Resizing Cast Bollits

[Four Eyed Floyd]

Been casting some 158gr 38's lubed em and tried loading wholly black. Sounds good so far right? Well I keep shaving lead.
Soooo, my question is should I be resizing these? I have a sizing die on order for 38/357.

DD what about snakebites, bought some from slim but I am shaving those too!

[Charlie Bowdre]

Floyd
I picked up a mold from DD for the  snake bite bullits . found they were as I was pouring them just a smidgen big for my 38 RM 51 Navy Conversions.(should say the 38 cases)

Resized and lube them to .358 and they work super . Not a lot comes off in the resizing process , some ya can just barely see where the die has taken But it made the world of difference.

The sizer might be your answer.

Dutchy

[Four Eyed Floyd]

yes that is why I ordered a resizing and lube die. I just wanted to see if anyone else had the problem since I am new to casting my own. thanks for the tip. Do you make your own lube for your snakebites?

[Charlie Bowdre]

Yes , use the pan lube receipt . Crisco and beeswax  (Search site for Goatlips receipt and pan lube tips )
... Mixed it up 1:1 but it was too soft , so I cut back on the Crisco so that now it is about 70% beeswax to 30% Crisco. I just keep adjusting till I got a pretty stiff mix in the pan .
When it cools I slice it up and put it in the lube sizer.

I wish I had a good idea for a mold which would allow me to make the cylinders of lube with the hole in the center. I'm pondering on it.
Anyone have any ideas...

Not a paid ad but I really like the snake bites . At a shoot last week . I let several old timers try a round  in fact one took the case apart to look at the bullit.. Gvae them this site as a reference , so hopefully they may pick up on them..
Dutchy

[Sod Buster]

I wish I had a good idea for a mold which would allow me to make the cylinders of lube with the hole in the center. I'm pondering on it.
Anyone have any ideas...

Dutchy:
Check this out and see if it is what you want:  http://www.joytbrew.blogspot.com/
Scroll down to the section titled "Casting bullet lube hollow core sticks . . ."

[Four Eyed Floyd]

I make the same pan lube and even added some SPG into it, still a little slimy I guess I'll have to work on mine too! I ordered the 6 cavity snakebite molds from DD but they are still on backorder so I got some from Slim. the ones I loaded worked great, can't wait to cast my own.

[Charlie Bowdre]

Floyd ,
I found I really had to cut back on the Crisco...

Sod Buster.. Thanks much , have some old pipe in the basement , going to give that a try. I'll keep ya posted.
Dutchy

[Dick Dastardly]

First of all, I hate the back orders.  Truth is the Six month lag time makes keeping my shelves stocked a real conundrum.

I make Pearl Lube II sticks with a 2x4 that has drilled rebates in it for Twenty Five cent coin wrappers and has a hole in the middle for a 3/8" bolt.  The reverse side has enough rebate that the bolt heads don't stick out.  I fill the forms(coin wrappers) and push out the bolts when the lube is still warm.  The coin wrappers work fine to hold the lube for shipping.

If you would like to try the original Pearl Lube recipe, it's made of equal amounts by weight of container blend soy wax, cheep vegie shortning and wax toilet bowl ring.  Pearl Lube II is not the same and I won't give out the recipe because it is harder to alloy and some of the ingredients are expensive in small quantities.

The Snakebite molds have always been specified at .359".  They size very easily to .357 and shoot great in most 38 Special and .357 Magnum guns.  Ol Snakebite designed these bullets with a long ogive and flat nose so that cheep .38 Special range brass could be used in .357 Magnum guns.  The huge lube grove hauls way more lube than any other 38 cal or .357 cal design.  I  shoot them out of my brace of .357 RVs (original size) and my Browning .357 Magnum model 92.

DD-DLoS

[springfield]

If you're shaving lead when seating the bullets you need a larger taper on the brass. Set your expander die a little lower.

[Wills Point Pete]

 Yup. If you are shaving lead from just your own, unsized bullets, that's one thing. If you are shaving lead from bullets you bought from Slim, I assume that's Springfield Slim, as well as your own, then the problem is not the bullets but your loading technique.

I've been casting bullets since the very early '60s and like to think I'm pretty good at it. When I was deciding whether to buy one of Dick D's molds I bought some of Springfield Slims bullets to test the design. His bullets are every bit as good as my best. So, you probaby need to bell your cases a tad more and try to make sure you start them straight when beginning the seating.

[Four Eyed Floyd]

I am not blaming the bollitts, and I do have the expander down, it works great on "store  bought" I am guessing it is my casts are a tad big...or I am crimping too soon. I'll eventually work it out.
DD we all understand having to wait, the best part is that you go that extra mile to develop something so good everybody wants some. I say Keep up the good work and keep us learning new things to help in the quest for the Wholly black! 

[Four Eyed Floyd]

Well I think I found the problem, turns out the bollitt mold I was using was casting with was a little on the large size. I bought a new Lee mold and it cast them just fine without resizing. I guess it just goes that way from time to time. 

[springfield]

Are your "store bought" bevel base bullets?

[Four Eyed Floyd]

No these are ones I cast myself, the "store bought" work just fine. I don't know if the molds are beveled based.