How come my sized boolits look like this?

[Voodoocld]

I'm very new to casting boolits, and after getting some fairly decent boolits i went to sizing them on my rcbs lube-a-matic 2.
the mold is a lee 6 cavity 356-125-2r. The top punch is a lyman 311 (which was recommended by the large chart running around)

I'm getting a ring from the top punch, and also the sides of the boolits are significantly "smashed" looking"
most other people boolits don't look like this. Anyway to make them look better?
I'm sizing them to .358 (quite bit for a 9mm mold anyway) and have verified they are .358

Is my lead too soft? I bought it off ebay, its reclaimed range lead and looks to be about 10 bhn right after water dropping, and on a previous run looks like about 13 bhn after a week. I did cast them only 2 days ago, do i need to let them air harden longer?

Thanks

[Bardo]

Looks like the mold is droping out of round boolits. At least they arent to small.

Bardo

[Mk42gunner]

My guess is the top punch doesn't exactly match the boolit and is allowing it to tip a bit while sizing.

Robert

[Voodoocld]

Ya, i wonder if i can drop the center shaft of the lube die down a bit to help align the boolit better. Its just such a small boolit that it could be hard to get out if its too far down.

[stocker]

gunner has it right I think. If you look at the ring the punch is making it seems unequal from side to side. You can custom fit that nose punch using a bit of JB or the two part gas tank repair epoxy which is fast setting. You can even test it before committing to epoxy by using hot glue if you are fast and don't let the glue harden before you get the boolit in and the punch pressed down. Put a light coat of wax on the nose of the boolit and set in the sizer, lower the ram to squeeze out excess epoxy or glue, check that the boolit is sitting square and let the compound set up before you remove the boolit. A little trimming at the edge of the punch and you're done.

[CJR]

The "ring" on the nose indicates the top punch is not fitting the nose properly. You could lap the nose into the top punch for a better fit, but a higher CB hardness may eliminate the "ring". A BHN10 is too soft for a water-quenched range lead; it may be pure lead instead of range lead and have no antimony in it to start the hardening process. Soft leads will deform, as your photo shows, when trying to reduce their diameter too much. Add some WW (for antimony) and/or shot to your lead so it can get to a higher hardness after WQ. When you WQ make sure the mould is hot and then drop the CB quickly into the cold water. This is critical. The hotter the CB is, when it drops into water, the higher its hardness will be.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

CJR

[Calamity Jake]

Looks like the cavities aren't round and are small as the boolit is not sized on the parting line.
What dia. are you sizing them?
Check boolit as cast dia. at the parting line and 90° to it to see if there anywhere near round, .002-.003 our of round won't
hurt anything as long as the boolit is big enough to get sized all around.

You can help the fit of the nose punch by putting it in a hand drill and sanding the inside edge of the nose cavity to
remove the sharp edge then put a little boolit lube on the stem before replacing it in the lubesizer and leaving
the setscrew loose.

[44man]

Lead might be too soft for a nine.
Sizing off center means something is out of line, nose punch to die, etc.
Chuck the nose punch in a drill and sand the sharp edge off a little. Use fine wet or dry, about 240.
Wash the punch out good with acetone, grease or wax a new boolit nose and set it as straight as you can get it. Put some epoxy in the punch and set it on the boolit nose, let it get hard and trim excess.
You might want to wipe the top of the size die clean so the boolit sits flat. Leave the set screw that holds the punch a little loose.
The only other thing I can think of is the mold might might not be casting a round boolit.

[Larry Gibson]

The punch is biting into the softer alloy and preventing the bullet from aligning the bullet into the die correctly. A top punch that fits the bullet nose correctly is needed. Also with such softer cast bullets make sure they are pushed down into the sizer die as far as possible before bringing the punch down on the nose to size. Nothing wrong with softer bullets in the 9 mm but adding 2% tin to that range lead will probably improve it quite a bit. Additionally, if you are going to use such softer alloys a Lee push through .358 sizer to 1st size the bullets will prevent all what you photographed. Simply lightly lube the cast bullets, push size to .358 and then lube them in the sizer with your regular lube. However, with a correct fitting nose punch and adding 2% tin (allow 7 - 10 days to age if ACing) will probably be all that is needed to correct the problem.

Larry Gibson

[freebullet]

I use the same mold. That seems a bit soft for a 9. I use the lee push throughr sizer, but see a lighter ring after seating sometimes using around 15 bhn lead. Shootem!

[runfiverun]

you aren't gorilla hulk smashing them in the machine are you?
they look like they are all slumped and squished.
ease up on the speed and muscles.
give em a little time to harden up too.

[Voodoocld]

I'm pushing them through pretty smoothly.

I'm currently waiting for epoxy to set up in my top punch.

I think i might have had the mold held open ever so slightly causing one axis to be wider than the other. OR, I might have had some copper antiseize built up on the mating surfaces. I deep cleaned the mold, and am waiting on some bull plate sprue lube.

Going to try adding a little tin, and heating my mold more.


Hopefully these will solve things. Won't know until the next nice day, when i'll get a chance to cast some more.
I also just cleaned my mold, and did the polishing with bullets in the cavities.
As well a ran some hardwood over all the sharp edges since some of the bullets were getting stuck.



Thanks for the advice.

[detox]

Some Lube-a-matics and Lyman lubers sometimes are off center causing bullet to be cocked off center when sizing. Flat nose bullets with a flat nose punch works best when resizing with these style luber/sizers.

With that round nose design i would use Lee sizer to size. Then lube using Lube-a-matic, but grind the top punch flat so that boolit lines up better.

[MtGun44]

Unscrew the setscrew holding the top punch in place. Remove the top punch.
Put a 3/16" ball of boolit lube into the hole and put the top punch back it.
The lube keeps it from falling out but lets it self align.

This, plus proper fit should help a lot.

Bill

[freebullet]

I used a dremel buff on the cavities w/jewellers rouge. Then cleaned them again, the boolits drop out like a dream on their own now. I have found lee 6 Cavs like to be real warm to make projectile

[runfiverun]

it sounds like you have done some self assessing, and a pretty good job of it too.

[Voodoocld]

Thanks. Since i'm new to this, i just needed someone to point out the obvious. Then i can just work backwards from there.
I should get some time to try casting again this weekend.

[runfiverun]

great thing about this, you know the alloy will make boolit shapes and can be made to do it again.

[41 mag fan]

contact the perfessor on here and buy a nose punch off him.

[357shooter]

contact the perfessor on here and buy a nose punch off him.

Yep, using some hot glue to form fit you bullet the perfessor punches are consistent and easy to use. I have several for each caliber that I shoot and use them all the time.