Bullet Lube Assistance

[Hot Lead]

It just arrived. A new RCBS Lubri-Matric 2. With the LEE 158 gr. SWC that I cast yesterday, I placed my RCBS top punch # 429 and my RCBS sizer die .358 - 82223into the Lubri-Matic. Everything was installed correctly on the sizer die: top punch.
I placed my slightly lubed first bullet into the press. Operating the hand lever as instructed, I could not get the lube into the grooves of my LEE 158 gr SWC cast bullet. I made the adjustments for the correct lube placement. Allowing the bullet to be either higher or lower for correct lubrication. I made adjustments in increments up and down. No lube flowing into the grooves of my bullet. I made sure there was sufficient pressure on the stick of RCBS bullet lube that was included in the new press. I went as far and to give enough presuure to make sure the lube was being forced out the lube reservoir to make it to the bullet. The lube came out perfect. Still I can not get the lube to even show a teeny tiny bit into the grooves. My first thought was that this was a LEE bullet being lubed by an RCBS press. Of course that did'nt make sense. All 158 gr SWC bullets should be very similar. Anyway, HELP !!! I want to lube my bullets and I can't. Please share with me what I need to do.

[montana_charlie]

I went as far and to give enough presuure to make sure the lube was being forced out the lube reservoir to make it to the bullet.

You are probably still pumping air, but describe how you made that test...
CM

[GP100man]

hot lead

check resivoir itll take a 1/2 stick or better to fill up the space around the die &housing.

try pushing return plunger down just enough to see hole in die & purge the air out.

secondly if you are using a hard lube ,you may have to warm unit up to 95f-115f to get lube to move .

i warm mine wiyh a heat lamp varying distance to control heat, i cast when its cool&lube the boolits when cool so its nice way to stay warm too!!

[D.Mack]

Hot Lead.... If you are positive the lube is making it to the bullet, then it can only be that your bullet is not going deep enough into the die for the lube to reach the grooves. To check this pull the die out of the sizer, and lay a bullet beside the die, and check just how far the bullet has to enter the die to get the lube grooves in front of a bleed hole, on some of my dies the bullet has to be very deep .
DM

[Hot Lead]

The test I made for determining if the bullet lube was coming out was to go what I thought was overboard in torquing the pressure handle down on the lube in the reservoir. I then removed the sizing die and green lube was completely encircled the area where the lube was to be forced into the holes of the sizing die. Maybe I didn't force enough out. One of my casting buddies said to gently force at least half a stick out.
As suggested, maybe I am not allowing the bullet go deep enough. Has anyone else experienced this same problem ? My exciting day of lubing my newer cast bullets fizzled out and hopefully tomorrow evening will be my bullet lubing time.
Are these RCBS made to work reliably ? Most likely it is a Hot Lead error.

[Leftoverdj]

Next time you have the die out, push the plunger down past the lube holes and make sure they are clear. It's remotely possible that they are clogged with dried preservative.

My money is on a hard lube that needs to be warmed, though.

[montana_charlie]

Thanks for describing your test method. You proved that lube is reaching the sizing die, but not that it is entering it.

Adjust the depth stop so the ejector will only fill the bottom half of the die.
With no bullet in the press, pull the handle down. Grab the bottom end of the ejector pin and pull it down against the stop.

Crank a quarter turn of pressure onto the reservoir, then raise the handle and ejector pin. Continue to follow these steps until the pin brings up a little bit of lube.

Try to lube a bullet. It may get lube on the nose because of the depth adjustment, but that's OK for now. When lube does appear on the bullet, set the depth to where you think it should be.

Try to lube the bullet again with pretty firm pressure on the reservoir, and also firm down pressure on the handle so lube doesn't get under the bullet's base.
Keep any lube collecting under the base cleaned off between tries.
Keep working the same bullet in and out of the die, and cranking on the reservoir, until the grooves are fully filled.

Now, you should have all of the air out of the lube channels.

The next bullet should lube normally, but your reservoir might be about ready for a refill.
CM