Lyman 266673 dropping too small

[Mausermeister]

I need some advice. I'm new to casting boolits. I just got a Lyman 266673 off ebay and a .268" sizer from Lee. I am using wheel weights with a bit of linotype alloy. Not sure of exact mixture, just a few WW ingots and a couple pieces of lino in the pot. After many culls, I finally got a few dozen nice looking bullets with no wrinkles or voids. When I went to size & crimp gas checks, the boolits went through the die and only the gas check touched. I then measured the diameter and the mold is dropping .264". I've read about lapping out the Lee aluminumum molds to increase bullet diameter. Has anyone tried this on the Lyman steel molds?

[armyrat1970]

I need some advice. I'm new to casting boolits. I just got a Lyman 266673 off ebay and a .268" sizer from Lee. I am using wheel weights with a bit of linotype alloy. Not sure of exact mixture, just a few WW ingots and a couple pieces of lino in the pot. After many culls, I finally got a few dozen nice looking bullets with no wrinkles or voids. When I went to size & crimp gas checks, the boolits went through the die and only the gas check touched. I then measured the diameter and the mold is dropping .264". I've read about lapping out the Lee aluminumum molds to increase bullet diameter. Has anyone tried this on the Lyman steel molds?

Not sure but I think that mold should drop to .268. Clean the mold well then try dropping a few boolits with just straight wws and wait a little longer before cutting the sprue and dropping the boolit. See if that increases the diameter.

[Bret4207]

Lets not jump to lapping right yet. Like AR70 said, first get the mould really, really clean. Then get it nice and hot and run a couple hundred through it looking for perfect fillout. Then give them a few days to sit and see what they measure. There are other options to go to before lapping.

And if you're using a BP pot make sure it's near full to get good pressure fill.

[Mausermeister]

I cleaned it really good last night with lacquer thinner and old toothbrush. I then blew it off with air before spraying with kroil and reassembling it. I just wiped off all excess kroil and now have the pot warming up with it on top to warm also.

I was using a Lee BP pot before. This morning I will try out my new Saeco 24.

How long should I wait before cutting the sprue and dropping? 10 seconds, 20?

I'm also water dropping them. Will this affect diameter?

[StarMetal]

Sorry to tell you that you have one of the famous new Lyman undersized moulds. Don't feel bad I just recently bought a Lyman 266469 and it barely drops bullets .266. All you can do it sell it on Ebay like someone did to you. Since mine was new I sent it back to Lyman and they sent me a new one. The new one is the one I speak of, the original was was even worse! I'm finished buying moulds from Lyman.

Joe

[Maven]

Mausermeister, The first three digits on the mold, 266- in this case, used to indicate the expected diameter of your CB's (.266") when cast of Lyman #2 alloy (their standard). If you were lucky, they'd cast even larger, at least on the body if a bore riding design. For example, my #311291 casts closer to .312" (body), which is a good thing, but the nose is too small. The earlier version of #266673 (early 1990's) did indeed cast as large as .268" and was a good performer in the 6.5 Swede. However, I had .30cal. version of that mold, #311644 (made in 1999) that measured only .3095" on the body. Something is definitely amiss with Lyman's QC.

[Mausermeister]

I wonder if Lyman is still using the same worn out reamers they used 20 years ago?

I'm still just getting .264" from mine.

I have a Lee Cruise Missile on backorder from Midsouth, but don't know how long it will be until they get more.

I also have a new 266469 on order from Grafs. If it casts small, I will be calling Lyman and raising a ruckus.

[mooman76]

You could try beagling and if you wait a few days you bullets should be about .001 larger.

[Mausermeister]

OK, I'll bite.

What's beagling?

[mooman76]

There should be a sticky on it here some where but basically it is taking small pieces of aluminum tape (used for AC units and such) to your mould to keep it from coming together all the way. You can gain .001-.002 out of your mould.

[Dutchman]

I have the same new mould and its dropping .255" on the nose and .2655" on the body. This is with 50:50 ww-lino.

I'm getting extremely good accuracy with 266469 (purchased) at .266" from at least one of my Swedes right at 1,500 fps with Unique. So I know its possible to get great accuracy with .266" bullets.

As a point of research I kept only 2 as-cast 266673 so I'll also mic them with a 10,000th mic to see if there's been a dimensional change. I'm also going to cast a couple dozen more and go ahead and test fire them out of the same rifle I got great results from with the .266" bullets. That'll be a pretty good test.

Dutch

[armyrat1970]

I cleaned it really good last night with lacquer thinner and old toothbrush. I then blew it off with air before spraying with kroil and reassembling it. I just wiped off all excess kroil and now have the pot warming up with it on top to warm also.

I was using a Lee BP pot before. This morning I will try out my new Saeco 24.

How long should I wait before cutting the sprue and dropping? 10 seconds, 20?

I'm also water dropping them. Will this affect diameter?

I wait until I see a dimple form and the alloy change colors. I count about 5 seconds then cut the sprue and drop. If the Lyman is based on #2 alloy this could be some of your problem also since you are combining lino in the mix. But from some of the other post it seems you just got hold of a small mold. Things like that happen when you get stuff off evilbay. Bought a Lyman D-7 scale years ago that was supposed to be complete. Came with no instructions, which I didn't really need, but was supposed to come with the beam lifter also. Posted back that the seller didn't fill his obligations. He posted back that I was a cry baby. Haven't dealt with evilbay since. Also bought a K98k bayonet that was supposed to be flawless. Upon arrival the blade was sharpened and the lock release would not work unless hit. The seller at least refunded $10.00 of the $70.00 I paid for it. Have gotten a couple of things there that were as posted but not worth the hassle.

[Mausermeister]

MY Cruise Missile from Midsouth and the 266469 from Grafs both showed up this morning. I cleaned them up and cast a few this evening.

The cruise missile drops at .270", so is just about perfect for my .268" sizer.

The 266469 drops .266" so I guess I got lucky and it's not undersized, though I wish it would drop at least a couple thousandths larger.

I dug the foil tape out of the drawer in the shop and tried "beagling" the 266473. I had some of the old heavy duty stuff that is a little thicker than what's available at most hardware stores. This brought it to .267" x .264". I will try a few just to see what happens, but I will probably just sell or trade this mold unless it really surprises me at the range.

[dromia]

Don't dismiss your beagled boolits 'till you've given them a good try out.

Beagling has been the saviour of many of us wrestling with undersized moulds.

It is a solid, proven technique (despite its Heath Robinson appearance) that gives up nothing of the boolits accuracy potential, all other things being equal.