Doing something wrong with my 4500?

[BobSanders]

I've searched around a bit for the answer, but come up short. I'm new to the Lyman 4500, so I don't know if this is normal or not. About every 5th boolit, lube starts leaking under its base, and gets progressively worse until I take a cotton swap and clean top of the die. I'm using Lyman die, .401, and #43 top punch with 175 grain truncated cone Lee mold with a single groove. Not sure of lube, other than I bought it off eBay, it's kind of greenish, and was supposed to do well for minor loads. If it's an important detail, I can find out though. Not using heater at this point. One caveat is that this was a used lubrasizer, and I'm just starting, maybe 100 boolits or so, and the old grease may not have completely moved through it yet. Any ideas, or is this fairly normal? I think I have it adjusted so I'm not getting to lower grease holes, but as I said, I'm newat this.

Thanks, Bob

[Beagle333]

Do you mean the lube is leaking between the boolit and the top of the plunger? If so, have you tried backing off the pressure and just lubing a little slower? In my older luber, I just use a lower pressure and push the boolit down, hold downward pressure on it and count one-thousand-one and then push it back up. That gives the lower pressure lube time to get all the way around the grooves, but not so much that it starts looking for somewhere else to go.

It's not a bevel base boolit, is it? That's a different problem altogether. But that can be solved as well. Give some more details about it?

[BobSanders]

Flat base boolit. Your idea of less pressure seems a good place to start. Maybe even a little heat. I just have no experience to refer to, lol! I tried giving the ratchet a little bump for each boolit, and that wasn't working. I'll give it a try tomorrow, thanks!

[Silver Hand]

A 165 grain 25 caliber rifle boolit gave me a similar problem. I had to raise the sizing die to the limit in order to get a handle on the problem. Once there, things got better but I was getting more lube on the gas checks even still, than with any other boolit I had ever cast. I went so far as to place lead shot in almost all the holes in the sizing die but try raising it, if the suggestion of lower pressure does not help! The temperature outside may be part of the problem also. RCBS is green there may be others.
Silver Hand

[Old Caster]

It is okay to give the handle a little bump for each bullet but it depends on what is meant by a little bump and it varies depending on individual bullets. Try moving the lever a bit less and see if it improves the situation.

[wallenba]

Bevel base boolits do that, especially if you've cranked in too much on the feed pressure. Try using an empty brass case of the caliber you are sizing, to cut out a 'cookie' from a styrofoam meat packing tray. Put that down inside the die. Sometimes that works.

[Beagle333]

And keep in mind that if you don't have that lube groove centered up on that lube hole in the die.... it's trying to squish lube both into that groove and under the boolit too. And the second you change directions or relax that handle, the lube will try to start shoving the boolit up and away from that stem, hydraulically.

[BobSanders]

I'm using TAC 1 extreme from a forum vendor. I'm sure the die holes and boolit grove aren't exactly aligned, because I haven't figured out how to exactly align them yet. So far, I've just been trying to get a feel for it. I kind of thought the lower holes may be perfectly aligned with the boolit base at the bottom of the stroke, but I tinkered with the depth enough to eliminate that possibility. I need to get a good handle on it, as I'm out of ammo and have 3 matches next month, lol!
I truly appreciate all the help!
Bob

[JeffG]

You'll get a feel quick enough on how deep you need to have the bullet adjusted down into the sizer. Particularly in the summer, it takes much less pressure on the wrench to lube the bullets. Using a 356-120-TC as an example, it has a single lube groove and it I turn the crank CCW till I just start feeling some pressure on it, I start running bullets, usually lubing 6-8 before I need to touch the crank again. When I start seeing gaps in the lube on the bullet, I know it's time to bump the pressure just a little. If I'm lubing my 326471 8mm Mauser bullets, they have about 6 lube grooves, so I have to crank the wrench CCW more often.

[Grizzly Adams]

I like to try keeping the bullet as high as I can and still getting lube in the groove, I also like to use a firm stroke down, pause, tap the ratchet if necessary while maintaining down pressure, firm stoke up. Don't be afraid to play with the adjustment, you'll find a spot that works for you.

[Grizzly Adams]

Sometimes taking the bullet a little deeper will help, you don't want to change direction (no pressure on the bullet base/ plunger) while the base is lined up with a hole.

[GP100man]

I`ll agree with playing with the pressure ,also start with the boolit HI in the die & work it down until the grooves fill out with minimum pressure.

I`ve removed the die & measured holes & groove to get correct depths before !!

GP

[BobSanders]

Think I've got it! Lowered plunger a few 16ths, firm down, hold a second and back up. Working great now. Sized about two hundred to load up and test out. Thanks, everyone!

[bruce381]

also since the die has a tapper make sure the boolit is getting sized all the way top to bottom. You may need to set the seating 'stop" lower to get full sizing

[MtGun44]

Keep the top of the ejector pin very clean - clean off any lube, and don't crank
on the lube pressure handle very hard at all. You are forcing lube under the boolit
as it passes the lube port. If you do need to add a bit (and you will need to) do a
tiny push on the handle WHEN THE BOOLIT IS ALL THE WAY DOWN, so the base-to-
ejector pin joint is past the lube port when you do it. Pressure will drop as the lube
moves out into the lube groove. If you pump the pressure up to max with the
boolit up, as the base-to-ejector pin joint passes the lube port on the way down,
lube can be forced in between, so only tighten the handle when the boolit is down
and not too hard.

Bill