FISH4BUGS
10-01-2006, 01:48 PM
I am thinking about setting up for a LONG run of cast/sized/lubed bullets. I will mostly use my H&G 10 cavity 9mm and 380 bullet moulds to cast, but others (4 cavity H&G''s and few 4 cavity Lymans) are available. I will use a heated Star sizer. The lube is the Magma hard lube. I load on a Dillon 550.
My thought is this: if I cast some 10,000 9mm or 380's (Lyman #2 formula), then size and lube them, and store them in coffee cans ( I accumulated some 30 LARGE cans with lids and 20 smaller cans with lids - almost as good as finding a bucket of wheel weights) with the plastic lids that come with the coffee, how long do you think the bullets would last? I am concerned with lube drying out and cracking over time more than anything else. I can keep them, once sized and lubed, in a relatively stable environment with heat around 70 most of the time and humidity low (my storage closet in my condo).
I hate the setup time to cast/size/lube so if I do a long run, it would certainly cut down on setup. In fact, it would eliminate it for one heck of a lot of bullets. I also shoot 380 and 9mm cast bullets in my submachine guns so I think I would go through at least 10,000 in a year or two for each caliber. The 358156 would last a bit longer but my girlfriend and I can still go through a bunch (3-400 or so) of 38's on a Sunday afternoon. She is pretty good with her 3" 36 S&W and has learned to enjoy blasting.
Any experience with this?
My thought is this: if I cast some 10,000 9mm or 380's (Lyman #2 formula), then size and lube them, and store them in coffee cans ( I accumulated some 30 LARGE cans with lids and 20 smaller cans with lids - almost as good as finding a bucket of wheel weights) with the plastic lids that come with the coffee, how long do you think the bullets would last? I am concerned with lube drying out and cracking over time more than anything else. I can keep them, once sized and lubed, in a relatively stable environment with heat around 70 most of the time and humidity low (my storage closet in my condo).
I hate the setup time to cast/size/lube so if I do a long run, it would certainly cut down on setup. In fact, it would eliminate it for one heck of a lot of bullets. I also shoot 380 and 9mm cast bullets in my submachine guns so I think I would go through at least 10,000 in a year or two for each caliber. The 358156 would last a bit longer but my girlfriend and I can still go through a bunch (3-400 or so) of 38's on a Sunday afternoon. She is pretty good with her 3" 36 S&W and has learned to enjoy blasting.
Any experience with this?