I did it, I did it, I did it

[Swamprat1052]

The big brown truck came today and brought me my Lee 20# lead pot and my molds so I got busy. Bought the Lee 252 gr. Semi wad cutter for my 45 Blackhawk. Had some issues at first and finally smoked the molds good and from then on everything went smooth. Of course being my first time I made some mistakes but in about 2 hrs I molded over 250 good boolits and I figure that aint bad. I weighed a bunch of em and they weigh in at an average of 248 grains. They are more consistent in weight than the Lead Head bullets I ordered. They are not as hard as the Leadheads though, I put a leadhead and one of mine in a vice and mine is softer. I used straight wheel weights and the ones I bought claim to be20 to 22 BHN so mine are supposed to be softer arent they? I havent bought a hardness tester yet .

The lube grooves on these Lee bullets isnt as deep as the others, I figured on pan lubing them. Or should I just use the Lee Alox? Untill I get the Star Sizer in and set up and order some dies I figured on using a Lee Sizer. Lee suggests lubing first to prevent leading the die. Can I just pan lube and then size them?

Anyway I was right proud of myself, at least I made some I can shoot. Thanks for all the help.

Swamprat

[rigmarol]

The Lee sizers come with a bottle of Lee's liquid alox. If you do a quick tumble lube with that you should be fine with the lee sizer lube suggestion.

I usually do a light tumble lube to size then give them a shooting coat before loading (letting them sit over night to dry).

It's not as nice and clean as a star but the for the cost of a lee sizer I can wipe my hands off a few times.

Good luck and congratulations!!

[ANeat]

Good job; Also your WW bullets will be a bit harder after a week or two

You can pan lube and size or just tumble lube as mentioned then size. Also you might want to measure your bullets before sizing them, some Lee molds will throw bullets real close to size with straight WW

Adam

[drinks]

Wws can be from BHN 9 to BHN 14, just depends on what the ww plant had on hand when they made that batch.

[Buckshot]

"...............Anyway I was right proud of myself," And you should be ! You have the basics down and doing and figuring stuff will get easier. Even better is when you shoot them and they do well. That's the reason for the whole process anyway, and it kind of legitimizes the effort. ANYONE can buy a box of jacketed bullets and generally do very well. However these are YOUR boolits that YOU made, and you can make them anytime you want.

..................Buckshot

[454PB]

Are you drinkin beer, Buckshot?

[AkMike]

More than three of em I reckon!

[Swamprat1052]

Well Buckshot got his point across, across, across. Thanks Guys

SWamprat

[doc25]

Good going! Now you just have to find enough money to keep feeding your addiction .

[Forester]

Good going! Now you just have to find enough money to keep feeding your addiction .

Amen to that, I spent a fair amount getting into this little hobby and when I had cast enough to pay for all I bought it just kept coming, first a couple new moulds, which meant new top punches and size dies...then a Star sizer and on and on...

At least the raw materials are still free -at least for me anyway-

Picked up a new .38spl mould today to try out

[Buckshot]

..............As a matter of fact I WAS drinking a beer but I don't think that was it. We just had a fiber optic cable hookup to the infernal contraption which is about half again as fast as cable DSL. Apparently it will sometimes drop the signal because there is something my computer doesn't have for a hardwire hookup, between the router and it. So I have a wireless connection. I clicked on 'Submit' a couple times (3 I guess ) to 'jiggle' the connection (better then slapping the crap out of it). I guess I'll have to go get an ethernet card, as that's what they said I need.

................Buckshot

PS: I deleted the extraneous posts you'll note. Gotta keep it tidy!

[tomf52]

Swamprat 1052 - If you want to use the Lee sizer with no mess get a can of Hornady's One Shot sizing lube and spray your bullets with that before sizing and then use the Lee Liquid Alox . This is what I do and it is fast and clean. The slugs go through the sizing die very smoothly asnd easily with the One Shot.

[Diamond-City-Bob]

Good going! Now you just have to find enough money to keep feeding your addiction .

What do you mean?
He'll be saving money hand over fist!

[leftiye]

Funny how "Saving" money costs so much, heh heh.