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Thread: Rifle Bullets, Gas Checks and a Star Lubri-sizer

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Rifle Bullets, Gas Checks and a Star Lubri-sizer

    Ok, just finished my first attempt at reloading gas checked cast boolits for a bottlenecked rifle cartridge (.303 British) and a few questions have come to mind that I"m hoping the brain trust here can help with!

    1. When you size rifle boolits on a Star Lubrisizer do you just use the pointed nose of the boolit behind to push the one lodged in the sizing die on through? (Or do you need to order a special punch and push them through backwards? )
    2. Is there a way you can "size" the gas check without sizing the boolit? I'm using a Lyman 311413 mold and they are dropping right at .313 from the mold. Ideally I'd just put on the check, lube'em and load'em, but when I tried that the hornady 30cal gas check is bigger than .313 and it stretches out the case neck so the boolit just sits loose.
    3. Is somewhat normal when loading for a rifle like this to have one of the lube grooves "exposed"? I think if I loaded it all the way into the case neck there'd be an INCREDIBLE jump to the throat.
    4. If I have to order a special punch, what's involved with doing that? Do I need to send them a couple of boolits or ?

    Any and all advice is GREATLY appreciated. Right now I'm leaning towards just ordering a .313 die and using that to do my gas check crimping and ignoring the boolit tips getting slightly flattened when pushing the previous boolit out of the die (I'm lubing by pan lubing).

    Have a good one,
    Dave

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
    9.3X62AL's Avatar
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    I'm not at all familiar with the Star tooling, I use Lyman 450. The Lyman has a gas check gizzy that forms a "stop" soon after the boolit base and check enter the sizer die, crimping the check in place but leaving the drive bands untouched. Some sort of arrangement allowing limited entry of the boolit base into the size die would do the same thing.

    Many, well MOST of my rifle cast boolit loads have 1 or more exposed lube grooves. Not a real problem at the range as the rounds sit neatly in a cartridge box......but when afield hunting, it complicates things. I use a 20-round plastic carry box for rifle rounds, and keep handgun rounds in 1) a 50 round plastic box 2) a speed-loader inside a nylon pouch or 3) pistol magazine. NOTHING ON EARTH attracts dust, grit, crud, or other foreign substances like exposed bullet lube. Thankfully, most handgun rounds have the lube grooves contained within the casing.
    I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy Marine Sgt 2111's Avatar
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    Question #1. When you size rifle boolits on a Star Lubrisizer do you just use the pointed nose of the boolit behind to push the one lodged in the sizing die on through? (Or do you need to order a special punch and push them through backwards? ) I always size my boolits, be they pistol or rifle, nose first. Time after time it just proves to make a more accurate bullet.

    2. Is there a way you can "size" the gas check without sizing the boolit? I'm using a Lyman 311413 mold and they are dropping right at .313 from the mold. Ideally I'd just put on the check, lube'em and load'em, but when I tried that the hornady 30cal gas check is bigger than .313 and it stretches out the case neck so the boolit just sits loose. Buy a .313 dia sizer die and ever so slightly size the boolit and most importantly the gas check.

    3. Is somewhat normal when loading for a rifle like this to have one of the lube grooves "exposed"? I think if I loaded it all the way into the case neck there'd be an INCREDIBLE jump to the throat.
    There is no way to get away from having those grooves exposed if you want the boolit to be seated close to or on the lands and grooves. The question is can you still get good accuracy if you do not fill those grooves with lube? There is no written law that says every lube groove has to be filled.
    FWIW
    Last edited by Marine Sgt 2111; 08-24-2007 at 11:55 AM. Reason: add'l input
    Sight alignment, sight picture, squeeeeeze....
    bullseye!

    Dwight

  4. #4
    Boolit Master on Heavens Range
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    There is also no law that says you have to use a lube too sticky. The more lube grooves you have, the more you can get away with lowering the viscosity of the lube. If your pockets are clean when hunting, for example, you can pick up lint even from extra clean pants, but that kind or amount of lint will not hurt the gun one iota. The price of obtaining the animal in totum makes the price of ammo approach zero, and these days, the cost of the entire gun as well. The sand from primers is the worst offender known to mankind. Even light grit from the air does not compare. ... felix
    felix

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Thanks guys! I guess I'm going to have to have a very wide variety of sizing dies!

    Any idea's about the boolit tip becoming flattened when pushing the previous boolit out of the die? (good, bad, don't care, here's some amazing trick to avoid it. )

    Regards,
    Dave

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I'm not sure a 30 caliber gas check will crimp securely in a .313" sizing die. Maybe someone else has tried it and will jump in. I size .310 for my 30/30 and .308 Win. cast loads, and the GC stays put. Adding .003" diameter might make it loose.

    Since you will be sizing so little, I would think the nose down would not deform much, depending on the alloy hardness. As long as it was uniform, it shouldn't hurt a thing.
    You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

  7. #7
    Boolit Master in Heaven's Range
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    One thing you may want to do is to set up a pipe or hose of about 2" diameter,underneath the Star,let it lead into a container,a 1 gallon bucket,etc.,
    This was a tip from lloyd Smale,he has a lot of good tips to help out!He's a good man.

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master
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    That Lloyd is an animal!

    I treat every cast boolit as if it was a fragile work of art. No dropping them into buckets for me!

    Seriously, I place my open hand under the die and catch each boolit, then place them base down, side by side, in a container.

    But then Lloyd casts and sizes thousands at a time.
    You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

  9. #9
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    Dave,

    If I have a pointed boolit where the nose gets damaged by the following bullet, I use a bullet that is smaller to push the boolit out before sizing the next one. Kind of like a special punch, but it is just a reject boolit. I use a 6.5mm to push out .30, .30 to push out .357, etc..

    John

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    that's a good idea. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to make a slug of some sort to use to put the bullet out. I really need something like a .270 Full wadcutter.

    Have a good one,
    Dave

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Next to my star sizer on the bench is a row of small holes. Some of them hold the tools for the star and some of them hold short lengths of wood dowel to push boolits out of a die without the need for a following boolit. I size spitzer rifle boolits nose first and them push them out into my hand using an appropriate diameter bit of wood dowel cut to a length that will drop the boolit out of the sizer die before the lube pump is actuated by the handle. This makes sizing gas checked spitzer rifle boolits in the star about twice as slow as sizing unchecked pistola boolits, but still twice as fast as sizing them in a 450, and they stay nice and straight.
    BD

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check