TL, Grease Groove or No Groove in pistol boolits?

[igolfat8]

Just getting ready to delve into DTPC some pistol boolits. I have HF (red) powder and a thrift store toaster oven with less than a $20 investment. 8-) I see others are PC-ing tumble lube, grease groove and no groove boolits. Is there an accuracy or bore sealing advantage to using any one particular boolit design?

[2wheelDuke]

The only style I haven't tried is the no-groove boolits because I haven't bought any of those molds yet.

[jcren]

I like the tl grooves. I don't know what the gun thinks, but tl sizes much easier than a identical lube groove boolit.

[igolfat8]

A traditional grease groove and no groove would both have more bearing surface areas on the rifling, as compared to a TL design, so I wondered if that would have any affect of the boolit sealing to the barrel, velocity and / or accuracy. Has anyone notice any correlation?

[bangerjim]

I PC and shoot 'em all! Standard, TL, and NLG. And see not difference at all. Most molds I buy today are NLG if they are available.

Check the temp of that El Cheapo oven you have!!! Get an oven thermometer. Most cheap ovens are not accurate and you need to verify the 400F temp. Do not trust the dial!

[Motor]

In actual shooting I haven't noticed any difference. I use the shake and bake method and do notice the tumble lube boolits do coat the driving bands and grooves very nicely.

Motor

[Love Life]

From a rest, my no groove 230 gr bullet matches Sierra Tournament master jacketed bullet accuracy.

[NavyVet1959]

In actual shooting I haven't noticed any difference. I use the shake and bake method and do notice the tumble lube boolits do coat the driving bands and grooves very nicely.


Experiment with ASBB * 2, Harbor Freight Flat Black (the worst for ASBB), Lee 358-105-SWC
http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/lee-358-105-swc-hf-flat-black-320w.jpg

And then resized to 0.356" and loaded in 9x19 brass.
http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/2015-09-06--loaded-pc-bullet-lee-358-105-swc.jpg

[Maximumbob54]

It might just be me but I have yet to find a gun that the Lee TL358-158-SWC won't shoot with some good accuracy no matter how I lube it. A couple of years ago I was out of tumble lube and tried running them through the Lyman 450 with BAC and while it looked funny it still worked just fine even with the minimal lube in the tiny grooves. Now I PC them and they still shoot just as good.

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x333/Maximumbob54/Reloading%20and%20Casting/IMG_20150419_123613146_zpssgz2z26b.jpg (http://s1176.photobucket.com/user/Maximumbob54/media/Reloading%20and%20Casting/IMG_20150419_123613146_zpssgz2z26b.jpg.html)

Forgot to post the pic...

[popper]

They appear to shoot the same but NLG are stronger (coated) and may allow a weaker alloy vs pressure. I questioned and found NLG adds a little weight to make PF for comp. shooters.

[gpidaho]

PF may come into play if you shoot comp. (as popper says) but any of the bollits I PC, no matter the lube groove shoot more accurately than I do. lol Gp

[Intel6]

When I tried some TL bullets and ran them through the sizer it smashed them down so the sized sides of the bullet were smooth like a NLG bullet.

[NavyVet1959]

When I tried some TL bullets and ran them through the sizer it smashed them down so the sized sides of the bullet were smooth like a NLG bullet.

I've had the grooves reduced, but you could still see them. Well, except for when I resized some .41 mag bullets for use in my 10mm. The SWC ended up becoming a wide meplat truncated cone with no lube grooves and they averaged 215.72 gr.

[cs86]

I don't know if I've ever seen an accuracy issue between the 3, but I haven't shot enough to see if there is a difference. If you are sizing the NLG down by much it can be a hard push through the sizer, and potentially mess the boolit up. The grooves add some relief to the sizing process. NLG drop the easiest from the mold from my experience.