40 years of mediocre luck with my own cast pistol bullets!

[jcn59]

Maybe this has been covered elsewhere.

Here's the stuff:  Lee bottom pour furnace with thermostat, range lead, old orange Lyman (?) sizer/lubricator, Lee (.452, .430GC, .410) and Lyman (.358GC) molds.

The Lee molds cast nice looking filled-out bullets.  The Lyman bullets are wrinkled-I smoked the cavity with a candle, tried different temps, and they still wrinkle.  I flux with bees wax.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

The sizer/lubricator:  mounted on an aluminum plate.  I set a small magnetic block heater on the aluminum and it transfers the heat to the sizer & lube.  I unplug it when too hot for the lube.  I use black moly lube from Midway.  My question concerns the feeding of the lube to the bullet - this apparently is done with a "screw arrangement".  I tighten the screw a few degrees after sizing every two or three bullets.  Is this how it's done?  Also, I manually set the gas checks in a small press before sizing because when I try to do it in the sizing operation, some get set crooked.

I bought the sizer lubricator used.  I think the previous owner died of tedium. 

Oh, I almost forgot.  They are not especially accurate.

[Harry O]

Forgot to mention the gas checks.  I have had two problems with gas checks (not counting their price increase recently).  (1) The gas checks are too loose and drop off or get crooked during handling, but before crimping.  In this case, I wipe the bottom of the bullet on a small piece of lube before placing it on the gas check.  The lube holds it until it is crimped on.  (2) Some of the gas checks are too tight don't go down straight (such as using 0.308"  .30 caliber gas checks with 0.312" .32 caliber pistol bullets).  In that case, I can usually get them to seat straight by "twisting" the gas check onto the base of the bullet -- trying to put them down straight while the gas check is lying on a flat surface does not work for me).  If that doesn't work, I hit the nose of the bullet with a rubber mallet I have nearby.  With the semi-hard bullets I use for gas checks bullets, it does not damage the nose.  If neither one works, I put the bullet aside and use the gas check on a different bullet.

[Veral]

  I see no problem with how you are using your lubricator, but have found that Lyman sizers leak badly out of the bottom when a heated plate is under them.  To stop this problem.  Clean the plate and bottom of the lubricator, grinding any bumps off which let it rock on the plate, apply Permatex Copper high temperature silicone between the two, bolt down and wait at least 24 hours before using.  It will never leak again.

  If the gas check shank is too small to hold a check after sizing it will probably not have enough grip to give optimum gas check advantage.  If gas checks have to be pressed on, they will shave more on one side than the other and throw the bullet out of balance.  Also, for sure if you are using Lyman sizer dies, they will knock the gas check out of square when you bump the bullet against the stop plug at the bottom of the sizer stroke.  For best accuracy stop  plugs should be cupped out slightly and faced squarely in a lathe so only about 1/32 inch wide area around the perimeter contacts the bullet when it bottoms out. Press down hard enough to imprint a ring at least 80% of the way around the bullet base and you'll have perfectly square bases on every bullet.  -  It sounds like you rarely if ever have square ones now.

  If a mold will not cast bullets without wrinkles it either is not hot enough or the lead stream isn't fast enough.  Clean out the pour spout on your pot using a wire dipped in flux.  Bend the wire at 90 deg so you don't burn your pinkies.  The best and cheapest flux I've found is hog or bear lard or chicken fat. Be sure it doesn't have salt in it as with used frying grease.  If you smoke a mold the smoke will take up space which is supposed to be for lead, and will wear off quickly in the tight areas.  If you work with the above things you'll get wrinkle free bullets.  I don't save bullets until they are all dropping frosty.  If you try to make shiney bullets only with your range scrap you'll never get good precision projectiles.

   As for the molds you are using.  Most bullet designs will shoot well IF they cast large enough to fit the gun, and if the gun is properly set up for cast, and if the loads used don't over stress the bullet design and lube being used.  You have all of these problems it appears.  Read my forum over and you'll learn a lot about how to fit cast bullets, and more if you go to my website   LBTMoulds.com 
  I wrote Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets for people like you.  You can order it at the site above.  Read it and life will change for you 
After spending some time at these you'll learn that I have little regard for any of the bullets you are using, simply because I was never able to get top accuracy with commercially mass produced molds either. That's why I started LBT, and the custom mold making.  I produce ONLY strong bullet designs, meaning that they can withstand maximum chamber pressure  and misfit in the gun and still be accurate, and I cut them to fit the gun of interest.  Precision in, precision out.

  My standard of accuracy is high.  With revolvers almost any load I want to shoot MUST print within an inch at 25 yards or I do some checking on the guns dimensions and bullet fit, etc. I have not set up a revolver in the last 25 years that would not meet this standard with the first loads I put together.  Even two inch barreled Charter arms, though I can't hold or sight them well enough to be real consistant.  You can do the same and learn to do it quickly.  All accurate guns are a precision launch pad.  If there is inaccuracy, precision has fallen through a crack somewhere.

  Lest I be to salty, don't throw out any of the molds you have until you have learned the requirements  for accuracy as I've outlined above.  If they fit your guns, or only one gun, they will perform well if you work within their 'speed limits'.