montana_charlie's post #9 and randyrat's post #15 are both brilliant!

Personally I would go with the hot melt glue. I use it for a lot of stuff (at least the high strength hot melt glue) like that and most recently for attached wads on shotgun slugs. It is tough stuff and works amazingly well. You certainly do need to use a release agent like oil or grease though. I find a light wipe of wheel bearing grease works best for me when I do not want it to stick.

Longbow

[gunoil]

dan cash , would u use a magma star? Or just tumble or pan lube is all you want.

[fredj338]

The solution is really get a Star/Magma sizer. Nose first/size thru, any style base or nose is fine.

[Dale53]

If you think "long term", the Star lube/sizer makes perfect sense. I have had mine forty or fifty years and have lubed/sized hundreds of thousands of bullets. It's an excellent piece of gear and works with beveled pistol bullets perfectly.

Dale53

[Dave C.]

Like Dale said, get a Star and never look back!

Dave C.

[DRNurse1]

+1 for the Star Lubrisizer. I lube/ size base first for my H&G #50 and it took a little fiddling to get the boolit in the right spot. I found Lathe Smith offers a great adapter for the Lyman top punches but you cannot push each boolit through the die, the following one being sized pushes the first one out as it is lubed. Small amounts of lube on the base occur but I can wipe the base as I load to clear it, or just leave it alone. Only concern would be hot weather causing it to drip onto the powder. I am not a High Master so those folks can give you better direction in that regard.

[HDS]

Yeah I size 147gr BB 9mm bullets through my star, never an issue.

[NoZombies]

I only lube BB bullets on a push through at this point, but if I didn't have one, I would use the hot glue trick mentioned earlier in this thread.

[MT Chambers]

DrNurse....I can't get my head around using a star and sizing bottom first with fitted nose punches, when you can size nose first with flat punches?

[imashooter2]

Shoot them as cast and lubed with LLA/JPW. Your problem goes away and your total touch time to lube 1,000 boolits is less than 10 minutes.

[MT Chambers]

But ya gotta wait 'till the next day, then get all kinds of **** on your hands, dies, and bullets.

[imashooter2]

But ya gotta wait 'till the next day, then get all kinds of **** on your hands, dies, and bullets.

I don't know about you, but I sleep every night. You do get a specific kind of **** on your boolits (lube), but if you are getting all kinds of **** on your hands and dies, then you are doing it wrong.

[MT Chambers]

The tumbled lube gets in all the wrong places, causing lube to accum. in your dies, powder to stick to the base of your bullets, grit gets on your bullets esp. if they roll around in your pockets, just not a good idea.

[imashooter2]

LLA/JPW lubes dry hard and do not exhibit the issues you describe.

[DRNurse1]

DrNurse....I can't get my head around using a star and sizing bottom first with fitted nose punches, when you can size nose first with flat punches?

@ MT Chambers: The fellow who showed me how to lube size did it that way based on his experience and testing.

He and his son are Distinguished Pistolshots and he reached Master classification (before high master existed) and his son is HM.

I do not disagree with your rationale, but I have not had the time or tools retest the theory.

[Sasquatch-1]

I have one bevel base mold in 9mm. I just stapled a piece of old tee shirt on a leg of my bench and wipe the base of the bullet after sizing. Eventually I may try boiling the rage to see how much lube is in it. :shock:

[LittleBill]

I've got a number of options here, one being a brandy new NOE mold that duplicates FMJ rounds. :grin:

This Lee design is not a tumble lube, although I realize I can tumble lube it. I can give that a try using the formula imashooter2 mentions. We have talked about that before, and it works well on a TL design for the .45 Colt. Punching out some discs or using hot melt is a lot cheaper than a new Star, and I haven't even broken in my Lyman 4500 yet, so I think I'll wait on that solution, at least until Christmas. [smilie=1:

[Victor N TN]

If you are heating your lube lower the temperature. I use a DVOM with a temp probe and keep the heat on the Carnuba Red at about 90 degrees. Also don't put too much pressure on the lube.
A piece of foam egg carton on top of the ejector pin will minimize this. It will have to be replaced periodicaly.

I also use a Q-Tip with the cotton end broken off to keep it clean.

[dancingbear41]

I have removed bevel bases from moulds. I have also made up ejector pins for my lube sizer dies that conform to the shape of the bevel and prevent lube getting into the bevel.

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