Recluse
02-05-2010, 02:53 PM
A fellow caster mailed me some of this to try, as he knows what kind of bad luck I have in sizing .223 cases.
Prior to trying the Bullsize, I have sent back three different sizing dies (2 RCBS and 1 Hornady) for stuck .223 cases. Two of the instances were with Imperial Sizing Die Wax, the other was with One Shot. To date, the only lube that has never given me any problems in .223 has been the Lee (toothpaste) lube.
For almost everything else, I really like the Imperial.
So along comes the Bullsize Case Lube and I give it a try. I firmly believe there is no better concoction for your molds and casting than Bullplate, so I was interested in trying the case size lube. Here are my results/thoughts:
1. Goes on kind of difficult, but it was cold in the shop and the lube was very stiff and sticky. Maybe I should try heating it slightly or setting it under one of my drop down lights?
2. In all my years of reloading, I have NEVER had a .223 case go into the resizing die as smooth and glitch-free as I did with the Bullsize case lube. Never. I tried the Bullsize case lube with both the Lee dies and my RCBS dies (no longer have the Hornady set).
I ran the cases after dipping the necks in my little Forster mica brush setup, and I ran them without any mica at all. No matter. The cases sized as easily and smoothly as anything I've ever sized.
So that's the good news.
3. The not so good part. In all the lubes I've used and made over the years, the Bullsize was nine kinds of heck to get cleaned off the cases. I tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled, to no avail. The media was hosed--sticky--afterwards, so I tossed it.
Took some old corncob and poured some odorless mineral spirits in it, and went back to tumbling. Noticeably better, but still not as good as I liked. Tossed media, added brand new ground walnut with a generous amount of odorless mineral spirits and a dab of NuFinish.
Finally. Clean cases.
Now, for ammo I load in small batches (twenty rounds or less), it's not a problem to take a shop towel dampened in naptha or mineral spirits and individually wipe and clean the cases. But for volume ammo, the cleaning could be a problem.
No doubt the stuff worked incredibly well for me when no other lube, except the Lee, had ever worked as trouble-free before. And at the end of the day, that is what really matters. But I'm an anal, ill-tempered guy who looks at casting and reloading as a craftsman endeavor and I like clean, shiny showcase ammo when I'm done.
Any feedback or tips or help from Dan or Daniel or Tina about cleaning the cases afterwards will be appreciated.
And, this is not condemning criticism in any way. With any new product launch, you have to garner and assess feedback. Negative feedback is more important than positive. You already know the good/strong points of your product--you need to know what bugs or difficulties your customers experience.
For me, the only negative was the difficulty I encountered trying to clean the lube off my cases.
:coffee:
Prior to trying the Bullsize, I have sent back three different sizing dies (2 RCBS and 1 Hornady) for stuck .223 cases. Two of the instances were with Imperial Sizing Die Wax, the other was with One Shot. To date, the only lube that has never given me any problems in .223 has been the Lee (toothpaste) lube.
For almost everything else, I really like the Imperial.
So along comes the Bullsize Case Lube and I give it a try. I firmly believe there is no better concoction for your molds and casting than Bullplate, so I was interested in trying the case size lube. Here are my results/thoughts:
1. Goes on kind of difficult, but it was cold in the shop and the lube was very stiff and sticky. Maybe I should try heating it slightly or setting it under one of my drop down lights?
2. In all my years of reloading, I have NEVER had a .223 case go into the resizing die as smooth and glitch-free as I did with the Bullsize case lube. Never. I tried the Bullsize case lube with both the Lee dies and my RCBS dies (no longer have the Hornady set).
I ran the cases after dipping the necks in my little Forster mica brush setup, and I ran them without any mica at all. No matter. The cases sized as easily and smoothly as anything I've ever sized.
So that's the good news.
3. The not so good part. In all the lubes I've used and made over the years, the Bullsize was nine kinds of heck to get cleaned off the cases. I tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled, to no avail. The media was hosed--sticky--afterwards, so I tossed it.
Took some old corncob and poured some odorless mineral spirits in it, and went back to tumbling. Noticeably better, but still not as good as I liked. Tossed media, added brand new ground walnut with a generous amount of odorless mineral spirits and a dab of NuFinish.
Finally. Clean cases.
Now, for ammo I load in small batches (twenty rounds or less), it's not a problem to take a shop towel dampened in naptha or mineral spirits and individually wipe and clean the cases. But for volume ammo, the cleaning could be a problem.
No doubt the stuff worked incredibly well for me when no other lube, except the Lee, had ever worked as trouble-free before. And at the end of the day, that is what really matters. But I'm an anal, ill-tempered guy who looks at casting and reloading as a craftsman endeavor and I like clean, shiny showcase ammo when I'm done.
Any feedback or tips or help from Dan or Daniel or Tina about cleaning the cases afterwards will be appreciated.
And, this is not condemning criticism in any way. With any new product launch, you have to garner and assess feedback. Negative feedback is more important than positive. You already know the good/strong points of your product--you need to know what bugs or difficulties your customers experience.
For me, the only negative was the difficulty I encountered trying to clean the lube off my cases.
:coffee: