Pan lubing tapered bullets, final cleanup.

[stubbicatt]

I'm casting 32-40 bullets for breach seating in a 1905 Winchester Shuetzen rifle. For now I am using a single cavity Saeco 200 grain mould. The bullets come out pretty good. I'll have to refine my casting a little bit, but I'm getting nice flat bases.

Since they are tapered bullets, I'm pan lubing them, and then pressing them out of the solidified lube by pressing on the noses. It works well enough. However, there is always a little bit of lube on the bases of the bullets. I can scratch through it with my thumbnail, but they are soft enough that the thumbnail leaves markings on the bullet bases. I have tried a nice soft patch on a flat table top, and sort of rubbing the bullets across it, but by the time I have removed that residue, I am leaving "pencil marks" from the lead on the patch, and the bases no longer look as uniform to me as they did when cast.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think my next step is to moisten a patch with Hoppes or something and just gently twist the bullet between my fingers with the base against the solvent moistened patch and see if that doesn't do the job chemically as opposed to mechanically.

Anybody have a better idea? Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Stubb

[NavyVet1959]

Warm the bottoms on a hot surface and then wipe off with paper towel?

Probably don't need much heat to melt the lube on the bottom and not affect the rest of the lube on the bullet, so maybe a small propane torch run across the bottom of the bullet just long enough for it to liquefy and then blot / wipe it off with a paper towel?

[Dan Cash]

A variant of Navy vet's system: Lubed bullets nose down in a block, paper towel on bases, apply hot iron. I think that will solve the problem.

[stubbicatt]

OK. Good ideas. The lube buildup is an apparently uniform thickness, being inherently lazy, I wonder if they will shoot well if just left alone?

Maybe Naphtha or something on a moistened patch? Acetone? The heat idea is probably effective, but I think I would try that as a last resort.