Bullet Casting & Coating MegaThread

mac1911 said:
Im curious with “crimp” die

I have my seating die set to just kiss the case mouth “bell/flare” back enough for 100% function. I don't measure anything

I know my 9mm mold drops a bit on the large size .357” ? I no longer load much in 9mm since all I have is a P38 and it eats everything. I ran the last 100 cast loads through it.
No issues.
The lee factory crimp die from what I under stand just sizes the case to “spec” ?
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The "problem" with the Lee FCD for pistol cartridges is that it crimps AND resizes the case. So, it can swage down the cast bullet inside the case depending on the thickness of the case wall.

It doesn't just remove the flare.

I bought the Lyman crimp dies which do not have the carbide ring to resize the case like the Lee FCD for pistol cartridges.
 
ddeck said:
The "problem" with the Lee FCD for pistol cartridges is that it crimps AND resizes the case. So, it can swage down the cast bullet inside the case depending on the thickness of the case wall.

It doesn't just remove the flare.

I bought the Lyman crimp dies which do not have the carbide ring to resize the case like the Lee FCD for pistol cartridges.
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Lee factory crimp is more like a small base die, basically So there i s no “adjustment “ of the crimp.

Im loading 45 acp mostly these days. Years ago I took 1000 cases from the same lot # sized them and trimmed them.
My only real problem is some profiles are picky on seating depth and can jam on the top of the chamber
 
Mixed results…. The MP version with all of the tweaks ran good with minimal leading if any…. The Lee version failed and leaded…

IMG_9753.jpeg IMG_9736.jpeg
IMG_9744.jpeg
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The last photo was after the Lees. Out of fairness I need to size and water drop these like the other bullet. But this is a turn in the right direction. Thank you to all that have offered guidance.
 
Jay77 said:
Mixed results…. The MP version with all of the tweaks ran good with minimal leading if any…. The Lee version failed and leaded…

View attachment 860405View attachment 860406
View attachment 860407
View attachment 860408
The last photo was after the Lees. Out of fairness I need to size and water drop these like the other bullet. But this is a turn in the right direction. Thank you to all that have offered guidance.
Click to expand...
Well Lee is good for a lot of things but some of their bullets were designed with nothing but cherry life in mind.
They want to cut 1000000 moulds with one cherry.
MP is great.
 
Jay77 said:
Mixed results…. The MP version with all of the tweaks ran good with minimal leading if any…. The Lee version failed and leaded…

View attachment 860405View attachment 860406
View attachment 860407
View attachment 860408
The last photo was after the Lees. Out of fairness I need to size and water drop these like the other bullet. But this is a turn in the right direction. Thank you to all that have offered guidance.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. I see a combination of a slower powder (Silhouette) and water dropping to increase the hardness of the alloy. Those are on my test plan for my 9mm.

Did you slug the bore and thus go to .357? Or is the .357 just a guess?

And how many rounds were fired?
 
ddeck said:
Thanks for this. I see a combination of a slower powder (Silhouette) and water dropping to increase the hardness of the alloy. Those are on my test plan for my 9mm.

Did you slug the bore and thus go to .357? Or is the .357 just a guess?

And how many rounds were fired?
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9mm has been a challenge and when I slugged the bores they were .355ish so .357 was safe. I started with the MP’s and shot 4-5 mags and I did have two light strikes. It only took a few shots with the Lee before it leaded. I’ll bake and water drop some Lees to see if that makes a difference.
 
Jay77 said:
I finally tried my hand at ladle pouring… that single cavity mold plus @38ExtraSpecial perfect bullets inspired me…. Not perfect but I’m think hooked. I spent more time trying to keep the lead melted and I need a bigger casting pot. The one I bought is too small for my burner.

View attachment 860682
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Other than some wrinkles those bullets look really good. Even the wrinkled ones do have very good fill out, considering that either your mold or your alloy were not up to temp.

Imagine how beautiful they’re going to look with a little more heat. I actually do a lot of ladle pouring right from my bottom pour pots.

That or a small cast-iron pot maybe a 20 pounder that sits on top of my turkey fryer. I have to add a couple of strips of metal across the great because the pot is way too small.
 
You are 100% about the temp and both the molds and the melt were not what they needed to be. I have to run the MP mold hot to get a good fill from the bottom pour so I’m really happy with them. I was using the RCBS 10 pound pot and it wasn’t big enough. I was thinking a bigger pot or decreasing the size of the of the opening on the burner like you did. I did enjoy the heat coming off the burner.
 
I run a lee 20lb bottom poor
For years I used a Lyman melt thermometer . I tested my thermometer against a over thermometer and they where with in 20 degrees of each other at 500’ oven setting. Lyman showed high. Iirc it was 15’ hotter? So I bumped my lee up a touch and running at 750” per dial on the lyman.
PID im running a touch under 700’
My method for best bullets has been run them till they just start to frost kiss back the heat a smidge from there I generally get great bullets.
 
Jay77 said:
Mixed results…. The MP version with all of the tweaks ran good with minimal leading if any…. The Lee version failed and leaded…

View attachment 860405View attachment 860406
View attachment 860407
View attachment 860408
The last photo was after the Lees. Out of fairness I need to size and water drop these like the other bullet. But this is a turn in the right direction. Thank you to all that have offered guidance.
Click to expand...
I run as cast range lead coated in front of Silhouette without leading in all my 9mm - and I run it a "little" hotter than 4.5g.

However, my Lee TC mold was modified to remove the lube groove so it has more bearing area.
MP molds have no issues
 
Jay77 said:
I loaded up some of the Lees yesterday for a final test and I didn’t bring them to the range. I’ll try to get out tonight to test. Working in some m1 carbine rounds since I found some brass I bought a few years ago.
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I have a good amount of 30 carbine brass. Collected at cmp over the years before they put the carbines in the closet. I could spare some if needed.
Someday I will find the 1500 bullets I lost in my house and finish loading those. I run 130 gn cast through the carbine. Twist is to fast .
 
Couple of updates. The water dropped after the sizing 9mm leaded less but it wasn’t totally clean.

Instead of a twenty pound pot I bought a 8 inch cast iron skillet that heat up fast and work nicely for 13 bucks. The costs have definitely gone up a bit.

I loaded up some of my Hi-tek 314410 with unique for the m1 carbine and found the old girl likes it hot with 6gr. So another recipe for my book.
 
mac1911 said:
I have a good amount of 30 carbine brass. Collected at cmp over the years before they put the carbines in the closet. I could spare some if needed.
Someday I will find the 1500 bullets I lost in my house and finish loading those. I run 130 gn cast through the carbine. Twist is to fast .
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Thanks for the offer I really appreciate it. I found a thousand primed pulled cases that I bought years ago and forgot… when I opened the box I found I also bought 500 110gr projectiles. It was a nice find.
 
Jay77 said:
Couple of updates. The water dropped after the sizing 9mm leaded less but it wasn’t totally clean.

Instead of a twenty pound pot I bought a 8 inch cast iron skillet that heat up fast and work nicely for 13 bucks. The costs have definitely gone up a bit.

I loaded up some of my Hi-tek 314410 with unique for the m1 carbine and found the old girl likes it hot with 6gr. So another recipe for my book.
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How long did the 9mm get to age harden?
 
38ExtraSpecial said:
How long did the 9mm get to age harden?
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After water dropping a day or two, but I sized before water dropping like the MP bullets. The leading wasn’t bad but it was there. I need to pour more .359 from the MP mold because the Marlin is ripping through them. She is finally getting broken in.
 
Forgive me, I can’t remember shit. Are you using high-tech on the Lee Bullets? Does the bullet you’re using have a traditional lube groove or a tumble lube groove design.
Personally, I would give your barrel. A really good scrubbing get all the lead out of it. Then try some of the lead bullets with bullet lube?
Have you slugged this barrel?
If so did you notice any tight ot loose spots pushing the slug through.
 
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Jay77 said:
After water dropping a day or two, but I sized before water dropping like the MP bullets. The leading wasn’t bad but it was there. I need to pour more .359 from the MP mold because the Marlin is ripping through them. She is finally getting broken in.
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Ok so I’m like Mac. I need to remember it all. Was the MP bullet ok and the Lee sucked?
Usually I wait about a week or two before I load. A couple days in and they won’t be really hard at all. I’ve loaded some after 2 days and had issues. A couple months later I chose to blast off the rest and just deal with the lead after the range trip. Lo and behold the same batch had zero lead issue. They had hardened up enough over that time and completely changed the results.

Since doing some research I found at least a week is needed for age hardening tertiary alloys. Anything over 2 weeks doesn’t change much. IIRC.
 
These were the Lee that were poured and coated last year. I sized them and then ran them through the oven for ten minutes and then water dropped and then loaded. Little bit of leading… I did the same exact thing with the MP bullet and was lead free. Usually I pour coat and forget or get distracted so they do get some age hardening. I’m giving up on that style bullet for a while since I can use the MP in both the 9 and 357.
 
Jay77 said:
These were the Lee that were poured and coated last year. I sized them and then ran them through the oven for ten minutes and then water dropped and then loaded. Little bit of leading… I did the same exact thing with the MP bullet and was lead free. Usually I pour coat and forget or get distracted so they do get some age hardening. I’m giving up on that style bullet for a while since I can use the MP in both the 9 and 357.
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Ok I’m caught up.

Toss that 9mm Lee mould and forget you ever had it. I did that with mine. It worked well but the MP does it all better.
 
38ExtraSpecial said:
Ok I’m caught up.

Toss that 9mm Lee mould and forget you ever had it. I did that with mine. It worked well but the MP does it all better.
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What are the mold (I'm not English so not mould) numbers for the Lee and MP?

I'll be casting this weekend to start my testing using both a Lee and MP mold (Lee 356-125-2R)

MP is 357 Or (359)-135 Flat Round Nose, Bevel Base, 6 Cavity BR Mold – NO LUBE GROOVE
 

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