PP boolits

I wanted to start a thread on paper patched boolits and smokeless powder in either single shots or leverguns but couldn't figure out where to put it so here goes:

How does Lee cut their TL boolit molds and would the TL design make a good PP boolit? I've noticed some PP molds from Lyman in the past (I think in .30 cal.) that are not smooth. Actually what I'm thinking about doing is buying a 45-70 barrel for my H-R and a 457-405-F mold from Lee to cast boolits sized to bore diameter (with a push through die) plus about .001" and pp the boolit with onion skin paper.

Do you guys around here do that kinda stuff?

MJ

We even had a GB produceing such a mold a year or two ago. Worked out OK.

I can only state what has worked for me, and uses PP bullets that are machined with PP in mind, it works great as the bullet drops , say, .012 undersize, and two wraps with .003paper brings bullet to proper dia., good paper(some cotton content) can be bought in dif. thicknesses to taylor the two wraps to your bore dia., don't think this can be improved upon by using groove type bullets unless they too are long and .012 or so undersized.

I just checked Lee's website to see if they have push through sizers about .350" in diameter and they don't. I've got Matthews book so I'm not going at this blindly but am wondering if it's practical to assume I can size .358"/.360" boolits cast of stick-on WW metal down to about .350"/.351" in a custom (if Lee does this type of thing) push through die and patch 'em successfully. Should I bother contacting Lee with a request to make a .350" push through die?

MJ

P.S. Well, I guess Lee does offer custom sizing dies. I fiddled around on their website for a while and found the following:

Bullet Sizing Dies

Custom lube and size kits are $25 plus $4.00 S/H. Send payment and the desired diameter to the factory, and allow 4 weeks for delivery.

Our address is:

Lee Precision, Inc.
4275 Highway "U"
Hartford, WI 53027

Are they referring to the push through sizers here and do you guys think this will perform my intended function well enough so I'll be able to apply quality paper patches?

Yes, they're referring to push through sizers. I think they'd work as well as any sizers, probably better since all the pressure is on the flat base of the boolit. No need for fitted top punches.

Whatever is doing the pushing while we're reducing the boolit's diameter .008" to .010" is going to distort whatever we're pushing against especially if we're pushing against soft alloy (less than 10 BHN). I would think a gaschecked design would be a poor choice in this case.

45 2.1,

If I end up with a 45-70 barrel, are there any of those molds you mentioned above in need of a new home? Right now I'd like to have a solution for my .35-06 but I think what I need for that is a long plain base .35 cal mold which sounds like a needle in the haystack right now.

MJ