New To Casting - PBing

[Ido356]

I casted my first boolits last week Lees 452-200-RF & 356-120-TC, pan lubed them with 45/45/10, loaded to work up loads, shot them and both barrels leaded bad.

The 45 acp slug measured .452 the molds dropped at .454, the 9mm slugged at .357 and the molds dropped at .357/.358.

The lead was range scrap that I tested using the pencil test at HB scratched so 12bnh.

45 loads were 4.0gr bullseye @ 760fps to 5.0gr @ 820fps
9mm loads were 3.4gr @930fps to 3.8gr @1030fps

I bought some wax to make some groove lube but why didn't the alox work?

[runfiverun]

alox isn't much of a lube in the traditional sense.
it's just there trying to keep the lead from contacting the steel.
if everything else is good to go xlox will work.

[dromia]

What sort of leading was it and where was it?

[44man]

Range scrap? Pencil test? You have no idea what lead you have.
Alox is a thorn in my side and I will never use it.
Try a slower powder too.

[captaint]

A little unusual to find a 45ACP groove dia to go .452. Most, including mine, go between .450 and .451. Are you measuring with micrometer ?? Under most circumstances your boolits would be big enough, diameter wise. You are not running them too hot. At this point, with the info we have, I could only single out the "lube". I'm not a fan of tumble loobing. Although, when I did use it, I had reasonable success. Never got bad leading. You might think about getting some of those boolits lubed with real lube, even if they're the TL design - you can still run them through a sizer/luber and lube them with the real thing. That's all I got. enjoy Mike

[Ido356]

dromia, the leading was from start to finish on both barrels, thick & rough looking, took some time using copper scrubber and solvent to get them clean.

[popper]

Case expander problem - get a proper sized set.

[Moonie]

dromia, the leading was from start to finish on both barrels, thick & rough looking, took some time using copper scrubber and solvent to get them clean.

Are you using the lee dies with the Factory Crimp die?

[MtGun44]

Seat a boolit, crimp and pull to see what diam you are actually delivering.

Not a fan of liquid alox lube, lots of failures, some definitely have success, but
it is a common topic with leading. If you are using a Lee FCD then you are
likely sizing down your boolits in the case and ruining them. Lee pistol type
FCD is a solution looking for a problem and when there is none, it often
creates one.

Bill

[runfiverun]

yeah how'd we ever get along without it...
maybe i should go buy one so i can see what i'm missing.

[williamwaco]

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I love LLA and Xlox.

See:

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/exp_111201a_lla_test.htm

for test results with 67 loads with 17 bullets in 11 different firearms.

.

[runfiverun]

i have been working with lars's xlox [350 and 606] as a modifyer recently as has eutetic.
studying it's affects in the barell and it's mitigating effects on accuracy in cold weather.

[Plinkster]

I had this problem also with almost the exact parameters you describe for the acp. I have a groove dia of .452 but my boolits drop at .453, turns out I was using too much 45/45/10. With the thinned stuff you should just barely be able to see that they are wet after being tumbled, zero color difference. I use two coats and no sizing. My 452-200-RF chrono at 800 when pushed with my bullseye charge which I forget the weight of. Leaves a "lead wash" in the bore but since it hasn't gotten any worse in about 1500 rounds worth of shooting I think I'm ok. Definite +1 on finding out what lead you have though, I use a Lee BHN tester and heat treat to get 12-14 for these results. Sometimes I have to reheat a batch a time or three to hit my numbers but it makes for repeatable results and is worth the time IMHO, good luck and I hope you get this nailed.

[WHITETAIL]

As far as I can tell.
You donot have a sizer yet.
Go get your self a can of Johnson's
past wax.
And put some in a jar, put your boolits
in the jar.
Heat the jar till the wax melts.
Remove the boolits with long tweesers.
Place on wax paper over night.
Then load a few and shoot them.

[slim1836]

Did you remove all copper fouling from weapons prior to shooting lead?

[Ido356]

Pulled some boolits and I found the problem.

I don't use a FCD so I knew it wasn't that.

When setting up the press I set the expander just enough to start the boolit so after seating the boolit is done. These boolits are softer than anything I have ever loaded and the boolits were dragging/squeesing into the cases scrapping off the lube and some of the boolit, boolits measured .3575/.358 going in and .3570 after pulling.

I opened up the expander and I re-lubed the boolits with some Simple Green lube that run5run's been working on. I pulled some all looks good, and I hope to be shooting some today.