Monday, February 23, 2015

And one more factor to test

On the gallery loads using the .32-caliber bullets in rifles, I'd been using the wadcutters, semi-wadcutters and round-nose bullets as-cast.  Which in some cases worked very well, in others not.  So I took some of each, sized them .311 and re-lubed, and need to load them. 

What I usually to do keep such separate and labeled is baggies.  They make snack-size that work well for up to ten-twelve rounds, and I can use a marker to write the load and bullet info on the bag. 

And for results, I've gotten into the habit of, every time I run the target back to me, I write the cartridge & load info on it and take a picture.  Partly for electronic record so I don't have to keep a pile of paper targets, but also because sometimes a target tears out of the shuttle, or the shuttle breaks and you can't get it back(twice in the last month).  May lose the pic/paper of one group, but not all the others.

On the sizing and lubing: Lee sizing die.  These things are great; the die fits into a loading press, the ram snaps into the press ram where the shellholder goes, and pushes the bullet through, and the container that now fits over the die catches it all.  You can use Lee Liquid Alox to lube them(the one problem is this stuff NEVER completely stops being a bit sticky), or any of the multitudinous homemade formulae you can find at Cast Boolits.  Personally, after trying it, I've been using this 45/45/10 mix; a little goes a long way, once set it's not sticky, and seems to do a very good job.  My method:

After I cast a bunch of bullets, I go through them for any obvious bad ones, they go back in the pot and the good ones into a baggie.  When ready to lube, I squirt some into the bag, seal it, and work the bullets around to distribute it all over, then spread them out on waxed paper to dry(somewhere I don't have to smell it).  Not too  many at a time in a bag, otherwise some won't get a coat.

On the subject of lube, few years ago the subject of lubing cases before resizing came up, and someone suggested mixing the Lee case lube with alcohol in a spray bottle and spraying the cases with that.  Works.  They started using the baggie method.  I've got a gallon-size freezer bag(thicker plastic) into which I dump a bunch of cases.  Spray half a dozen squirts, then close the bag and work them around.  If you've got a LOT in there, give a few more squirts, then work around again, then let it sit a few minutes.  With that bag the alcohol can't evaporate, so the stuff stays liquid and can slide around on the cases.  You can open the bag somewhere and let the alcohol evaporate, or if you've got decent ventilation just take them out of the bag one at a time and resize; the lube works well after drying, when the alcohol is still present it's even slicker.  I do use gloves, just to keep the stuff off my hands.

I shall now find those bullets, and see about trying them sized.  Also, guy at CB said he's had good results using 2.7 grains of Bullseye under these bullets in .30-30, so that's on the list too.

3 comments:

taminator013 said...

I love those Lee sizing dies. I had about a million .380 ACP cases lying around in coffee cans and decided to reload them for cheap practice and plinking. Went out and bought a set of dies and asked the guy behind the counter if he had any hard cast 9mm bulk bullets between 90 to 100 grains. He brought out a box of 1000 - 95gr. 9mm Makarov bullets and said that they should work. Got the press all set and started loading, but the cases were bulging whenever I tried seating a slug. Little bells started going off in my head and started calling myself dumbass. I finally remembered that a Makarov is actually 9.2mm and not 9mm. Ordered up a Lee sizer in .356 and another in .357. The .356 sized bullets shoot better in the PPK clone than jacketed and the .357s are great plinking loads in the Ruger Blackhawk. Those dies are a steal at about $11 apiece. Thanks, Lee and thank you for the great articles.............

Pawpaw said...

Bless your heart, you have now dropped into the dark world of subsonic cast bullet loads. Low noise, low velocity, lots of fun to shoot, very economical. Of course, nowadays, people pay good money for something called the .300 Blackout, which is a subsonic .30 cal load.

There isn't nothing new under the sun. I wonder how these things would roll through a can?

Firehand said...

taminator, you're welcome.
Pawpaw, I intend to find out