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eyeinstine

ID these casted boolits?

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Got these in some box lots..  Im thinking 38/357 but the 168 gr weight throws me off..  Avg diameter is .356, but ranged from .355-.357 when mic'd.

New to reloading, but im thinking these are someones home cast? And the grooves? Arent these typical filled with a plastic like material?

 

 

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2 hours ago, Tunaman said:

and the grooves are for lube...not plastic.;)

Well my newb-ness shows through on that one! lol

What exactly is the material that makes up the lube in the casted bullet rooves?

 

2 hours ago, JC_68Westy said:

I would definitely run them through a sizer/luber before using them.

oh great! Another piece of equipement i dont have but need buy?! :p    Or maybe someone else has one that would need these boolits more than i do....

 

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4 hours ago, USRifle30Cal said:

Look up Elmer Keith     .357 170gr. Bullet 

While they may have dropped from a Lyman mold, those bullets are NOT Keith style bullets. Keith's design was characterized by one wide lube groove and a crimp groove - not multiple lube grooves.

The most common lube for cast bullets is often a 50% mixture of Alox (a petroleum product) and 50% bees wax. A lot of the commercial bullet casters have experimented with more stable, synthetic lubes. The greatest advance in cast bullets are the coated bullets where lubricating coating is applied to the whole bullet - not just in the lube groove. Bayou Bullets pioneered the coated bullets and common ones in this area are Rogers PC bullets and Ibejiheads.

The luber/sizer does exactly what the name implies - it consistently sizes the as-cast bullet to the desired diameter and extrudes lubricant into the lube grooves. Cast bullets (or the coated counterparts) are easier on the barrel and will usually attain higher velocities with the same powder charge than jacketed bullets due to less barrel friction. One of the drawbacks to cast bullets with conventional lube is that they tend to be smokey - the lube burns off. This has been greatly remedied by the use of synthetic lubes and fully coated bullets.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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1 hour ago, eyeinstine said:

Well my newb-ness shows through on that one! lol

What exactly is the material that makes up the lube in the casted bullet rooves?

 

oh great! Another piece of equipement i dont have but need buy?! :p    Or maybe someone else has one that would need these boolits more than i do....

 

You can get a Lee lube/size kit for $20.

 

"Lee Precision Lube and Sizing Kit. With some careful shopping you can find these kits for around $15. The sizing portion of the kit is made up of a sizing die that swages the bullet down to the specified diameter, a ram to push the bullet through the sizing die, and a plastic case to catch the sized bullets. The lubing portion of the kit is a bottle of Lee’s liquid Alox lube.

This kit is cheap, simple, and it really works. Lee recommends that you use it with bullets cast from the company’s “Tumble Lube” molds. These bullets have a series of small lube grooves rather than the one or two lube grooves on conventional bullets. These micro-bands hold the Alox better. But you can use the system with conventional bullets, and you can even use it with conventional lubes, rather than the liquid Alox.

Proper Lube

handloading, handloading bullets, lubing sizing bullets, handloading bullet tips To tumble lube, you need two plastic bowls. You squirt a little lube onto the bullets and then you toss them from bowl to bowl until they are coated with a thin film of Alox.

Using the kit is pretty straightforward. You’ll need a couple of Tupperware bowls. Pour a hundred or so bullets into a bowl and squirt in some liquid Alox. A little goes a long way. Then just pour the bullets from one bowl to the other until they are all coated with a thin film of Alox. At that point I’ll add another 100 bullets to the mix, and toss those awhile before adding a final hundred. I’ve found that three hundred 230-grain slugs equals about 10 pounds of lead, and that is as much as I can comfortably toss from bowl to bowl. They don’t call it “liquid” Alox for nothing. When you’re through tossing them, the bullets will be wet to the touch. They have to be spread out on foil or waxed paper to dry overnight before you can size them."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhQAzV4KeDs

 

 

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2 hours ago, Pizza Bob said:

While they may have dropped from a Lyman mold, those bullets are NOT Keith style bullets. Keith's design was characterized by one wide lube groove and a crimp groove - not multiple lube grooves.

The most common lube for cast bullets is often a 50% mixture of Alox (a petroleum product) and 50% bees wax. A lot of the commercial bullet casters have experimented with more stable, synthetic lubes. The greatest advance in cast bullets are the coated bullets where lubricating coating is applied to the whole bullet - not just in the lube groove. Bayou Bullets pioneered the coated bullets and common ones in this area are Rogers PC bullets and Ibejiheads.

The luber/sizer does exactly what the name implies - it consistently sizes the as-cast bullet to the desired diameter and extrudes lubricant into the lube grooves. Cast bullets (or the coated counterparts) are easier on the barrel and will usually attain higher velocities with the same powder charge than jacketed bullets due to less barrel friction. One of the drawbacks to cast bullets with conventional lube is that they tend to be smokey - the lube burns off. This has been greatly remedied by the use of synthetic lubes and fully coated bullets.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

I agree that they do not look like Keith bullets.  The meplat is way too small.  Keith bullets have a wide meplat.

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3 hours ago, 124gr9mm said:

You can get a Lee lube/size kit for $20.

 

"Lee Precision Lube and Sizing Kit. With some careful shopping you can find these kits for around $15. The sizing portion of the kit is made up of a sizing die that swages the bullet down to the specified diameter, a ram to push the bullet through the sizing die, and a plastic case to catch the sized bullets. The lubing portion of the kit is a bottle of Lee’s liquid Alox lube.

 

 Awesome info! I honestly looked at self casting and sizinf bullets as some witch craft i didnt think i was ready to partake in!  Guess its a little easier than i had thought. Def worth my while to look into this lee kitch just to size these 120 or so bullets.. No money savings, but learning a new aspect of firearms ownership and self reliance is worth what the cost!

And to think, as i have been acquiring all this reloading gear and supplies, i have been passing up on molds and anthing for casting i have seen.. Probably could have scored some great deals on it too...

And then lead; i have a bunch of random lead laying around. lol    Som eold diving belt weights, a couple big chunks that used to get hung under the chassis of race cars.. Unfortunetly, just last year, i scrapped a big ol heavy chunk of lead. It was actually a drain pipe from an old house. Never seen an actual pipe made of of lead like this before.. Maybe i should have hung on to it just a little bit longer.. I know this lead is not ready to melt right into bullets, as i believe some other materials get added to the mix?

 

 

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Ok, been readying up on sizing and lubing..    These casted boolits i have are measuring .355-.357. The sizing die kits are .358, wont these bullets just pretty much fall through the die? Seems the bullets should be casted at .359-.360 to be pushed and swaged through a .358 die? What am i missing here.

 

next question. The lee alox lube wil never fill these deep wide grooves in these bullets.. Do the grooves have to be filled all the way like commercial bought bullets? What are the groove rings for? Just to hold lube?  Seems these bullets with deep and wide groove rings really need the pan caked method to be able to completely fill the grooves?

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1 hour ago, eyeinstine said:

Ok, been readying up on sizing and lubing..    These casted boolits i have are measuring .355-.357. The sizing die kits are .358, wont these bullets just pretty much fall through the die? Seems the bullets should be casted at .359-.360 to be pushed and swaged through a .358 die? What am i missing here.

 

next question. The lee alox lube wil never fill these deep wide grooves in these bullets.. Do the grooves have to be filled all the way like commercial bought bullets? What are the groove rings for? Just to hold lube?  Seems these bullets with deep and wide groove rings really need the pan caked method to be able to completely fill the grooves?

You need a LUBESIZER - NOT tumble lube - tumble lube is for shallow groves not what you have.

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On 8/14/2020 at 9:58 AM, USRifle30Cal said:

You need a LUBESIZER - NOT tumble lube - tumble lube is for shallow groves not what you have.

Looks like lubesizer would def be the way to go, if, one was to plan on a lot of self casted bullets..

Im thinking, for the poor mans route, and just to get a little experience and use up these 125 or so bullets; i could do a pan lube and then run through a press Lee bullet sizing kit..

Do all the grooves get filled with lube on these bullets? or is the top groove some sort of crimp ring groove?  Im thinking all get filled, no crimp ring. Just looking to confirm.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, eyeinstine said:

Looks like lubesizer would def be the way to go, if, one was to plan on a lot of self casted bullets..

Im thinking, for the poor mans route, and just to get a little experience and use up these 125 or so bullets; i could do a pan lube and then run through a press Lee bullet sizing kit..

Do all the grooves get filled with lube on these bullets? or is the top groove some sort of crimp ring groove?  Im thinking all get filled, no crimp ring. Just looking to confirm.

 

 

You don't have to fill all of the lube grooves, you can lube the first or first and second. There is no need to lube all the way up. In my opinion you would be fine running through a Lee sizer and tumbling them in Alox.  It may not look good, but it will work. I am not sure I would go through all that trouble for 125 boolits. Do you have the molt for these?

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