Please critique my boolits.. are they OK to shoot?

[302w]

It's been a great while since I last casted boolits. I casted the following boolits with a Lee 120-TC six cavity and I think they're out of round? After running them through my lube sizer I noticed the wavy contact area. Are these "shootable" or should they be scrapped?

Edit: sorry it is sideways!

312312

[pworley1]

First to answer the question: Yes they are very shoot-able. You didn't say if you were using a top load type sizer or a push through, but the waves are most likely the result of the bullet not entering the die squarely. You may be using the wrong top punch.

[Winger Ed.]

They look good to me.

Shooting them is the real test though.

[302w]

I'm using a Lyman 450.

I've missed casting. Thanks!

[justindad]

I shoot worse. The edge of those waves are surprisingly crisp - is the wave in the mold?
*
If you have a micrometer, measure the bullet diameter at 12 o’clock, 2:00, and 4:00. Set 12:00 midway between the parting lines.

[gwpercle]

They are shootable ... make sure there are no defects in the boolit base .
Perfect base is the most important thing .
Sizing boolits rounds out any that aren't round ... a great reason to size them .
Handgun ammo at handgun distances is fairly easy ... I don't see any defects in the boolt nose's ... they look good ... but let a few others look at them ( I'm hard of seeing ) .
I've got that mould in 2 cavity form and realy like it ...and they have the wavy look , but shoot great ... I say ... Choot 'Em !
Gary

[megasupermagnum]

That's definitely the fault of the Lyman sizer. Despite claims a flat punch works, I tried, and tried, and tried and never got success. The Lyman sizers NEED a perfect fitting top punch to work. There are tricks to modify your own, but it can be tricky.

Those will shoot, and probably won't be horrible for blasting steel. I wouldn't expect much at 50 yards.

[302w]

Oddly enough, I am using a flat top punch. The bottom punch is slightly concave which didn't help. Some I definitely bashed the noses on when sizing and I had to toss 'em.

[megasupermagnum]

The concave bottom is on purpose, and it's fine. You need to get a fitted top punch. I've been there. If you want to get by, the very best I've done with a flat top punch is to chuck it in a drill and polish the front surface like a mirror. Then use a dab of grease on it. Finally when sizing intentionally put the bullet in slightly crooked and make it self align. Add grease when needed. It's not as good as as a fitted punch, but it will get you by.

[deces]

I get the impression that the alloy is soft, but the look great to me.

[Gobeyond]

It looks like they were slightly uneven before sizing but now round again. Are you dropping them on a clean, soft towel or in water? Are they sufficiently cooled? They look pretty irregular before sizing. What could be causing that? Too hot maybe.

[Larry Gibson]

It's been a great while since I last casted boolits. I casted the following boolits with a Lee 120-TC six cavity and I think they're out of round? After running them through my lube sizer I noticed the wavy contact area. Are these "shootable" or should they be scrapped?

Edit: sorry it is sideways!

312312

If you think the bullets are out of round it could easily be caused by holding onto the sprue plate handle when pouring. If you do that it might look like the blocks are closed on top but the will pivit open just a tudge on the bottom. On my numerous lee 6 cavity moulds I close the sprue plate then ever so slightly back it off and then do not touch the sprue plate handle during pouring.

[Willie T]

Yes I would shoot those, provided the bases look good. If you suspect the are overly out of round before sizing, measure them beforehand. Measure diameter perpendicular to the mold seams, then turn the bullet 90° and measure diameter from mold seam to mold seam. If there are significant differences in diameter, clean the mold faces, pins, and the cavities the alignment pins seat in really well. Also check the mold faces, particularly around the cavities for a small metal deposit or a slight burr. It does not take much to throw your Bullets out of round.
Willie

[Bird]

Looks as though they maybe slightly out of round, but that wont matter. Check the bullet base sprue cut. If there is a high tit, that will cause lopsided sizing.
Shoot em.

[Bazoo]

It looks like the bullets were out of round before sizing, and as a result of being sized more in some cross-sections, have a wavy transition. Another thing that can cause that is sizing down too much, so if your bullets started out over sized, and you sized for example, .004 it would look like that. The 450 can cause that, but I wouldn't immediately look there.

[405grain]

Shoot them. Then make better ones. Then shoot them too.

[Forrest r]

The rpm's the firearm will put a spin on those bullets that will take any out of roundness out of play until they go transonic.

I get the same thing quite a bit having a bad habit like Larry described in post #12. I also see the same thing quite a bit if I try sizing a bullet too much in 1 pass. Any time I take off 3/1000th's+ in 1 pass, bad things start to happen.

FWIW:
Several years ago I did some experimenting with jacketed swaged hp bullets (158gr) for use in the 357's. I was trying to stop the over penetration of those bullets. Running them @ 1200fps into wet newpack I was getting 7"+ of penetration with the hp hole being strait. When I put a 5* bend in the hp forming pin it made the hp hole off center and the end result was no loss of accuracy (only tested out to 25yds). The penetration was reduced to 3/4 inches.

[blue32]

The wavy sizing can definitely be attributed to a flat top punch or a sprue that didn't cut clean. OP, consider the chart for appropriate top punches. I use RCBS #550 with the Lee 356-120TC and it does a really good job of aligning the bullet if you don't go too fast.
https://www.castpics.net/subsite/TopPunches/Lee.html

[BLAHUT]

Shoot them and see ????

[TurnipEaterDown]

Look at the bullets all the way around.
Are the "waves" as you call them symmetric around the bullet circumference? i.e. High on opposing sides paired w/ marks Low on opposing sides 90° apart from the high mark?
That can be cause by an out of round bullet coming out of the mold (lead splatter on block facings, not holding it well closed when pouring, allowing the alignment pins to become excessively coated w/ carbonized lube, or my favorite w/ LEE molds: the alignment cylinders on some vintage of molds getting loose in the die blocks).
If the "wave" is not symmetric, then I would suspect a cockeyed presentation to the sizer. Pain for some, but I all but eliminated that by either pan lubing and using a push through from NOE in my press, or LEE liquid alox tumble lube then push through in press then bottom first sizer just to lube.

I had a bad experience w/ my RCBS LAM II that had me stumped, and also had a very well known mold maker (often bought from on this site) stumped as well.
The bullet had sizing marks that started at a point on the bullet outer surface, ramped upwards until about 1/2 way around the bullet, then there was a tiny unsized gap, then the same pattern of sizing mark repeated around the circumference until it got back where it started. Marks Looked like a corkscrew.
I thought the mold was cut w/ shifted blocks, and had a multiple email, weeks long, discussion w/ the mold maker (great guy by the way). He swore his blocks were never that way.
I sent him bullets unsized, indeed they were round. I sized some of the same lot. They had the "corkscrew" sizing marks. I sent him my sizing die (RCBS). It measured fine: Round, straight. He put my die in his press and sized my bullets from the mold, corkscrew sizing marks. He indexed the die to multiple positions in his press: corkscrew sizing marks. He said that he could not figure it out.
So, I pan lube and use a push through. Nice bullets. Always.
The sizing irregularity in my case was particularly obvious, as the bullet was a tangent ogive design, and unless perfectly aligned the eye will easily see the flaw.

I have run tests on WFN LBT bullets from a 44 that would size w/ that wavy mark in my LAM II as well -- end up sideways at 50 yd. "Good Ones" out of the LAM II, or any one of them pan lubed and run through the LEE push through press mount sizer: 2" groups w/ round holes at 50 yds.

Bullets sized looking like that will very likely have accuracy issues. I'll bet dimes to doughnuts on that.