Managed to cast a few

[Bill in Oregon]

Pretty restricted in what I can do 10 days out of fusion surgery, but it felt good to heat up the Lee pot and cast several dozen 452-255 RFs yesterday. Was impatient so sized them in the Lee push-through and liquid aloxed them last night.
For some reason, having a small stash of fresh boolits feels like money in the bank. I have never run tumble-lubed boolits very hard and the alox has always served me well up to around 1,000.

fullsizeoutput_1002 by ComeWatson, on Flickr

[earlmck]

Oh yeah-- lookin' good there Bill. I'd think that bullet should do the job for you.

[ollogger]

Yep they look real good, same way I do it & has worked well for about 5000 bullets with the 255 gr. Lee mold
did buy a 200 gr. Lee mold & one vaquero with the bids head grip makes it a lot more pleasant to shoot



Brad

[GunnyMack]

Bill good to see you are feeling well enough to keep yourself busy doing productive stuff! Glad you are healing!!

[JimT]

Lookin' good Bill!

Years ago I did some tests using Lee Liquid Alox .... coated jacketed handgun bullets in .45 Colt and 454. I found it increased accuracy and velocity. I got the idea of doing that when I pulled some Winchester SilverTip .45 Colt bullets and found they had a grease groove with lube in it! The Lee Alox also works great on the cheap .22 Long Rifle lead bullets that tend to lead barrels easily. Dip the bullets .. let them dry and shoot 'em. No more leading.

[Marvin S]

Now you can look forward to loading them next, them emptying them!

[GunnyMack]

Lookin' good Bill!

Years ago I did some tests using Lee Liquid Alox .... coated jacketed handgun bullets in .45 Colt and 454. I found it increased accuracy and velocity. I got the idea of doing that when I pulled some Winchester SilverTip .45 Colt bullets and found they had a grease groove with lube in it! The Lee Alox also works great on the cheap .22 Long Rifle lead bullets that tend to lead barrels easily. Dip the bullets .. let them dry and shoot 'em. No more leading.

Now that is interesting! I'll have to try that with 22s. As for the SilverTips- I wonder if the jacket (aluminum?) was sticking in the bore and that's why they lubed them?

[JimT]

I fired in a Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawk 7 1/2" - using WW cases with CCI LP primers - 22 gr. H-110 and the Speer 300 gr. PSP bullet. The bullet was seated out of the case as far as possible, crimping into the bottom crimp groove.

NO LUBE
Load #1 - 974 fps
Load #2 - 815 fps
Load #3 - 1003 fps
Load #4 - 993 fps
Load #5 - 987 fps
Load #6 - 896 fps

Average of all shots - 944 fps

LUBED WITH LEE LIQUID ALOX - ALLOWED TO DRY 24 HRS. BEFORE FIRING
Load #1 - 1027 fps
Load #2 - 1075 fps
Load #3 - 1063 fps
Load #4 - 1062 fps
Load #5 - 1055 fps
Load #6 - 1000 fps

Average of all shots - 1046 fps

Next I fired the 7 1/2" .454 Casull with the same bullet loaded over 30 gr. H-110, using CCI #400 Small Rifle Primers.

NO LUBE - average velocity 1698 fps

LUBED WITH LEE LIQUID ALOX (dried 24 hrs. before loading and firing) - average velocity 1775 fps

FIRED FOR ACCURACY AT 25 YARDS FROM A REST
Bullets without Lube
2" average

Bullets with Lube
1.75" average

What did it prove? Bullets going down a bore have friction. Something we all know. Often we do not think about jacketed bullets and barrel friction though. What little testing I have done leads me to believe that you can have too much of a good thing. Accuracy is not always enhanced by better lubrication. Bullets apparently need some "drag".

[Bill in Oregon]

That's ... er, those are some great data, Jim. I have not seen a discussion about Alox and jacketed bullets prior to this thread. Very interesting.

[JimT]

Bill ... I did not mean to hijack your thread! But no, not too many people write about the stuff they do in private. Some of it can get you into trouble. But your comments on the Lee Alox reminded me. It has a lot of great uses.

[Bill in Oregon]

No hijack, Jim. Simply great stuff!

[3leggedturtle]

I used Imperial Sizing Wax on a batch of W-W .22LR 36gr HP's that had bad lube. They would lead my S&W up so bad you couldn't see the rifling halfway up. It was slow but it worked. Also dipped them in Johnson Paste wax, that worked great and was alot faster.
Bill, that Lee 255 bullet is a good one. I've shot about 500 out my Contender carbine in .45 auto. They average 1075fps and made a nice loud smack on the 200 yard gong. Todd/3leg

[Bill in Oregon]

Thanks Todd. I have used that boolit in previous .45 Colts with satisfaction.
On this topic of lube, I might add that my chums in the British Militaria "Victorian Rifleman" corps have gotten great results dipping the noses of their .577 Snider and .577-450 Martini rounds in Udderly Smooth, a lanolin-based hand cream that you can get at Walgreen's. They do this on the firing line, just before chambering. Greatly reduces black powder fouling and seems to enhance accuracy.

[3leggedturtle]

Bill thats interesting, Bag Balm, Udder Butter, Udder Cream is great stuff. Never thought about lanolin part to use as bore butter or sizing! Here's a thread drift ? That stuff sure can make camp life smell better when applied as a pit cleaner, with a few paper towels. In other words, waterless hand cleaner. Hows that for a thread drift. Todd/3leg

[Pitchy]

Good for you Bill, next you`ll be cranking that forge blower.

[Bill in Oregon]

Hope so, Lenn! Gotta figure out a mount for it. I miss banging on hot steel.

[Pitchy]

Do ya have access to a welder, if i can help making a mount let me know.

[Bill in Oregon]

Lenn, I have a cheap Harbor Freight wire welder, but I am sorting out designs in the back o' my noggin using both wood and steel. We'll get her running.
My goal is to forge new kitchen cabinet and drawer pulls once I get her running. My house needs a lot of updating.

[Pitchy]

Gotcha , heck i need a lot of updating.